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diff --git a/21190.txt b/21190.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..06b20b5 --- /dev/null +++ b/21190.txt @@ -0,0 +1,23481 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Expositions of Holy Scripture, by Alexander Maclaren + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Expositions of Holy Scripture + Second Corinthians, Galatians, and Philippians Chapters + I to End. Colossians, Thessalonians, and First Timothy. + +Author: Alexander Maclaren + +Release Date: April 19, 2007 [EBook #21190] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + + + + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + + + + +_EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE_ + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. + + * * * * * + + SECOND CORINTHIANS, + GALATIANS, + AND PHILIPPIANS + + CHAPTERS I TO END + + COLOSSIANS, THESSALONIANS, + AND FIRST TIMOTHY + + NEW YORK + GEORGE H. DORAN COMPANY + + + + + _EXPOSITIONS OF + HOLY SCRIPTURE_ + + ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. + + * * * * * + + SECOND CORINTHIANS + + _Chaps. VII to End_ + + GALATIANS AND + PHILIPPIANS + + + + +CONTENTS + + +II. CORINTHIANS + +HOPE AND HOLINESS (2 Cor. vii. 1) 1 + +SORROW ACCORDING TO GOD (2 Cor. vii. 10) 8 + +GIVING AND ASKING (2 Cor. viii. 1-12) 20 + +RICH YET POOR (2 Cor. viii. 9) 27 + +WILLING AND NOT DOING (2 Cor. viii. 11) 36 + +ALL GRACE ABOUNDING (2 Cor. ix. 8) 42 + +GOD'S UNSPEAKABLE GIFT (2 Cor. ix. 15) 50 + +A MILITANT MESSAGE (2 Cor. x. 5 and 6, R.V.) 57 + +SIMPLICITY TOWARDS CHRIST (2 Cor. xi. 3) 65 + +STRENGTH IN WEAKNESS (2 Cor. xii. 8, 9) 74 + +NOT YOURS BUT YOU (2 Cor. xii. 14) 83 + + +GALATIANS + +FROM CENTRE TO CIRCUMFERENCE (Gal. ii. 20) 91 + +THE EVIL EYE AND THE CHARM (Gal. iii. 1) 100 + +LESSONS OF EXPERIENCE (Gal. iii. 4) 109 + +THE UNIVERSAL PRISON (Gal. iii. 22) 116 + +THE SON SENT (Gal. iv. 4, 5, R.V.) 126 + +WHAT MAKES A CHRISTIAN: CIRCUMCISION OR FAITH? (Gal. v. 6) 136 + +'WALK IN THE SPIRIT' (Gal. v. 16) 153 + +THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT (Gal. v. 22, 23) 162 + +BURDEN-BEARING (Gal. vi. 2-5) 171 + +DOING GOOD TO ALL (Gal. vi. 10) 180 + +THE OWNER'S BRAND (Gal. vi. 17) 189 + + +PHILIPPIANS + +LOVING GREETINGS (Phil. i. 1-8, R.V.) 200 + +A COMPREHENSIVE PRAYER (Phil. i. 9-11, R.V.) 206 + +A PRISONER'S TRIUMPH (Phil. i. 12-20, R.V.) 211 + +A STRAIT BETWIXT TWO (Phil. i. 21-25) 219 + +CITIZENS OF HEAVEN (Phil. i. 27, 28) 233 + +A PLEA FOR UNITY (Phil. ii. 1-4, R.V.) 244 + +THE DESCENT OF THE WORD (Phil. ii. 5-8, R.V.) 253 + +THE ASCENT OF JESUS (Phil. ii. 9-11, R.V.) 260 + +WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION (Phil. ii. 12, 13) 268 + +COPIES OF JESUS (Phil. ii. 14-16, R.V.) 281 + +A WILLING SACRIFICE (Phil. ii. 16-18, R.V.) 287 + +PAUL AND TIMOTHY (Phil. ii. 19-24, R.V.) 295 + +PAUL AND EPAPHRODITUS (Phil. ii. 25-30, R.V.) 305 + +PREPARING TO END (Phil. iii. 1-3, R.V.) 311 + +THE LOSS OF ALL (Phil. iii. 4-8, R.V.) 321 + +THE GAIN OF CHRIST (Phil. iii. 8, 9, R.V.) 328 + +SAVING KNOWLEDGE (Phil. iii. 10, 11, R.V.) 336 + +LAID HOLD OF AND LAYING HOLD (Phil. iii. 12) 348 + +THE RACE AND THE GOAL (Phil. iii. 13, 14) 359 + +THE SOUL'S PERFECTION (Phil. iii. 15) 369 + +THE RULE OF THE ROAD (Phil. iii. 16) 381 + +WARNINGS AND HOPES (Phil. iii. 17-21, R.V.) 391 + + + + +II. CORINTHIANS + +HOPE AND HOLINESS + + Having therefore these promises . . . let us cleanse + ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and + spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of + God.'--2 COR. vii. 1. + + +It is often made a charge against professing Christians that their +religion has very little to do with common morality. The taunt has +sharpened multitudes of gibes and been echoed in all sorts of tones: it +is very often too true and perfectly just, but if ever it is, let it be +distinctly understood that it is not so because of Christian men's +religion but in spite of it. Their bitterest enemy does not condemn them +half so emphatically as their own religion does: the sharpest censure of +others is not so sharp as the rebukes of the New Testament. If there is +one thing which it insists upon more than another, it is that religion +without morality is nothing--that the one test to which, after all, +every man must submit is, what sort of character has he and how has he +behaved--is he pure or foul? All high-flown pretension, all fervid +emotion has at last to face the question which little children ask, 'Was +he a good man?' + +The Apostle has been speaking about very high and mystical truths, about +all Christians being the temple of God, about God dwelling in men, about +men and women being His sons and daughters; these are the very truths +on which so often fervid imaginations have built up a mystical piety +that had little to do with the common rules of right and wrong. But Paul +keeps true to the intensely practical purpose of his preaching and +brings his heroes down to the prosaic earth with the homely common sense +of this far-reaching exhortation, which he gives as the fitting +conclusion for such celestial visions. + +I. A Christian life should be a life of constant self-purifying. + +This epistle is addressed to the church of God which is at Corinth with +all the _saints_ which are in all Achaia. + +Looking out over that wide region, Paul saw scattered over godless +masses a little dispersed company to each of whom the sacred name of +Saint applied. They had been deeply stained with the vices of their age +and place, and after a black list of criminals he had had to say to them +'such were some of you,' and he lays his finger on the miracle that had +changed them and hesitates not to say of them all, 'But ye are washed, +but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified in the name of the Lord +Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.' + +The first thing, then, that every Christian has is a cleansing which +accompanies forgiveness, and however his garment may have been 'spotted +by the flesh,' it is 'washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb.' +Strange cleansing by which black stains melt out of garments plunged in +red blood! With the cleansing of forgiveness and justification comes, +wherever they come, the gift of the Holy Spirit--a new life springing up +within the old life, and untouched by any contact with its evils. These +gifts belong universally to the initial stage of the Christian life and +require for their possession only the receptiveness of faith. They +admit of no co-operation of human effort, and to possess them men have +only to 'take the things that are freely given to them of God.' But of +the subsequent stages of the Christian life, the laborious and constant +effort to develop and apply that free gift is as essential as, in the +earliest stage, it is worse than useless. The gift received has to be +wrought into the very substance of the soul, and to be wrought out in +all the endless varieties of life and conduct. Christians are cleansed +to begin with, but they have still daily to cleanse themselves: the +leaven is hid in the three measures of meal, but ''tis a life-long task +till the lump be leavened,' and no man, even though he has the life that +was in Jesus within him, will grow up 'into the measure of the stature +of the fulness of Christ' unless, by patient and persistent effort, he +is ever pressing on to 'the things that are before' and daily striving +to draw nearer to the prize of his high calling. We are cleansed, but we +have still to cleanse ourselves. + +Yet another paradox attaches to the Christian life, inasmuch as God +cleanses us, but we have to cleanse ourselves. The great truth that the +spirit of God in a man is the fontal source of all his goodness, and +that Christ's righteousness is given to us, is no pillow on which to +rest an idle head, but should rather be a trumpet-call to effort which +is thereby made certain of success. If we were left to the task of +self-purifying by our own efforts we might well fling it up as +impossible. It is as easy for a man to lift himself from the ground by +gripping his own shoulders as it is for us to rise to greater heights of +moral conduct by our own efforts; but if we can believe that God gives +the impulse after purity, and the vision of what purity is, and imparts +the power of attaining it, strengthening at once our dim sight and +stirring our feeble desires and energising our crippled limbs, then we +can 'run with patience the race that is set before us.' + +We must note the thoroughness of the cleansing which the Apostle here +enjoins. What is to be got rid of is not this or that defect or vice, +but '_all_ filthiness of flesh and spirit.' The former, of course, +refers primarily to sins of impurity which in the eyes of the Greeks of +Corinth were scarcely sins at all, and the latter to a state of mind +when fancy, imagination, and memory were enlisted in the service of +evil. Both are rampant in our day as they were in Corinth. Much modern +literature and the new gospel of 'Art for Art's sake' minister to both, +and every man carries in himself inclinations to either. It is no +partial cleansing with which Paul would have us to be satisfied: '_all_' +filthiness is to be cast out. Like careful housewives who are never +content to cease their scrubbing while a speck remains upon furniture, +Christian men are to regard their work as unfinished as long as the +least trace of the unclean thing remains in their flesh or in their +spirit. The ideal may be far from being realised at any moment, but it +is at the peril of the whole sincerity and peacefulness of their lives +if they, in the smallest degree, lower the perfection of their ideal in +deference to the imperfection of their realisation of it. + +It must be abundantly clear from our own experience that any such +cleansing is a very long process. No character is made, whether it be +good or bad, but by a slow building up: no man becomes most wicked all +at once, and no man is sanctified by a wish or at a jump. As long as men +are in a world so abounding with temptation, 'he that is washed' will +need daily to 'wash his feet' that have been stained in the foul ways of +life, if he is to be 'clean every whit.' + +As long as the spirit is imprisoned in the body and has it for its +instrument there will be need for much effort at purifying. We must be +content to overcome one foe at a time, and however strong may be the +pilgrim's spirit in us, we must be content to take one step at a time, +and to advance by very slow degrees. Nor is it to be forgotten that as +we get nearer what we ought to be, we should be more conscious of the +things in which we are not what we ought to be. The nearer we get to +Jesus Christ, the more will our consciences be enlightened as to the +particulars in which we are still distant from Him. A speck on a +polished shield will show plain that would never have been seen on a +rusty one. The saint who is nearest God will think more of his sins than +the man who is furthest from him. So new work of purifying will open +before us as we grow more pure, and this will last as long as life +itself. + +II. The Christian life is to be not merely a continual getting rid of +evil, but a continual becoming good. + +Paul here draws a distinction between cleansing ourselves from +filthiness and perfecting holiness, and these two, though closely +connected and capable of being regarded as being but the positive and +negative sides of one process, are in reality different, though in +practice the former is never achieved without the latter, nor the latter +accomplished without the former. Holiness is more than purity; it is +consecration. That is holy which is devoted to God, and a saint is one +whose daily effort is to devote his whole self, in all his faculties and +nature, thoughts, heart, and will, more and more, to God, and to +receive into himself more and more of God. + +The purifying which Paul has been enjoining will only be successful in +the measure of our consecration, and the consecration will only be +genuine in the measure of our purifying. Herein lies the broad and +blessed distinction between the world's morality and Christian ethics. +The former fails just because it lacks the attitude towards a Person who +is the very foundation of Christian morality, and changes a hard and +impossible law into love. There is no more futile waste of breath than +that of teachers of morality who have no message but Be good! Be good! +and no motive by which to urge it but the pleasures of virtue and the +disadvantages of vice, but when the vagueness of the abstract thought of +goodness solidifies into a living Person and that Person makes his +appeal first to our hearts and bids us love him, and then opens before +us the unstained light of his own character and beseeches us to be like +him, the repellent becomes attractive: the impossible becomes possible, +and 'if ye love Me keep My commandments' becomes a constraining power +and a victorious impulse in our lives. + +III. The Christian life of purifying and consecration is to be animated +by hope and fear. + +The Apostle seems to connect hope more immediately with the cleansing, +and holiness with the fear of God, but probably both hope and fear are +in his mind as the double foundation on which both purity and +consecration are to rest, or the double emotion which is to produce them +both. These promises refer directly to the immediately preceding words, +'I will be a Father unto you and ye shall be My sons and daughters,' in +which all the blessings which God can give or men can receive are fused +together in one lustrous and all-comprehensive whole. So all the great +truths of the Gospel and all the blessed emotions of sonship which can +spring up in a human heart are intended to find their practical result +in holy and pure living. For this end God has spoken to us out of the +thick darkness; for this end Christ has come into our darkness; for this +end He has lived; for this end He died; for this end He rose again; for +this end He sends His Spirit and administers the providence of the +world. The purpose of all the Divine activity as regards us men is not +merely to make us happy, but to make us happy in order that we may be +good. He whom what he calls his religion has only saved from the wrath +of God and the fear of hell has not learned the alphabet of religion. +Unless God's promises evoke men's goodness it will be of little avail +that they seem to quicken their hope. Joyful confidence in our sonship +is only warranted in the measure in which we are like our Father. Hope +often deludes and makes men dreamy and unpractical. It generally paints +pictures far lovelier than the realities, and without any of their +shadows; it is too often the stimulus and ally of ignoble lives, and +seldom stirs to heroism or endurance, but its many defects are not due +to itself but to its false choice of objects on which to fix. The hope +which is lifted from trailing along the earth and twining round +creatures and which rises to grasp these promises ought to be, and in +the measure of its reality is the ally of all patient endurance and +noble self-sacrifice. Its vision of coming good is all directed to the +coming Christ, and 'every man that hath this hope in Him, purifieth +himself even as He is pure.' + +In Paul's experience there was no contrariety between hope set on Jesus +and fear directed towards God. It is in the fear of God that holiness is +to be perfected. There is a fear which has no torment. Yet more, there +is no love in sons or daughters without fear. The reverential awe with +which God's children draw near to God has in it nothing slavish and no +terror. Their love is not only joyful but lowly. The worshipping gaze +upon His Divine majesty, the reverential and adoring contemplation of +His ineffable holiness, and the poignant consciousness, after all +effort, of the distance between us and Him will bow the hearts that love +Him most in lowliest prostration before Him. These two, hope and fear, +confidence and awe, are like the poles on which the whole round world +turns and are united here in one result. They who 'set their hope in +God' must 'not forget the works of God but keep His commandments'; they +who 'call Him Father,' 'who without respect of persons judgeth' must +'pass the time of their sojourning here in fear,' and their hopes and +their fears must drive the wheels of life, purify them from all +filthiness and perfect them in all holiness. + + + + +SORROW ACCORDING TO GOD + + 'Godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not + to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world + worketh death.'--2 COR. vii. 10. + + +Very near the close of his missionary career the Apostle Paul summed up +his preaching as being all directed to enforcing two points, 'Repentance +towards God, and faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.' These two, repentance +and faith, ought never to be separated in thought, as they are +inseparable in fact. True repentance is impossible without faith, true +faith cannot exist without repentance. + +Yet the two are separated very often, even by earnest Christian +teachers. The tendency of this day is to say a great deal about faith, +and not nearly enough in proportion about repentance; and the effect is +to obscure the very idea of faith, and not seldom to preach 'Peace! +peace! when there is no peace.' A gospel which is always talking about +faith, and scarcely ever talking about sin and repentance, is denuded, +indeed, of some of its most unwelcome characteristics, but is also +deprived of most of its power, and it may very easily become an ally of +unrighteousness, and an indulgence to sin. The reproach that the +Christian doctrine of salvation through faith is immoral in its +substance derives most of its force from forgetting that 'repentance +towards God' is as real a condition of salvation as is 'faith in our +Lord Jesus Christ.' We have here the Apostle's deliverance about one of +these twin thoughts. We have three stages--the root, the stem, the +fruit; sorrow, repentance, salvation. But there is a right and a wrong +kind of sorrow for sin. The right kind breeds repentance, and thence +reaches salvation; the wrong kind breeds nothing, and so ends in death. + +Let us then trace these stages, not forgetting that this is not a +complete statement of the case, and needs to be supplemented in the +spirit of the words which I have already quoted, by the other part of +the inseparable whole, 'faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.' + +I. First, then, consider the true and the false sorrow for sin. + +The Apostle takes it for granted that a recognition of our own evil, and +a consequent penitent regretfulness, lie at the foundation of all true +Christianity. Now I do not insist upon any uniformity of experience in +people, any more than I should insist that all their bodies should be of +one shape or of one proportion. Human lives are infinitely different, +human dispositions are subtly varied, and because neither the one nor +the other are ever reproduced exactly in any two people, therefore the +religious experience of no two souls can ever be precisely alike. + +We have no right to ask--and much harm has been done by asking--for an +impossible uniformity of religious experience, any more than we have a +right to expect that all voices shall be pitched in one key, or all +plants flower in the same month, or after the same fashion. You can +print off as many copies as you like, for instance, of a drawing of a +flower on a printing-press, and they shall all be alike, petal for +petal, leaf for leaf, shade for shade; but no two hand-drawn copies will +be so precisely alike, still less will any two of the real buds that +blow on the bush. Life produces resemblance with differences; it is +machinery that makes facsimiles. + +So we insist on no pedantic or unreal uniformity; and yet, whilst +leaving the widest scope for divergencies of individual character and +experience, and not asking that a man all diseased and blotched with the +leprosy of sin for half a lifetime, and a little child that has grown up +at its mother's knee, 'in the nurture and admonition of the Lord,' and +so has been kept 'innocent of much transgression,' shall have the same +experience; yet Scripture, as it seems to me, and the nature of the case +do unite in asserting that there are certain elements which, in varying +proportions indeed, will be found in all true Christian experience, and +of these an indispensable one--and in a very large number, if not in +the majority of cases, a fundamental one--is this which my text calls +'godly sorrow.' + +Dear brethren, surely a reasonable consideration of the facts of our +conduct and character point to that as the attitude that becomes us. +Does it not? I do not charge you with crimes in the eye of the law. I do +not suppose that many of you are living in flagrant disregard of the +elementary principles of common every-day morality. Some are, no doubt. +There are, no doubt, unclean men here; there are some who eat and drink +more than is good for them, habitually; there are, no doubt, men and +women who are living in avarice and worldliness, and doing things which +the ordinary conscience of the populace points to as faults and +blemishes. But I come to you respectable people that can say: 'I am not +as other men are, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican'; and +pray you, dear friends, to look at your character all round, in the +light of the righteousness and love of God, and to plead to the +indictment which charges you with neglect of many a duty and with sin +against Him. How do you plead, 'guilty or not guilty, sinful or not +sinful?' Be honest with yourselves, and the answer will not be far to +seek. + +Notice how my text draws a broad distinction between the right and the +wrong kind of sorrow for sin. 'Godly sorrow' is, literally +rendered,'sorrow according to God,' which may either mean sorrow which +has reference to God, or sorrow which is in accordance with His will; +that is to say, which is pleasing to Him. If it is the former, it will +be the latter. I prefer to suppose that it is the former--that is, +sorrow which has reference to God. And then, there is another kind of +sorrow, which the Apostle calls the 'sorrow of the world,' which is +devoid of that reference to God. Here we have the characteristic +difference between the Christian way of looking at our own faults and +shortcomings, and the sorrow of the world, which has got no blessing in +it, and will never lead to anything like righteousness and peace. It is +just this--one has reference to God, puts its sin by His side, sees its +blackness relieved against the 'fierce light' of the Great White Throne, +and the other has not that reference. + +To expand that for a moment,--there are plenty of us who, when our sin +is behind us, and its bitter fruits are in our hands, are sorry enough +for our faults. A man that is lying in the hospital a wreck, with the +sins of his youth gnawing the flesh off his bones, is often enough sorry +that he did not live more soberly and chastely and temperately in the +past days. That fraudulent bankrupt who has not got his discharge and +has lost his reputation, and can get nobody to lend him money enough to +start him in business again, as he hangs about the streets, slouching in +his rags, is sorry enough that he did not keep the straight road. The +'sorrow of the world' has no thought about God in it at all. The +consequences of sin set many a man's teeth on edge who does not feel any +compunction for the wrong that he did. My brethren, is that the position +of any that are listening to me now? + +Again, men are often sorry for their conduct without thinking of it as +sin against God. Crime means the transgression of man's law, wrong means +the transgression of conscience's law, sin is the transgression of God's +law. Some of us would perhaps have to say--'I have done crime.' We are +all of us quite ready to say: 'I have done wrong many a time'; but +there are some of us who hesitate to take the other step, and say: 'I +have done sin.' Sin has, for its correlative, God. If there is no God +there is no sin. There may be faults, there may be failures, there may +be transgressions, breaches of the moral law, things done inconsistent +with man's nature and constitution, and so on; but if there be a God, +then we have personal relations to that Person and His law; and when we +break His law it is more than crime; it is more than fault; it is more +than transgression; it is more than wrong; it is sin. It is when you +lift the shutter off conscience, and let the light of God rush in upon +your hearts and consciences, that you have the wholesome sorrow that +worketh repentance and salvation and life. + +Oh, dear friends, I do beseech you to lay these simple thoughts to +heart. Remember, I urge no rigid uniformity of experience or character, +but I do say that unless a man has learned to see his sin in the light +of God, and in the light of God to weep over it, he has yet to know 'the +strait gate that leadeth unto life.' + +I believe that a very large amount of the superficiality and +easy-goingness of the Christianity of to-day comes just from this, that +so many who call themselves Christians have never once got a glimpse of +themselves as they really are. I remember once peering over the edge of +the crater of Vesuvius, and looking down into the pit, all swirling with +sulphurous fumes. Have you ever looked into your hearts, in that +fashion, and seen the wreathing smoke and the flashing fire there? If +you have, you will cleave to that Christ, who is your sole deliverance +from sin. + +But, remember, there is no prescription about depth or amount or length +of time during which this sorrow shall be felt. If, on the one hand, it +is essential, on the other hand there are a great many people who ought +to be walking in the light and the liberty of God's Gospel who bring +darkness and clouds over themselves by the anxious scrutinising +question: 'Is my sorrow deep enough?' Deep enough! What for? What is the +use of sorrow for sin? To lead a man to repentance and to faith. If you +have as much sorrow as leads you to penitence and trust you have enough. +It is not your sorrow that is going to wash away your sin, it is +Christ's blood. So let no man trouble himself about the question, Have I +sorrow enough? The one question is: 'Has my sorrow led me to cast myself +on Christ?' + +II. Still further, look now for a moment at the next stage here. 'Godly +sorrow worketh repentance.' + +What is repentance? No doubt many of you would answer that it is 'sorrow +for sin,' but clearly this text of ours draws a distinction between the +two. There are very few of the great key-words of Christianity that have +suffered more violent and unkind treatment, and have been more obscured +by misunderstandings, than this great word. It has been weakened down +into penitence, which in the ordinary acceptation, means simply the +emotion that I have already been speaking about, viz., a regretful sense +of my own evil. And it has been still further docked and degraded, both +in its syllables and in its substance, into _penance_. But the +'repentance' of the New Testament and of the Old Testament--one of the +twin conditions of salvation--is neither sorrow for sin nor works of +restitution and satisfaction, but it is, as the word distinctly +expresses, a change of purpose in regard to the sin for which a man +mourns. I cannot now expand and elaborate this idea as I should like, +but let me remind you of one or two passages in Scripture which may show +that the right notion of the word is not sorrow but changed attitude and +purpose in regard to my sin. + +We find passages, some of which ascribe and some deny repentance to the +Divine nature. But if there be a repentance which is possible for the +Divine nature, it obviously cannot mean sorrow for sin, but must signify +a change of purpose. In the Epistle to the Romans we read, 'The gifts +and calling of God are without repentance,' which clearly means without +change of purpose on His part. And I read in the story of the mission of +the Prophet Jonah, that 'the Lord repented of the evil which He had said +He would do unto them, and He did it not.' Here, again, the idea of +repentance is clearly and distinctly that of a change of purpose. So fix +this on your minds, and lay it on your hearts, dear friends, that the +repentance of the New Testament is not idle tears nor the twitchings of +a vain regret, but the resolute turning away of the sinful heart from +its sins. It is 'repentance toward God,' the turning from the sin to the +Father, and that is what leads to salvation. The sorrow is separated +from the repentance in idea, however closely they may be intertwined in +fact. The sorrow is one thing, and the repentance which it works is +another. + +Then notice that this change of purpose and breaking off from sin is +produced by the sorrow for sin, of which I have been speaking; and that +the production of this repentance is the main characteristic difference +between the godly sorrow and the sorrow of the world. A man may have his +paroxysms of regret, but the question is: Does it make any difference +in his attitude? Is he standing, after the tempest of sorrow has swept +over him, with his face in the same direction as before; or has it +whirled him clean round, and set him in the other direction? The one +kind of sorrow, which measures my sin by the side of the brightness and +purity of God, vindicates itself as true, because it makes me hate my +evil and turn away from it. The other, which is of the world, passes +over me like the empty wind through an archway, it whistles for a moment +and is gone, and there is nothing left to show that it was ever there. +The one comes like one of those brooks in tropical countries, dry and +white for half the year, and then there is a rush of muddy waters, +fierce but transient, and leaving no results behind. My brother! when +your conscience pricks, which of these two things does it do? After the +prick, is the word of command that your Will issues 'Right about face!' +or is it 'As you were'? Godly sorrow worketh a change of attitude, +purpose, mind; the sorrow of the world leaves a man standing where he +was. Ask yourselves the question: Which of the two are you familiar +with? + +Again, the true means of evoking true repentance is the contemplation of +the Cross. Law and the fear of hell may startle into sorrow, and even +lead to some kind of repentance. But it is the great power of Christ's +love and sacrifice which will really melt the heart into true +repentance. You may hammer ice to pieces, but it is ice still. You may +bray a fool in a mortar, and his folly will not depart from him. Dread +of punishment may pulverise the heart, but not change it; and each +fragment, like the smallest bits of a magnet, will have the same +characteristics as the whole mass. But 'the goodness of God leads to +repentance' as the prodigal is conquered and sees the true hideousness +of the swine's trough, when he bethinks himself of the father's love. I +beseech you to put yourselves under the influence of that great love, +and look on that Cross till your hearts melt. + +III. We come to the last stage here. Salvation is the issue of +repentance. 'Godly sorrow worketh repentance unto salvation not to be +repented of.' + +What is the connection between repentance and salvation? Two sentences +will answer the question. You cannot get salvation without repentance. +You do not get salvation by repentance. + +You cannot get the salvation of God unless you shake off your sin. It is +no use preaching to a man, 'Faith, Faith, Faith!' unless you preach +along with it,'Break off your iniquities.' 'Let the wicked forsake his +way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him turn unto the +Lord.' The nature of the case forbids it. It is a clear contradiction in +terms, and an absolute impossibility in fact, that God should save a man +with the salvation which consists in the deliverance from sin, whilst +that man is holding to his sin. Unless, therefore, you have not merely +sorrow, but repentance, which is turning away from sin with resolute +purpose, as a man would turn from a serpent, you cannot enter into the +Kingdom of Heaven. + +But you do not get salvation for your repentance. It is no case of +barter, it is no case of salvation by works, that work being repentance: + + 'Could my zeal no respite know, + Could my tears for ever flow, + All for sin could not atone, + Thou must save, and Thou alone.' + +Not my penitence, but Christ's death, is the ground of the salvation of +every one that is saved at all. Yet repentance is an indispensable +condition of salvation. + +What is the connection between repentance and faith? There can be no +true repentance without trust in Christ. There can be no true trust in +Christ without the forsaking of my sin. Repentance without faith, in so +far as it is possible, is one long misery; like the pains of those poor +Hindoo devotees that will go all the way from Cape Comorin to the shrine +of Juggernaut, and measure every foot of the road with the length of +their own bodies in the dust. Men will do anything, and willingly make +any sacrifice, rather than open their eyes to see this,--that +repentance, clasped hand in hand with Faith, leads the guiltiest soul +into the forgiving presence of the crucified Christ, from whom peace +flows into the darkest heart. + +On the other hand, faith without repentance is not possible, in any deep +sense. But in so far as it is possible, it produces a superficial +Christianity which vaguely trusts to Christ without knowing exactly what +it is trusting Him for, or why it needs Him; and which has a great deal +to say about what I may call the less important parts of the Christian +system, and nothing to say about its vital centre; which preaches a +morality which is not a living power to create; which practises a +religion which is neither a joy nor a security. The old word of the +Master has a deep truth in it: 'These are they which heard the word, and +anon with joy received it.' Having no sorrow, no penitence, no deep +consciousness of sin, 'they have no root in themselves, and in time of +temptation they fall away.' If there is to be a profound, an +all-pervading, life-transforming-sin, and devil-conquering faith, it +must be a faith rooted deep in penitence and sorrow for sin. + +Dear brethren, if, by God's grace, my poor words have touched your +consciences at all, I beseech you, do not trifle with the budding +conviction! Do not seek to have the wound skinned over. Take care that +you do not let it all pass in idle sorrow or impotent regret. If you do, +you will be hardened, and the worse for it, and come nearer to that +condition which the sorrow of the world worketh, the awful death of the +soul. Do not wince from the knife before the roots of the cancer are cut +out. The pain is merciful. Better the wound than the malignant growth. +Yield yourselves to the Spirit that would convince you of sin, and +listen to the voice that calls to you to forsake your unrighteous ways +and thoughts. But do not trust to any tears, do not trust to any +resolves, do not trust to any reformation. Trust only to the Lord who +died on the Cross for you, whose death for you, whose life in you, will +be deliverance from your sin. Then you will have a salvation which, in +the striking language of my text, 'is not to be repented of,' which will +leave no regrets in your hearts in the day when all else shall have +faded, and the sinful sweets of this world shall have turned to ashes +and bitterness on the lips of the men that feed on them. + +'The sorrow of the world works death.' There are men and women listening +to me now who are half conscious of their sin, and are resisting the +pleading voice that comes to them, who at the last will open their eyes +upon the realities of their lives, and in a wild passion of remorse, +exclaim: 'I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.' Better to +make thorough work of the sorrow, and by it to be led to repentance +toward God and faith in Christ, and so secure for our own that salvation +for which no man will ever regret having given even the whole world, +since he gains his own soul. + + + + +GIVING AND ASKING + + 'Moreover, brethren, we do you to wit of the grace + of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia; 2. + How that in a great trial of affliction the + abundance of their joy and their deep poverty + abounded unto the riches of their liberality. 3. + For to their power, I bear record, yea, and beyond + their power they were willing of themselves; 4. + Praying us with much entreaty that we would + receive the gift, and take upon us the fellowship + of the ministering to the saints. 5. And this they + did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own + selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of + God: 6. Insomuch that we desired Titus, that as he + had begun, so he would also finish in you the same + grace also. 7. Therefore, as ye abound in every + thing, in faith, and utterance, and knowledge, and + in all diligence, and in your love to us; see that + ye abound in this grace also. 8. I speak not by + commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of + others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. + 9. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, + that, though He was rich, yet for your sakes He + became poor, that ye through His poverty might be + rich. 10. And herein I give my advice: for this is + expedient for you, who have begun before, not only + to do, but also to be forward a year ago. 11. Now + therefore perform the doing of it; that as there + was a readiness to will, so there may be a + performance also out of that which ye have. 12. + For if there be first a willing mind, it is + accepted according to that a man hath, and not + according to that he hath not.'--2 COR. viii. + 1-12. + + +A collection from Gentile churches for their poor brethren in Jerusalem +occupied much of Paul's time and efforts before his last visit to that +city. Many events, which have filled the world with noise and been +written at length in histories, were less significant than that first +outcome of the unifying spirit of common faith. It was a making visible +of the grand thought, 'Ye are all one in Christ Jesus.' Practical help, +prompted by a deep-lying sense of unity which overleaped gulfs of +separation in race, language, and social conditions, was a unique +novelty. It was the first pulsation of that spirit of Christian +liberality which has steadily grown in force and sweep ever since. +Foolish people gibe at some of its manifestations. Wiser ones regard +its existence as not the least of the marks of the divine origin of +Christianity. + +This passage is a striking example of the inimitable delicacy of the +Apostle. His words are full of what we should call tact, if it were not +manifestly the spontaneous utterance of right feeling. They are a +perfect model of the true way to appeal for money, and set forth also +the true spirit in which such appeals should be made. + +In verses 1 to 5, Paul seeks to stimulate the liberality of the +Corinthians by recounting that of the Macedonian churches. His sketch +draws in outline the picture of what all Christian money-giving should +be. We note first the designation of the Macedonian Christians' +beneficence as 'a grace' given by God to them. It is twice called so +(vers. 1, 4), and the same name is applied in regard to the Corinthians' +giving (vers. 6, 7). That is the right way to look at money +contributions. The opportunity to give them, and the inclination to do +so, are God's gifts. How many of us think that calls for service or +money are troublesome obligations, to be got out of as easily as +possible! A true Christian will be thankful, as for a love token from +God, for every occasion of giving to Him. It would be a sharp test for +many of us to ask ourselves whether we can say, 'To me . . . is this grace +given,' that I should part with my money for Christ's sake. + +Note, further, the lovely picture of these Macedonian givers. They were +plunged in sorrows and troubles, but these did not dry their fountains +of sympathy. Nothing is apt to be more selfish than grief; and if we +have tears to spare for others, when they are flowing bitterly for +ourselves, we have graduated well in Christ's school. Paul calls the +Macedonians' troubles 'proof of their affliction,' meaning that it +constituted a proof of their Christian character; that is, by the manner +in which it was borne; and in it they had still 'abundance of joy,' for +the paradox of the Christian life is that it admits of the co-existence +of grief and gladness. + +Again, Christian giving gives from scanty stores. 'Deep poverty' is no +excuse for not giving, and will be no hindrance to a willing heart. 'I +cannot afford it' is sometimes a genuine valid reason, but oftener an +insincere plea. Why are subscriptions for religious purposes the first +expenditure to be reduced in bad times? + +Further, Christian giving gives up to the very edge of ability, and +sometimes goes beyond the limits of so-called prudence. In all regions +'power to its last particle is duty,' and unless power is strained it is +not fully exercised. It is in trying to do what we cannot do that we do +best what we can do. He who keeps well within the limits of his supposed +ability will probably not do half as much as he could. While there is a +limit behind which generosity even for Christ may become dishonesty or +disregard of other equally sacred claims, there is little danger of +modern Christians transgressing that limit, and they need the stimulus +to do a little more than they think they can do, rather than to listen +to cold-blooded prudence. + +Further, Christian giving does not wait to be asked, but takes the +opportunity to give as itself 'grace' and presses its benefactions. It +is an unwonted experience for a collector of subscriptions to be +besought to take them 'with much entreaty,' but it would not be so +anomalous if Christian people understood their privileges. + +Further, Christian giving begins with the surrender of self to Christ, +from which necessarily follows the glad offering of wealth. These +Macedonians did more than Paul had hoped, and the explanation of the +unexpected largeness of their contributions was their yielding of +themselves to Jesus. That is the deepest source of all true liberality. +If a man feels that he does not own himself, much less will he feel that +his goods are his own. A slave's owner possesses the slave's bit of +garden ground, his hut, and its furniture. If I belong to Christ, to +whom does my money belong? But the consciousness that my goods are not +mine, but Christ's, is not to remain a mere sentiment. It can receive +practical embodiment by my giving them to Christ's representatives. The +way for the Macedonians to show that they regarded their goods as +Christ's, was to give them to Paul for Christ's poor saints. Jesus has +His representatives still, and it is useless for people to talk or sing +about belonging to Him, unless they verify their words by deeds. + +Verse 6 tells the Corinthians that the success of the collection in +Macedonia had induced Paul to send Titus to Corinth to promote it there. +He had previously visited it on the same errand (chap. xii. 14), and now +is coming to complete 'this grace.' The rest of the passage is Paul's +appeal to the Corinthians for their help in the matter, and certainly +never was such an appeal made in a more dignified, noble, and lofty +tone. He has been dilating on the liberality of others, and thereby +sanctioning the stimulating of Christian liberality, in the same way as +other graces may legitimately be stimulated, by example. That is +delicate ground to tread on, and needs caution if it is not to +degenerate into an appeal to rivalry, as it too often does, but in +itself is perfectly legitimate and wholesome. But, passing from that +incitement, Paul rests his plea on deeper grounds. + +First, Christian liberality is essential to the completeness of +Christian character. Paul's praise in verse 7 is not mere flattery, nor +meant to put the Corinthians into good humour. He will have enough to +say hereafter about scandals and faults, but now he gives them credit +for all the good he knew to be in them. Faith comes first, as always. It +is the root of every Christian excellence. Then follow two graces, +eminently characteristic of a Greek church, and apt to run to seed in +it,--utterance and knowledge. Then two more, both of a more emotional +character,--earnestness and love, especially to Paul as Christ's +servant. But all these fair attributes lacked completeness without the +crowning grace of liberality. It is the crowning grace, because it is +the practical manifestation of the highest excellences. It is the result +of sympathy, of unselfishness, of contact with Christ, of drinking in of +His spirit, Love is best. Utterance and knowledge and earnestness are +poor beside it. This grace is like the diamond which clasps a necklace +of jewels. + +Christian giving does not need to be commanded. 'I speak not by way of +commandment.' That is poor virtue which only obeys a precept. Gifts +given because it is duty to give them are not really gifts, but taxes. +They leave no sweet savour on the hand that bestows, and bring none to +that which receives. 'I call you not servants, but friends.' The region +in which Christian liberality moves is high above the realm of law and +its correlative, obligation. + +Further, Christian liberality springs spontaneously from conscious +possession of Christ's riches. We cannot here enter on the mysteries of +Christ's emptying Himself of His riches of glory. We can but touch the +stupendous fact, remembering that the place whereon we stand is holy +ground. Who can measure the nature and depth of that self-denuding of +the glory which He had with the Father before the world was? But, thank +God, we do not need to measure it, in order to feel the solemn, blessed +force of the appeal which it makes to us. Adoring wonder and gratitude, +unfaltering trust and absolute self-surrender to a love so +self-sacrificing, must ever follow the belief of that mystery of Divine +mercy, the incarnation and sacrifice of the eternal Son. + +But Paul would have us remember that the same mighty act of stooping +love, which is the foundation of all our hope, is to be the pattern for +all our conduct. Even in His divinest and most mysterious act, Christ is +our example. A dewdrop is rounded by the same laws which shape the +planetary spheres or the sun himself; and Christians but half trust +Christ if they do not imitate Him. What selfishness in enjoyment of our +'own things' could live in us if we duly brought ourselves under the +influence of that example? How miserably poor and vulgar the appeals by +which money is sometimes drawn from grudging owners and tight-buttoned +pockets, sound beside that heart-searching and heart-moving one, 'Ye +know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ!' + +Further, Christian liberality will not go off in good intentions and +benevolent sentiments. The Corinthians were ready with their 'willing' +on Titus's previous visit. Now Paul desires them to put their good +feelings into concrete shape. There is plenty of benevolence that never +gets to be beneficence. The advice here has a very wide application: 'As +there was the readiness to will, so there may be the completion also.' +We all know where the road leads that is paved with good intentions. + +Further, Christian liberality is accepted and rewarded according to +willingness, if that is carried into act according to ability. While the +mere wish to help is not enough, it is the vital element in the act +which flows from it; and there may be more of it in the widow's mite +than in the rich man's large donation--or there may be less. The +conditions of acceptable offerings are twofold--first, readiness, glad +willingness to give, as opposed to closed hearts or grudging bestowals; +and, second, that willingness embodied in the largest gift possible. The +absence of either vitiates all. The presence of both gives trifles a +place in God's storehouse of precious things. A father is glad when his +child brings him some utterly valueless present, not because he must, +but because he loves; and many a parent has such laid away in sacred +repositories. God knows how to take gifts from His children, not less +well than we who are evil know how to do it. + +But the gracious saying of our passage has a solemn side; for if only +gifts 'according as a man hath' are accepted, what becomes of the many +which fall far short of our ability, and are really given, not because +we have the willing mind, but because we could not get out of the +unwelcome necessity to part with a miserably inadequate percentage of +our possessions. Is God likely to be satisfied with the small dividends +which we offer as composition for our great debt? + + + + +RICH YET POOR + + 'For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, + that, though He was rich yet for your sakes He + became poor, that ye through His poverty might be + rich.'--2 COR. viii. 9. + + +The Apostle has been speaking about a matter which, to us, seems very +small, but to him was very great viz., a gathering of pecuniary help +from the Gentile churches for the poor church in Jerusalem. Large +issues, in his estimation, attended that exhibition of Christian unity, +and, be it great or small, he applies the highest of all motives to this +matter. 'For ye know the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, that though He +was rich yet for your sakes He became poor.' The trivial things of life +are to be guided and shaped by reference to the highest of all things, +the example of Jesus Christ; and that in the whole depth of His +humiliation, and even in regard to His cross and passion. We have here +set forth, as the pattern to which the Christian life is to be +conformed, the deepest conception of what our Lord's career on earth +was. + +The whole Christian Church is about to celebrate the nativity of our +Lord at this time. This text gives us the true point of view from which +to regard it. We have here the work of Christ in its deepest motive, +'The grace of our Lord Jesus.' We have it in its transcendent +self-impoverishment, 'Though He was rich, yet for our sakes He became +poor.' We have it in its highest issue, 'That ye through His poverty +might become rich.' Let us look at those points. + +I. Here we have the deepest motive which underlies the whole work of +Christ, unveiled to us. + +'Ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ.' Every word here is +significant. It is very unusual in the New Testament to find that +expression 'grace' applied to Jesus Christ. Except in the familiar +benediction, I think there are only one or two instances of such a +collocation of words. It is 'the grace of God' which, throughout the New +Testament, is the prevailing expression. But here 'grace is attributed +to Jesus'; that is to say, the love of the Divine heart is, without +qualification or hesitation, ascribed to Him. And what do we mean by +grace? We mean love in exercise to inferiors. It is infinite +condescension in Jesus to love. His love stoops when it embraces us. +Very significant, therefore, is the employment here of the solemn full +title, 'the Lord Jesus Christ,' which enhances the condescension by +making prominent the height from which it bent. The 'grace' is all the +more wonderful because of the majesty and sovereignty, to say the least +of it, which are expressed in that title, the Lord. The highest stoops +and stands upon the level of the lowest. 'Grace' is love that expresses +itself to those who deserve something else. And the deepest motive, +which is the very key to the whole phenomena of the life of Jesus +Christ, is that it is all the exhibition, as it is the consequence, of a +love that, stooping, forgives. 'Grace' is love that, stooping and +forgiving, communicates its whole self to unworthy and transgressing +recipients. And the key to the life of Jesus is that we have set forth +in its operation a love which is not content to speak only the ordinary +language of human affection, or to do its ordinary deeds, but is +self-impelled to impart what transcends all other gifts of human +tenderness, and to give its very self. And so a love that condescends, a +love that passes by unworthiness, is turned away by no sin, is unmoved +to any kind of anger, and never allows its cheek to flush or its heart +to beat faster, because of any provocation and a love that is content +with nothing short of entire surrender and self-impartation underlies +all that precious life from Bethlehem to Calvary. + +But there is another word in our text that may well be here taken into +consideration. 'For your sakes,' says the Apostle to that Corinthian +church, made up of people, not one of whom had ever seen or been seen by +Jesus. And yet the regard to them was part of the motive that moved the +Lord to His life, and His death. That is to say, to generalise the +thought, this grace, thus stooping and forgiving and self-imparting, is +a love that gathers into its embrace and to its heart all mankind; and +is universal because it is individualising. Just as each planet in the +heavens, and each tiny plant upon the earth, are embraced by, and +separately receive, the benediction of that all-encompassing arch of the +heaven, so that grace enfolds all, because it takes account of each. +Whilst it is love for a sinful world, every soul of us may say: 'He +loved me, and'--therefore--'gave Himself for me.' Unless we see beneath +the sweet story of the earthly life this deep-lying source of it all, we +fail to understand that life itself. We may bring criticism to bear upon +it; we may apprehend it in diverse affecting, elevating, educating +aspects; but, oh! brethren, we miss the blazing centre of the light, the +warm heart of the fire, unless we see pulsating through all the +individual facts of the life this one, all-shaping, all-vitalising +motive; the grace--the stooping, the pardoning, the self-communicating, +the individualising, and the universal love of Jesus Christ. + +So then, we have here set before us the work of Christ in its-- + +II. Most mysterious and unique self-impoverishment. + +'He was . . . He became,' there is one strange contrast. 'He was _rich_ +. . . He became _poor_,' there is another. 'He was . . . He became.' What +does that say? Well, it says that if you want to understand Bethlehem, +you must go back to a time before Bethlehem. The meaning of Christ's +birth is only understood when we turn to that Evangelist who does not +narrate it. For the meaning of it is here; 'the Word became flesh, and +dwelt among us.' The surface of the fact is the smallest part of the +fact. They say that there is seven times as much of an iceberg under +water as there is above the surface. And the deepest and most important +fact about the nativity of our Lord is that it was not only the birth of +an Infant, but the Incarnation of the Word. 'He was . . . He became.' We +have to travel back and recognise that that life did not begin in the +manger. We have to travel back and recognise the mystery of godliness, +God manifest in the flesh. + +And these two words 'He was . . . He became,' imply another thing, and +that is, that Jesus Christ who died because He chose, was not passive in +His being born, but as at the end of His earthly life, so at its +beginning exercised His volition, and was born because He willed, and +willed because of 'the grace of our Lord Jesus.' + +Now in this connection it is very remarkable, and well worth our +pondering, that throughout the whole of the Gospels, when Jesus speaks +of His coming into the world, He never uses the word 'born' but once, +and that was before the Roman governor, who would not have understood or +cared for anything further, to whom He did say,'To this end was I +born.' But even when speaking to him His consciousness that that word +did not express the whole truth was so strong that He could not help +adding--though He knew that the hard Roman procurator would pay no +attention to the apparent tautology--the expression which more truly +corresponded to the fact, 'and for this cause came I into the world.' +The two phrases are not parallel. They are by no means synonymous. One +expresses the outward fact; the other expresses that which underlay it. +'To this end was I born.' Yes! 'And for this cause came I.' He Himself +put it still more definitely when He said, 'I came forth from the +Father, and am come into the world. Again, I leave the world and go unto +the Father.' So the two extremities of the earthly manifestation are +neither of them ends; but before the one, and behind the other, there +stretches an identity or oneness of Being and condition. The one as the +other, the birth and the death, may be regarded as, in deepest reality, +not only what He passively endured, but what He actively did. He was +born, and He died, that in all points He might be 'like unto His +brethren.' He 'came' into the world, and He 'went' to the Father. The +end circled round to the beginning, and in both He acted because He +chose, and chose because He loved. + +So much, then, lies in the one of these two antitheses of my text; and +the other is no less profound and significant. 'He was rich; He became +poor.' In this connection 'rich' can only mean possessed of the Divine +fulness and independence; and 'poor' can only mean possessed of human +infirmity, dependence, and emptiness. And so to Jesus of Nazareth, to be +born was impoverishment. If there is nothing more in His birth than in +the birth of each of us, the words are grotesquely inappropriate to the +facts of the case. For as between nothingness, which is the alternative, +and the possession of conscious being, there is surely a contrast the +very reverse of that expressed here. For us, to be born is to be endowed +with capacities, with the wealth of intelligent, responsible, voluntary +being; but to Jesus Christ, if we accept the New Testament teaching, to +be born was a step, an infinite step, downwards, and He, alone of all +men, might have been 'ashamed to call men brethren.' But this denudation +of Himself, into the particulars of which I do not care to enter now, +was the result of that stooping grace which 'counted it not a thing to +be clutched hold of, to be equal with God; but He made Himself of no +reputation, and was found in fashion as a man, and became obedient unto +death, even the death of the Cross.' + +And so, dear friends, we know the measure of the stooping love of Jesus +only when we read the history by the light of this thought, that 'though +He was rich' with all the fulness of that eternal Word which was 'in the +beginning with God,' 'He became poor,' with the poverty, the infirmity, +the liability to temptation, the weakness, that attach to humanity; 'and +was found in all points like unto His brethren,' that He might be able +to help and succour them all. + +The last thing here is-- + +III. The work of Christ set forth in its highest issue. + +'That we through His poverty might become rich.' Of course, the +antithetical expressions must be taken to be used in the same sense, and +with the same width of application, in both of the clauses. And if so, +just think reverently, wonderingly, thankfully, of the infinite vista +of glorious possibility that is open to us here. Christ was rich in the +possession of that Divine glory which Had had with the Father before the +world was. 'He became poor,' in assuming the weakness of the manhood +that you and I carry, that we, in the human poverty which is like His +poverty, may become rich with wealth that is like His riches, and that +as He stooped to earth veiling the Divine with the human, we may rise to +heaven, clothing the human with the Divine. + +For surely there is nothing more plainly taught in Scriptures, and I am +bold to say nothing to which any deep and vital Christian experience +even here gives more surely an anticipatory confirmation, than the fact +that Christ became like unto us, that each of us may become like unto +Him. The divine and the human natures are similar, and the fact of the +Incarnation, on the one hand, and of the man's glorification by +possession of the divine nature on the other, equally rest upon that +fundamental resemblance between the divine nature and the human nature +which God has made in His own image. If that which in each of us is +unlike God is cleared away, as it can be cleared away, through faith in +that dear Lord, then the likeness as a matter of course, comes into +force. + +The law of all elevation is that whosoever desires to lift must stoop; +and the end of all stooping is to lift the lowly to the place from which +the love hath bent itself. And this is at once the law for the +Incarnation of the Christ, and for the elevation of the Christian. 'We +shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is.' And the great love, +the stooping, forgiving, self-communicating love, doth not reach its +ultimate issue, nor effect fully the purposes to which it ever is +tending, unless and until all who have received it are 'changed from +glory to glory even into the image of the Lord.' We do not understand +Jesus, His cradle, or His Cross, unless on the one hand we see in them +His emptying Himself that He might fill us, and, on the other hand, see, +as the only result which warrants them and satisfies Him, our complete +conformity to His image, and our participation in that glory which He +has at the right hand of God. That is the prospect for humanity, and it +is possible for each of us. + +I do not dwell upon other aspects of this great self-emptying of our +Lord's, such as the revelation in it to us of the very heart of God, and +of the divinest thing in the divine nature, which is love, or such as +the sympathy which is made possible thereby to Him, and which is not +only the pity of a God, but the compassion of a Brother. Nor do I touch +upon many other aspects which are full of strengthening and teaching. +That grand thought that Jesus has shared our human poverty that we may +share His divine riches is the very apex of the New Testament teaching, +and of the Christian hope. We have within us, notwithstanding all our +transgressions, what the old divines used to call a 'deiform nature,' +capable of being lifted up into the participation of divinity, capable +of being cleansed from all the spots and stains which make us so unlike +Him in whose likeness we were made. + +Brethren, let us not forget that this stooping, and pardoning, and +self-imparting love, has for its main instrument to appeal to our +hearts, not the cradle but the Cross. We are being told by many people +to-day that the centre of Christianity lies in the thought of an +Incarnation. Yes. But our Lord Himself has told us what that was for. + +'The Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to +give His life a ransom for many.' It is only when we look to that Lord +in His death, and see there the very lowest point to which He stooped, +and the supreme manifestation of His grace, that we shall be drawn to +yield our hearts and lives to Him in thankfulness, in trust, and in +imitation: and shall set Him before us as the pattern for our conduct, +as well as the Object of our trust. + +Brethren, my text was spoken originally as presenting the motive and the +example for a little piece of pecuniary liability. Do you take the +cradle and the Cross as the law of your lives? For depend upon it, the +same necessity which obliged Jesus to come down to our level, if He +would lift us to His; to live our life and die our death, if He would +make us partakers of His immortal life, and deliver us from death; makes +it absolutely necessary that if we are to live for anything nobler than +our own poor, transitory self-aggrandisement, we too must learn to stoop +to forgive, to impart ourselves, and must die by self-surrender and +sacrifice, if we are ever to communicate any life, or good of life, to +others. He has loved us, and given Himself for us. He has set us therein +an example which He commends to us by His own word when He tells us that +'if a corn of wheat' is to bring forth 'much fruit' it must die, else it +'abideth alone.' Unless we die, we never truly live; unless we die to +ourselves for others, and like Jesus, we live alone in the solitude of a +self-enclosed self-regard. So living, we are dead whilst we live. + + + + +WILLING AND NOT DOING + + 'Now therefore perform the doing of it; that as + there was a readiness to will so there may be a + performance also.'--2 COR. viii. 11. + + +The Revised Version reads: 'But now complete the doing also; that as +there was the readiness to will, so there may be the completion also out +of your ability.' A collection of money for the almost pauper church at +Jerusalem bulked very largely in the Apostle's mind at the date of the +writing of the two letters to the Corinthian church. We learn that that +church had been the first to agree to the project, and then had very +distinctly hung back from implementing its promises and fulfilling its +good intentions. So the Apostle, in the chapter from which my text is +taken, with wonderful delicacy, dignity, and profundity, sets forth the +true principle, not only of Christian giving, but of Christian asking. +The text advises that the gushing sentiments of brotherly sympathy and +liberality which had inspired the Corinthians a year ago should now bear +some fruit in action. So Paul is going to send Titus, his right-hand man +at the time, to hurry up and finish off the collection and have done +with it. The text is in effect the message which Titus was to carry; but +it has a far wider application than that. It is a needful advice for us +all about a great many other things: 'As there was a readiness to will, +so let there be a performance also.' + +Resolutions, noble and good and Christlike, have a strange knack of +cheating the people who make them. So we all need the exhortation not to +be befooled by fancying that we have done, when we have only willed. Of +course we shall not do unless we will. But there is a wide gap, as our +experience witnesses, between the two things. We all know what place it +is to which, according to the old proverb, the road is paved with good +intentions; and the only way to pull up that paving is to take Paul's +advice here and always, and immediately to put into action the resolves +of our hearts. Now I desire to say two or three very plain and simple +things about this matter. + +I. I would have you consider the necessity of this commandment. + +Consider that the fault here warned against is a universal one. What +different men we should be if our resolutions had fruited in conduct! In +all regions of life that is true, but most emphatically is it true in +regard to religion. The damning tragedy of many lives, and I dare say of +those of some of my hearers, is that men have over and over again +determined that they would be Christians, and they are not Christians +yet; just because they have let 'the native hue of resolution be +sicklied over' by some paleness or other, and so have resolved and +resolved and resolved till every nerve of action is rotted away, and +they will die unchristian. I dare say that there are men or women +listening to me now, perhaps with grey hairs upon them, who can remember +times, in the springtide of their youth, when they said, 'I will give my +heart to Jesus Christ, and set my faith upon Him'; and they have not +done it yet. Now, therefore, 'as there was a readiness to will, let +there be also the performance.' + +But it is not only in regard to that most important of all resolves that +I wish to say a word. All Christians, I am sure, know what it is, over +and over again, to have had stirrings in their hearts which they have +been able to consolidate into determination, but have not been able to +carry into act. 'The children have come to the birth, and there is not +strength to bring them forth.' That is true about all of us, more or +less, and it is very solemnly true of a great many of us professing +Christians. We have tried to cure--we have determined that we will +cure--manifest and flagrant defects or faults in our Christian life. We +have resolved, and some nipping frost has come, and the blossoms have +dropped on the grass before they have ever set into fruit. I know that +is so about you, because I know that it is so about myself. And +therefore, dear brethren, I appeal to you, and ask you whether the +exhortation of my text has not a sharp point for every one of +us--whether the universality of this defect does not demand that we all +should gravely consider the exhortation here before us? + +Then, again, let me remind you how this injunction is borne in upon us +by the consideration of the strength of the opposition with which we +have always to contend, in every honest attempt to bring to act our best +resolutions. Did you ever try to cure some little habit, some mere +trifle, a trick of manner or twist of the finger, or some attitude or +tone that might be ugly and awkward, and that people told you that it +would be better to get rid of? You know how hard it is. There is always +a tremendous gulf between the ideal and its realisation in life. As long +as we are moving _in vacuo_ we move without any friction or difficulty; +but as soon as we come out into a world where there are an atmosphere +and opposing forces, then friction comes in, and speed diminishes; and +we never become what we aim to be. We begin with grand purposes, and we +end with very poor results. We all start, in our early days, with the +notion that our lives are going to be radiant and beautiful, and all +unlike what the limitations of power and the antagonisms that we have to +meet make of them at last. The tree of our life's doings has to grow, +like those contorted pines on the slopes of the Alps, in many storms, +with heavy weights of snow on its branches, and beaten about by tempests +from every quarter of the heavens; and so it gets gnarled and knotted +and very unlike the symmetrical beauty that we dreamed would adorn it. +We begin with saying: 'Come! Let us build a tower whose top shall reach +to heaven'; and we are contented at last, if we have put up some little +tumble-down shed where we can get shelter for our heads from the blast. + +And the difficulty in bringing into action our best selves besets us in +the matter of translating our resolutions into practice. What are +arrayed against it? A feeble will, enslaved too often by passions and +flesh and habits, and all about us lie obstacles to our carrying into +action our conscientious convictions, our deepest resolutions; obstacles +to our being true to our true selves; to which obstacles, alas, far too +many of us habitually, and all of us occasionally, succumb. That being +the case, do not we all need to ponder in our deepest hearts, and to +pray for grace to make the motto of our lives, 'As there was a readiness +to will, let there be a performance'? + +II. Consider the importance of this counsel. + +That is borne in upon mind and conscience by looking at the disastrous +effects of letting resolutions remain sterile. Consider how apt we are +to deceive ourselves with unfulfilled purposes. The quick response which +an easily-moved nature may make to some appeal of noble thought or lofty +principle is mistaken for action, and we are tempted to think that +willing is almost as good as if we had done what we half resolved on. +And there is a kind of glow of satisfaction that comes when such a man +thinks, 'I have done well in that I have determined.' The Devil will let +you resolve as much as you like--the more the better; only the more +easily you resolve, the more certainly he will block the realisation. +Let us take care of that seducing temptation which is apt to lead us all +to plume ourselves on good resolutions, and to fancy that they are +almost equivalent to their own fulfilment. Cheques are all very well if +there be bullion in the bank cellars to pay them with when they fall +due, but if that be not so, then the issuing of them is crime and fraud. +Our resolutions, made and forgotten as so many of our good resolutions +are, are very little better. + +Note, too, how rapidly the habit of substituting lightly-made +resolutions for seriously-endeavoured acts grows. + +And mark, further, how miserable and debilitating it is to carry the +dead weight of such unaccomplished intentions. + +Nothing so certainly weakens a man as a multitude of resolves that he +knows he has never fulfilled. They weaken his will, burden his +conscience, stand in the way of his hopes, make him feel as if the +entail of evil was too firm and strong to be ever broken. 'O wretched +man that I am!' said one who had made experience of what it was to will +what was good, and not to find how to perform, 'who shall deliver me +from the body of this death?' It is an awful thing to have to carry a +corpse about on your back. And that was what Paul thought the man did +who loaded his own shoulders with abortive resolutions, that perished +in the birth, and never grew up to maturity. Weak and miserable is +always the man who is swift to resolve and slow to carry out his +resolutions. + +III. And now let me say a word before I close about how this universal +and grave disease is to be coped with. + +Well, I should say to begin with, let us take very soberly and +continually into our consciousness the recognition of the fact that the +disease is there. And then may I say, let us be rather slower to resolve +than we often are. 'Better is it that thou shouldest not vow than that +thou shouldest vow and not pay.' The man who has never had the +determination to give up some criminal indulgence--say, drink--is +possibly less criminal, and certainly less weak, than the man who, when +his head aches, and the consequences of his self-indulgence are vividly +realised by him, makes up his mind to be a teetotaller, and soon +stumbles into the first dram-shop that is open, and then reels out a +drunkard. Do not vow until you have made up your minds to pay. Remember +that it is a solemn act to determine anything, especially anything +bearing on moral and religious life; and that you had far better keep +your will in suspense than spring to the resolution with thoughtless +levity and leave it with the same. + +Further, the habit of promptly carrying out our resolves is one that, +like all other habits, can be cultivated. And we can cultivate it in +little things, in the smallest trifles of daily life, which by their +myriads make up life itself, in order that it may be a fixed custom of +our minds when great resolves have to be made. The man who has trained +himself day in and day out, in regard to the insignificances of daily +life, to let act follow resolve as the thunder peal succeeds the +lightning flash, is the man who, if he is moved to make a great resolve +about his religion, or about his conduct, will be most likely to carry +it out. Get the magical influence of habit on your side, and you will +have done much to conquer the evil of abortive resolutions. + +But then there is something a great deal more than that to be said. The +Apostle did not content himself, in the passage already referred to, +with bewailing the wretchedness of the condition in which to will was +present, but how to perform he found not. He asked, and he triumphantly +answered, the question, 'Who shall deliver me?' with the great words, 'I +thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.' There is the secret; keep near +Him, trust Him, open your hearts to the influences of that Divine Spirit +who makes us free from the law of sin and death. And if thus, knowing +our weakness, recognising our danger, humbly trying to cultivate the +habit of prompt discharge of all discerned duty, we leave ourselves in +Jesus Christ's hands, and wait, and ask, and believe that we possess, +His cleansing Spirit, then we shall not ask and wait in vain. 'Work out +your own salvation, . . . for it is God that worketh in you, both the +willing and the doing.' + + + + +ALL GRACE ABOUNDING + + 'God is able to make all grace abound toward you; + that ye, always having all-sufficiency in all + things, may abound to every good work.'--2 COR. + ix. 8. + + +In addition to all his other qualities the Apostle was an extremely good +man of business; and he had a field for the exercise of that quality in +the collection for the poor saints of Judea, which takes up so much of +this letter, and occupied for so long a period so much of his thoughts +and efforts. It was for the sake of showing by actual demonstration that +would 'touch the hearts' of the Jewish brethren, the absolute unity of +the two halves of the Church, the Gentile and the Jewish, that the +Apostle took so much trouble in this matter. The words which I have read +for my text come in the midst of a very earnest appeal to the Corinthian +Christians for their pecuniary help. He is dwelling upon the same +thought which is expressed in the well-known words: 'What I gave I kept; +what I kept I lost.' + +But whilst the words of my text primarily applied to money matters, you +see that they are studiously general, universal. The Apostle, after his +fashion, is lifting up a little 'secular' affair into a high spiritual +region; and he lays down in my text a broad general law, which goes to +the very depths of the Christian life. + +Now, notice, we have here in three clauses three stages which we may +venture to distinguish as the fountain, the basin, the stream. 'God is +able to make all grace abound toward you';--there is the fountain. 'That +ye always, having all-sufficiency in all things';--there is the basin +that receives the gush from the fountain. 'May abound in every good +work';--there is the steam that comes from the basin. The fountain pours +into the basin, that the flow from the basin may feed the stream. + +Now this thought of Paul's goes to the heart of things. So let us look +at it. + +I. The Fountain. + +The Christian life in all its aspects and experiences is an outflow from +the 'the Fountain of Life,' the giving God. Observe how emphatically the +Apostle, in the context, accumulates words that express universality: +'_all_ grace . . . _all_-sufficiency for _all_ things . . . _every_ good +work.' But even these expressions do not satisfy Paul, and he has to +repeat the word 'abound,' in order to give some faint idea of his +conception of the full tide which gushes from the fountain. It is 'all +grace,' and it is abounding grace. + +Now what does he mean by 'grace'? That word is a kind of shorthand for +the whole sum of the unmerited blessings which come to men through Jesus +Christ. Primarily, it describes what we, for want of a better +expression, have to call a 'disposition' in the divine nature; and it +means, then, if so looked at, the unconditioned, undeserved, +spontaneous, eternal, stooping, pardoning love of God. That is grace, in +the primary New Testament use of the phrase. + +But there are no idle 'dispositions' in God. They are always energising, +and so the word glides from meaning the disposition, to meaning the +manifestation and activities of it, and the 'grace' of our Lord is that +love in exercise. And then, since the divine energies are never +fruitless, the word passes over, further, to mean all the blessed and +beautiful things in a soul which are the consequences of the Promethean +truth of God's loving hand, the outcome in life of the inward bestowment +which has its cause, its sole cause, in God's ceaseless, unexhausted +love, unmerited and free. + +That, very superficially and inadequately set forth, is at least a +glimpse into the fulness and greatness of meaning that lies in that +profound New Testament word, 'grace.' But the Apostle here puts +emphasis on the variety of forms which the one divine gift assumes. +It is '_all_ grace' which God is able to make abound toward you. So +then, you see this one transcendent gift from the divine heart, when +it comes into our human experience, is like a meteor when it passes +into the atmosphere of earth, and catches fire and blazes, showering +out a multitude of radiant points of light. The grace is +many-sided--many-sided to us, but one in its source and in its +character. For at bottom, that which God in His grace gives to us as His +grace is what? Himself; or if you like to put it in another form, which +comes to the same thing--new life through Jesus Christ. That is the +encyclopaediacal gift, which contains within itself all grace. And just +as the physical life in each of us, one in all its manifestations, +produces many results, and shines in the eye, and blushes in the cheek, +and gives strength to the arm, and flexibility and deftness to the +fingers and swiftness to the foot: so also is that one grace which, +being manifold in its manifestations, is one in its essence. There are +many graces, there is one Grace. + +But this grace is not only many-sided, but abounding. It is not +congruous with God's wealth, nor with His love, that He should give +scantily, or, as it were, should open but a finger of the hand that is +full of His gifts, and let out a little at a time. There are no sluices +on that great stream so as to regulate its flow, and to give sometimes a +painful trickle and sometimes a full gush, but this fountain is always +pouring itself out, and it 'abounds.' + +But then we are pulled up short by another word in this first clause: +'God is _able_ to make.' Paul does not say, 'God will make.' He puts the +whole weight of responsibility for that ability becoming operative upon +us. There are conditions; and although we may have access to that full +fountain, it will not pour on us 'all grace' and 'abundant grace,' +unless we observe these, and so turn God's ability to give into actual +giving. And how do we do that? By desire, by expectance, by petition, +by faithful stewardship. If we have these things, if we have tutored +ourselves, and experience has helped in the tuition, to make large our +expectancy, God will smile down upon us and 'do exceeding abundantly +above all' that we 'think' as well as above all that we 'ask.' Brethren, +if our supplies are scant, when the full fountain is gushing at our +sides, we are 'not straitened in God, we are straitened in ourselves.' +Christian possibilities are Christian obligations, and what we might +have and do not have, is our condemnation. + +I turn, in the next place, to what I have, perhaps too fancifully, +called + +II. The Basin. + +'God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, having always +all-sufficiency in all things, may,' . . . etc. + +The result of all this many-sided and exuberant outpouring of grace from +the fountain is that the basin may be full. Considering the infinite +source and the small receptacle, we might have expected something more +than 'sufficiency' to have resulted. + +Divine grace is sufficient. Is it not more than sufficient? Yes, no +doubt. But what Paul wishes us to feel is this--to put it into very +plain English--that the good gifts of the divine grace will always be +proportioned to our work, and to our sufferings too. We shall feel that +we have enough, if we are as we ought to be. Sufficiency is more than a +man gets anywhere else. 'Enough is as good as a feast.' And if we have +strength, which we may have, to do the day's tasks, and strength to +carry the day's crosses, and strength to accept the day's sorrows, and +strength to master the day's temptations, that is as much as we need +wish to have, even out of the fulness of God. And we shall get it, dear +brethren, if we will only fulfil the conditions. If we exercise +expectance, and desire and petition and faithful stewardship, we shall +get what we need. 'Thy shoes shall be iron and brass,' if the road is a +steep and rocky one that would wear out leather. 'As thy days so shall +thy strength be.' God does not hurl His soldiers in a blundering attack +on some impregnable mountain, where they are slain in heaps at the base; +but when He lays a commandment on my shoulders, He infuses strength into +me, and according to the good homely old saying that has brought comfort +to many a sad and weighted heart, makes the back to bear the burden. The +heavy task or the crushing sorrow is often the key that opens the door +of God's treasure-house. You have had very little experience either of +life or of Christian life, if you have not learnt by this time that the +harder your work, and the darker your sorrows, the mightier have been +God's supports, and the more starry the lights that have shone upon your +path. 'That ye, always having all-sufficiency in all things.' + +One more word: this sufficiency _should be_ more uniform, _is_ uniform +in the divine intention, and in so far as the flow of the fountain is +concerned. Always having had I may be sure that I always shall have. Of +course I know that, in so far as our physical nature conditions our +spiritual experience, there will be ups and downs, moments of +emancipation and moments of slavery. There will be times when the flower +opens, and times when it shuts itself up. But I am sure that the great +mass of Christian people might have a far more level temperature in +their Christian experience than they have; that we could, if we would, +have far more experimental knowledge of this 'always' of my text. God +means that the basin should be always full right up to the top of the +marble edge, and that the more is drawn off from it, the more should +flow into it. But it is very often like the reservoirs in the hills for +some great city in a drought, where great stretches of the bottom are +exposed, and again, when the drought breaks, are full to the top of the +retaining wall. That should not be. Our Christian life should run on the +high levels. Why does it not? Possibilities are duties. + +And now, lastly, we have here what, adhering to my metaphor, I call + +III. The stream. + +'That ye, always having all-sufficiency in all things, may abound to +every good work.' + +That is what God gives us His grace for; and that is a very important +consideration. The end of God's dealings with us, poor, weak, sinful +creatures, is character and conduct. Of course you can state the end in +a great many other ways; but there have been terrible evils arising from +the way in which Evangelical preachers have too often talked, as if the +end of God's dealings with us was the vague thing which they call +'salvation,' and by which many of their hearers take them to mean +neither more nor less than dodging Hell. But the New Testament, with all +its mysticism, even when it soars highest, and speaks most about the +perfection of humanity, and the end of God's dealings being that we may +be 'filled with the fulness of God,' never loses its wholesome, sane +hold of the common moralities of daily life, and proclaims that we +receive all, in order that we may be able to 'maintain good works for +necessary uses.' And if we lay that to heart, and remember that a +correct creed, and a living faith, and precious, select, inward emotions +and experiences are all intended to evolve into lives, filled and +radiant with common moralities and 'good works'--not meaning thereby the +things which go by that name in popular phraseology, but 'whatsoever +things are lovely . . . and of good report'--then we shall understand a +little better what we are here for and what Jesus Christ died for, and +what His Spirit is given and lives in us for. So 'good works' is the +end, in one very important aspect, of all that avalanche of grace which +has been from eternity rushing down upon us from the heights of God. + +There is one more thing to note, and that is that, in our character and +conduct, we should copy the 'giving grace.' Look how eloquently and +significantly, in the first and last clauses of my text, the same words +recur. 'God is able to make _all_ grace abound, that ye may _abound_ in +_all_ good work.' Copy God in the many-sidedness and in the copiousness +of the good that flows out from your life and conduct, because of your +possession of that divine grace. And remember, 'to him that hath shall +be given.' We pray for more grace; we need to pray for that, no doubt. +Do we use the grace that God has given us? If we do not, the remainder +of that great word which I have just quoted will be fulfilled in you. +God forbid that any of us should receive the grace of God in vain, and +therefore come under the stern and inevitable sentence, 'From him that +hath not shall be taken away, even that which he hath!' + + + + +GOD'S UNSPEAKABLE GIFT + + 'Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.'--2 + COR. ix. 15. + + +It seems strange that there should ever have been any doubt as to what +gift it is which evokes this burst of thanksgiving. There is but one of +God's many mercies which is worthy of being thus singled out. There is +one blazing central sun which shines out amidst all the galaxy of lights +which fill the heavens. There is one gift of God which, beyond all +others, merits the designation of 'unspeakable.' The gift of Christ +draws all other divine gifts after it. 'How should He not with Him also +freely give us all things.' + +The connection in which this abrupt jet of praise stands is very +remarkable. The Apostle has been dwelling on the Christian obligation of +giving bountifully and cheerfully, and on the great law that a glad +giver is 'enriched' and not impoverished thereby, whilst the recipients, +for their part, are blessed by having thankfulness evoked towards the +givers. And that contemplation of the happy interchange of benefit and +thanks between men leads the fervid Apostle to the thoughts which were +always ready to spring to his lips--of God as the great pattern of +giving and of the gratitude to Him which should fill all our souls. The +expression here 'unspeakable' is what I wish chiefly to fix upon now. It +means literally that which cannot be fully declared. Language fails +because thought fails. + +I. The gift comes from unspeakable love. + +God _so_ loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son. The love is +the cause of the gift: the gift is the expression of the love. John's +Gospel says that the Son which is in the bosom of the Father has +_declared_ Him. Paul here uses a related word for _unspeakable_ which +might be rendered 'that which cannot be fully declared.' The declaration +of the Father partly consists in this, that He is declared to be +undeclarable, the proclamation of His name consists partly in this that +it is proclaimed to be a name that cannot be proclaimed. Language fails +when it is applied to the expression of human emotion; no tongue can +ever fully serve the heart. Whether there be any thoughts too great for +words or no, there are emotions too great. Language is ever 'weaker than +our grief' and not seldom weaker than our love. It is but the surface +water that can be run off through the narrow channel of speech: the +central deep remains. If it be so with human affection, how much more +must it be so with God's love? With lowly condescension He uses all +sweet images drawn from earthly relationships, to help us in +understanding His. Every dear name is pressed into the service--father, +mother, husband, wife, brother, friend, and after all are exhausted, the +love which clothed itself in them all in turn, and used them all to give +some faint hint of its own perfection, remains unspoken. We know human +love, its limitations, its changes, its extravagances, its shortcomings, +and cannot but feel how unworthy it is to mirror for us that perfection +in God which we venture to name by a name so soiled. The analogies +between what we call love in man and love in God must be supplemented by +the differences between them, if we are ever to approach a worthy +conception of the unspeakable love that underlies the unspeakable gift. + +II. The gift involves unspeakable sacrifice. + +Human love desires to give its most precious treasures to its object +and is then most blessed: divine love cannot come short of human in this +most characteristic of its manifestations. Surely the copy is not to +surpass the original, nor the mirror to flash more brightly than the sun +which, at the brightest, it but reflects. In such a matter we can but +stammer when we try to find words. As our text warns us, we are trying +to utter the unutterable when we seek to speak of God's giving up for +us; but however such a thought may seem to be forbidden by other aspects +of the divine nature, it seems to be involved in the great truth that +'God is love.' Since He is, His blessedness too, must be in imparting, +and in parting with what He gives. A humble worshipper in Jewish times +loved enough to say that he would not offer unto God an offering that +cost him nothing, and that loving height of self-surrender was at the +highest, but a lowly imitation of the love to which it looked up. When +Paul in the Epistle to the Romans says, 'He that spared not His own Son +but delivered Him up for us all,' he is obviously alluding to, and all +but quoting, the divine words to Abraham, 'Seeing thou hast not withheld +thy son, thine only son, from Me,' and the allusion permits us to +parallel what God did when He sent His Son with what Abraham did when, +with wrung heart, but with submission, he bound and laid Isaac on the +altar and stretched forth his hand with the knife in it to slay him. +Such a representation contradicts the vulgar conceptions of a +passionless, self-sufficing, icy deity, but reflection on the facts of +our own experience and on the blessed secrets of our own love, leads us +to believe that some shadow of loss passed across the infinite and +eternal completeness of the divine nature when 'God sent forth His Son +made of a woman.' And may we not go further and say that when Jesus on +the Cross cried from out of the darkness of eclipse, 'My God! My God! +Why hast Thou forsaken me?' there was something in the heavens +corresponding to the darkness that covered the earth and something in +the Father's heart that answered the Son's. But our text warns us that +such matters are not for our handling in speech, and are best dealt +with, not as matters of possibly erring speculation, but as materials +for lowly thanks unto God for His unspeakable gift. + +But whatever may be true about the love of the Father who sent, there +can be no doubt about the love of the Son who came. No man helps his +fellows in suffering but at the cost of his own suffering. Sympathy +means _fellow-feeling_, and the one indispensable condition of all +rescue work of any sort is that the rescuer must bear on his own +shoulders the sins or sorrows that he is able to bear away. Heartless +help is no help. It does not matter whether he who 'stands and says, "Be +ye clothed and fed,"' gives or does not give 'the things necessary,' he +will be but a 'miserable comforter' if he has not in heart and feeling +entered into the sorrows and pains which he seeks to alleviate. We need +not dwell on the familiar truths concerning Him who was a 'man of +sorrows and acquainted with grief.' All through His life He was in +contact with evil, and for Him the contact was like that of a naked hand +pressed upon hot iron. The sins and woes of the world made His path +through it like that of bare feet on sharp flints. If He had never died +it would still have been true that 'He was wounded for our +transgressions and bruised for our iniquities.' On the Cross He +completed the libation which had continued throughout His life and +'poured out His soul unto death' as He had been pouring it out all +through His life. We have no measure by which we can estimate the +inevitable sufferings in such a world as ours of such a spirit as +Christ's. We may know something of the solitude of uncongenial society; +of the pain of seeing miseries that we cannot comfort, of the horrors of +dwelling amidst impurities that we cannot cleanse, and of longings to +escape from them all to some nest in the wilderness, but all these are +but the feeblest shadows of the incarnate sorrows whose name among men +was Jesus. Nothing is more pathetic than the way in which our Lord kept +all these sorrows close locked within His own heart, so that scarcely +ever did they come to light. Once He did permit a glimpse into that +hidden chamber when He said, 'O faithless generation, how long shall I +be with you, how long shall I suffer you?' But for the most part His +sorrow was unspoken because it was 'unspeakable.' Once beneath the +quivering olives in the moonlight of Gethsemane, He made a pitiful +appeal for the little help which three drowsy men could give Him, when +He cried, 'My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. Tarry ye +here and watch with Me,' but for the most part the silence at which His +judges 'marvelled greatly,' and raged as much as they marvelled, was +unbroken, and as 'a sheep before her shearers is dumb,' so 'He opened +not His mouth.' The sacrifice of His death was, for the most part, +silent like the sacrifice of His life. Should it not call forth from us +floods of praise and thanks to God for His unspeakable gift? + +III. The gift brings with it unspeakable results. + +In Christ are hid 'all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.' When God +gave us Him, He gave us a storehouse in which are contained treasures of +truth which can never be fully comprehended, and which, even if +comprehended, can never be exhausted. The mystery of the Divine Name +revealed in Jesus, the mystery of His person, are themes on which the +Christian world has been nourished ever since, and which are as full of +food, not for the understanding only, but far more for the heart and the +will, to-day as ever they were. The world may think that it has left the +teaching of Jesus behind, but in reality the teaching is far ahead, and +the world's practise is but slowly creeping towards its imperfect +attainment. The Gospel is the guide of the race, and each generation +gathers something more from it, and progresses in the measure in which +it follows Christ; and as for the race, so for the individual. Each of +Christ's scholars finds his own gift, and in the measure of his +faithfulness to what he has found makes ever new discoveries in the +unsearchable riches of Christ. After all have fed full there still +remain abundant baskets full to be taken up. + +He who has sounded the depths of Jesus most completely is ever the first +to acknowledge that he has been but as a child 'gathering pebbles on the +beach while the great ocean lies unsounded before him.' No single soul, +and no multitude of souls, can exhaust Jesus; neither our individual +experiences, nor the experiences of a believing world can fully realise +the endless wealth laid up in Him. He is the Alpha and the Omega of all +our speech, the first letter and the last of our alphabet, between which +lie all the rest. + +The gift is completed in consequences yet unspeakable. Even the first +blessings which the humblest faith receives from the pierced hands have +more in them than words can tell. Who has ever spoken adequately and in +full correspondence with reality what it is to have God's pardoning +love flowing in upon the soul? Many singers have sung sweet psalms and +hymns and spiritual songs on which generations of devout souls have fed, +but none of them has spoken the deepest blessedness of a Christian life, +or the calm raptures of communion with God. It is easy to utter the +words 'forgiveness, reconciliation, acceptance, fellowship, eternal +life'; the syllables can be spoken, but who knows or can utter the +depths of the meanings? After all human words the half has not been told +us, and as every soul carries within itself unrevealable emotions, and +is a mystery after all revelation, so the things which God's gift brings +to a soul are after all speech unspeakable, and the words 'cannot be +uttered' which they who are caught up into the third heavens hear. + +Then we may extend our thoughts to the future form of Christian +experience. 'It doth not yet appear what we should be.' All our +conceptions of a future existence must necessarily be inadequate. +Nothing but experience can reveal them to us, and our experience there +will be capable of indefinite expansion, and through eternity there will +be endless growth in the appropriation of the unspeakable gift. + +For us the only recompense that we can make for the unspeakable gift is +to receive it with 'thanks unto God' and the yielding up of our hearts +to Him. God pours this love upon us freely, without stint. It is +unspeakable in the depths of its source, in the manner of its +manifestation, in the glory of its issues. It is like some great stream, +rising in the trackless mountains, broad and deep, and leading on to a +sunlit ocean. We stand on the bank; let us trust ourselves to its broad +bosom. It will bear us safe. And let us take heed that we receive not +the gift of God _in vain_. + + + + +A MILITANT MESSAGE + + 'Casting down imaginations, and every high thing + that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and + bringing every thought into captivity to the + obedience of Christ; and being in readiness to + avenge all disobedience, when your obedience shall + be fulfilled.'--2 COR. x. 5 and 6 (R.V.). + + +None of Paul's letters are so full of personal feeling as this one is. +It is written, for the most part, at a white heat; he had heard from his +trusted Titus tidings which on one hand filled him with a thankfulness +of which the first half of the letter is the expression; but there had +also been tidings of a very different kind, and from this point onwards +the letter is seething with the feelings which these had produced. There +was in the Corinthian Church a party, probably Judaisers, which denied +his authority and said bitter things about his character. They +apparently had contrasted the force of his letters and the feebleness of +his 'bodily presence' and speech. They insinuated that his 'bark was +worse than his bite.' Their language put into plain English would be +something like this, 'Ah! He is very bold at a distance, let him come +and face us and we shall see a difference. Vapouring in his letters, he +will be meek enough when he is here.' + +These slanderers seem to have thought of Paul as if he 'warred according +to flesh,' and it is this charge, that he was actuated in his opposition +to the evils in Corinth by selfish considerations and worldly interests, +which seems to have set the Apostle on fire. In answer he pours out +quick, indignant questionings, sharp irony, vehement self-vindication, +passionate remonstrances, flashes of wrath, sudden jets of tenderness. +What a position for him to have to say, 'I am not a low schemer; I am +not working for myself.' Yet it is the common lot of all such men to be +misread by little, crawling creatures who cannot believe in heroic +self-forgetfulness. He answers the taunt that he 'walked according to +the flesh' in the context by saying, 'Yes, I live in the flesh, my +outward life is like that of other men, but I do not go a-soldiering +_according_ to the flesh. It is not for my own sinful self that I get +the rules of my life's battle, neither do I get my weapons from the +flesh. They could not do what they do if that were their origin: they +are of God and therefore mighty.' Then the metaphor as it were catches +fire, and in our text he expands the figure of a warfare and sets before +us the destruction of fortresses, the capture of their garrisons, and +the leading of them away into another land, the stern punishment of the +rebels who still hold out, and the merciful delay in administering it. +It has been suggested that there is an allusion in our text to the +extermination of the pirates in Paul's native Cilicia which happened +some fifty or sixty years before his birth and ended in destroying their +robber-holds and taking some thousands of prisoners. Whether that be so +or no, the Apostle's kindled imagination sets forth here great truths as +to the effects which his message is meant to produce and, thank God, has +produced. + +I. The opposing fortresses. + +The Apostle conceives of himself and of his brother preachers of Christ +as going forth on a merciful warfare. He thinks of strong rock +fortresses, with lofty walls set on high, and frowning down on any +assailants. No doubt he is thinking first of the opposition which he had +to front in Corinth from the Judaisers to whom we have referred, but the +application of the metaphor goes far beyond the petty strife in Corinth +and carries for us the wholesome lesson that one main cause which keeps +men back from Christ is a too high estimate of themselves. Some of us +are enclosed in the fortress of self-sufficiency: we will not humbly +acknowledge our dependence on God, and have turned self-reliance into +the law of our lives. There are many voices, some of them sweet and +powerful, which to-day are preaching that gospel. It finds eager +response in many hearts, and there is something in us all to which it +appeals. We are often tempted to say defiantly, 'Who is Lord over us?' +And the teaching that bids us rely on ourselves is so wholly in accord +with the highest wisdom and the noblest life that what is good and what +is evil in each of us contribute to reinforce it. Self-dependence is a +great virtue, and the mother of much energy and nobleness, but it is +also a great error and a great sin. To be so self-sufficing as not to +need externals is good; to be so self-sufficing as not to need or to see +God is ruin and death. The title which, as one of our great thinkers +tells us, a humourist put on the back of a volume of heterodox tracts, +'Every man his own redeemer,' makes a claim for self-sufficiency which +more or less unconsciously shuts out many men from the salvation of +Christ. + +There is the fortress of culture and the pride of it in which many of us +are to-day entrenched against the Gospel. The attitude of mind into +which persons of culture tend to fall is distinctly adverse to their +reception of the Gospel, and that is not because the Gospel is adverse +to culture, but because cultured people do not care to be put on the +same level with publicans and harlots. They would be less disinclined to +go into the feast if there were in it reserved seats for superior people +and a private entrance to them. If the wise and prudent were more of +both, they would be liker the babes to whom these things are revealed, +and they would be revealed to them too. Not knowledge but the +superciliousness which is the result of the conceit of knowledge hinders +from God, and is one of the strongest fortresses against which the +weapons of our warfare have to be employed. + +There is the fortress of ignorance. Most men who are kept from Christ +are so because they know neither themselves nor God. The most widely +prevailing characteristic of the superficial life of most men is their +absolute unconsciousness of the fact of sin; they neither know it as +universal nor as personal. They have never gone deeply enough down into +the depths of their own hearts to have come up scared at the ugly things +that lie sleeping there, nor have they ever reflected on their own +conduct with sufficient gravity to discern its aberrations from the law +of right, hence the average man is quite unconscious of sin, and is a +complete stranger to himself. The cup has been drunk by and intoxicated +the world, and the masses of men are quite unaware that it has +intoxicated them. + +They are ignorant of God as they are of themselves, and if at any time, +by some flash of light, they see themselves as they are, they think of +God as if He were altogether such an one as themselves, and fall back on +a vague trust in the vaguer mercy of their half-believed-in God as their +hope for a vague salvation. Men who thus walk in a vain show will never +feel their need of Jesus, and the lazy ignorance of themselves and the +as lazy trust in what they call their God, are a fortress against which +it will task the power of God to make any weapons of warfare mighty to +its pulling down. + +II. The casting down of fortresses. + +The first effect of any real contact with Christ and His Gospel is to +reveal a man to himself, to shatter his delusive estimates of what he +is, and to pull down about his ears the lofty fortress in which he has +ensconced himself. It seems strange work for what calls itself a Gospel +to begin by forcing a man to cry out with sobs and tears, Oh, wretched +man that I am! But no man will ever reach the heights to which Christ +can lift him, who does not begin his upward course by descending to the +depths into which Christ's Gospel begins its work by plunging him. +Unconsciousness of sin is sure to lead to indifference to a Saviour, and +unless we know ourselves to be miserable and poor and blind and naked, +the offer of gold refined by fire and white garments that we may clothe +ourselves will make no appeal to us. The fact of sin makes the need for +a Saviour; our individual sense of sin makes us sensible of our need of +a Saviour. + +Paul believed that the weapons of his warfare were mighty enough to cast +down the strongest of all strongholds in which men shut themselves up +against the humbling Gospel of salvation by the mercy of God. The +weapons to which he thus trusted were the same to which Jesus pointed +His disciples when, about to leave them, He said, 'When the Comforter is +come He will convict the world of sin because they believe not in Me.' +Jesus brought to the world the perfect revelation of the holiness of +God, and set before us all a divine pattern of manhood to rebuke and +condemn our stained and rebellious lives, and He turned us away from the +superficial estimate of actions to the careful scrutiny of motives. By +all these and many other ways He presented Himself to the world a +perfect man, the incarnation of a holy God and the revelation and +condemnation of sinful humanity. Yet, all that miracle of loveliness, +gentleness, and dignity is beheld by men without a thrill, and they see +in Him no 'beauty that they should desire Him,' and no healing to which +they will trust. Paul's way of kindling penitence in impenitent spirits +was not to brandish over them the whips of law or to seek to shake souls +with terror of any hell, still less was it to discourse with philosophic +calm on the obligations of duty and the wisdom of virtuous living; his +appeal to conscience was primarily the pressing on the heart of the love +of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. When the heart is melted, the +conscience will not long continue indurated. We cannot look lovingly and +believingly at Jesus and then turn to look complacently on ourselves. +Not to believe on Him is the sin of sins, and to be taught that it is so +is the first step in the work of Him who never merits the name of the +Comforter more truly than when He convicts the world of sin. + +For a Christianity that does not begin with the deep consciousness of +sin has neither depth nor warmth and has scarcely vitality. The Gospel +is no Gospel, and we had almost said, 'The Christ is no Christ' to one +who does not feel himself, if parted from Christ, 'dead in trespasses +and sins.' Our religion depends for all its force, our gratitude and +love for all their devotion, upon our sense that 'the chastisement of +our peace was laid upon Him, and that by His stripes we are healed.' +Since He gave Himself for us, it is meet that we give ourselves to Him, +but there will be little fervour of devotion or self-surrender, unless +there has been first the consciousness of the death of sin and then the +joyous consciousness of newness of life in Christ Jesus. + +III. The captives led away to another land. + +The Apostle carries on his metaphor one step further when he goes on to +describe what followed the casting down of the fortresses. The enemy, +driven from their strongholds, have nothing for it but to surrender and +are led away in captivity to another land. The long strings of prisoners +on Assyrian and Egyptian monuments show how familiar an experience this +was. It may be noted that perhaps our text regards the obedience of +Christ as being the far country into which 'every thought was to be +brought.' At all events Paul's idea here is that the end of the whole +struggle between 'the flesh' and the weapons of God is to make men +willing captives of Jesus Christ. We are Christians in the measure in +which we surrender our wills to Christ. That surrender rests upon, and +is our only adequate answer to, His surrender for us. The 'obedience of +Christ' is perfect freedom; His captives wear no chains and know nothing +of forced service; His yoke is easy, not because it does not press hard +upon the neck but because it is lined with love, and 'His burden is +light' not because of its own weight but because it is laid on us by +love and is carried by kindred love. He only commands himself who gladly +lets Christ command him. Many a hard task becomes easy; crooked things +are straightened out and rough places often made surprisingly plain for +the captives of Christ, whom He leads into the liberty of obedience to +Him. + +IV. Fate of the disobedient. + +Paul thinks that in Corinth there will be found some stiff-necked +opponents of whom he cannot hope that their 'obedience shall be +fulfilled,' and he sees in the double issue of the small struggle that +was being waged in Corinth a parable of the wider results of the warfare +in the world. 'Some believed and some believed not'; that has been the +brief summary of the experience of all God's messengers everywhere, and +it is their experience to-day. No doubt when Paul speaks of 'being in +readiness to avenge all disobedience,' he is alluding to the exercise of +his apostolic authority against the obdurate antagonists whom he +contemplates as still remaining obdurate, and it is beautiful to note +the long-suffering patience with which he will hold his hand until all +that can be won has been won. But we must not forget that Paul's +demeanour is but a faint shadow of his Lord's, and that the weapons +which were ready to avenge all disobedience were the weapons of God. If +a man steels himself against the efforts of divine love, builds up round +himself a fortress of self-righteousness and locks its gates against the +merciful entrance of convictions of sin and the knowledge of a Saviour, +and if he therefore lives, year in, year out, in disobedience, the +weapons which he thinks himself to have resisted will one day make him +feel their edge. We cannot set ourselves against the salvation of Jesus +without bringing upon ourselves consequences which are wholly evil and +harmful. Torpid consciences, hungry hearts, stormy wills, tyrannous +desires, vain hopes and not vain fears come to be, by slow degrees, the +tortures of the man who drops the portcullis and lifts the bridge +against the entrance of Jesus. There are hells enough on earth if men's +hearts were displayed. + +But the love which is obliged to smite gives warning that it is ready to +avenge, long before it lets the blow fall, and does so in order that it +may never need to fall. As long as it is possible that the disobedient +shall become obedient to Christ, He holds back the vengeance that is +ready to fall and will one day fall 'on all disobedience.' Not till all +other means have been patiently tried will He let that terrible ending +crash down. It hangs over the heads of many of us who are all unaware +that we walk beneath the shadow of a rock that at any moment may be set +in motion and bury us beneath its weight. It is 'in readiness,' but it +is still at rest. Let us be wise in time and yield to the merciful +weapons with which Jesus would make His way into our hearts. Or if the +metaphor of our text presents Him in too warlike a guise, let us listen +to His own gentle pleading, 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if +any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.' + + + + +SIMPLICITY TOWARDS CHRIST + + 'But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent + beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds + should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in + Christ.'--2 COR. xi. 3. + + +The Revised Version, amongst other alterations, reads, 'the simplicity +that is _towards_ Christ.' + +The inaccurate rendering of the Authorised Version is responsible for a +mistake in the meaning of these words, which has done much harm. They +have been supposed to describe a quality or characteristic belonging to +Christ or the Gospel; and, so construed, they have sometimes been made +the watchword of narrowness and of intellectual indolence. 'Give us the +simple Gospel' has been the cry of people who have thought themselves to +be evangelical when they were only lazy, and the consequence has been +that preachers have been expected to reiterate commonplaces, which have +made both them and their hearers listless, and to sink the educational +for the evangelistic aspect of the Christian teacher's function. + +It is quite true that the Gospel is simple, but it is also true that it +is deep, and they will best appreciate its simplicity who have most +honestly endeavoured to fathom its depth. When we let our little +sounding lines out, and find that they do not reach the bottom, we begin +to wonder even more at the transparency of the clear abyss. It is not +simplicity _in_ Christ, but _towards_ Christ of which the Apostle is +speaking; not a quality in Him, but a quality in _us_ towards Him. I +wish, then, to turn to the two thoughts that these words suggest. First +and chiefly, the attitude towards Christ which befits our relation to +Him; and, secondly and briefly, the solicitude for its maintenance. + +I. First, then, look at the attitude towards Christ which befits the +Christian relation to Him. + +The word 'simplicity' has had a touch of contempt associated with it. It +is a somewhat doubtful compliment to say of a man that he is +'simple-minded.' All noble words which describe great qualities get +oxidised by exposure to the atmosphere, and rust comes over them, as +indeed all good things tend to become deteriorated in time and by use. +But the notion of the word is really a very noble and lofty one. To be +'without a fold,' which is the meaning of the Greek word and of its +equivalent 'simplicity,' is, in one aspect, to be transparently honest +and true, and in another to be out and out of a piece. There is no +underside of the cloth, doubled up beneath the upper which shows, and +running in the opposite direction; but all tends in one way. A man with +no under-currents, no by-ends, who is down to the very roots what he +looks, and all whose being is knit together and hurled in one direction, +without reservation or back-drawing, that is the 'simple' man whom the +Apostle means. Such simplicity is the truest wisdom; such simplicity of +devotion to Jesus Christ is the only attitude of heart and mind which +corresponds to the facts of our relation to Him. That relation is set +forth in the context by a very sweet and tender image, in the true line +of scriptural teaching, which in many a place speaks of the Bride and +Bridegroom, and which on its last page shows us the Lamb's wife +descending from Heaven to meet her husband. The state of devout souls +and of the community of such here on earth is that of betrothal. Their +state in heaven is that of marriage. Very beautiful it is to see how +this fiery Paul, like the ascetic John, who never knew the sacred joys +of that state, lays hold of the thought of the Bridegroom and the Bride, +and of his individual relation to both as indicating the duties of the +Church and the solicitude of the Apostle. He says that he has been the +intermediary who, according to Oriental custom, arranged the +preliminaries of the marriage, and brought the bride to the bridegroom, +and, as the friend of the latter, standing by rejoices greatly to hear +the bridegroom's voice, and is solicitous mainly that in the tremulous +heart of the betrothed there should be no admixture of other loves, but +a whole-hearted devotion, an exclusive affection, and an absolute +obedience. 'I have espoused you,' says he, 'to one husband that I may +present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear lest . . . your mind +should be corrupted from the simplicity that is towards Him.' + +Now that metaphor carries in its implication all that anybody can say +about the exclusiveness, the depth, the purity, the all-pervasiveness of +the dependent love which should knit us to Jesus Christ. The same +thought of whole-hearted, single, absolute devotion is conveyed by +other Scripture metaphors, the _slave_ and the _soldier_ of Christ. But +all that is repellent or harsh in these is softened and glorified when +we contemplate it in the light of the metaphor of my text. + +So I might leave it to do its own work, but I may perhaps be allowed to +follow out the thought in one or two directions. + +The attitude, then, which corresponds to our relation to Jesus Christ is +that, first, of a faith which looks to Him exclusively as the source of +salvation and of light. The specific danger which was alarming Paul, in +reference to that little community of Christians in Corinth, was one +which, in its particular form, is long since dead and buried. But the +principles which underlay it, the tendencies to which it appealed, and +the perils which alarmed Paul for the Corinthian Church, are perennial. +He feared that these Judaising teachers, who dogged his heels all his +life long, and whose one aim seemed to be to build upon his foundation +and to overthrow his building, should find their way into this church +and wreck it. The keenness of the polemic, in this and in the contextual +chapters, shows how real and imminent the danger was. Now what they did +was to tell people that Jesus Christ had a partner in His saving work. +They said that obedience to the Jewish law, ceremonial and other, was a +condition of salvation, along with trust in Jesus Christ as the Messiah. +And because they thus shared out the work of salvation between Jesus +Christ and something else, Paul thundered and lightened at them all his +life, and, as he tells us in this context, regarded them as preaching +another Jesus, another spirit, and another gospel. That particular error +is long dead and buried. + +But is there nothing else that has come into its place? Has this old +foe not got a new face, and does not it live amongst us as really as it +lived then? I think it does; whether in the form of the grosser kind of +sacramentarianism and ecclesiasticism which sticks sacraments and a +church in front of the Cross, or in the form of the definite denial that +Jesus Christ's death on the Cross is the one means of salvation, or +simply in the form of the coarse, common wish to have a finger in the +pie and a share in the work of saving oneself, as a drowning man will +sometimes half drown his rescuer by trying to use his own limbs. These +tendencies that Paul fought, and which he feared would corrupt the +Corinthians from their simple and exclusive reliance on Christ, and +Christ alone, as the ground and author of their salvation, are perennial +in human nature, and we have to be on our guard for ever and for ever +against them. Whether they come in organised, systematic, doctrinal +form, or whether they are simply the rising in our own hearts of the old +Adam of pride and self-trust, they equally destroy the whole work of +Christ, because they infringe upon its solitariness and uniqueness. It +is not Christ and anything else. Men are not saved by a syndicate. It is +Jesus Christ alone, and 'beside Him there is no Saviour.' You go into a +Turkish mosque and see the roof held up by a forest of slim pillars. You +go into a cathedral chapter-house and see one strong support in the +centre that bears the whole roof. The one is an emblem of the Christless +multiplicity of vain supports, the other of the solitary strength and +eternal sufficiency of the one Pillar on which the whole weight of a +world's salvation rests, and which lightly bears it triumphantly aloft. +'I fear lest your minds be corrupted from the simplicity' of a +reasonable faith directed towards Christ. + +And in like manner He is the sole light and teacher of men as to God, +themselves, their duty, their destinies and prospects. He, and He alone, +brings these things to light. His word, whether it comes from His lips +or from the deeds which are part of His revelation, or from the voice of +the Spirit which takes of His and speaks to the ages through His +apostles, should be 'the end of all strife.' What He says, and all that +He says, and nothing else than what He says, is the creed of the +Christian. He, and He only, is 'the light which lighteth every man that +cometh into the world.' In this day of babblements and confusions, let +us listen for the voice of Christ and accept all which comes from Him, +and let the language of our deepest hearts be, 'Lord, to whom shall we +go? Thou only hast the words of eternal life.' + +Again, our relation to Jesus Christ demands exclusive love to Him. +'Demands' is an ugly word to bracket with love. We might say, and +perhaps more truly, permits or privileges. It is the joy of the +betrothed that her duty is to love, and to keep her heart clear from all +competing affections. But it is none the less her duty because it is her +joy. What Christ is to you, if you are a Christian, and what He longs to +be to us all, whether we are Christians or not, is of such a character +as that the only fitting attitude of our hearts to Him in response is +that of exclusive affection. I do not mean that we are to love nothing +but Him, but I mean that we are to love all things else in Him, and +that, if any creature so delays or deflects our love as that either it +does not pass, by means of the creature, into the presence of the +Christ, or is turned away from the Christ by the creature, then we have +fallen beneath the sweet level of our lofty privilege, and have won for +ourselves the misery due to distracted and idolatrous hearts. Love to +one who has done what He has done for us is in its very nature +exclusive, and its exclusiveness is all-pervasive exclusiveness. The +centre diamond makes the little stones set round it all the more +lustrous. We must love Jesus Christ all in all or not at all. Divided +love incurs the condemnation that falls heavily upon the head of the +faithless bride. + +Dear friends, the conception of the essence of religion as being love is +no relaxation, but an increase, of its stringent requirements. The more +we think of that sweet bond as being the true union of the soul with +God, who is its only rest and home, the more reasonable and imperative +will appear the old commandment, 'Thou shalt love Him with all thy +heart, and soul, and strength, and mind.' + +But, further, our relation to Jesus Christ is such as that nothing short +of absolute obedience to His commandment corresponds to it. There must +be the simplicity, the single-mindedness that thus obeys, obeys swiftly, +cheerfully, constantly. In all matters His command is my law, and, as +surely as I make His command my law, will He make my desire His motive. +For He Himself has said, in words that bring together our obedience to +His will and His compliance with our wishes, in a fashion that we should +not have ventured upon unless He had set us an example, 'If ye love Me, +keep My commandments. If ye ask anything in My name I will do it.' The +exclusive love that binds us, by reason of our faith in Him alone, to +that Lord ought to express itself in unhesitating, unfaltering, +unreserved, and unreluctant obedience to every word that comes from His +mouth. + +These brief outlines are but the poorest attempt to draw out what the +words of my text imply. But such as they are, let us remember that they +do set forth the only proper response of the saved man to the saving +Christ. 'Ye cannot serve God and Mammon.' Anything short of a faith that +rests on Him alone, of a love that knits itself to His single, +all-sufficient heart, and of an obedience that bows the whole being to +the sweet yoke of His commandment is an unworthy answer to the Love that +died, and that lives for us all. + +II. And now I have only time to glance at the solicitude for the +maintenance of this exclusive single-mindedness towards Christ. + +Think of what threatens it. I say nothing about the ferment of opinion +in this day, for one man that is swept away from a thorough +whole-hearted faith by intellectual considerations, there are a dozen +from whom it is filched without their knowing it, by their own +weaknesses and the world's noises. And so it is more profitable that we +should think of the whole crowd of external duties, enjoyments, +sweetnesses, bitternesses, that solicit us, and would seek to draw us +away. Who can hear the low voice that speaks peace and wisdom when +Niagara is roaring past his ears? 'The world is too much with us, late +and soon. Buying and selling we lay waste our powers,' and break +ourselves away from our simple devotion to that dear Lord. But it is +possible that we may so carry into all the whirl the central peace, as +that we shall not be disturbed by it; and possible that 'whether we eat +or drink, or whatsoever we do, we may do all to His glory,' so that we +can, even in the midst of our daily pressing avocations and cares be +keeping our hearts in the heavens, and our souls in touch with our Lord. + +But it is not only things without that draw us away. Our own weaknesses +and waywardnesses, our strong senses, our passions, our desires, our +necessities, all these have a counteracting force, which needs continual +watchfulness in order to be neutralised. No man can grasp a stay, which +alone keeps him from being immersed in the waves, with uniform tenacity, +unless every now and then he tightens his muscles. And no man can keep +himself firmly grasping Jesus Christ without conscious effort directed +to bettering his hold. + +If there be dangers around us, and dangers within us, the discipline +which we have to pursue in order to secure this uniform, single-hearted +devotion is plain enough. Let us be vividly conscious of the +peril--which is what some of us are not. Let us take stock of ourselves +lest creeping evil may be encroaching upon us, while we are all +unaware--which is what some of us never do. Let us clearly contemplate +the possibility of an indefinite increase in the closeness and +thoroughness of our surrender to Him--a conviction which has faded away +from the minds of many professing Christians. Above all, let us find +time or make time for the patient, habitual contemplation of the great +facts which kindle our devotion. For if you never think of Jesus Christ +and His love to you, how can you love Him back again? And if you are so +busy carrying out your own secular affairs, or pursuing your own +ambitions, or attending to your own duties, as they may seem to be, that +you have no time to think of Christ, His death, His life, His Spirit, +His yearning heart over His bride, how can it be expected that you will +have any depth of love to Him? Let us, too, wait with prayerful patience +for that Divine Spirit who will knit us more closely to our Lord. + +Unless we do so, we shall get no happiness out of our religion, and it +will bring no praise to Christ or profit to ourselves. I do not know a +more miserable man than a half-and-half Christian, after the pattern of, +I was going to say, the ordinary average of professing Christians of +this generation. He has religion enough to prick and sting him, and not +enough to impel him to forsake the evil which yet he cannot comfortably +do. He has religion enough to 'inflame his conscience,' not enough to +subdue his will and heart. How many of my hearers are in that condition +it is for them to settle. If we are to be Christian men at all, let us +be it out and out. Half-and-half religion is no religion. + + 'One foot in sea, and one on shore; + To one thing constant never!' + +That is the type of thousands of professing Christians. 'I fear lest by +any means your minds be corrupted from the simplicity that is towards +Christ.' + + + + +STRENGTH IN WEAKNESS + + 'For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that + it might depart from me. And He said unto me, My + grace is sufficient for thee; for My strength is + made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore + will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the + power of Christ may rest upon me.'--2 COR. xii. 8, + 9. + + +This very remarkable page in the autobiography of the Apostle shows us +that he, too, belonged to the great army of martyrs who, with hearts +bleeding and pierced through and through with a dart, yet did their work +for God. It is of little consequence what his thorn in the flesh may +have been. The original word suggests very much heavier sorrow than the +metaphor of 'a thorn' might imply. It really seems to mean not a tiny +bit of thorn that might lie half concealed in the finger tip, but one +of those hideous stakes on which the cruel punishment of impalement used +to be inflicted. And Paul's thought is, not that he has a little, +trivial trouble to bear, but that he is, as it were, forced quivering +upon that tremendous torture. + +Unquestionably, what he means is some bodily ailment or other. The +hypothesis that the 'thorn in the flesh' was the sting of the animal +nature inciting him to evil is altogether untenable, because such a +thorn could never have been left when the prayer for its removal was +earnestly presented; nor could it ever have been, when left, an occasion +for glorifying. Manifestly it was no weakness removable by his own +effort, no incapacity for service which in any manner approximated to +being a fault, but purely and simply some infliction from God's hand +(though likewise capable of being regarded as a 'messenger of Satan') +which hindered him in his work, and took down any proud flesh and danger +of spiritual exaltation in consequence of the largeness of his religious +privileges. + +Our text sets before us three most instructive windings, as it were, of +the stream of thoughts that passed through the Apostle's mind, in +reference to this burden that he had to carry, and may afford wholesome +contemplation for us to-day. There is, first, the instinctive shrinking +which took refuge in prayer. Then there is the insight won by prayer +into the sustaining strength for, and the purposes of, the thorn that +was not to be plucked out. And then, finally, there is the peace of +acquiescence, and a will that accepts--not the inevitable, but the +loving. + +I. First of all we see the instinctive shrinking from that which +tortured the flesh, which takes refuge in prayer. + +There is a wonderful, a beautiful, and, I suppose, an intentional +parallel between the prayers of the servant and of the Master. Paul's +petitions are the echo of Gethsemane. There, under the quivering olives, +in the broken light of the Paschal moon, Jesus 'thrice' prayed that the +cup might pass from Him. And here the servant, emboldened and instructed +by the example of the Master, 'thrice' reiterates his human and natural +desire for the removal of the pain, whatever it was, which seemed to him +so to hinder the efficiency and the fulness, as it certainly did the +joy, of his service. + +But He who prayed in Gethsemane was He to whom Paul addressed his +prayer. For, as is almost always the case in the New Testament, 'the +Lord' here evidently means Christ, as is obvious from the connection of +the answer to the petition with the Apostle's final confidence and +acquiescence. For the answer was, 'My strength is made perfect in +weakness'; and the Apostle's conclusion is, 'Most gladly will I glorify +in infirmity,' that the strength or 'power _of Christ_ may rest upon +me.' Therefore the prayer with which we have to deal here is a prayer +offered to Jesus, who prayed in Gethsemane, and to whom we can bring our +petitions and our desires. + +Notice how this thought of prayer directed to the Master Himself helps +to lead us deep into the sacredest and most blessed characteristics of +prayer. It is only telling Christ what is in our hearts. Oh, if we lived +in the true understanding of what prayer really is--the emptying out of +our inmost desire and thoughts before our Brother, who is likewise our +Lord--questions as to what it was permissible to pray for, and what it +was not permissible to pray for, would be irrelevant, and drop away of +themselves. If we had a less formal notion of prayer, and realised more +thoroughly what it was--the speech of a confiding heart to a +sympathising Lord--then everything that fills our hearts would be seen +to be a fitting object of prayer. If anything is large enough to +interest me, it is not too small to be spoken about to Him. + +So the question, which is often settled upon very abstract and deep +grounds that have little to do with the matter--the question as to +whether prayer for outward blessings is permissible--falls away of +itself. If I am to talk to Jesus Christ about everything that concerns +me, am I to keep my thumb upon all that great department and be silent +about it? One reason why our prayers are often so unreal is, because +they do not fit our real wants, nor correspond to the thoughts that are +busy in our minds at the moment of praying. Our hearts are full of some +small matter of daily interest, and when we kneel down not a word about +it comes to our lips. Can that be right? + +The difference between the different objects of prayer is not to be +found in the rejection of all temporal and external, but in remembering +that there are two sets of things to be prayed about, and over one set +must ever be written 'If it be Thy will,' and over the other it need not +be written, because we are sure that the granting of our wishes _is_ His +will. We know about the one that 'if we ask anything according to His +will, He heareth us.' That may seem to be a very poor and shrunken kind +of hope to give a man, that if his prayer is in conformity with the +previous determination of the divine will, it will be answered. But it +availed for the joyful confidence of that Apostle who saw deepest into +the conditions and the blessedness of the harmony of the will of God and +of man. But about the other set we can only say, 'Not my will, but +Thine be done.' With that sentence, not as a formula upon our lips but +deep in our hearts, let us take everything into His presence--thorns and +stakes, pinpricks and wounds out of which the life-blood is ebbing--let +us take them all to Him, and be sure that we shall take none of them in +vain. + +So then we have the Person to whom the prayer is addressed, the subjects +with which it is occupied, and the purpose to which it is directed. +'Take away the burden' was the Apostle's petition; but it was a mistaken +petition and, therefore, unanswered. + +II. That brings me to the second of the windings, as I have ventured to +call them, of this stream--viz. the insight into the source of strength +for, and the purpose of, the thorn that could not be taken away. The +Lord said unto me, 'My grace is sufficient for thee. For My strength' +(where the word 'My' is a supplement, but a necessary one) 'is made +perfect in weakness.' + +The answer is, in form and in substance, a gentle refusal of the form of +the petition, but it is a more than granting of its essence. For the +best answer to such a prayer, and the answer which a true man means when +he asks, 'Take away the burden,' need not be the external removal of the +pressure of the sorrow, but the infusing of power to sustain it. There +are two ways of lightening a burden, one is diminishing its actual +weight, the other is increasing the strength of the shoulder that bears +it. And the latter is God's way, is Christ's way, of dealing with us. + +Now mark that the answer which this faithful prayer receives is no +communication of anything fresh, but it is the opening of the man's eyes +to see that already he has all that he needs. The reply is not, 'I +_will_ give thee grace sufficient,' but 'My grace' (which thou hast +now) 'is sufficient for thee.' That grace is given and possessed by the +sorrowing heart at the moment when it prays. Open your eyes to see what +you have, and you will not ask for the load to be taken away. Is not +that always true? Many a heart is carrying some heavy weight; perhaps +some have an incurable sorrow, some are stricken by disease that they +know can never be healed, some are aware that the shipwreck has been +total, and that the sorrow that they carry to-day will lie down with +them in the dust. Be it so! 'My grace (not shall be, but) _is_ +sufficient for thee.' And what thou hast already in thy possession is +enough for all that comes storming against thee of disease, +disappointment, loss, and misery. Set on the one side all possible as +well as all actual weaknesses, burdens, pains, and set on the other +these two words--'My grace,' and all these dwindle into nothingness and +disappear. If troubled Christian men would learn what they have, and +would use what they already possess, they would less often beseech Him +with vain petitions to take away their blessings which are in the thorns +in the flesh. 'My grace is sufficient.' + +How modestly the Master speaks about what He gives! 'Sufficient'? Is not +there a margin? Is there not more than is wanted? The overplus is +'exceeding abundant,' not only 'above what we ask or think,' but far +more than our need. 'Two hundred pennyworth of bread is not _sufficient_ +that every one may take a little,' says Sense. Omnipotence says, 'Bring +the few small loaves and fishes unto Me'; and Faith dispensed them +amongst the crowd; and Experience 'gathered up of the fragments that +remained' more than there had been when the multiplication began. So the +grace utilised increases; the gift grows as it is employed. 'Unto him +that hath shall be given.' And the 'sufficiency' is not a bare adequacy, +just covering the extent of the need, with no overlapping margin, but is +large beyond expectation, desire, or necessity; so leading onwards to +high hopes and a wider opening of the open mouths of our need that the +blessing may pour in. + +The other part of this great answer, that the Christ from Heaven spoke +in or to the praying spirit of this not disappointed, though refused, +Apostle, unveiled the purpose of the sorrow, even as the former part had +disclosed the strength to bear it. For, says He, laying down therein the +great law of His kingdom in all departments and in all ways, 'My +strength is made perfect'--that is, of course, perfect in its +manifestation or operations, for it is perfect in itself already. 'My +strength is made perfect in weakness.' It works in and through man's +weakness. + +God works with broken reeds. If a man conceits himself to be an iron +pillar, God can do nothing with or by him. All the self-conceit and +confidence have to be taken out of him first. He has to be brought low +before the Father can use him for His purposes. The lowlands hold the +water, and, if only the sluice is open, the gravitation of His grace +does all the rest and carries the flood into the depths of the lowly +heart. + +His strength loves to work in weakness, only the weakness must be +conscious, and the conscious weakness must have passed into conscious +dependence. There, then, you get the law for the Church, for the works +of Christianity on the widest scale, and in individual lives. Strength +that conceits itself to be such is weakness; weakness that knows itself +to be such is strength. The only true source of Power, both for +Christian work and in all other respects, is God Himself; and our +strength is ours but by derivation from Him. And the only way to secure +that derivation is through humble dependence, which we call faith in +Jesus Christ. And the only way by which that faith in Jesus Christ can +ever be kindled in a man's soul is through the sense of his need and +emptiness. So when we know ourselves weak, we have taken the first step +to strength; just as, when we know ourselves sinners, we have taken the +first step to righteousness; just as in all regions the recognition of +the doleful fact of our human necessity is the beginning of the joyful +confidence in the glad, triumphant fact of the divine fulness. All our +hollownesses, if I may so say, are met with His fulness that fits into +them. It only needs that a man be aware of that which he is, and then +turn himself to Him who is all that he is not, and then into his empty +being will flow rejoicing the whole fulness of God. 'My strength is made +perfect in weakness.' + +III. Lastly, mark the calm final acquiescence in the loving necessity of +continued sorrow. 'Most gladly, therefore, will I rather glory in my +infirmity that the power of Christ may rest upon me.' The will is +entirely harmonised with Christ's. The Apostle begins with instinctive +shrinking, he passes onwards to a perception of the purpose of his trial +and of the sustaining grace; and he comes now to acquiescence which is +not passivity, but glad triumph. He is more than submissive, he gladly +glories in his infirmity in order that the power of Christ may 'spread a +tabernacle over' him. 'It is good for me that I have been afflicted,' +said the old prophet. Paul says, in a yet higher note of concord with +God's will, 'I am glad that I sorrow. I rejoice in weakness, because it +makes it easier for me to cling, and, clinging, I am strong, and +conquer evil.' Far better is it that the sting of our sorrow should be +taken away, by our having learned what it is for, and having bowed to +it, than that it should be taken away by the external removal which we +sometimes long for. A grief, a trial, an incapacity, a limitation, a +weakness, which we use as a means of deepening our sense of dependence +upon Him, is a blessing, and not a sorrow. And if we would only go out +into the world trying to interpret its events in the spirit of this +great text, we should less frequently wonder and weep over what +sometimes seem to us the insoluble mysteries of the sorrows of ourselves +and of other men. They are all intended to make it more easy for us to +realise our utter hanging upon Him, and so to open our hearts to receive +more fully the quickening influences of His omnipotent and +self-sufficing grace. + +Here, then, is a lesson for those who have to carry some cross and know +they must carry it throughout life. It will be wreathed with flowers if +you accept it. Here is a lesson for all Christian workers. Ministers of +the Gospel especially should banish all thoughts of their own +cleverness, intellectual ability, culture, sufficiency for their work, +and learn that only when they are emptied can they be filled, and only +when they know themselves to be nothing are they ready for God to work +through them. And here is a lesson for all who stand apart from the +grace and power of Jesus Christ as if they needed it not. Whether you +know it or not, you are a broken reed; and the only way of your ever +being bound up and made strong is that you shall recognise your +sinfulness, your necessity, your abject poverty, your utter emptiness, +and come to Him who is righteousness, riches, fulness, and say, +'Because I am weak, be Thou my strength.' The secret of all noble, +heroic, useful, happy life lies in the paradox, 'When I am weak, then am +I strong,' and the secret of all failures, miseries, hopeless losses, +lies in its converse, 'When I am strong, then am I weak.' + + + + +NOT YOURS BUT YOU + + 'I seek not yours, but you.'--2 COR. xii. 14. + + +Men are usually quick to suspect others of the vices to which they +themselves are prone. It is very hard for one who never does anything +but with an eye to what he can make out of it, to believe that there are +other people actuated by higher motives. So Paul had, over and over +again, to meet the hateful charge of making money out of his +apostleship. It was one of the favourite stones that his opponents in +the Corinthian Church, of whom there were very many, very bitter ones, +flung at him. In this letter he more than once refers to the charge. He +does so with great dignity, and with a very characteristic and delicate +mixture of indignation and tenderness, almost playfulness. Thus, in the +context, he tells these Corinthian grumblers that he must beg their +pardon for not having taken anything of them, and so honoured them. Then +he informs them that he is coming again to see them for the third time, +and that that visit will be marked by the same independence of their +help as the others had been. And then he just lets a glimpse of his +pained heart peep out in the words of my text. 'I seek not yours, but +you.' _There_ speaks a disinterested love which feels obliged, and yet +reluctant, to stoop to say that it _is_ love, and that it _is_ +disinterested. Where did Paul learn this passionate desire to possess +these people, and this entire suppression of self in the desire? It was +a spark from a sacred fire, a drop from an infinite ocean, an echo of a +divine voice. The words of my text would never have been Paul's if the +spirit of them had not first been Christ's. I venture to take them in +that aspect, as setting forth Christ's claims upon us, and bearing very +directly on the question of Christian service and of Christian +liberality. + +I. So, then, first of all, I remark, Christ desires personal surrender. + +'I seek not yours, but _you_,' is the very mother-tongue of love; but +upon our lips, even when our love is purest, there is a tinge of +selfishness blending with it, and very often the desire for another's +love is as purely selfish as the desire for any material good. But in so +far as human love is pure in its desire to possess another, we have the +right to believe the deep and wonderful thought that there is something +corresponding to it in the heart of Christ, which is a revelation for us +of the heart of God; and that, however little we may be able to construe +the whole meaning of the fact, He does stretch out an arm of desire +towards us; and for His own sake, as for ours, would fain draw us near +to Himself, and is 'satisfied,' as He is not without it, when men's +hearts yield themselves up to Him, and let Him love them and lavish +Himself upon them. I do not venture into these depths, but I would lay +upon our hearts that the very inmost meaning of all that Jesus Christ +has said, and is saying, to each of us by the records of His life, by +the pathos of His death, by the miracle of His Resurrection, by the +glory of His Ascension, by the power of His granted Spirit, is, 'I seek +you.' + +And, brethren, our self-surrender is the essence of our Christianity. +Our religion lies neither in our heads nor in our acts; the deepest +notion of it is that it is the entire yielding up of ourselves to Jesus +Christ our Lord. There is plenty of religion which is a religion of the +head and of creeds. There is plenty of religion which is the religion of +the hand and of the tongue, and of forms and ceremonies and sacraments; +external worship. There is plenty of religion which surrenders to Him +some of the more superficial parts of our personality, whilst the +ancient Anarch, Self, sits undisturbed on his dark throne, in the depths +of our being. But none of these are the religion that either Christ +requires or that we need. The only true notion of a Christian is a man +who can truly say, 'I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' + +And that is the only kind of life that is blessed; our only true +nobleness and beauty and power and sweetness are measured by, and +accurately correspond with, the completeness of our surrender of +ourselves to Jesus Christ. As long as the earth was thought to be the +centre of the planetary system there was nothing but confusion in the +heavens. Shift the centre to the sun and all becomes order and beauty. +The root of sin, and the mother of death, is making myself my own law +and Lord; the germ of righteousness, and the first pulsations of life, +lie in yielding ourselves to God in Christ, because He has yielded +Himself unto us. + +I need not remind you, I suppose, that this self-surrender is a great +deal more than a vivid metaphor: that it implies a very hard fact; +implies at least two things, that we have yielded ourselves to Jesus +Christ, by the love of our hearts, and by the unreluctant submission of +our wills, whether He commands or whether He sends sufferings or joys. + +And, oh, brethren, be sure of this, that no such giving of myself away, +in the sweet reciprocities of a higher than human affection, is +possible, in the general, and on the large scale, if you evacuate from +the Gospel the great truth, 'He loved me, and gave Himself for me.' I +believe--and therefore I am bound to preach it--that the only power +which can utterly annihilate and cast out the dominion of self from a +human soul is the power that is lodged in the sacrifice of Jesus Christ +on the Cross for sinful men. + +And whilst I would fully recognise all that is noble, and all that is +effective, in systems either of religion, or of irreligious morality, +which have no place within their bounds for that great motive, I am sure +of this, that the evil self within us is too strong to be exorcised by +anything short of the old message, 'Jesus Christ has given His life for +thee, wilt thou not give thyself unto Him?' + +II. Christ seeks personal service. + +'I seek . . . you'; not only for My love, but for My tools; for My +instruments in carrying out the purposes for which I died, and +establishing My dominion in the world. Now I want to say two or three +very plain things about this matter, which lies very near my heart, as +to some degree responsible for the amount of Christian activity and +service in this my congregation. Brethren, the surrender of ourselves to +Jesus Christ in acts of direct Christian activity and service, will be +the outcome of a real surrender of ourselves to Him in love and +obedience. + +I cannot imagine a man who, in any deep sense, has realised his +obligations to that Saviour, and in any real sense has made the great +act of self-renunciation, and crowned Christ as his Lord, living for the +rest of his life, as so many professing Christians do, dumb and idle, in +so far as work for the Master is concerned. It seems to me that, among +the many wants of this generation of professing Christians, there is +none that is more needed than that a wave of new consecration should +pass over the Church. If men who call themselves Christians lived more +in habitual contact with the facts of their redeeming Saviour's +sacrifice for them, there would be no need to lament the fewness of the +labourers, as measured against the overwhelming multitude of the fields +that are white to harvest. If once that flood of a new sense of Christ's +gift, and a consequent new completeness of our returned gifts to Him, +flowed over the churches, then all the little empty ravines would be +filled with a flashing tide. Not a shuttle moves, not a spindle +revolves, until the strong impulse born of fire rushes in; and then, all +is activity. It is no use to flog, flog, flog, at idle Christians, and +try to make them work. There is only one thing that will set them to +work, and that is that they shall live nearer their Master, and find out +more of what they owe to Him; and so render themselves up to be His +instruments for any purpose for which He may choose to use them. + +This surrender of ourselves for direct Christian service is the only +solution of the problem of how to win the world for Jesus Christ. +Professionals cannot do it. Men of my class cannot do it. We are clogged +very largely by the fact that, being necessarily dependent on our +congregations for a living, we cannot, with as clear an emphasis as you +can, go to people and say, 'We seek not yours, but you.' I have nothing +to say about the present ecclesiastical arrangements of modern Christian +communities. That would take me altogether from my present purposes, but +I want to lay this upon your consciences, dear brethren, that you who +have other means of living than proclaiming Christ's name have an +advantage, which it is at your peril that you fling away. As long as the +Christian Church thought that an ordained priest was a man who could do +things that laymen could not do, the limitation of Christian service to +the priesthood was logical. But when the Christian Church, especially as +represented by us Nonconformists, came to believe that a minister was +only a man who preached the Gospel, which every Christian man is bound +to do, the limitations of Christian service to the official class became +an illogical survival, utterly incongruous with the fundamental +principles of our conception of the Christian Church. And yet here it +is, devastating our churches to-day, and making hundreds of good people +perfectly comfortable, in an unscriptural and unchristian indolence, +because, forsooth, it is the minister's business to preach the Gospel. I +know that there is not nearly as much of that indolence as there used to +be. Thank God for that. There are far more among our congregations than +in former times who have realised the fact that it is _every_ Christian +man's task, somehow or other, to set forth the great name of Jesus +Christ. But still, alas, in a church with, say, 400 members, you may +knock off the last cypher, and you will get a probably not too low +statement of the number of people in it who have realised and fulfilled +this obligation. What about the other 360 'dumb dogs, that will not +bark'? And in that 360 there will probably be several men who can make +speeches on political platforms, and in scientific lecture-halls, and +about social and economical questions, only they cannot, for the life of +them, open their mouths and say a word to a soul about Him whom they say +they serve, and to whom they say they belong. + +Brethren, this direct service cannot be escaped from, or commuted by a +money payment. In the old days a man used to escape serving in the +militia if he found a substitute, and paid for him. There are a great +many good Christian people who seem to think that Christ's army is +recruited on that principle. But it is a mistake. 'I seek you, not +yours.' + +III. Lastly, and only a word. Christ seeks us, _and_ ours. + +Not you _without_ yours, still less yours without you. This is no place, +nor is the fag end of a sermon the time, to talk about so wide a subject +as the ethics of Christian dealing with money. But two things I will +say--consecration of self is extremely imperfect which does not include +the consecration of possessions, and, conversely, consecration of +possessions which does not flow from, and is not accompanied by, the +consecration of self, is nought. + +If, then, the great law of self-surrender is to run through the whole +Christian life, that law, as applied to our dealing with what we own, +prescribes three things. The first is _stewardship_, not ownership; and +that all round the circumference of our possessions. Depend upon it, the +angry things that we hear to-day about the unequal distribution of +wealth will get angrier and angrier, and will be largely justified in +becoming so by the fact that so many of us, _Christians included_, have +firmly grasped the notion of possession, and utterly forgotten the +obligation of stewardship. + +Again, the law of self-surrender, in its application to all that we +have, involves our continual reference to Jesus Christ in our +disposition of these our possessions. I draw no line of distinction, in +this respect, between what a man spends upon himself, and what he spends +upon 'charity,' and what he spends upon religious objects. _One_ +principle is to govern, getting, hoarding, giving, enjoying, and that +is, that in it all Christ shall be Master. + +Again, the law of self-surrender, in its application to our possessions, +implies that there shall be an element of sacrifice in our use of these; +whether they be possessions of intellect, of acquirement, of influence, +of position, or of material wealth. The law of help is sacrifice, and +the law for a Christian man is that he shall not offer unto the Lord his +God that which costs him nothing. + +So, dear friends, let us all get near to that great central fire till it +melts our hearts. Let the love which is our hope be our pattern. +Remember that though only faintly, and from afar, can the issues of +Christ's great sacrifice be reproduced in any actions of ours, the +spirit which brought Him to die is the spirit which must instruct and +inspire us to live. Unless we can say, 'He loved me, and gave Himself +for me; I yield myself to Him'; and unless our lives confirm the +utterance, we have little right to call ourselves His disciples. + + + + +GALATIANS + + + + +FROM CENTRE TO CIRCUMFERENCE + + 'The life which I now live in the flesh I live by + the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and + gave Himself for me.'--GAL. ii. 20. + + +We have a bundle of paradoxes in this verse. First, 'I am crucified with +Christ, nevertheless I live.' The Christian life is a dying life. If we +are in any real sense joined to Christ, the power of His death makes us +dead to self and sin and the world. In that region, as in the physical, +death is the gate of life; and, inasmuch as what we die to in Christ is +itself only a living death, we live because we die, and in proportion as +we die. + +The next paradox is, 'Yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' The Christian +life is a life in which an indwelling Christ casts out, and therefore +quickens, self. We gain ourselves when we lose ourselves. His abiding in +us does not destroy but heightens our individuality. We then most truly +live when we can say, 'Not I, but Christ liveth in me'; the soul of my +soul and the self of myself. + +And the last paradox is that of my text, 'The life which I live in the +flesh, I live in' (not 'by') 'the faith of the Son of God.' The true +Christian life moves in two spheres at once. Externally and +superficially it is 'in the flesh,' really it is 'in faith.' It belongs +not to the material nor is dependent upon the physical body in which we +are housed. We are strangers here, and the true region and atmosphere of +the Christian life is that invisible sphere of faith. + +So, then, we have in these words of my text a Christian man's frank +avowal of the secret of his own life. It is like a geological cutting, +it goes down from the surface, where the grass and the flowers are, +through the various strata, but it goes deeper than these, to the fiery +heart, the flaming nucleus and centre of all things. Therefore it may do +us all good to make a section of our hearts and see whether the _strata_ +there are conformable to those that are here. + +I. Let us begin with the centre, and work to the surface. We have, +first, the great central fact named last, but round which all the +Christian life is gathered. + +'The Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself for me.' These two +words, the 'loving' and the 'giving,' both point backwards to some one +definite historical fact, and the only fact which they can have in view +is the great one of the death of Jesus Christ. That is His giving up of +Himself. That is the signal and highest manifestation and proof of His +love. + +Notice (though I can but touch in the briefest possible manner upon the +great thoughts that gather round these words) the three aspects of that +transcendent fact, the centre and nucleus of the whole Christian life, +which come into prominence in these words before us. Christ's death is a +great act of self-surrender, of which the one motive is His own pure and +perfect love. No doubt in other places of Scripture we have set forth +the death of Christ as being the result of the Father's purpose, and we +read that in that wondrous surrender there were two givings up The +Father 'freely gave Him up to the death for us all.' That divine +surrender, the Apostle ventures, in another passage, to find dimly +suggested from afar, in the silent but submissive and unreluctant +surrender with which Abraham yielded his only begotten son on the +mountain top. But besides that ineffable giving up by the Father of the +Son, Jesus Christ Himself, moved only by His love, willingly yields +Himself. The whole doctrine of the sacrifice of Jesus Christ has been +marred by one-sided insisting on the truth that God sent the Son, to the +forgetting of the fact that the Son 'came'; and that He was bound to the +Cross neither by cords of man's weaving nor by the will of the Father, +but that He Himself bound Himself to that Cross with the 'cords of love +and the bands of a man,' and died from no natural necessity nor from any +imposition of the divine will upon Him unwilling, but because He would, +and that He would because He loved. 'He loved me, and gave Himself for +me.' + +Then note, further, that here, most distinctly, that great act of +self-surrendering love which culminates on the Cross is regarded as +being for man in a special and peculiar sense. I know, of course, that +from the mere wording of my text we cannot argue the atoning and +substitutionary character of the death of Christ, for the preposition +here does not necessarily mean 'instead of,' but 'for the behoof of.' +But admitting that, I have another question. If Christ's death is for +'the behoof of' men, in what conceivable sense does it benefit them, +unless it is in the place of men? The death 'for me' is only for me when +I understand that it is 'instead of' me. And practically you will find +that wherever the full-orbed faith in Christ Jesus as the death for all +the sins of the whole world, bearing the penalty and bearing it away, +has begun to falter and grow pale, men do not know what to do with +Christ's death at all, and stop talking about it to a very large extent. + +Unless He died as a sacrifice, I, for one, fail to see in what other +than a mere sentimental sense the death of Christ is a death for men. + +And lastly, about this matter, observe how here we have brought into +vivid prominence the great thought that Jesus Christ in His death has +regard to single souls. We preach that He died for all. If we believe in +that august title which is laid here as the vindication of our faith on +the one hand, and as the ground of the possibility of the benefits of +His death being world-wide on the other--viz. the Son of God--then we +shall not stumble at the thought that He died for all, because He died +for each. I know that if you only regard Jesus Christ as human I am +talking utter nonsense; but I know, too, that if we believe in the +divinity of our Lord, there need be nothing to stumble us, but the +contrary, in the thought that it was not an abstraction that He died +for, that it was not a vague mass of unknown beings, clustered together, +but so far away that He could not see any of their faces, for whom He +gave His life on the Cross. That is the way in which, and in which +alone, _we_ can embrace the whole mass of humanity--by losing sight of +the individuals. We generalise, precisely because we do not see the +individual units; but that is not God's way, and that is not Christ's +way, who is divine. For Him the _all_ is broken up into its parts, and +when we say that the divine love loves all, we mean that the divine love +loves each. I believe (and I commend the thought to you) that we do not +fathom the depth of Christ's sufferings unless we recognise that the +sins of each man were consciously adding pressure to the load beneath +which He sank; nor picture the wonders of His love until we believe that +on the Cross it distinguished and embraced each, and, therefore, +comprehended all. Every man may say, 'He loved me, and gave Himself for +me.' + +II. So much, then, for the first central fact that is here. Now let me +say a word, in the second place, about the faith which makes that fact +the foundation of my own personal life. + +'I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave Himself +for me.' I am not going to plunge into any unnecessary dissertations +about the nature of faith; but may I say that, like all other familiar +conceptions, it has got worn so smooth that it glides over our mental +palate without roughening any of the _papillae_ or giving any sense or +savour at all? And I do believe that dozens of people like you, who have +come to church and chapel all your lives, and fancy yourselves to be +fully _au fait_ at all the Christian truth that you will ever hear from +my lips, do not grasp with any clearness of apprehension the meaning of +that fundamental word 'faith.' + +It is a thousand pities that it is confined by the accidents of language +to our attitude in reference to Jesus Christ. So some of you think that +it is some kind of theological juggle which has nothing to do with, and +never can be seen in operation in, common life. Suppose, instead of the +threadbare, technical 'faith' we took to a new translation for a minute, +and said '_trust_,' do you think that would freshen up the thought to +you at all? It is the very same thing which makes the sweetness of your +relations to wife and husband and friend and parent, which, transferred +to Jesus Christ and glorified in the process, becomes the seed of +immortal life and the opener of the gate of Heaven. Trust Jesus Christ. +That is the living centre of the Christian life; that is the process by +which we draw the general blessing of the Gospel into our own hearts, +and make the world-wide truth, our truth. + +I need not insist either, I suppose, on the necessity, if our Christian +life is to be modelled upon the Apostolic lines, of our faith embracing +the Christ in all these aspects in which I have been speaking about His +work. God forbid that I should seem to despise rudimentary and +incomplete feelings after Him in any heart which may be unable to say +'Amen' to Paul's statement here. I want to insist very earnestly, and +with special reference to the young, that the true Christian faith is +not merely the grasp of the person, but it is the grasp of the Person +who is 'declared to be the Son of God,' and whose death is the voluntary +self-surrender motived by His love, for the carrying away of the sins of +every single soul in the whole universe. That is the Christ, the full +Christ, cleaving to whom our faith finds somewhat to grasp worthy of +grasping. And I beseech you, be not contented with a partial grasp of a +partial Saviour; neither shut your eyes to the divinity of His nature, +nor to the efficacy of His death, but remember that the true Gospel +preaches Christ and Him crucified; and that for us, saving faith is the +faith that grasps the Son of God 'Who loved me and gave Himself for me.' + +Note, further, that true faith is personal faith, which appropriates, +and, as it were, fences in as my very own, the purpose and benefit of +Christ's giving of Himself. It is always difficult for lazy people (and +most of us are lazy) to transfer into their own personal lives, and to +bring into actual contact with themselves and their own experience, +wide, general truths. To assent to them, when we keep them in their +generality, is very easy and very profitless. It does no man any good to +say 'All men are mortal'; but how different it is when the blunt end of +that generalisation is shaped into a point, and I say 'I have to die!' +It penetrates then, and it sticks. It is easy to say 'All men are +sinners.' That never yet forced anybody down on his knees. But when we +shut out on either side the lateral view and look straight on, on the +narrow line of our own lives, up to the Throne where the Lawgiver sits, +and feel 'I am a sinful man,' that sends us to our prayers for pardon +and purity. And in like manner nobody was ever wholesomely terrified by +the thought of a general judgment. But when you translate it into 'I +must stand there,' the terror of the Lord persuades men. + +In like manner that great truth which we all of us say we believe, that +Christ has died for the world, is utterly useless and profitless to us +until we have translated it into Paul's world, 'loved _me_ and gave +Himself for _me_.' I do not say that the essence of faith is the +conversion of the general statement into the particular application, but +I do say that there is no faith which does not realise one's personal +possession of the benefits of the death of Christ, and that until you +turn the wide word into a message for yourself alone, you have not yet +got within sight of the blessedness of the Christian life. The whole +river may flow past me, but only so much of it as I can bring into my +own garden by my own sluices, and lift in my own bucket, and put to my +own lips, is of any use to me. The death of Christ for the world is a +commonplace of superficial Christianity, which is no Christianity; the +death of Christ for myself, as if He and I were the only beings in the +universe, that is the death on which faith fastens and feeds. + +And, dear brother, you have the right to exercise it. The Christ loves +each, and therefore He loves all; that is the process in the divine +mind. The converse is the process in the revelation of that mind; the +Bible says to us, Christ loves all, and therefore we have the right to +draw the inference that He loves each. You have as much right to take +every 'whosoever' of the New Testament as your very own, as if on the +page of your Bible that 'whosoever' was struck out, and your name, John, +Thomas, Mary, Elizabeth, or whatever it is, were put in there. 'He loved +_me_.' Can _you_ say that? Have you ever passed from the region of +universality, which is vague and profitless, into the region of personal +appropriation of the person of Jesus Christ and His death? + +III. And now, lastly, notice the life which is built upon this faith. + +The true Christian life is dual. It is a life in the flesh, and it is +also a life in faith. These two, as I have said, are like two spheres, +in either of which a man's course is passed, or, rather, the one is +surface and the other is central. Here is a great trailing spray of +seaweed floating golden on the unquiet water, and rising and falling on +each wave or ripple. Aye! but its root is away deep, deep, deep below +the storms, below where there is motion, anchored upon a hidden rock +that can never move. And so my life, if it be a Christian life at all, +has its surface amidst the shifting mutabilities of earth, but its root +in the silent eternities of the centre of all things, which is Christ +in God. I live in the flesh on the outside, but if I am a Christian at +all, I live in the faith in regard of my true and proper being. + +This faith, which grasps the Divine Christ as the person whose +love-moved death is my life, and who by my faith becomes Himself the +Indwelling Guest in my heart; this faith, if it be worth anything, will +mould and influence my whole being. It will give me motive, pattern, +power for all noble service and all holy living. The one thing that +stirs men to true obedience is that their hearts be touched with the +firm assurance that Christ loved them and died for them. + +We sometimes used to see men starting an engine by manual force; and +what toil it was to get the great cranks to turn, and the pistons to +rise! So we set ourselves to try and move our lives into holiness and +beauty and nobleness, and it is dispiriting work. There is a far better, +surer way than that: let the steam in, and that will do it. That is to +say--let the Christ in His dying power and the living energy of His +indwelling Spirit occupy the heart, and activity becomes blessedness, +and work is rest, and service is freedom and dominion. + +The life that I live in the flesh is poor, limited, tortured with +anxiety, weighed upon by sore distress, becomes dark and gray and dreary +often as we travel nearer the end, and is always full of miseries and of +pains. But if within that life in the flesh there be a life in faith, +which is the life of Christ Himself brought to us through our faith, +that life will be triumphant, quiet, patient, aspiring, noble, hopeful, +gentle, strong, Godlike, being the life of Christ Himself within us. + +So, dear friends, test your faith by these two tests, what it grasps +and what it does. If it grasps a whole Christ, in all the glory of His +nature and the blessedness of His work, it is genuine; and it proves its +genuineness if, and only if, it works in you by love; animating all your +action, bringing you ever into the conscious presence of that dear Lord, +and making Him pattern, law, motive, goal, companion and reward. 'To me +to live is Christ.' + +If so, then we live indeed; but to live in the flesh is to die; and the +death that we die when we live in Christ is the gate and the beginning +of the only real life of the soul. + + + + +THE EVIL EYE AND THE CHARM + + 'Who hath bewitched you, that ye should not obey + the truth, before whose eye Jesus Christ hath been + evidently set forth, crucified among you?'--GAL. + iii. 1. + + +The Revised Version gives a shorter, and probably correct, form of this +vehement question. It omits the two clauses 'that ye should not obey the +truth' and 'among you.' The omission increases the sharpness of the +thrust of the interrogation, whilst it loses nothing of the meaning. + +Now, a very striking metaphor runs through the whole of this question, +which may easily be lost sight of by ordinary readers. You know the old +superstition as to the Evil Eye, almost universal at the date of this +letter and even now in the East, and lingering still amongst ourselves. +Certain persons were supposed to have the power, by a look, to work +mischief, and by fixing the gaze of their victims, to suck the very life +out of them. So Paul asks who the malign sorcerer is who has thus +fascinated the fickle Galatians, and is draining their Christian life +out of their eyes. + +Very appropriately, therefore, if there is this reference, which the +word translated 'bewitched' carries with it, he goes on to speak about +Jesus Christ as having been displayed before their eyes. They had seen +Him. How did they come to be able to turn away to look at anything else? + +But there is another observation to be made by way of introduction, and +that is as to the full force of the expression 'evidently set forth.' +The word employed, as commentators tell us, is that which is used for +the display of official proclamations, or public notices, in some +conspicuous place, as the Forum or the market, that the citizens might +read. So, keeping up the metaphor, the word might be rendered, as has +been suggested by some eminent scholars, 'placarded'--'Before whose eyes +Jesus Christ has been placarded.' The expression has acquired somewhat +ignoble associations from modern advertising, but that is no reason why +we should lose sight of its force. So, then, Paul says, 'In my +preaching, Christ was conspicuously set forth. It is like some +inexplicable enchantment that, having seen Him, you should turn away to +gaze on others.' It is insanity which evokes wonder, as well as sin +which deserves rebuke; and the fiery question of my text conveys both. + +I. Keeping to the metaphor, I note first the placard which Paul had +displayed. + +'Jesus Christ crucified has been conspicuously set forth before you,' he +says to these Galatians. Now, he is referring, of course, to his own +work of preaching the Gospel to them at the beginning. And the vivid +metaphor suggests very strikingly two things. We see in it the Apostle's +notion of what He had to do. His had been a very humble office, simply +to hang up a proclamation. The one virtue of a proclamation is that it +should be brief and plain. It must be authoritative, it must be urgent, +it must be 'writ large,' it must be easily intelligible. And he that +makes it public has nothing to do except to fasten it up, and make sure +that it is legible. If I might venture into modern phraseology, what +Paul means is that he was neither more nor less than a bill-sticker, +that he went out with the placards and fastened them up. + +Ah! if we ministers universally acted up to the implications of this +metaphor, do you not think the pulpit would be more frequently a centre +of power than it is to-day? And if, instead of presenting our own +ingenuities and speculations, we were to realise the fact that we have +to hide ourselves behind the broad sheet that we fasten up, there would +be a new breath over many a moribund church, and we should hear less of +the often warrantable sarcasms about the inefficiency of the modern +pulpit. + +But I turn from Paul's conception of the office to his statement of his +theme. '_Jesus_ was displayed amongst you.' If I might vary the metaphor +a little, the placard that Paul fastened up was like those that modern +advertising ingenuity displays upon all our walls. It was a +picture-placard, and on it was portrayed one sole figure--Jesus, the +Person. Christianity is Christ, and Christ is Christianity; and wherever +there is a pulpit or a book which deals rather with doctrines than with +Him who is the Fountain and Quarry of all doctrine, there is divergence +from the primitive form of the Gospel. + +I know, of course, that doctrines--which are only formal and orderly +statements of principles involved in the facts--must flow from the +proclamation of the person, Christ. I am not such a fool as to run +amuck against theology, as some people in this day do. But what I wish +to insist upon is that the first form of Christianity is not a theory, +but a history, and that the revelation of God is the biography of a man. +We must begin with the person, Christ, and preach Him. Would that all +our preachers and all professing Christians, in their own personal +religious life, had grasped this--that, since Christianity is not first +a philosophy but a history, and its centre not an ordered sequence of +doctrines but a living person, the act that makes a man possessor of +Christianity is not the intellectual process of assimilating certain +truths, and accepting them, but the moral process of clinging, with +trust and love, to the person, Jesus. + +But, further, if any of you consult the original, you will see that the +order of the sentence is such as to throw a great weight of emphasis on +that last word 'crucified.' It is not merely a person that is portrayed +on the placard, but it is that person _upon the Cross_. Ah! brethren, +Paul himself puts his finger, in the words of my text, on what, in his +conception, was the throbbing heart of all his message, the vital point +from which all its power, and all the gleam of its benediction, poured +out upon humanity--'Christ crucified.' If the placard is a picture of +Christ in other attitudes and in other aspects, without the picture of +Him crucified, it is an imperfect representation of the Gospel that Paul +preached and that Christ was. + +II. Now, think, secondly, of the fascinators that draw away the eyes. + +Paul's question is not one of ignorance, but it is a rhetorical way of +rebuking, and of expressing wonder. He knew, and the Galatians knew, +well enough who it was that had bewitched them. The whole letter is a +polemic worked in fire, and not in frost, as some argumentation is, +against a very well-marked class of teachers--viz. those emissaries of +Judaism who had crept into the Church, and took it as their special +function to dog Paul's steps amongst the heathen communities that he had +gathered together through faith in Christ, and used every means to upset +his work. + +I cannot but pause for a moment upon this original reference of my text, +because it is very relevant to the present condition of things amongst +us. These men whom Paul is fighting as if he were in a sawpit with them, +in this letter, what was their teaching? This: they did not deny that +Jesus was the Christ; they did not deny that faith knit a man to Him, +but what they said was that the observance of the external rites of +Judaism was necessary in order to entrance into the Church and to +salvation. They did not in their own estimation detract from Christ, but +they added to Him. And Paul says that to add is to detract, to say that +anything is necessary except faith in Jesus Christ's finished work is to +deny that that finished work, and faith in it, are the means of +salvation; and the whole evangelical system crumbles into nothingness if +once you admit that. + +Now, is there anybody to-day who is saying the same things, with +variations consequent upon change of external conditions? Are there no +people within the limits of the Christian Church who are reiterating the +old Jewish notion that external ceremonies--baptism and the Lord's +Supper--are necessary to salvation and to connection with the Christian +Church? And is it not true now, as it was then, that though they do not +avowedly detract, they so represent these external rites as to detract, +from the sole necessity of faith in the perfected work of Jesus Christ? +The centre is shifted from personal union with a personal Saviour by a +personal faith to participation in external ordinances. And I venture to +think that the lava stream which, in this Epistle to the Galatians, Paul +pours on the Judaisers of his day needs but a little deflection to pour +its hot current over, and to consume, the sacramentarian theories of +this day. 'O foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you?' Is it not like +some malignant sorcery, that after the Evangelical revival of the last +century and the earlier part of this, there should spring up again this +old, old error, and darken the simplicity of the Gospel teaching, that +Christ's work, apprehended by faith, without anything else, is the +means, and the only means, of salvation? + +But I need not spend time upon that original application. Let us rather +come more closely to our own individual lives and their weaknesses. It +is a strange thing, so strange that if one did not know it by one's own +self, one would be scarcely disposed to believe it possible, that a man +who has 'tasted the good word of God and the powers of the world to +come,' and has known Jesus Christ as Saviour and Friend, should decline +from Him, and turn to anything besides. And yet, strange and sad, and +like some enchantment as it is, it is the experience at times and in a +measure, of us all; and, alas! it is the experience, in a very tragical +degree, of many who have walked for a little while behind the Master, +and then have turned away and walked no more with Him. We may well +wonder; but the root of the mischief is in no baleful glitter of a +sorcerer's eye without us, but it is in the weakness of our own wills +and the waywardness of our own hearts, and the wandering of our own +affections. We often court the coming of the evil influence, and are +willing to be fascinated and to turn our backs upon Jesus. Mysterious it +is, for why should men cast away diamonds for paste? Mysterious it is, +for we do not usually drop the substance to get the shadow. Mysterious +it is, for a man does not ordinarily empty his pockets of gold in order +to fill them with gravel. Mysterious it is, for a thirsty man will not +usually turn away from the full, bubbling, living fountain, to see if he +can find any drops still remaining, green with scum, stagnant and +odorous, at the bottom of some broken cistern. But all these follies are +sanity as compared with the folly of which we are guilty, times without +number, when, having known the sweetness of Jesus Christ, we turn away +to the fascinations of the world. Custom, the familiarity that we have +with Him, the attrition of daily cares--like the minute grains of sand +that are cemented on to paper, and make a piece of sandpaper that is +strong enough to file an inscription off iron--the seductions of worldly +delights, the pressure of our daily cares--all these are as a ring of +sorcerers that stand round about us, before whom we are as powerless as +a bird in the presence of a serpent, and they bewitch us and draw us +away. + +The sad fact has been verified over and over again on a large scale in +the history of the Church. After every outburst of renewed life and +elevated spirituality there is sure to come a period of reaction when +torpor and formality again assert themselves. What followed the +Reformation in Germany? A century of death. What followed Puritanism in +England? An outburst of lust and godlessness. + +So it has always been, and so it is with us individually, as we too +well know. Ah, brethren! the seductions are omnipresent, and our poor +eyes are very weak, and we turn away from the Lord to look on these +misshapen monsters that are seeking by their gaze to draw us into +destruction. I wonder how many professing Christians are in this +audience who once saw Jesus Christ a great deal more clearly, and +contemplated Him a great deal more fixedly, and turned their hearts to +Him far more lovingly, than they do to-day? Some of the great mountain +peaks of Africa are only seen for an hour or two in the morning, and +then the clouds gather around them, and hide them for the rest of the +day. It is like the experience of many professing Christians, who see +Him in the morning of their Christian life far more vividly than they +ever do after. 'Who hath bewitched you?' The world; but the +arch-sorcerer sits safe in our own hearts. + +III. Lastly, keeping to the metaphor, let me suggest, although my text +does not touch upon it, the Amulet. + +One has seen fond mothers in Egypt and Palestine who hang on their +babies' necks charms, to shield them from the influence of the Evil Eye; +and there is a charm that we may wear if we will, which will keep us +safe. There is no fascination in the Evil Eye if you do not look at it. + +The one object that the sorcerer has is to withdraw our gaze from +Christ; it is not illogical to say that the way to defeat the object is +to keep our gaze fixed on Christ. If you do not look at the baleful +glitter of the Evil Eye it will exercise no power over you; and if you +will steadfastly look at Him, then, and only then, you will not look at +it. Like Ulysses in the legend, bandage the eyes and put wax in the +ears, if you would neither be tempted by hearing the songs, nor by +seeing the fair forms, of the sirens on their island. To look fixedly at +Jesus Christ, and with the resolve never to turn away from Him, is the +only safety against these tempting delights around us. + +But, brethren, it is the crucified Christ, looking to whom, we are safe +amidst all seductions and snares. I doubt whether a Christ who did not +die for men has power enough over men's hearts and minds to draw them to +Himself. The cords which bind us to Him are the assurance of His dying +love which has conquered us. If only we will, day by day, and moment by +moment, as we pass through the duties and distractions, the temptations +and the trials, of this present life, by an act of will and thought turn +ourselves to Him, then all the glamour of false attractiveness will +disappear from the temptations around us, and we shall see that the +sirens, for all their fair forms, end in loathly fishes' tails and sit +amidst dead men's bones. + +Brethren, 'looking _off_ unto Jesus' is the secret of triumph over the +fascinations of the world. And if we will habitually so look, then the +sweetness that we shall experience will destroy all the seducing power +of lesser and earthly sweetness, and the blessed light of the sun will +dim and all but extinguish the deceitful gleams that tempt us into the +swamps where we shall be drowned. Turn away, then, from these things; +cleave to Jesus Christ; and though in ourselves we may be as weak as a +humming-bird before a snake, or a rabbit before a tiger, He will give us +strength, and the light of His face shining down upon us will fix our +eyes and make us insensible to the fascinations of the sorcerers. So we +shall not need to dread the question, 'Who hath bewitched you?' but +ourselves challenge the utmost might of the fascination with the +triumphant question, 'Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?' + +Help us, O Lord! we beseech Thee, to live near Thee. Turn away our eyes +from beholding vanity, and enable us to set the Lord always before us +that we be not moved. + + + + +LESSONS OF EXPERIENCE + + 'Have ye suffered so many things in vain?'--GAL. + iii 4. + + Preached on the last Sunday of the year. + + +This vehement question is usually taken to be a reminder to the fickle +Galatians that their Christian faith had brought upon them much +suffering from the hands of their unbelieving brethren, and to imply an +exhortation to faithfulness to the Gospel lest they should stultify +their past brave endurance. Yielding to the Judaising teachers, and +thereby escaping the 'offence of the Cross,' they would make their past +sufferings vain. But it may be suggested that the word 'suffered' here +is rather used in what is its known sense elsewhere, namely, with the +general idea of _feeling_, the nature of the feeling being undefined. It +is a touching proof of the preponderance of pain and sorrow that by +degrees the significance of the word has become inextricably intertwined +with the thought of sadness; still, it is possible to take it in the +text as meaning _experienced_ or _felt_, and to regard the Apostle as +referring to the whole of the Galatians' past experience, and as +founding his appeal for their steadfastness on all the joys as well as +the sorrows, which their faith had brought them. + +Taking the words in this more general sense they become a question which +it is well for us to ask ourselves at such a time as this, when the +calendar naturally invites us to look backwards and ask ourselves what +we have made of all our experiences in the past, or rather what, by the +help of them all, we have made of ourselves. + +I. The duty of retrospect. + +For almost any reason it is good for us to be delivered from our +prevailing absorption in the present. Whatever counterpoises the +overwhelming weight of the present is, so far, a blessing and a good, +and whatever softens the heart and keeps up even the lingering +remembrance of early, dewy freshness and of the high aspirations which, +even for a brief space, elevated our past selves is gain amidst the +dusty commonplaces of to-day. We see things better and more clearly when +we get a little away from them, as a face is more distinctly visible at +armslength than when held close. + +But our retrospects are too often almost as trivial and degrading as is +our absorption in the present, and to prevent memory from becoming a +minister of frivolity if not of sin, it is needful that such a question +as that of our text be urgently asked by each of us. Memory must be in +closest union with conscience, as all our faculties must be, or she is +of little use. There is a mere sentimental luxury of memory which finds +a pensive pleasure in the mere passing out from the hard present into +the soft light, not without illusion in its beams, of the 'days that are +no more.' Merely to live over again our sorrows and joys without any +clear discernment of what their effects on our moral character have +been, is not the retrospect that becomes a man, however it might suit +an animal. We have to look back as a man might do escaping from the +ocean on to some frail sand-bank which ever breaks off and crumbles away +at his very heels. To remember the past mainly as it affected our joy or +our sorrow is as unworthy as to regard the present from the same point +of view, and robs both of their highest worth. To remember is only then +blessed and productive of its highest possible good in us, when the +question of our text insists on being faced, and the object of +retrospect is not to try to rekindle the cold coals of past emotions, +but to ascertain what effect on our present characters our past +experiences have had. We have not to turn back and try to gather some +lingering flowers, but to look for the fruit which has followed the +fallen blossoms. + +II. The true test for the past. + +The question of our text implies, as we have already suggested, that our +whole lives, with all their various and often opposite experiences, are +yet an ordered whole, having a definite end. There is some purpose +beyond the moment to be served. Our joys and our sorrows, our gains and +our losses, the bright hours and the dark hours, and the hours that are +neither eminently bright nor supremely dark, our failures and our +successes, our hopes disappointed or fulfilled, and all the infinite +variety of condition and environment through which our varying days and +years have led us, co-operate for one end. It is life that makes men; +the infant is a bundle of possibilities, and as the years go on, one +possible avenue of development after another is blocked. The child might +have been almost anything; the man has become hardened and fixed into +one shape. + +But all this variety of impulses and complicated experiences need the +co-operation of the man himself if they are to reach their highest +results in him. If he is simply recipient of these external forces +acting upon him, they will shape him indeed, but he will be a poor +creature. Life does not make men unless men take the command of life, +and he who lets circumstances and externals guide him, as the long water +weeds in a river are directed by its current, will, from the highest +point of view, have experienced the variations of a lifetime in vain. + +No doubt each of our experiences has its own immediate and lower purpose +to serve, and these purposes are generally accomplished, but beyond +these each has a further aim which is not reached without diligent +carefulness and persistent effort on our parts. If we would be sure of +what it is to suffer life's experiences in vain, we have but to ask +ourselves what life is given us for, and we all know that well enough to +be able to judge how far we have used life to attain the highest ends of +living. We may put these ends in various ways in our investigation of +the results of our manifold experiences. Let us begin with the +lowest--we received life that we might learn truth, then if our +experience has not taught us wisdom it has been in vain. It is +deplorable to have to look round and see how little the multitude of men +are capable of forming anything like an independent and intelligent +opinion, and how they are swayed by gusts of passion, by blind +prejudice, by pretenders and quacks of all sorts. It is no less sad for +us to turn our eyes within and discover, perhaps not without surprise +and shame, how few of what we are self-complacent enough to call our +opinions are due to our own convictions. + +If we ever are honest enough with ourselves to catch a glimpse of our +own unwisdom, the question of our text will press heavily upon us, and +may help to make us wiser by teaching us how foolish we are. An infinite +source of wisdom is open to us, and all the rich variety of our lives' +experiences has been lavished on us to help us, and what have we made of +it all? + +But we may rise a step higher and remember that we are made moral +creatures. Therefore, whatever has not developed infant potentialities +in us, and made them moral qualities, has been experienced in vain. 'Not +enjoyment and not sorrow is our destined end and way.' Life is meant to +make us love and do the good, and unless it has produced that effect on +us, it has failed. If this be true, the world is full of failures, like +the marred statues in a bad sculptor's studio, and we ourselves have +earnestly to confess that the discipline of life has too often been +wasted upon us, and that of us the divine complaint from of old has been +true: 'In vain have I smitten thy children, they have received no +correction.' + +There is no sadder waste than the waste of sorrow, and alas! we all know +how impotent our afflictions have been to make us better. But not +afflictions only have failed in their appeal to us, our joys have as +often been in vain as our sorrows, and memory, when it turns its lamp on +the long past, sees so few points at which life has taught us to love +goodness, and be good, that she may well quench her light and let the +dead past bury its dead. + +But we must rise still higher, and think of men as being made for God, +and as being the only creatures known to us who are capable of religion. +'Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him for ever.' And this +chief end is in fullest harmony with the lower ends to which we have +just referred, and they will never be realised in their fullest +completeness unless that completeness is sought in this the chief end. +From of old meditative souls have known that the beginning of wisdom is +the fear of the Lord, and that that fear is as certainly the beginning +of goodness. It was not an irrelevant rebuke to the question, 'What good +thing shall I do?' when Jesus set the eager young soul who asked it, to +justify to himself his courteous and superficial application to Him of +the abused and vulgarised title of 'Good,' and pointed him to God as the +only Being to whom that title, in its perfectness, could be given. If +'there is none good but one, that is God,' man's goodness must be drawn +from Him, and morality without religion will in theory be incomplete, +and in practice a delusion. If, then, men are made to need God, and +capable of possessing Him, and of being possessed by Him, then the great +question for all of us is, has life, with all its rapid whirl of +changing circumstance and varying fortunes, drawn us closer to God, and +made us more fit to receive more of Him? So supreme is this chief end +that a life which has not attained it can only be regarded as 'in vain' +whatever other successes it may have attained. So unspeakably more +important and necessary is it, that compared with it all else sinks into +nothingness; hence many lives which are dazzling successes in the eyes +of men are ghastly failures in reality. + +Now, if we take these plain principles with us in our retrospect of the +past year we shall be launched on a very serious inquiry, and brought +face to face with a very penitent answer. Some of us may have had great +sorrows, and the tears may be scarcely dry upon our cheeks: some of us +may have had great gladnesses, and our hearts may still be throbbing +with the thrill: some of us may have had great successes, and some of us +heavy losses, but the question for us to ask is not of the quality of +our past experiences, but as to their effects upon us. Has life been so +used by us as to help us to become wiser, better, more devout? And the +answer to that question, if we are honest in our scrutiny of ourselves, +and if memory has not been a mere sentimental luxury, must be that we +have too often been but unfaithful recipients alike of God's mercies and +God's chastisements, and have received much of the discipline of life, +and remained undisciplined. The question of our text, if asked by me, +would be impertinent, but it is asked of each of us by the stern voice +of conscience, and for some of us by the lips of dear ones whose loss +has been among our chiefest sufferings. God asks us this question, and +it is hard to make-believe to Him. + +III. The best issue of the retrospect. + +The world says, 'What I have written I have written,' and there is a +very solemn and terrible reality in the thought of the irrevocable past. +Whether life has achieved the ends for which it was given or no, it has +achieved some ends. It may have made us into characters the very +opposite of God's intention for us, but it has made us into certain +characters which, so far as the world sees, can never be unmade or +re-made. The world harshly preaches the indelibility of character, and +proclaims that the Ethiopian may as soon be expected to change his skin +or the leopard his spots as the man accustomed to do evil may learn to +do well. That dreary fatalism which binds the effects of a dead past on +a man's shoulders, and forbids him to hope that anything will +obliterate the marks of 'what once hath been,' is in violent +contradiction to the large hope brought into the world by Jesus Christ. +What we have written we _have_ written, and we have no power to erase +the lines and make the sheet clean again, but Jesus Christ has taken +away the handwriting 'that was against us,' nailing it to His cross. +Instead of our old sin-worn and sin-marked selves, He proffers to each +of us a new self, not the outcome of what we have been, but the image of +what He is and the prophecy of what we shall be. By the great gift of +holiness for the future by the impartation of His own life and spirit, +Jesus makes all things new. The Gospel recognises to the full how bad +some who have received it were, but it can willingly admit their past +foulness, because it contrasts with all that former filth their present +cleanness, and to the most inveterately depraved who have trusted in +Christ rejoices to say, 'Ye were washed, ye were sanctified, ye were +justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.' + + + + +THE UNIVERSAL PRISON + + 'But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, + that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be + given to them that believe.'--GAL. iii. 22. + + +The Apostle uses here a striking and solemn figure, which is much veiled +for the English reader by the ambiguity attaching to the word +'concluded.' It literally means 'shut up,' and is to be taken in its +literal sense of confining, and not in its secondary sense of inferring. +So, then, we are to conceive of a vast prison-house in which mankind is +confined. And then, very characteristically, the Apostle passes at once +to another metaphor when he goes on to say 'under sin.' What a moment +before had presented itself to his vivid imagination as a great dungeon +is now represented as a heavy weight, pressing down upon those beneath; +if, indeed, we are not, perhaps, rather to think of the low roof of the +dark dungeon as weighing on the captives. + +Further, he says that Scripture has driven men into this captivity. +That, of course, cannot mean that revelation makes us sinners, but it +does mean that it makes us more guilty, and that it declares the fact of +human sinfulness as no other voice has ever done. And then the grimness +of the picture is all relieved and explained, and the office ascribed to +God's revelation harmonised with God's love, by the strong, steady beam +of light that falls from the last words, which tell us that the +prisoners have not been bound in chains for despair or death, but in +order that, gathered together in a common doleful destiny, they may +become recipients of a common blessed salvation, and emerge into liberty +and light through faith in Jesus Christ. + +So here are three things--the prison-house, its guardian, and its +breaker. 'The Scripture hath shut up all under sin, in order that the +promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given unto all them that +believe.' + +I. First, then, note the universal prison-house. + +Now the Apostle says two things--and we may put away the figure and look +at the facts that underlie it. The one is that all sin is imprisonment, +the other is that all men are in that dungeon, unless they have come out +of it through faith in Jesus Christ. + +All sin is imprisonment. That is the direct contrary of the notion that +many people have. They say to themselves, 'Why should I be fettered and +confined by these antiquated restrictions of a conventional morality? +Why should I not break the bonds, and do as I like?' And they laugh at +Christian people who recognise the limitations under which God's law has +put them; and tell us that we are 'cold-blooded folks who live by rule,' +and contrast their own broad 'emancipation from narrow prejudice.' But +the reality is the other way. The man who does wrong is a slave in the +measure in which he does it. If you want to find out--and mark this, you +young people, who may be deceived by the false contrasts between the +restraints of duty and the freedom of living a dissolute life--if you +want to find out how utterly 'he that committeth sin is the slave of +sin,' try to break it off, and you will find it out fast enough. We all +know, alas! the impotence of the will when it comes to hand grips with +some evil to which we have become habituated; and how we determine and +determine, and try, and fail, and determine again, with no better +result. We are the slaves of our own passions; and no man is free who is +hindered by his lower self from doing that which his better self tells +him he ought to do. The tempter comes to you, and says, 'Come and do +this thing, just for once. You can leave off when you like, you know. +There is no need to do it a second time.' And when you have done it, he +changes his note, and says, 'Ah! you are in, and you cannot get out. You +have done it once; and in my vocabulary once means twice, and once and +twice mean _always_.' + +Insane people are sometimes tempted into a house of detention by being +made to believe that it is a grand mansion, where they are just going to +pay a flying visit, and can come away when they like. But once inside +the walls, they never get past the lodge gates any more. The foolish +birds do not know that there is lime on the twigs, and their little feet +get fastened to the branch, and their wings flutter in vain. 'He that +committeth sin is the slave of sin--shut up,' dungeoned, 'under sin.' + +But do not forget, either, the other metaphor in our text, in which the +Apostle, with characteristic rapidity, and to the horror of rhetorical +propriety, passes at once from the thought of a dungeon to the thought +of an impending weight, and says, 'Shut up _under_ sin.' + +What does that mean? It means that we are guilty when we have done +wrong; and it means that we are under penalties which are sure to +follow. No deed that we do, howsoever it may fade from the tablets of +our memory, but writes in visible characters, in proportion to its +magnitude, upon our characters and lives. All human acts have perpetual +consequences. The kick of the rifle against the shoulder of the man that +fires it is as certain as the flight of the bullet from its muzzle. The +chalk cliffs that rise above the Channel entomb and perpetuate the +relics of myriads of evanescent lives; and our fleeting deeds are +similarly preserved in our present selves. Everything that a man wills, +whether it passes into external act or not, leaves, in its measure, +ineffaceable impressions on himself. And so we are not only dungeoned +in, but weighed upon by, and lie under, the evil that we do. + +Nor, dear friends, dare I pass in silence what is too often passed in +silence in the modern pulpit, the plain fact that there is a future +waiting for each of us beyond the grave, of which the most certain +characteristic, certified by our own forebodings, required by the +reasonableness of creation, and made plain by the revelation of +Scripture, is that it is a future of retribution, where we shall have to +carry our works; and as we have brewed so shall we drink; and the beds +that we have made we shall have to lie upon. 'God shut up all under +sin.' + +Note, again, the universality of the imprisonment. + +Now I am not going to exaggerate, I hope. I want to keep well within the +limits of fact, and to say nothing that is not endorsed by your own +consciences, if you will be honest with yourselves. And I say that the +Bible does not charge men universally with gross transgressions. It does +not talk about the virtues that grow in the open as if they were +splendid vices; but it does say, and I ask you if our own hearts do not +tell us that it says truly, that no man is, or has been, does, or has +done, that which his own conscience tells him he should have been and +done. We are all ready to admit faults, in a general way, and to confess +that we have come short of what our own consciousness tells us we ought +to be. But I want you to take the other step, and to remember that since +we each stand in a personal relation to God, therefore all +imperfections, faults, negligences, shortcomings, and, still more, +transgressions of morality, or of the higher aspirations of our lives, +are sins. Because sin--to use fine words--is the correlative of God. Or, +to put it into plainer language, the deeds which in regard to law may be +crimes, or those which in regard to morality may be vices, or in regard +to our own convictions of duty may be shortcomings, seeing they all have +some reference to Him, assume a very much graver character, and they are +all sins. + +Oh, brethren, if we realise how intimately and inseparably we are knit +to God, and how everything that we do, and do not do, but should have +done, has an aspect in reference to Him, I think we should be less +unwilling to admit, and less tinged with levity and carelessness in +admitting, that all our faults are transgressions of His law, and we +should find ourselves more frequently on our knees before Him, with the +penitent words on our lips and in our hearts, 'Against Thee, Thee only +have I sinned, and done this evil in Thy sight.' + +That was the prayer of a man who had done a foul evil in other people's +sight; who had managed to accumulate about as many offences to as many +people in one deed as was possible. For, as a king he had sinned against +his nation, as a friend he had sinned against his companion, as a +captain he had sinned against his brave subordinate, as a husband he had +sinned against his wife, and he had sinned against Bathsheba. And yet, +with all that tangle of offences against all these people, he says, +'Against Thee, Thee only.' Yes! Because, accurately speaking, the _sin_ +had reference to God, and to God alone. And I wish for myself and for +you to cultivate the habit of connecting, thus, all our actions, and +especially our imperfections and our faults, with the thought of God, +that we may learn how universal is the enclosure of man in this dreadful +prison-house. + +II. And so, I come, in the second place, to look at the guardian of the +prison. + +That is a strange phrase of my text attributing the shutting of men up +in this prison-house to the merciful revelation of God in the Scripture. +And it is made still more striking and strange by another edition of +the same expression in the Epistle to the Romans, where Paul directly +traces the 'concluding all in disobedience' to God Himself. + +There may be other subtle thoughts connected with that expression which +I do not need to enter upon now. But one that I would dwell upon, for a +moment, is this, that one great purpose of Scripture is to convince us +that we are sinful in God's sight. I do not need to remind you, I +suppose, how that was, one might almost say, the dominant intention of +the whole of the ceremonial and moral law of Israel, and explains its +many else inexplicable and apparently petty commandments and +prohibitions. They were all meant to emphasise the difference between +right and wrong, obedience and disobedience, and so to drive home to +men's hearts the consciousness that they had broken the commandments of +the living God. And although the Gospel comes with a very different +guise from that ancient order, and is primarily gift and not law, a +Gospel of forgiveness, and not the promulgation of duty or the +threatening of condemnation, yet it, too, has for one of its main +purposes, which must be accomplished in us before it can reach its +highest aim in us, the kindling in men's hearts of the same +consciousness that they are sinful men in God's sight. + +Ah, brethren, we all need it. There is nothing that we need more than to +have driven deep into us the penetrating point of that conviction. There +must be some external standard by which men may be convinced of their +sinfulness, for they carry no such standard within them. Your conscience +is only _you_ judging on moral questions, and, of course, as you change, +it will change too. A man's whole state determines the voice with which +conscience shall speak to him, and so the worse he is, and the more he +needs it, the less he has it. The rebels cut the telegraph wires. The +waves break the bell that hangs on the reef, and so the black rocks get +many a wreck to gnaw with their sharp teeth. A man makes his conscience +dumb by the very sins that require a conscience trumpet-tongued to +reprehend them. And therefore it needs that God should speak from +Heaven, and say to us, '_Thou_ art the man,' or else we pass by all +these grave things that I am trying to urge upon you now, and fall back +upon our complacency and our levity and our unwillingness to take stock +of ourselves, and front the facts of our condition. And so we build up a +barrier between ourselves and God, and God's grace, which nothing short +of that grace and an omnipotent love and an all-powerful Redeemer can +ever pull down. + +I wish to urge in a few words, yet with much earnestness, this thought, +that until we have laid to heart God's message about our own personal +sinfulness we have not got to the place where we can in the least +understand the true meaning of His Gospel, or the true work of His Son. +May I say that I, for one, am old-fashioned enough to look with great +apprehension on certain tendencies of present-day presentations of +Christianity which, whilst they dwell much upon the social blessings +which it brings, do seem to me to be in great peril of obscuring the +central characteristic of the Gospel, that it is addressed to sinful +men, and that the only way by which individuals can come to the +possession of any of its blessings is by coming as penitent sinners, and +casting themselves on the mercy of God in Jesus Christ? The beginning of +all lies here, where Paul puts it, 'the Scripture hath herded all men,' +in droves, into the prison, that it might have mercy upon all. + +Dear friend, as the old proverb has it, deceit lurks in generalities. I +have no doubt you are perfectly willing to admit that all are sinful. +Come a little closer to the truth, I beseech you, and say each is +sinful, and I am one of the captives. + +III. And so, lastly, the breaker of the prison-house. + +I need not spend your time in commenting on the final words of this +text. Suffice it to gather their general purport and scope. The +apparently stern treatment which God by revelation applies to the whole +mass of mankind is really the tenderest beneficence. He has shut them up +in the prison-house in order that, thus shut up, they may the more +eagerly apprehend and welcome the advent of the Deliverer. He tells us +each our state, in order that we may the more long for, and the more +closely grasp, the great mercy which reverses the state. And so how +shallow and how unfair it is to talk about evangelical Christianity as +being gloomy, stern, or misanthropical! You do not call a doctor unkind +because he tells an unsuspecting patient that his disease is far +advanced, and that if it is not cured it will be fatal. No more should a +man turn away from Christianity, or think it harsh and sour, because it +speaks plain truths. The question is, are they true? not, are they +unpleasant? + +If you and I, and all our fellows, are shut up in this prison-house of +sin, then it is quite clear that none of us can do anything to get +ourselves out. And so the way is prepared for that great message with +which Jesus opened His ministry, and which, whilst it has a far wider +application, and reference to social as well as to individual evils, +begins with the proclamation of liberty to the captives, and the opening +of the prison to them that are bound. + +There was once a Roman emperor who wished that all his enemies had one +neck, that he might slay them all at one blow. The wish is a fact in +regard to Christ and His work, for by it all our tyrants have been +smitten to death by one stroke; and the death of Jesus Christ has been +the death of sin and death and hell--of sin in its power, in its guilt, +and in its penalty. He has come into the prison-house, and torn the bars +away, and opened the fetters, and every man may, if he will, come out +into the blessed sunshine and expatiate there. + +And if, brethren, it is true that the universal prison-house is opened +by the death of Jesus Christ, who is the Propitiation for the sins of +the whole world, and the power by which the most polluted may become +clean, then there follows, as plainly, that the only thing which we have +to do is, recognising and feeling our bound impotence, to stretch out +chained hands and take the gift that He brings. Since all is done for +each of us, and since none of us can do sufficient for himself to break +the bond, then what we should do is to trust to Him who has broken every +chain and let the oppressed go free. + +Oh, dear friend, if you want to get to the heart of the sweetness and +the blessedness and power of the Gospel, you must begin here, with the +clear and penitent consciousness that you are a sinful man in God's +sight, and can do nothing to cleanse, help, or liberate yourself. Is +Jesus Christ the breaker of the bond for you? Do you learn from Him what +your need is? Do you trust yourself to Him for Pardon, for cleansing, +for emancipation? Unless you do, you will never know His most precious +preciousness, and you have little right to call yourself a Christian. If +you do, oh, than a great light will shine in the prison-house, and your +chains will drop from your wrists, and the iron door will open of its +own accord, and you will come out into the morning sunshine of a new +day, because you have confessed and abhorred the bondage into which you +have cast yourselves, and accepted the liberty wherewith Christ hath +made you free. + + + + +THE SON SENT + + 'When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth + His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, that + He might redeem them which were under the law, + that we might receive the adoption of sons.'--GAL. + iv. 4, 5 (R.V.). + + +It is generally supposed that by the 'fulness of time' Paul means to +indicate that Christ came at the moment when the world was especially +prepared to receive Him, and no doubt that is a true thought. The Jews +had been trained by law to the conviction of sin; heathenism had tried +its utmost, had reached the full height of its possible development, and +was decaying. Rome had politically prepared the way for the spread of +the Gospel. Vague expectations of coming change found utterance even +from the lips of Roman courtier poets, and a feeling of unrest and +anticipation pervaded society; but while no doubt all this is true and +becomes more certain the more we know of the state of things into which +Christ came, it is to be noted that Paul is not thinking of the fulness +of time primarily in reference to the world which received Him, but to +the Father who sent Him. Our text immediately follows words in which the +air is described as being 'under guardians and stewards' until the time +appointed of His Father, and the fulness of time is therefore the moment +which God had ordained from the beginning for His coming. He, from of +old, had willed that at that moment this Son should be born, and it is +to the punctual accomplishment of His eternal purpose that Paul here +directs our thoughts. No doubt the world's preparedness is part of the +reason for the divine determination of the time, but it is that divine +determination rather than the world's preparedness to which the first +words of our text must be taken to refer. + +The remaining portion of our text is so full of meaning that one shrinks +from attempting to deal with it in our narrow space, but though it opens +up depths beyond our fathoming, and gathers into one concentrated +brightness lights on which our dim eyes can hardly look, we may venture +to attempt some imperfect consideration even of these great words. +Following their course of thought we may deal with + +I. The mystery of love that sent. + +The most frequent form under which the great fact of the incarnation is +represented in Scripture is that of our text--'God sent His Son.' It is +familiar on the lips of Jesus, but He also says that 'God gave His Son.' +One can feel a shade of difference in the two modes of expression. The +former bringing rather to our thoughts the representative character of +the Son as Messenger, and the latter going still deeper into the mystery +of Godhead and bringing into view the love of the Father who spared not +His Son but freely bestowed Him on men. Yet another word is used by +Jesus Himself when He says, 'I came forth from God,' and that expression +brings into view the perfect willingness with which the Son accepted the +mission and gave Himself, as well as was given by God. All three phases +express harmonious, though slightly differing aspects of the same fact, +as the facets of a diamond might flash into different colours, and all +must be held fast if we would understand the unspeakable gift of God. +Jesus was sent; Jesus was given; Jesus came. The mission from the +Father, the love of the Father, the glad obedience of the Son, must ever +be recognised as interpenetrating, and all present in that supreme act. + +There have been many men specially sent forth from God, whose personal +existence began with their birth, and so far as the words are concerned, +Jesus might have been one of these. There was a man sent from God whose +name was John, and all through the ages he has had many companions in +his mission, but there has been only one who 'came' as well as 'was +sent,' and He is the true light which lighteth every man. To speak in +theological language of the pre-existence of the Son is cold, and may +obscure the truth which it formulates in so abstract a fashion, and may +rob it of power to awe and impress. But there can be no question that in +our text, as is shown by the juxtaposition of 'sent' and 'born,' and in +all the New Testament references to the subject, the birth of Jesus is +not regarded as the beginning of the being of the Son. The one lies far +back in the depths of eternity and the mystery of the divine nature, the +other is a historical fact occurring in a definite place and at a dated +moment. Before time was the Son was, delighting in the Father, and 'in +the beginning was the word and the word was with God,' and He who in +respect of His expression of the Father's mind and will was the Word, +was the Son in respect of the love that bound the Father and Him in one. +Into the mysteries of that love and union no eyes can penetrate, but +unless our faith lays hold of it, we know not the God whom Jesus has +declared to us. The mysteries of that divine union and communion lie +beyond our reach, but well within the grasp of our faith and the work of +the Son in the world, ever since there was a world, is not obscurely +declared to all who have eyes to see and hearts to understand. For He +has through all ages been the active energy of the divine power, or as +the Old Testament words it, 'The Arm of the Lord,' the Agent of +creation, the Revealer of God, the Light of the world and the Director +of Providence. 'He was in the world and the world was made by Him, and +the world knew Him not.' + +Now all this teaching that the Son was long before Jesus was born is no +mere mysterious dogma without bearing on daily needs, but stands in the +closest connection with Christ's work and our faith in it. It is the +guarantee of His representative character; on it depends the +reliableness of His revelation of God. Unless He is the Son in a unique +sense, how could God have spoken unto us in Him, and how could we rely +on His words? Unless He was 'the effulgence of His glory and the express +image of His person': how could we be sure that the light of His +countenance was light from God and that in His person God was so +presented as that he who had seen Him had seen the Father? The +completeness and veracity of His revelation, the authoritative fulness +of His law, the efficacy of His sacrifice and the prevalence of His +intercession all depend on the fact of His divine life with God long +before His human life with men. It is a plain historical fact that a +Christianity which has no place for a pre-existent Son in the bosom of +the Father has only a maimed Christ in reference to the needs of sinful +men. If our Christ were not the eternal Son of God, He will not be the +universal Saviour of men. + +Nor is this truth less needful in its bearing on modern theories which +will have nothing to say to the supernatural, and in a fatalistic +fashion regard history as all the result of an orderly evolution in +which the importance of personal agents is minimised. To it Jesus, like +all other great men, is a product of His age, and the immediate result +of the conditions under which He appeared. But when we look far beyond +the manger of Bethlehem into the depths of Eternity and see God so +loving the world as to give His Son, we cannot but recognise that He has +intervened in the course of human history and that the mightiest force +in the development of man is the eternal Son whom He sent to save the +world. + +II. The miracle of lowliness that came. + +The Apostle goes on from describing the great fact which took place in +heaven to set forth the great fact which completed it on earth. The +sending of the Son took effect in the birth of Jesus, and the Apostle +puts it under two forms, both of which are plainly designed to present +Christ's manhood as His full identification of Himself with us. The Son +of God became the son of a woman; from His mother He drew a true and +complete humanity in body and soul. The humanity which He received was +sufficiently kindred with the divinity which received it to make it +possible that the one should dwell in the other and be one person. As +born of a woman the Son of God took upon Himself all human experiences, +became capable of sharing our pure emotions, wept our tears, partook in +our joys, hoped and feared as we do, was subject to our changes, grew as +we grow, and in everything but sin, was a man amongst men. + +But the Son of God could not be as the sons of men. Him the Father +heard always. Even when He came down from Heaven and became the Son of +Man, He continued to be 'The Son of Man which is in Heaven.' Amid all +the distractions and limitations of His earthly life, the continuity and +depth of His communion with the Father were unbroken and the +completeness of His obedience undiminished. He was a Man, but He was +also the Man, the one realised ideal of humanity that has ever walked +the earth, to whom all others, even the most complete, are fragments, +the fairest foul, the most gracious harsh. In Him and in Him only has +been 'given the world assurance of a man.' + +The other condition which is here introduced is 'born under the law,' by +which it may be noted that the Apostle does not mean the Jewish law, +inasmuch as he does not use the definite article with the word. No doubt +our Lord was born as a Jew and subject to the Jewish law, but the +thought here and in the subsequent clause is extended to the general +notion of law. The very heart of our Lord's human identification is that +He too had duties imperative upon Him, and the language of one of the +Messianic psalms was the voice of His filial will during all His earthly +life; 'Lo! I come, in the volume of the Book it is written of Me, I +delight to do Thy will and Thy law is within My heart.' The very secret +of His human life was discovered by the heathen centurion, at whose +faith He marvelled, who said, 'I _also_ am a man under authority'; so +was Jesus. The Son had ever been obedient in the sweet communion of +Heaven, but the obedience of Jesus was not less perfect, continual and +unstained. It was the man Jesus who summed up His earthly life in 'I do +always the things that please Him'; it was the man Jesus who, under the +olives in Gethsemane, made the great surrender and yielded up His own +will to the will of the Father who sent Him. + +He was under law in that the will of God dominated His life, but He was +not so under it as we are on whom its precepts often press as an +unwelcome obligation, and who know the weight of guilt and condemnation. +If there is any one characteristic of Jesus more conspicuous than +another it is the absence in Him of any consciousness of deficiency in +His obedience to law, and yet that absence does not in the smallest +degree infringe on His claim to be 'meek and lowly in heart.' 'Which of +you convinceth Me of sin?' would have been from any other man a defiance +that would have provoked a crushing answer if it had not been taken as a +proof of hopeless ignorance of self, but when Christ asks the question, +the world is silent. The silence has been all but unbroken for nineteen +hundred years, and of all the busy and often unfriendly eyes that have +been occupied with Him and the hostile pens that have been eager to say +something new about Him, none have discovered a flaw, or dared to 'hint +a fault.' That character has stamped its own impression of perfectness +on all eyes even the most unfriendly or indifferent. In Him there is +seen the perfect union and balance of opposite characteristics; the rest +of us, at the best, are but broken arcs; Jesus is the completed round. +He is under law as fully, continuously and joyfully obedient; but for +Him it had no accusing voice, and it laid on Him no burden of broken +commandments. He was born of a woman, born under law, but he lived +separate from sinners though identified with them. + +III. The marvel of exaltation that results. + +Our Lord's lowliness is described in the two clauses which we have just +been considering. They express His identification with us from a double +point of view, and that double point of view is continued in the final +clauses of our text which state the double purpose of God in sending His +Son. He became one with us that we might become one with Him. The two +elements of this double purpose are stated in the reverse order to the +two elements of Christ's lowliness. The redemption of them that were +under law is presented as the reason for His being born under law, and +our reception of the 'adoption of sons' is the purpose of the Son's +being sent and born of a woman. The order in which Paul here deals with +the two parts of the divine purpose is not to be put down to mere +rhetorical ornament, but corresponds to the order in which these two +elements are realised by men. For there must be redemption from law +before there is the adoption of sons. + +We have already had occasion to point out that 'law' here must be taken +in the wide sense and not restricted to the Jewish law. It is a +world-wide redemption which the Father's love had in view in sending His +Son, but that all-comprehending, fatherly love could not reach its aim +by the mere forth-putting of its own energy. A process was needed if the +divine heart was to accomplish its desire, and the majestic stages in +that process are set forth here by Paul. The world was under law in a +very sad fashion, and though Jesus has come to redeem them that are +under law, the crushing weight of commandments flouted, of duties +neglected, of sins done, presses heavily upon many of us. And yet how +many of us there are who do not know the burden that we carry and have +had no personal experience like that of Bunyan's Christian with the pack +on his back all but weighing him down? Jesus Christ has become one of +us, and in His sinless life has 'magnified the law and made it +honourable,' and in His sinless death He endures the consequences of +sin, not as due to Himself, but because they are man's. But we must +carefully keep in view, that as we have already pointed out, we are to +think of Christ's mission as His coming as well as the Father's sending, +and that therefore we do not grasp the full idea of our Lord's enduring +the consequences of sin unless we take it as meaning His voluntary +identification of Himself in love with us sinful men. His obedience was +perfect all His life long, and His last and highest act of obedience was +when He became obedient unto death, even the death of the Cross. + +This is the only means by which the burden of law in any of its forms +can be taken away from us. For a law which is not loved will be heavy +and hard however holy and just and good it may be, and a law which we +have broken will become sooner or later its own avenger. Faithful in +_Pilgrim's Progress_ tells how 'So soon as a man overtook me he was but +a word and a blow, for down he knocked me and laid me for dead. . . . He +struck me another deadly blow on the breast and beat me down backward, +so I lay at his foot as dead as before, so when I came to myself again I +cried him "Mercy," but he said, "I know not how to show mercy," and with +that knocked me down again; he had doubtless made an end of me but that +one came by and bid him forbear. . . . I did not know him at first, but as +he went by I perceived the holes in his hands and in his sides.' He was +born under law that He might redeem them that were under law. + +The slaves bought into freedom are received into the great family. The +Son has become flesh that they who dwell in the flesh may rise to be +sons, but the Son stands alone even in the midst of His identification +with us, and of the great results which follow for us from it. He is the +Son by nature; we are sons by adoption. He became man that we might +share in the possession of God. When the burden of law is lifted off it +is possible to bestow the further blessing of sonship, but that blessing +is only possible through Him in whom, and from whom, we derive a life +which is divine life. There is a profound truth in the prophetic +sentence, 'Behold I and the children which God hath given me!' for, in +one aspect, believers are the children of Christ, and in another, they +are sons of God. + +We have been speaking of the Son's identification with us in His +mission, and our identification with Him, but that identification +depends on ourselves and is only an accomplished fact through our faith. +When we trust in Him it is true that all His--His righteousness, His +Sonship, His union with the Father--is ours, and that all ours--our +sins, our guilt, our alienation from God and our dwelling in the far-off +land of rags and vice--is His. In His voluntary identification with us, +He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. It is for us to +determine whether we will lay on Him our iniquities, as the Father has +already laid the iniquities of us all. Are we by faith in Him who was +born of a woman, born under law, making our very own the redemption from +the law which He has wrought and the adoption of sons which He bestows? + + + + +WHAT MAKES A CHRISTIAN: CIRCUMCISION OR FAITH? + + 'In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any + thing, nor uncircumcision, but faith which worketh + by love.'--GAL. v. 6. + + +It is a very singular instance of imaginative misreading of plain facts +that the primitive Church should be held up as a pattern Church. The +early communities had apostolic teaching; but beyond that, they seem to +have been in no respect above, and in many respects below, the level of +subsequent ages. If we may judge of their morality by the exhortations +and dehortations which they received from the Apostle, Corinth and +Thessalonica were but beginners in holiness. If we may judge of their +intelligence by the errors into which they were in danger of falling, +these first congregations had indeed need that one should teach them +which were the first principles of the oracles of God. It could not be +otherwise. They were but just rescued from heathenism, and we need not +wonder if their spirits long bore the scars of their former bondage. If +we wish to know what the apostolic churches were like, we have but to +look at the communities gathered by modern missionaries. The same +infantile simplicity, the same partial apprehensions of the truth, the +same danger of being led astray by the low morality of their heathen +kindred, the same openness to strange heresy, the same danger of +blending the old with the new, in opinion and in practice, beset both. + +The history of the first theological difference in the early churches is +a striking confutation of the dream that they were perfect, and a +striking illustration of the dangers to which they were exposed from +the attempt, so natural to us all, to put new wine into old bottles. The +Jewish and the Gentile elements did not coalesce. The point round which +the strife was waged was not whether Gentiles might come into the +Church. That was conceded by the fiercest Judaisers. But it was whether +they could come in as Gentiles, without first being incorporated into +the Jewish nation by circumcision, and whether they could remain in as +Gentiles, without conforming to Jewish ceremonial and law. + +Those who said 'No' _were_ members of the Christian communities, and, +being so, they still insisted that Judaism was to be eternal. They +demanded that the patched and stiff leathern bottle, which had no +elasticity or pliability, should still contain the quick fermenting new +wine of the kingdom. And certainly, if ever man had excuse for clinging +to what was old and formal, these Judaising Christians held it. They +held by a law written with God's own finger, by ordinances awful by +reason of divine appointment, venerable by reason of the generations to +which they had been of absolute authority, commended by the very example +of Christ Himself. Every motive which can bind heart and conscience to +the reverence and the practice of the traditions of the Fathers, bound +them to the Law and the ordinances which had been Israel's treasure from +Abraham to Jesus. + +Those who said 'Yes' were mostly Gentiles, headed and inspired by a +Hebrew of the Hebrews. They believed that Judaism was preparatory, and +that its work was done. For those among themselves who were Jews, they +were willing that its laws should still be obligatory; but they fought +against the attempt to compel all Gentile converts to enter Christ's +kingdom through the gate of circumcision. + +The fight was stubborn and bitter. I suppose it is harder to abolish +forms than to change opinions. Ceremonies stand long after the thought +which they express has fled, as a dead king may sit on his throne stiff +and stark in his golden mantle, and no one come near enough to see that +the light is gone out of his eyes, and the will departed from the hand +that still clutches the sceptre. All through Paul's life he was dogged +and tormented by this controversy. There was a deep gulf between the +churches he planted and this reactionary section of the Christian +community. Its emissaries were continually following in his footsteps. +As he bitterly reproaches them, they entered upon another man's line of +things made ready to their hand, not caring to plant churches of +circumcised Gentiles themselves, but starting up behind him as soon as +his back was turned, and spoiling his work. + +This Epistle is the memorial of that foot-to-foot feud. It is of +perennial use, as the tendencies against which it is directed are +constant in human nature. Men are ever apt to confound form and +substance, to crave material embodiments of spiritual realities, to +elevate outward means into the place of the inward and real, to which +all the outward is but subsidiary. In every period of strife between the +two great opponents, this letter has been the stronghold of those who +fight for the spiritual conception of religion. With it Luther waged his +warfare, and in this day, too, its words are precious. + +My text contains Paul's condensed statement of his whole position in the +controversy. It tells us what he fought for, and why he fought, against +the attempt to suspend union to Christ on an outward rite. + +I. The first grand principle contained in these words is that faith +working by love makes a Christian. + +The antithesis of our text appears in somewhat varied forms in two other +places in the Apostle's writings. To the Corinthians he says, +'Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping +of the commandments of God.' His last word to the Galatians--the +gathering up into one strong sentence of his whole letter--is, 'In +Christ Jesus, neither circumcision availeth anything, nor +uncircumcision, but a new creature.' + +Now, all these assertions embody substantially the same opposition +between the conception of Christianity as depending upon a ceremonial +rite, and as being a spiritual change. And the variations in the second +member of the contrast throw light on each other. In one, the essential +thing is regarded from the divine side as being not a rite performed on +the body, but a new nature, the result of a supernatural regeneration. +In another, the essential thing is set forth as being not an outward +act, but an inward principle, which produces appropriate effects on the +whole being. In yet another the essential thing is conceived as being +not a mere ceremonial, but practical obedience, the consequence of the +active principle of faith, and the sign of the new life. There is an +evident sequence in the three sayings. They begin with the deepest, the +divine act of a new creation--and end with the outermost, the last +result and object of both the others--deeds of conformity to God's law. + +This one process in its triple aspects, says Paul, constitutes a man a +Christian. What correspondence is there between it, in any of its +parts, and a carnal ordinance? They belong to wholly different +categories, and it is the most preposterous confusion to try to mix them +up together. Are we to tack on to the solemn powers and qualities, which +unite the soul to Christ, this beggarly addition that the Judaisers +desire, and to say, the essentials of Christianity are a new creature, +faith, obedience--and circumcision? That is, indeed, sewing old cloth on +a new garment, and huddling together in grotesque chaos things which are +utterly diverse. It is as absurd bathos as to say the essentials of a +judge are integrity, learning, patience--and an ermine robe! + +There would be less danger of being entangled in false notions of the +sort which devastated Galatia and have afflicted the Church ever since, +if people would put a little more distinctly before their own minds what +they mean by 'religion'; what sort of man they intend when they talk +about 'a Christian.' A clear notion of the thing to be produced would +thin away a wonderful deal of mist as to the way of producing it. So +then, beginning at the surface, in order to work inward, my first remark +is that religion is the harmony of the soul with God, and the conformity +of the life to His law. + +The loftiest purpose of God, in all His dealings, is to make us like +Himself; and the end of all religion is the complete accomplishment of +that purpose. There is no religion without these elements--consciousness +of kindred with God, recognition of Him as the sum of all excellence and +beauty, and of His will as unconditionally binding upon us, aspiration +and effort after a full accord of heart and soul with Him and with His +law, and humble confidence that that sovereign beauty will be ours. 'Be +ye imitators of God as dear children' is the pure and comprehensive +dictate which expresses the aim of all devout men. 'To keep His +commandments' goes deeper than the mere external deeds. Were it not so, +Paul's grand words would shrink to a very poor conception of religion, +which would then have its shrine and sphere removed from the sacred +recesses of the inmost spirit to the dusty Babel of the market-place and +the streets. But with that due and necessary extension of the words +which results from the very nature of the case, that obedience must be +the obedience of a man, and not of his deeds only, and must include the +submission of the will and the prostration of the whole nature before +Him; they teach a truth which, fully received and carried out, clears +away whole mountains of theoretical confusion and practical error. +Religion is no dry morality; no slavish, punctilious conforming of +actions to a hard law. Religion is not right thinking alone, nor right +emotion alone, nor right action alone. Religion is still less the +semblance of these in formal profession, or simulated feeling, or +apparent rectitude. Religion is not nominal connection with the +Christian community, nor participation in its ordinances and its +worship. But to be godly is to be godlike. The full accord of all the +soul with His character, in whom, as their native home, dwell +'whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely,' and the full +glad conformity of the will to His sovereign will, who is the life of +our lives--this, and nothing shallower, nothing narrower, is religion in +its perfection; and the measure in which we have attained to this +harmony with God, is the measure in which we are Christians. As two +stringed instruments may be so tuned to one keynote that, if you strike +the one, a faint ethereal echo is heard from the other, which blends +undistinguishably with its parent sound; so, drawing near to God, and +brought into unison with His mind and will, our responsive spirits +vibrate in accord with His, and give forth tones, low and thin indeed, +but still repeating the mighty music of heaven. 'Circumcision is +nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the +commandments of God.' + +But our text tells us, further, that if we look backwards from character +and deed to motive, this harmony with God results from love becoming the +ruling power of our lives. The imitation of the object of worship has +always been felt to be the highest form of worship. Many an ancient +teacher, besides the Stoic philosopher, has said, 'He who copies the +gods worships them adequately.' One of the prophets lays it down as a +standing rule, 'The people will walk every one in the name of his God.' +But it is only in the Christian attitude towards God that the motive +power is found which makes such imitation more than an impossible duty, +even as it is only in the revealed character of God that a pattern is +found, to imitate which is to be perfect. Everywhere besides, harmony +with the gods meant discord with conscience and flagrant outrages of the +commonest moralities. Everywhere else, the task of copying them was one +lightened by no clear confidence in their love, and by no happy +consciousness of our own. But for us, the love revealed is the perfect +law, and the love evoked is the fulfilling of the law. + +And this is the might and nobleness of the Christian love to God; that +it is no idle emotion or lazy rapture, no vague sentiment, but the root +of all practical goodness, of all strenuous effort, of all virtue, and +of all praise. That strong tide is meant to drive the busy wheels of +life and to bear precious freightage on its bosom; not to flow away in +profitless foam. Love is the fruitful mother of bright children, as our +great moralist-poet learned when he painted her in the House of +Holiness: + + 'A multitude of babes about her hung, + Playing their sport that joyed her to behold.' + +Her sons are Strength and Justice, and Self-control and Firmness, and +Courage and Patience, and many more besides; and her daughters are Pity +with her sad eyes, and Gentleness with her silvery voice, and Mercy +whose sweet face makes sunshine in the shade of death, and Humility all +unconscious of her loveliness; and linked hand in hand with these, all +the radiant band of sisters that men call Virtues and Graces. These will +dwell in our hearts, if Love their mighty mother be there. If we are +without her, we shall be without them. + +There is discord between man and God which can only be removed by the +sweet commerce of love, established between earth and heaven. God's love +has come to us. When ours springs responsive to Him, then the schism is +ended, and the wandering child forgets his rebellion, as he lays his +aching head on the father's bosom, and feels the beating of the father's +heart. Our souls by reason of sin are 'like sweet bells jangled, out of +tune and harsh.' Love's master hand laid upon them restores to them +their part in 'the fair music that all creatures make to their great +Lord,' and brings us into such accord with God that + + 'We on earth with undiscording voice + May rightly answer' + +even the awful harmonies of His lips. The essential of religion is +concord with God, and the power which makes that concord is love to God. + +But this text leads to a still further consideration, namely, the +dominion of love to God in our hearts arises from faith. + +We thus reach the last link, or rather the staple, of the chain from +which all hangs. Religion is harmony with God; that harmony is produced +by love; and that love is produced by faith. Therefore the fundamental +of all Christianity in the soul is faith. Would this sound any fresher +and more obvious if we varied the language, and said that to be +religious we must be like God, that to be like Him we must love Him, and +that to love Him we must be sure that He loves us? Surely that is too +plain to need enlarging on. + +And is it not true that faith must precede our love to God, and affords +the only possible basis on which that can be built? How can we love Him +so long as we are in doubt of His heart, or misconceive His character, +as if it were only power and wisdom, or awful severity? Men cannot love +an unseen person at all, without some very special token of his personal +affection for them. The history of all religions shows that where the +gods have been thought of as unloving, the worshippers have been +heartless too. It is only when we know and believe the love that God +hath to us, that we come to cherish any corresponding emotion to Him. +Our love is secondary, His is primary; ours is reflection, His the +original beam; ours is echo, His the mother-tone. Heaven must bend to +earth before earth can rise to heaven. The skies must open and drop down +love, ere love can spring in the fruitful fields. And it is only when we +look with true trust to that great unveiling of the heart of God which +is in Jesus Christ, only when we can say, 'Herein is love--that He gave +His Son to be the propitiation for our sins,' that our hearts are +melted, and all their snows are dissolved into sweet waters, which, +freed from their icy chains, can flow with music in their ripple and +fruitfulness along their course, through our otherwise silent and barren +lives. Faith in Christ is the only possible basis for active love to +God. + +And this thought presents the point of contact between the teaching of +Paul and John. The one dwells on faith, the other on love, but he who +insists most on the former declares that it produces its effects on +character by the latter; and he who insists most on the latter is +forward to proclaim that it owes its very existence to the former. + +It presents also the point of contact between Paul and James. The one +speaks of the essential of Christianity as faith, the other as works. +They are only striking the stream at different points, one at the +fountain-head, one far down its course among the haunts of men. They +both preach that faith must be 'faith that worketh,' not a barren assent +to a dogma, but a living trust that brings forth fruits in the life. +Paul believes as much as James that faith without works is dead, and +demands the keeping of the commandments as indispensable to all true +Christianity. James believes as much as Paul that works without faith +are of none effect. So all three of these great teachers of the Church +are represented in this text, to which each of them might seem to have +contributed a word embodying his characteristic type of doctrine. The +threefold rays into which the prism parts the white light blend again +here, where faith, love, and work are all united in the comprehensive +saying, 'In Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor +uncircumcision, but faith which worketh by love.' + +The sum of the whole matter is this--He who is one in will and heart +with God is a Christian. He who loves God is one in will and heart with +Him. He who trusts Christ loves God. That is Christianity in its +ultimate purpose and result. That is Christianity in its means and +working forces. That is Christianity in its starting-point and +foundation. + +II. But we have to consider also the negative side of the Apostle's +words. They affirm that in comparison with the essential--faith, all +externals are infinitely unimportant. + +Paul's habit was always to settle questions by the widest principles he +could bring to bear upon them--which one may notice in passing is the +very opposite to the method that has been in favour with many Church +teachers and guides since, who have preferred to live from hand to +mouth, and to dispose of difficulties by the narrowest considerations +that would avail to quiet them. In our text the question in hand is +settled on a ground which covers a great deal more than the existing +dispute. Circumcision is regarded as one of a whole class--namely, the +class of outward rites and observances; and the contrast drawn between +it and faith extends to all the class to which it belongs. It is not +said to be powerless because it is an Old Testament rite, but because it +is a rite. Its impotence lies in the very nature which it has in common +with all external institutions, whether they be of the Old Testament or +of the New, whether they be enjoined of God or invented by men. To them +all the same characteristic cleaves. Compared with faith they are of no +avail. Not that they are absolutely useless. They have their place, but +'_in Christ Jesus_' they are nothing. Union to Him depends on quite +another order of facts, which may or may not exist along with +circumcision, or with baptism, or with the Lord's Supper. However +important these may be, they have no place among the things which bind a +soul to its Saviour. They may be helps to these things, but nothing +more. The rite does not ensure the faith, else the antithesis of our +text were unmeaning. The rite does not stand in the place of faith, or +the contrast implied were absurd. But the two belong to totally +different orders of things, which may co-exist indeed, but may also be +found separately; the one is the indispensable spiritual experience +which makes us Christians, the other belongs to a class of material +institutions which are much as helps to, but nothing as substitutes or +equivalents for, faith. + +Keep firm hold of the positive principle with which we have been dealing +in the former part of this sermon, and all forms and externals fall as a +matter of course into their proper place. If religion be the loving +devotion of the soul to God, resting upon reasonable faith, then all +besides is, at the most, a means which may further it. If loving trust +which apprehends the truth, and cleaves to the Person, revealed to us in +the Gospel, be the link which binds men to God, then the only way by +which these externals can be 'means of grace' is by their aiding us to +understand better and to feel more the truth as it is in Jesus, and to +cleave closer to Him who is the truth. Do they enlighten the +understanding? Do they engrave deeper the loved face carven on the +tablets of memory, which the attrition of worldly cares is ever +obliterating, and the lichens of worldly thoughts ever filling up? Do +they clear out the rubbish from the channels of the heart, that the +cleansing stream may flow through them? Do they, through the senses, +minister to the soul its own proper food of clear thought, vivid +impressions, loving affections, trustful obedience? Do they bring Christ +to us, and us to Him, in the only way in which approach is +possible--through the occupation of mind and heart and will with His +great perfectness? Then they are means of grace, precious and helpful, +the gifts of His love, the tokens of His wise knowledge of our weakness, +the signs of His condescension, in that He stoops to trust some portion +of our remembrance of Him to the ministry of sense. But in comparison +with that faith which they cannot plant, though they may strengthen it, +they are nothing; and in the matter of uniting the soul to God and +making men 'religious,' they are of no avail at all. + +And such thoughts as these have a very wide sweep, as well as a very +deep influence. Religion is the devotion of the soul to God. Then +_everything_ besides is not religion, but at most a means to it. That is +true about all Christian ordinances. Baptism is spoken about by Paul in +terms which plainly show that he regarded it as 'nothing' in the same +sense, and under the same limitations, as he thought that circumcision +was nothing. 'I baptized some of you,' says he to the Corinthians; 'I +scarcely remember whom, or how many. I have far more important work to +do--to preach the Gospel.' It is true about all acts and forms of +Christian worship. These are not religion, but means to it. Their only +value and their only test is--Do they help men to know and feel Christ +and His truth? It is true about laws of life, and many points of +conventional morality. Remember the grand freedom with which the same +Apostle dealt with questions about meats offered to idols, and the +observance of days and seasons. The same principle guided him there too, +and he relegated the whole question back to its proper place with, 'Meat +commendeth us not to God; for neither if we eat are we the better, +neither if we eat not are we the worse.' 'He that regardeth the day, +regardeth it unto the Lord; and he that regardeth not the day, to the +Lord he doth not regard it.' It is true, though less obviously and +simply, about subordinate doctrines. It is true about the mere +intellectual grasp of the fundamental truths of God's revelation. These, +and the belief of these, are not Christianity, they are helps towards +it. + +The separation is broad and deep. On one side are all externals, rites, +ceremonies, politics, Church arrangements, forms of worship, modes of +life, practices of morality, doctrines, and creeds--all which are +externals to the soul: on the other is faith working through love, the +inmost attitude and deepest emotion of the soul. The great heap is fuel. +The flame is loving faith. The only worth of the fuel is to feed the +flame. Otherwise it is of no avail, but lies dead and cold, a mass of +blackness. We are joined to God by faith. Whatever strengthens that +faith is precious as a help, but is worthless as a substitute. + +III. There is a constant tendency to exalt these unimportant externals +into the place of faith. + +The whole purpose of the Gospel may be described to be our deliverance +from the dominion of sense, and the transference of the centre of our +life to the unseen world. This end is no doubt partly accomplished by +the help of sense. So long as men have bodily organisations, there will +be need for outward helps. Men's indolence, and men's sense-ridden +natures, will take symbols for royalties, bank-notes for wealth. The +eye will be tempted to stay on the rich colours of the glowing glass, +instead of passing through them to heaven's light beyond. To make the +senses a ladder for the soul to climb to heaven by, will be perilously +likely to end in the soul going down the ladder instead of up. Forms are +sure to encroach, to overlay the truth that lies at their root, to +become dimly intelligible, or quite unmeaning, and to constitute at last +the end instead of the means. Is it not then wise to minimise these +potent and dangerous allies? Is it not needful to use them with the +remembrance that a minute quantity may strengthen, but an overdose will +kill--ay, and that the minute quantity may kill too? Christ instituted +two outward rites. There could not have been fewer if there was to be an +outward community at all, and they could not have been simpler; but look +at the portentous outgrowth of superstition, and the unnumbered evils, +religious, moral, social, and even political, which have come from the +invincible tendency of human nature to corrupt forms, even when the +forms are the sweet and simple ones of Christ's own appointment. What a +lesson the history of the Lord's Supper, and its gradual change from the +domestic memorial of the dying love of our Lord to the 'tremendous +sacrifice,' reads us as to the dangerous ally which spiritual +religion--and there is no other religion than spiritual--enlists when it +seeks the help of external rites! + +But remember that this danger of converting religion into outward +actions has its root in us all, and is not annihilated by our rejection +of an elaborate ceremonial. There is much significance in the double +negation of my text, 'Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision.' If the +Judaisers were tempted to insist on the former, as indispensable, their +antagonists were as much tempted to insist on the latter. The one were +saying, 'A man cannot be a Christian unless he be circumcised.' The +other would be in danger of replying, 'He cannot be a Christian if he +is.' There may be as much formalism in protesting against forms as in +using them. Extremes meet; and an unspiritual Quaker, for instance, is +at bottom of the same way of thinking as an unspiritual Roman Catholic. +They agree in their belief that certain outward acts are essential to +worship, and even to religion. They only differ as to what these acts +are. The Judaiser who says, 'You must be circumcised,' and his +antagonist who says, 'You must be uncircumcised,' are really in the same +boat. + +And this is especially needful to be kept in mind by those who, like the +most of us, hold fast by the free and spiritual conception of +Christianity. That freedom we may turn into a bondage, and that +spirituality into a form, if we confound it with the essentials of +Christianity, and deny the possibility of the life being developed +except in conjunction with it. My text has a double edge. Let us use it +against all this Judaising which is going on round about us, and against +all the tendency to it in our own hearts. The one edge smites the +former, the other edge the latter. Circumcision is nothing, as most of +us are forward to proclaim. But, also, remember, when we are tempted to +trust in our freedom, and to fancy that in itself it is good, +_uncircumcision is nothing_. You are no more a Christian for your +rejection of forms than another man is for his holding them. Your +negation no more unites you to Christ than does his affirmation. One +thing alone does that,--faith which worketh by love, against which sense +ever wars, both by tempting some of us to place religion in outward +acts and ceremonies, and by tempting others of us to place it in +rejecting the forms which our brethren abuse. + +IV. When an indifferent thing is made into an essential, it ceases to be +indifferent, and must be fought against. + +Paul proclaimed that circumcision and uncircumcision were alike +unavailing. A man might be a good Christian either way. They were not +unimportant in all respects, but in regard to being united to Christ, it +did not matter which side one took. And, in accordance with this noble +freedom, he for himself practised Jewish rites; and, when he thought it +might conciliate prejudice without betraying principle, had Timothy +circumcised. But when it came to be maintained as a principle that +Gentiles _must_ be circumcised, the time for conciliation was past. The +other side had made further concession impossible. The Apostle had no +objection to circumcision. What he objected to was its being forced upon +all as a necessary preliminary to entering the Church. And as soon as +the opposite party took that ground, then there was nothing for it but +to fight against them to the last. They had turned an indifferent thing +into an essential, and he could no longer treat it as indifferent. + +So whenever parties or Churches insist on external rites as essential, +or elevate any of the subordinate means of grace into the place of the +one bond which fastens our souls to Jesus, and is the channel of grace +as well as the bond of union, then it is time to arm for the defence of +the spirituality of Christ's kingdom, and to resist the attempt to bind +on free shoulders the iron yoke. Let men and parties do as they like, so +long as they do not turn their forms into essentials. In broad freedom +of speech and spirit, which holds by the one central principle too +firmly to be much troubled about subordinate matters--in tolerance of +diversities, which does not spring from indifference, but from the very +clearness of our perception of, and from the very fervour of our +adherence to, the one essential of the Christian life--let us take for +our guide the large, calm, lofty thoughts which this text sets forth +before us. Let us thankfully believe that men may love Jesus, and be fed +from His fulness, whether they be on one side of this undying +controversy or on the other. Let us watch jealously the tendencies in +our own hearts to trust in our forms or in our freedom. And whensoever +or wheresoever these subordinates are made into things essential, and +the ordinances of Christ's Church are elevated into the place which +belongs to loving trust in Christ's love, then let _our_ voices at least +be heard on the side of that mighty truth that 'in Jesus Christ neither +circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which +worketh by love.' + + + + +'WALK IN THE SPIRIT' + + 'Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the + lust of the flesh.'--GAL. v. 16. + + +We are not to suppose that the Apostle here uses the familiar contrast +of spirit and flesh to express simply different elements of human +nature. Without entering here on questions for which a sermon is +scarcely a suitable vehicle of discussion, it may be sufficient for our +present purpose to say that, as usually, when employing this antithesis +the Apostle means by Spirit the divine, the Spirit of God, which he +triumphed in proclaiming to be the gift of every believing soul. The +other member of the contrast, 'flesh,' is similarly not to be taken as +equivalent to body, but rather as meaning the whole human nature +considered as apart from God and kindred with earth and earthly things. +The flesh, in its narrower sense, is no doubt a predominant part of this +whole, but there is much in it besides the material organisation. The +ethics of Christianity suffered much harm and were degraded into a false +and slavish asceticism for long centuries, by monastic misunderstandings +of what Paul meant by the flesh, but he himself was too clear-sighted +and too high-toned to give his adhesion to the superficial notion that +the body is the seat and source of sin. We need look no further than the +catalogue of the 'works of the flesh' which immediately follows our +text, for, although it begins with gross sins of a purely fleshly kind, +it passes on to such as hatred, emulations, wrath, envyings and +suchlike. Many of these works of the flesh are such as an angel with an +evil heart could do, whether he had a body or not. It seems therefore +right to say that the one member of the contrast is the divine Spirit of +holiness, and the other is man as he is, without the life-giving +influence of the Spirit of God. In Paul's thought the idea of the flesh +always included the idea of sin, and the desires of the flesh were to +him not merely rebellious, sensuous passion, but the sinful desires of +godless human nature, however refined, and as some would say, +'spiritual' these might be. We do not need to inquire more minutely as +to the meaning of the Apostle's terms, but may safely take them as, on +the one hand, referring to the divine Spirit which imparts life and +holiness, and on the other hand, to human nature severed from God, and +distracted by evil desires because wrenched away from Him. + +The text is Paul's battle-cry, which he opposed to the Judaising +disturbers in Galatia. They said 'Do this and that; labour at a round of +observances; live by rule.' Paul said, 'No! That is of no use; you will +make nothing of such an attempt nor will ever conquer evil so. Live by +the spirit and you will not need a hard outward law, nor will you be in +bondage to the works of the flesh.' That feud in the Galatian churches +was the earliest battle which Christianity had to fight between two +eternal tendencies of thought--the conception of religion as consisting +in outward obedience to a law, and consequently as made up of a series +of painful efforts to keep it, and the conception of religion as being +first the implanting of a new, divine life, and needing only to be +nourished and cared for in order to drive forth evils from the heart, +and so to show itself living. The difference goes very far and very +deep, and these two views of what religion is have each their adherents +to-day. The Apostle throws the whole weight of his authority into the +one scale, and emphatically declares this as the one secret of victory, +'Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.' + +I. What it is to walk in the Spirit. + +The thought which is but touched upon here is set forth more largely, +and if we may so say, profoundly, in the Epistle to the Romans (chap. +viii.). There, to walk after the flesh, is substantially the same as to +be carnally minded, and that 'mind of the flesh' is regarded as being by +fatal necessity not 'subject to the law of God,' and consequently as in +itself, with regard to future consequences, to be death. The fleshly +mind which is thus in rebellion against the law of God is sure to issue +in 'desires of the flesh,' just as when the pressure is taken off, some +ebullient liquid will bubble. They that are after the flesh of course +will 'mind the things of the flesh.' The vehement desires which we +cherish when we are separated from God and which we call sins, are +graver as a symptom than even they are in themselves, for they show +which way the wind blows, and are tell-tales that betray the true +direction of our nature. If we were not after the flesh we should not +mind the things of the flesh. The one expression points to the +deep-seated nature, the other to the superficial actions to which it +gives rise. + +And the same duality belongs to the life of those who are 'after the +Spirit.' 'To walk,' of course, means to carry on the practical life, and +the Spirit is here thought of not so much perhaps as the path on which +we are to travel, but rather as the norm and direction by which we are +to travel on life's common way. Just as the desires of the flesh were +certain to be done by those who in their deepest selves belonged to the +flesh, so every soul which has received the unspeakable gift of newness +of life through the Spirit of God will have the impulses to mind and do +the things of the Spirit. If we live in the Spirit we shall also--and +let us also--walk in the Spirit. + +But let us make no mistakes, or think that our text in its great +commandment and radiant hope has any word of cheer to those who have not +received into their hearts, in however feeble a manner and minute a +measure, the Spirit of the Son. The first question for us all is, have +we received the Holy Ghost?--and the answer to that question is the +answer to the other, have we accepted Christ? It is through Him and +through faith in Him that that supreme gift of a living spirit is +bestowed. And only when our spirits bear witness with that Spirit that +we are the children of God, have we a right to look upon the text as +pointing our duty and stimulating our hope. If our practical life is to +be directed by the Spirit of God, He must enter into our spirits, and we +shall not be in Him but in the measure that He is in us. Nor will our +spirits be life because of righteousness unless He dwells in us and +casts forth the works of the flesh. There will be no practical direction +of our lives by the Spirit of God unless we make conscience of +cultivating the reception of His life-giving and cleansing influences, +and unless we have inward communion with our inward guide, intimate and +frank, prolonged and submissive. If we are for ever allowing the light +of our inward godliness to be blown about by gusts, or to show in our +inmost hearts but a faint and flickering spark, how can we expect that +it will shine safe direction on our outward path? + +II. Such walking in the Spirit conquers the flesh. + +We all know it as a familiar experience that the surest way to conquer +any strong desire or emotion is to bring some other into operation. To +concentrate attention on any overmastering thought or purpose, even if +our object is to destroy it, is but too apt to strengthen it. And so to +fix our minds on our own desires of the flesh, even though we may be +honestly wishing to suppress them, is a sure way to invest them with new +force; therefore the wise counsels of sages and moralists are, for the +most part, destined to lead those who listen to them astray. Many a man +has, in good faith, set himself to conquer his own evil lusts and has +found that the nett result of his struggles has been to make the lusts +more conspicuous and correspondingly more powerful. The Apostle knows a +better way, which he has proved to his own experience, and now, with +full confidence and triumph, presses upon his hearers. He would have +them give up the monotonous and hopeless fight against the flesh and +bring another ally into the field. His chief exhortation is a positive, +not a negative one. It is vain to try to tie up men with restrictions +and prohibitions, which when their desires are stirred will be burst +like Samson's bonds. But if once the positive exhortation here is +obeyed, then it will surely make short work of the desires and passions +which otherwise men, for the most part, do not wish to get rid of, and +never do throw off by any other method. + +We have pointed out that in our text to walk in the Spirit means to +regulate the practical life by the Spirit of God, and that the 'desires +of the flesh' mean the desires of the whole human nature apart from God. +But even if we take the contrasted terms in their lower and commonly +adopted sense, the text is true and useful. A cultivated mind habituated +to lofty ideas, and quick to feel the nobility of 'spiritual' pursuits +and possessions, will have no taste for the gross delights of sense, and +will recoil with disgust from the indulgences in which more animal +natures wallow. But while this is true, it by no means exhausts the +great principle laid down here. We must take the contrasted terms in +their fullest meaning if we would arrive at it. The spiritual life +derived from Jesus Christ and lodged in the human spirit has to be +guarded, cherished and made dominant, and then it will drive out the +old. If the Spirit which is life because of righteousness is allowed +free course in a human spirit, it will send forth its powers into the +body which is 'dead because of sin,' will regulate its desires, and if +needful will suppress them. And it is wiser and more blessed to rely on +this overflowing influence than to attempt the hopeless task of coercing +these desires by our own efforts. + +If we walk in the Spirit, we shall thereby acquire new tastes and +desires of a higher kind which will destroy the lower. They to whom +manna is sweet as angel's food find that they have lost their relish for +the strong-smelling and rank-flavoured Egyptian leeks and garlic. A +guest at a king's table will not care to enter a smoky hovel and will +not be hungry for the food to be found there. If we are still dependent +on the desires of the flesh we are still but children, and if we are +walking in the Spirit we have outgrown our childish toys. The enjoyment +of the gifts which the Spirit gives deadens temptation and robs many +things that were very precious of their lustre. + +We may also illustrate the great principle of our text by considering +that when we have found our supreme object there is no inducement to +wander further in the search after delights. Desires are confessions of +discontent, and though the absolute satisfaction of all our nature is +not granted to us here, there is so much of blessedness given and so +many of our most clamant desires fully met in the gift of life in +Christ, that we may well be free from the prickings of desires which +sting men into earnest seeking after often unreal good. 'The fruit of +the Spirit is love, joy, peace,' and surely if we have these we may well +leave the world its troubled delights and felicities. Christ's joy +remains in us and our joy is full. The world desires because it does not +possess. When a deeper well is sunk, a shallower one is pretty sure to +give out. If we walk in the Spirit we go down to the deepest +water-holding stratum, and all the surface wells will run dry. + +Further, we may note, that this walking in the Spirit brings into our +lives the mightiest motives of holy living and so puts a bridle on the +necks and a bit in the mouths of our untamed desires. Holding fellowship +with the divine Indweller and giving the reins into His strong hand, we +receive from Him the spirit of adoption and learn that if we are +children then are we heirs. Is there any motive that will so surely +still the desires of the flesh and of the mind as the blessed thought +that God is ours and we His? Surely their feet should never stumble or +stray, who are aware of the Spirit of the Son bearing witness with their +spirit that they are the children of God. Surely the measure in which we +realise this will be the measure in which the desires of the flesh will +be whipped back to their kennels, and cease to disturb us with their +barks. + +The whole question here as between Paul and his opponents just comes to +this; if a field is covered with filth, whether is it better to set to +work on it with wheel-barrows and shovels, or to turn a river on it +which will bear away all the foulness? The true way to change the fauna +and flora of a country is to change the level, and as the height +increases they change themselves. If we desire to have the noxious +creatures expelled from ourselves, we must not so much labour at their +expulsion as see to the elevation of our own personal being and then we +shall succeed. That is what Paul says, 'Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall +not fulfil the lusts of the flesh.' + +III. Such a life is not freed from the necessity of struggle. + +The highest condition, of course, would be that we had only to grow, not +to fight. It will come some day that all evil shall drop away, and that +to walk in the Spirit will need no effort, but that time has not come +yet. So in addition to all that we have been saying in this sermon, we +must further say that Paul's exhortation has always to be coupled with +the other to fight the good fight. The highest word for our earthly +lives is not 'victory' but 'contest.' We shall not walk in the Spirit +without many a struggle to keep ourselves within that charmed +atmosphere. The promise of our text is not that we shall not feel, but +that we shall not fulfil, the desires of the flesh. + +Now this is very commonplace and threadbare teaching, but it is none the +less important, and is especially needful to be strongly emphasised when +we have been speaking as we have just been doing. It is a historical +fact, illustrated over and over again since Paul wrote, and not without +illustration to-day, that there is constant danger of lax morality +infecting Christian life under pretence of lofty spirituality. So it +must ever be insisted upon that the test of a true walking in the Spirit +is that we are thereby fitted to fight against the desires of the flesh. +When we have the life of the Spirit within us, it will show itself as +Paul has said in another place by the righteousness of the law being +fulfilled in us, and by our 'mortifying the deeds of the body.' The gift +of the Spirit does not take us out of the ranks of the combatants, but +teaches us to fight, and arms us with its own sword for the conflict. +There will be abundant opportunities of courage in attacking the sin +that doth so easily beset us, and in resisting temptations which come to +us by reason of our own imperfect sanctification. But there is all the +difference between fighting at our own hand and fighting with the help +of God's Spirit, and there is all the difference between fighting with +the help of an unseen ally in heaven and fighting with a Spirit within +us who helpeth our infirmities and Himself makes us able to contend, and +sure, if we keep true to Him, to be more than conquerers through Him +that loveth us. + +Such a conflict is a gift and a joy. It is hard but it is blessed, +because it is an expression of our truest love; it comes from our +deepest will; it is full of hope and of assured victory. How different +is the painful, often defeated and monotonous attempt to suppress our +nature by main force, and to tread a mill-horse round! The joyous +freedom and buoyant hope taught us in the gospel way of salvation have +been cramped and confined and all their glories veiled as by a mass of +cobwebs spun beneath a golden roof, but our text sweeps away the foul +obstruction. Let us learn the one condition of victorious conflict, the +one means of subduing our natural humanity and its distracting desires, +and let nothing rob us of the conviction that this is God's way of +making men like angels. 'Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the +lusts of the flesh.' + + + + +THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT + + 'But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, + long suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, 23. + Meekness, temperance'--GAL. v. 22, 23. + + +'The fruit of the Spirit,' says Paul, not the fruits, as we might more +naturally have expected, and as the phrase is most often quoted; all +this rich variety of graces, of conduct and character, is thought of as +one. The individual members are not isolated graces, but all connected, +springing from one root and constituting an organic whole. There is +further to be noted that the Apostle designates the results of the +Spirit as fruit, in strong and intentional contrast with the results of +the flesh, the grim catalogue of which precedes the radiant list in our +text. The works of the flesh have no such unity, and are not worthy of +being called fruit. They are not what a man ought to bring forth, and +when the great Husbandman comes, He finds no fruit there, however full +of activity the life has been. We have then here an ideal of the noblest +Christian character, and a distinct and profound teaching as to how to +attain it. I venture to take the whole of this list for my text, because +the very beauty of each element in it depends on its being but part of a +whole, and because there are important lessons to be gathered from the +grouping. + +I. The threefold elements of character here. + +It is perhaps not too artificial to point out that we have here three +triads of which the first describes the life of the Spirit in its +deepest secret; the second, the same life in its manifestations to men; +and the third, that life in relation to the difficulties of the world, +and of ourselves. + +The first of these three triads includes love, joy, and peace, and it is +not putting too great a strain on the words to point out that the source +of all three lies in the Christian relation to God. They regard nothing +but God and our relation to Him; they would be all the same if there +were no other men in the world, or if there were no world. We cannot +call them duties or virtues; they are simply the results of communion +with God--the certain manifestations of the better life of the Spirit. +Love, of course, heads the list, as the foundation and moving principle +of all the rest. It is the instinctive act of the higher life and is +shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit. It is the life sap which +rises through the tree and given form to all the clusters. The remaining +two members of this triad are plainly consequences of the first. Joy is +not so much an act or a grace of character as an emotion poured into +men's lives, because in their hearts abides love to God. Jesus Christ +pledged Himself to impart His joy to remain in us, with the issue that +our joy should be full. There is only one source of permanent joy which +takes possession of and fills all the corners and crannies of the heart, +and that is a love towards God equally abiding and all-pervasive. We +have all known joys so perturbed, fragmentary and fleeting, that it is +hard to distinguish them from sorrows, but there is no need that joys +should be like green fruits hard and savourless and ready to drop from +the tree. If God is 'the gladness of our joy,' and all our delights come +from communion with Him, our joy will never pass and will fill the whole +round of our spirits as the sea laves every shore. + +Peace will be built upon love and joy, if our hearts are ever turning to +God and ever blessed with the inter-communion of love between Him and +us. What can be strong enough to disturb the tranquillity that fills the +soul independent of all externals? However long and close may be the +siege, the well in the castle courtyard will be full. True peace comes +not from the absence of trouble but from the presence of God, and will +be deep and passing all understanding in the exact measure in which we +live in, and partake of, the love of God. + +The second triad is long-suffering, kindness, goodness. All these three +obviously refer to the spiritual life in its manifestations to men. The +first of them--long-suffering--describes the attitude of patient +endurance towards inflictors of injury or enemies, if we come forth from +the blessed fellowship with God, where love, joy, and peace reign +unbroken, and are met with a cold gust of indifference or with an icy +wind of hate. The reality of our happy communion and the depth of our +love will be tested by the patience of our long-suffering. Love +suffereth long, is not easily provoked, is not soon angry. He has little +reason to suppose that the love of God is shed abroad in his heart, or +that the Spirit of God is bringing forth fruit in him, who has not got +beyond the stage of repaying hate with hate, and scorn with scorn. Any +fool can answer a fool according to his folly, but it takes a wise and a +good man to overcome evil with good, and to love them that hate; and yet +how certainly the fires of mutual antagonism would go out if there were +only one to pile on the fuel! It takes two to make a quarrel, and no man +living under the influence of the Spirit of God can be one of such a +pair. + +The second and third members of this triad--kindness, goodness, slide +very naturally into one another. They do not only require the negative +virtue of not retaliating, but express the Christian attitude towards +all of meeting them, whatever their attitude, with good. It is possible +that kindness here expresses the inward disposition and goodness, the +habitual actions in which that disposition shows itself. If that be the +distinction between them, the former would answer to benevolence and the +latter to beneficence. These three graces include all that Paul presents +as Christian duty to our fellows. The results of the life of the Spirit +are to pass beyond ourselves and to influence our whole conduct. We are +not to live only as mainly for the spiritual enjoyments of fellowship +with God. The true field of religion is in moving amongst men, and the +true basis of all service of men is love and fellowship with God. + +The third triad--faithfulness, meekness, temperance--seems to point to +the world in which the Christian life is to be lived as a scene of +difficulties and oppositions. The rendering of the Revised Version is to +be preferred to that of the Authorised in the first of the three, for it +is not faith in its theological sense to which the Apostle is here +referring. Possibly, however, the meaning may be trustfulness just as in +1 Corinthians xiii. it is given as a characteristic of love that it +'believeth all things.' More probably, however, the meaning is +faithfulness, and Paul's thought is that the Christian life is to +manifest itself in the faithful discharge of all duties and the honest +handling of all things committed to it. Meekness even more distinctly +contemplates a condition of things which is contrary to the Christian +life, and points to a submissiveness of spirit which does not lift +itself up against oppositions, but bends like a reed before the storm. +Paul preached meekness and practised it, but Paul could flash into +strong opposition and with a resonant ring in his voice could say 'To +whom we gave place by subjection, No! not for an hour.' The last member +of the triad--temperance--points to the difficulties which the spiritual +life is apt to meet with in the natural passions and desires, and +insists upon the fact that conflict and rigid and habitual self-control +are sure to be marks of that life. + +II. The unity of the fruit. + +We have already pointed out the Apostles remarkable use of the word +'fruit' here, by which he indicates that all the results of the life of +the Spirit in the human spirit are to be regarded as a whole that has a +natural growth. The foundation of all is of course that love which is +the fulfilling of the law. It scarcely needs to be pointed out how love +brings forth both the other elements of the first triad, but it is no +less important to note that it and its two companions naturally lead on +to the relations to men which make up the second triad. It is, however, +worth while to dwell on that fact because there are many temptations for +Christian people to separate between them. The two tables of the law are +not seldom written so far apart that their unity ceases to be noted. +There are many good people whose notions of religious duties are shut up +in churches or chapels and limited to singing and praying, reading the +Bible and listening to sermons, and who, even while they are doing good +service in common life, do not feel that it is as much a religious duty +to suppress the wish to retaliate as it is to sit in the sunshine of +God's love and to feel Christ's joy and peace filling the heart. On the +other hand many loud voices, some of them with great force of words and +influence on the popular mind, are never wearied of preaching that +Christianity is worn out as a social impulse, and that the service of +man has nothing to do with the love of God. As plainly Paul's first +triad naturally leads to his third. When the spiritual life has realised +its deepest secret it will be strong to manifest itself as vigorous in +reference to the difficulties of life. When that heart is blessed in its +own settled love, abounding joy and untroubled peace, faithfulness and +submission will both be possible and self-control will not be hard. + +III. The culture of the tree which secures the fruit. + +Can we suppose that the Apostle here is going back in thought to our +Lord's profound teaching that every good tree bringeth forth good fruit, +but the corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit? The obvious felicity of +that metaphor often conceals for us the drastic force of its teaching, +it regards all a man's conduct as but the outcome of his character, and +brushes aside as trifling all attempts at altering products, whilst the +producer remains unaltered. Whether Paul was here alluding to a known +saying of Jesus or no, he was insisting upon the very centre of +Christian ethics, that a man must first be good in order to do good. Our +Lord's words seemed to make an impossible demand--'Make the tree +good'--as the only way of securing good fruit, and it was in accordance +with the whole cast of the Sermon on the Mount that the means of +realising that demand was left unexpressed. But Paul stood on this side +of Pentecost, and what was necessarily veiled in Christ's earlier +utterances stood forth a revealed and blessed certainty to him. He had +not to say 'Make the tree good' and be silent as to how that process was +to be effected; to him the message had been committed, 'The Spirit also +helpeth our infirmity.' There is but one way by which a corrupt tree can +be made good, and that is by grafting into the wild briar stock a +'layer' from the rose. The Apostle had a double message to proclaim, and +the one part was built upon the other. He had first to preach--and this +day has first to believe that God has sent His own Son in the likeness +of sinful flesh and as an offering for sin--and then he had to proclaim +that, through that mission, it became possible that the ordinance of the +law might be fulfilled in us who 'walk not after the flesh but after the +spirit.' The beginning, then, of all true goodness is to be sought in +receiving into our corrupt natures the uncorrupted germs of the higher +life, and it is only in the measure in which that Spirit of God moves in +our spirits and, like the sap in the vine, permeates every branch and +tendril, that fruit to eternal life will grow. Christian graces are the +products of the indwelling divine life, and nothing else will succeed in +producing them. All the preachings of moralists and all the struggles +after self-improvement are reduced to impotence and vanity by the stern, +curt sentence--'a corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit.' Surely it +should come to us all as a true gospel when we feel ourselves foiled by +our own evil nature in our attempts to be better, that the first thing +we have to do is not to labour at either of the two impossible tasks of +the making our bad selves good, or of the getting good fruits from bad +selves, but to open our spirits through faith in Jesus for the entrance +into us of His Spirit which will change our corruption into +incorruption, and cleanse us from all filthiness of flesh and spirit. +Shall we not seek to become recipient of that new life, and having +received it, should we not give diligence that it may in us produce all +its natural effects? + +These fruits, though they are the direct results of the indwelling +Spirit and will never be produced without its presence, are none the +less truly dependent upon our manner of receiving that Spirit and on our +faithfulness and diligence in the use of its gifts. It is, alas! sadly +too true, and matter of tragically common experience that instead of +'trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord' heavy with ruddy +clusters, there are but dwarfed and scrubby bushes which have scarcely +life enough to keep up a little show of green leaves and 'bring no fruit +to perfection'. Would that so-called Christian people would more +earnestly and searchingly ask themselves why it is that, with such +possibilities offered to them, their actual attainments should be so +small. They have a power which is able to do for them exceeding +abundantly above all that they can ask or think, and its actual effects +on them are well on this side of both their petitions and their +conceptions. There need be no difficulty in answering the question why +our Christian lives do not correspond more closely to the Spirit that +inspires them. The plain answer is that we have not cultivated, used, +and obeyed Him. The Lord of the vineyard would less often have to ask +'Wherefore when I looked that it should bring forth grapes, brought it +forth wild grapes?' if we listened more obediently to the pathetic +command which surely should touch a grateful heart--'Grieve not the holy +Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.' + +IV. How this is the only worthy fruit. + +We have already pointed out that the Apostle in the preceding context +varies his terms, and catalogues the actions that come from the godless +self as works, whilst those which are the outcome of the Spirit are +fruit. The distinction thus drawn is twofold. Multiplicity is contrasted +with unity and fruit with works. The deeds of the flesh have no +consistency except that of evil; they are at variance with themselves--a +huddled mob without regularity or order; and they are works indeed, but +so disproportionate to the nature of the doer and his obligations that +they do not deserve to be called fruit. It is not to attach too much +importance to an accidental form of speech to insist upon this +distinction as intended to be drawn, and as suggesting to us very solemn +thoughts about many apparently very active lives. The man who lives to +God truly lives; the busiest life which is not rooted in Him and +directed towards Him has so far missed its aim as to have brought forth +no good fruit, and therefore to have incurred the sentence that it is +cut down and cast into the fire. There is a very remarkable expression +in Scripture, 'The unfruitful works of darkness,' which admits the busy +occupation and energy of the doers and denies that all that struggling +and striving comes to anything. Done in the dark, they seemed to have +some significance, when the light comes in they vanish. It is for us to +determine whether our lives shall be works of the flesh, full, perhaps, +of a time of 'sound and fury,' but 'signifying nothing,' or whether they +shall be fruits of the Spirit, which we 'who have gathered shall eat in +the courts of His holiness.' They will be so if, living in the Spirit, +we walk in the Spirit, but if we 'sow to the flesh' we shall have a +harder husbandry and a bitterer harvest when 'of the flesh we reap +corruption,' and hear the awful and unanswerable question, 'What fruit +had ye then of those things whereof ye are now ashamed?' + + + + +BURDEN-BEARING + + 'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the + law of Christ. . . . 5. For every man shall bear his + own burden.'--GAL. vi. 25. + + +The injunction in the former of these verses appears, at first sight, to +be inconsistent with the statement in the latter. But Paul has a way of +setting side by side two superficially contradictory clauses, in order +that attention may be awakened, and that we may make an effort to +apprehend the point of reconciliation between them. So, for instance, +you remember he puts in one sentence, and couples together by a 'for,' +these two sayings: 'Work out your own salvation'; 'It is God that +worketh in you.' So here he has been exhorting the Galatian Christians +to restore a fallen brother. That is one case to which the general +commandment, 'Bear ye one another's burdens,' is applicable. + +I cannot here enter on the intervening verses by which he glides from +the one to the other of these two thoughts which I have coupled +together, but I may just point out in a word the outline of his course +of thought. 'Bear ye one another's burden,' says he; and then he thinks, +'What is it that keeps men from bearing each other's burdens?' Being +swallowed up with themselves, and especially being conceited about their +own strength and goodness. And so he goes on: 'If a man think himself to +be something when he is nothing, he deceives himself.' And what is the +best cure for all these fancies inside us of how strong and good we are? +To look at our work with an impartial and rigid judgment. It is easy for +a man to plume himself on being good, and strong, and great; but let him +look at what he has done, and try that by a high standard, and that will +knock the conceit out of him. Or, if his work stands the test, then 'he +shall have rejoicing in himself, and not' by comparing himself with +other people. Two blacks do not make a white, and we are not to heighten +the lustre of our own whiteness by comparing it with our neighbour's +blackness. Take your act for what _it_ is worth, apart altogether from +what other people are. Do not say, 'God! I thank thee that I am not as +other men are . . . or even as this publican'; but look to yourself. There +is an occupation with self which is good, and is a help to brotherly +sympathy. + +And so the Apostle has worked round, you see, to almost an opposite +thought from the one with which he started. 'Bear ye one another's +burdens.' Yes, but a man's work is his own and nobody else's, and a +man's character is his own and nobody else's, so 'every man shall bear +his own burden.' The statements are not contradictory. They complete +each other. They are the north and the south poles, and between them is +the rounded orb of the whole truth. So then, let me point out that: + +I. There are burdens which can be shared, and there are burdens which +_cannot_. + +Let us take the case from which the whole context has arisen. Paul was +exhorting the Galatians, as I explained, in reference to their duty to a +fallen brother; and he speaks of him--according to our version--as +'overtaken in a fault.' Now, that is scarcely his idea, I think. The +phrase, as it stands in our Bibles, suggests that Paul is trying to +minimise the gravity of the man's offence; but just in proportion as he +minimised its gravity would he weaken his exhortation to restore him. +But what he is really doing is not to make as little as possible of the +sin, but to make as much of it as is consistent with the truth. The word +'overtaken' suggests that some sin, like a tiger in a jungle, springs +upon a man and overpowers him by the suddenness of the assault. The word +so rendered may perhaps be represented by some such phrase as +'discovered'; or, if I may use a 'colloquialism,' if a man be caught +'red-handed.' That is the idea. And Paul does not use the weak word +'fault,' but a very much stronger one, which means stark staring sin. He +is supposing a bad case of inconsistency, and is not palliating it at +all. Here is a brother who has had an unblemished reputation; and all +at once the curtain is thrown aside behind which he is working some +wicked thing; and there the culprit stands, with the bull's-eye light +flashed upon him, ashamed and trembling. Paul says, 'If you are a +spiritual man'--there is irony there of the graver sort--'show your +spirituality by going and lifting him up, and trying to help him.' When +he says, 'Restore such an one,' he uses an expression which is employed +in other connections in the New Testament, such as for mending the +broken meshes of a net, for repairing any kind of damage, for setting +the fractured bones of a limb. And that is what the 'spiritual' man has +to do. He is to show the validity of his claim to live on high by +stooping down to the man bemired and broken-legged in the dirt. We have +come across people who chiefly show their own purity by their harsh +condemnation of others' sins. One has heard of women so very virtuous +that they would rather hound a fallen sister to death than try to +restore her; and there are saints so extremely saintly that they will +not touch the leper to heal him, for fear of their own hands being +ceremonially defiled. Paul says, 'Bear ye one another's burdens'; and +especially take a lift of each other's sin. + +I need not remind you how the same command applies in relation to +pecuniary distress, narrow circumstances, heavy duties, sorrows, and all +the 'ills that flesh is heir to.' These can be borne by sympathy, by +true loving outgoing of the heart, and by the rendering of such +practical help as the circumstances require. + +But there are burdens that cannot be borne by any but the man himself. + +There is the awful burden of personal existence. It is a solemn thing +to be able to say 'I.' And that carries with it this, that after all +sympathy, after all nestling closeness of affection, after the tenderest +exhibition of identity of feeling, and of swift godlike readiness to +help, each of us lives alone. Like the inhabitants of the islands of the +Greek Archipelago, we are able to wave signals to the next island, and +sometimes to send a boat with provisions and succour, but we are parted, +'with echoing straits between us thrown.' Every man, after all, lives +alone, and society is like the material things round about us, which are +all compressible, because the atoms that compose them are not in actual +contact, but separated by slenderer or more substantial films of +isolating air. Thus there is even in the sorrows which we can share with +our brethren, and in all the burdens which we can help to bear, an +element which cannot be imparted. 'The heart knoweth its own +bitterness', and neither 'stranger' nor other 'intermeddleth' with the +deepest fountains of 'its joy.' + +Then again, there is the burden of responsibility which can be shared by +none. A dozen soldiers may be turned out to make a firing party to shoot +the mutineer, and no man knows who fired the shot, but one man did fire +it. And however there may have been companions, it was his rifle that +carried the bullet, and his finger that pulled the trigger. We say, 'The +woman that Thou gavest me tempted me, and I did eat.' Or we say, 'My +natural appetites, for which I am not responsible, but Thou who madest +me art, drew me aside, and I fell', or we may say, 'It was not I; it was +the other boy.' And then there rises up in our hearts a veiled form, and +from its majestic lips comes 'Thou art the man'; and our whole being +echoes assent--_Mea culpa; mea maxima culpa_--'My fault, my exceeding +great fault.' No man can bear that burden. + +And then, closely connected with responsibility there is another--the +burden of the inevitable consequences of transgression, not only away +yonder in the future, when all human bonds of companionship shall be +broken, and each man shall 'give account of himself to God,' but here +and now; as in the immediate context the Apostle tells us, 'Whatsoever a +man soweth, that shall he also reap.' The effects of our evil deeds come +back to roost; and they never make a mistake as to where they should +alight. If I have sown, I, and no one else, will gather. No sympathy +will prevent to-morrow's headache after to-night's debauch, and nothing +that anybody can do will turn the sleuth-hounds off the scent. Though +they may be slow-footed, they have sure noses and deep-mouthed fangs. +'If thou be wise thou shalt be wise for thyself, and if thou scornest +thou alone shalt bear it.' So there are burdens which can, and burdens +which cannot, be borne. + +II. Jesus Christ is the Burden-bearer for both sorts of burdens. + +'Bear ye one another's burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ,' not +only as spoken by His lips, but as set forth in the pattern of His life. +We have, then, to turn to Him, and think of Him as Burden-bearer in even +a deeper sense than the psalmist had discerned, who magnified God as 'He +who daily beareth our burdens.' + +Christ is the Burden-bearer of our sin. 'The Lord hath laid'--or made to +meet--'upon Him the iniquity of us all.' The Baptist pointed his lean, +ascetic finger at the young Jesus, and said, 'Behold the Lamb of God +which beareth'--and beareth away--'the sin of the world.' How heavy the +load, how real its pressure, let Gethsemane witness, when He clung to +human companionship with the unutterably solemn and plaintive words, 'My +soul is exceeding sorrowful even unto death. Tarry ye here and watch +with Me.' He bore the burden of the world's sin. + +Jesus Christ is the bearer of the burden of the consequences of sin, not +only inasmuch as, in His sinless humanity, He knew by sympathy the +weight of the world's sin, but because in that same humanity, by +identification of Himself with us, deeper and more wonderful than our +plummets have any line long enough to sound the abysses of, He took the +cup of bitterness which our sins have mixed, and drank it all when He +said, 'My God! My God! Why hast Thou forsaken Me?' Consequences still +remain: thank God that they do! 'Thou wast a God that forgavest them, +and Thou didst inflict retribution on their inventions.' So the outward, +the present, the temporal consequences of transgression are left +standing in all their power, in order that transgressors may thereby be +scourged from their evil, and led to forsake the thing that has wrought +them such havoc. But the ultimate consequence, the deepest of all, +separation from God, has been borne by Christ, and need never be borne +by us. + +I suppose I need not dwell on the other aspects of this burden-bearing +of our Lord, how that He, in a very deep and real sense, takes upon +Himself the sorrows which we bear in union with, and faith on, Him. For +then the griefs that still come to us, when so borne, are transmitted +into 'light affliction which is but for a moment.' 'In all their +afflictions He was afflicted.' Oh, brethren! you with sad hearts, you +with lonely lives, you with carking cares, you with pressing, heavy +duties, cast your burden on the Christ, and He 'will sustain you,' and +sorrows borne in union with Him will change their character, and the +very cross shall be wreathed in flowers. + +Jesus bears the burden of that solemn solitude which our personal being +lays upon us all. The rest of us stand round, and, as I said, hoist +signals of sympathy, and sometimes can stretch a brotherly hand out and +grasp the sufferer's hand. But their help comes from without; Christ +comes in, and dwells in our hearts, and makes us no longer alone in the +depths of our being, which He fills with the effulgence and peace of His +companionship. And so for sin, for guilt, for responsibility, for +sorrow, for holiness, Christ bears our burdens. + +Yes! And when He takes ours on His shoulders, He puts His on ours. 'My +yoke is easy, and My burden is light.' As the old mystics used to say, +Christ's burden carries him that carries it. It may add a little weight, +but it gives power to soar, and it gives power to progress. It is like +the wings of a bird, it is like the sails of a ship. + +III. Lastly, Christ's carrying our burdens binds us to carry our +brother's! + +'So fulfil the law of Christ.' There is a very biting sarcasm, and, as I +said about another matter, a grave irony in Paul's use of that word +'law' here. For the whole of this Epistle has been directed against the +Judaising teachers who were desirous of cramming Jewish law down +Galatian throats, and is addressed to their victims in the Galatian +churches who had fallen into the trap. Paul turns round on them here, +and says, 'You want law, do you? Well, if you _will_ have it, here it +is--the law of Christ.' Christ's life is our law. Practical Christianity +is doing what Christ did. The Cross is not only the ground of our hope, +but the pattern of our conduct. + +And, says Paul in effect, the example of Jesus Christ, in all its sweep, +and in all the depth of it, is the only motive by which this injunction +that I am giving you will ever be fulfilled. 'Bear ye one another's +burdens.' You will never do that unless you have Christ as the ground of +your hope, and His great sacrifice as the example for your conduct. For +the hindrance that prevents sympathy is self-absorption; and that +natural selfishness which is in us all will never be exorcised and +banished from us thoroughly, so as that we shall be awake to all the +obligations to bear our brother's burdens, unless Christ has dethroned +self, and is the Lord of our inmost spirits. + +I rejoice as much as any man in the largely increased sense of mutual +responsibility and obligation of mutual aid, which is sweetening society +by degrees amongst us to-day, but I believe that no Socialistic or other +schemes for the regeneration of society which are not based on the +Incarnation and Sacrifice of Jesus Christ will live and grow. There is +but one power that will cast out natural selfishness, and that is love +to Christ, apprehending His Cross as the great example to which our +lives are to be conformed. I believe that the growing sense of +brotherhood amongst us, even where it is not consciously connected with +any faith in Christianity, is, to a very large extent, the result of the +diffusion through society of the spirit of Christianity, even where its +body is rejected. Thank God, the river of the water of life can +percolate through many a mile of soil, and reach the roots of trees far +away, in the pastures of the wilderness, that know not whence the +refreshing moisture has come. But on the wide scale be sure of this: it +is the law of Christ that will fight and conquer the natural selfishness +which makes bearing our brother's burdens an impossibility for men. +Only, Christian people! let us take care that we are not robbed of our +prerogative of being foremost in all such things, by men whose zeal has +a less heavenly source than ours ought to have. Depend upon it, heresy +has less power to arrest the progress of the Church than the selfish +lives of Christian professors. + +So, dear friends, let us see to it that we first of all cast our own +burdens on the Christ who is able to bear them all, whatever they are. +And then let us, with lightened hearts and shoulders, make our own the +heavy burdens of sin, of sorrow, of care, of guilt, of consequences, of +responsibility, which are crushing down many that are weary and heavy +laden. For be sure of this, if we do not bear our brother's burdens, the +load that we thought we had cast on Christ will roll back upon +ourselves. He is able to bear both us and our burdens, if we will let +Him, and if we will fulfil that law of Christ which was illustrated in +all His life, 'Who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became poor,' +and was written large in letters of blood upon that Cross where there +was 'laid on Him the iniquity of us all.' + + + + +DOING GOOD TO ALL + + 'As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good + unto all. . . .'--GAL. vi. 10. + + +'As we have therefore'--that points a finger backwards to what has gone +before. The Apostle has been exhorting to unwearied well-doing, on the +ground of the certain coming of the harvest season. Now, there is a +double link of connection between the preceding words and our text; for +'do good' looks back to 'well-doing,' and the word rendered +'opportunity' is the same as that rendered 'season.' So, then, two +thoughts arise--'well-doing' includes doing good to others, and is not +complete unless it does. The future, on the whole, is the season of +reaping; the present life on the whole is the season of sowing; and +while life as a whole is the seed-time, in detail it is full of +opportunities, openings which make certain good deeds possible, and +which therefore impose upon us the obligation to do them. If we were in +the habit of looking on life mainly as a series of opportunities for +well-doing, how different it would be; and how different we should be! + +Now, this injunction is seen to be reasonable by every man, whether he +obeys it or not. It is a commonplace of morality, which finds assent in +all consciences, however little it may mould lives. But I wish to give +it a particular application, and to try to enforce its bearing upon +Christian missionary work. And the thought that I would suggest is just +this, that no Christian man discharges that elementary obligation of +plain morality, if he is indifferent to this great enterprise. 'As we +have an opportunity, let us do good to all.' That is the broad +principle, and one application is the duty of Christian men to diffuse +the Gospel throughout the world. + +I. Let me ask you to look at the obligation that is thus suggested. + +As I have said, well-doing is the wider, and doing good to others the +narrower, expression. The one covers the whole ground of virtue, the +other declares that virtue which is self-regarding, the culture which +is mainly occupied with self, is lame and imperfect, and there is a +great gap in it, as if some cantle had been cut out of the silver disc +of the moon. It is only full-orbed when in well-doing, and as a very +large constituent element of it, there is included the doing good to +others. That is too plain to need to be stated. We hear a great deal +to-day about altruism. Well, Christianity preaches that more +emphatically than any other system of thought, morals, or religion does. +And Christianity brings the mightiest motives for it, and imparts the +power by which obedience to that great law that every man's conscience +responds to is made possible. + +But whilst thus we recognise as a dictate of elementary morality that +well-doing must necessarily include doing good to others, and feel, as I +suppose we all do feel, when we are true to our deepest convictions, +that possessions of all sorts, material, mental, and all others, are +given to us in stewardship, and not in absolute ownership, in order that +God's grace in its various forms may fructify through us to all, my +present point is that, if that is recognised as being what it is, an +elementary dictate of morality enforced by men's relationships to one +another, and sealed by their own consciences, there is no getting away +from the obligation upon all Christian men which it draws after it, of +each taking his share in the great work of imparting the gospel to the +whole world. + +For that gospel is our highest good, the best thing that we can carry to +anybody. We many of us recognise the obligation that is devolved upon us +by the possession of wealth, to use it for others as well as for +ourselves. We recognise, many of us, the obligation that is devolved +upon us by the possession of knowledge, to impart it to others as well +as ourselves. We are willing to give of our substance, of our time, of +our effort, to impart much that we have. But some of us seem to draw a +line at the highest good that we have, and whilst responding to all +sorts of charitable and beneficent appeals made to us, and using our +faculties often for the good of other people, we take no share and no +interest in communicating the highest of all goods, the good which comes +to the man in whose heart Christ rests. It is our highest good, because +it deals with our deepest needs, and lifts us to the loftiest position. +The gospel brings our highest good, because it brings eternal good, +whilst all other benefits fade and pass, and are left behind with life +and the dead flesh. It is our highest good, because if that great +message of salvation is received into a heart, or moulds the life of a +nation, it will bring after it, as its ministers and results, all manner +of material and lesser benefit. And so, giving Christ we give _our_ +best, and giving Christ we give the highest gift that a weary world can +receive. + +Remember, too, that the impartation of this highest good is one of the +main reasons why we ourselves possess it. Jesus Christ can redeem the +world alone, but it cannot become a redeemed world without the help of +His servants. He needs us in order to carry into all humanity the +energies that He brought into the midst of mankind by His Incarnation +and Sacrifice; and the cradle of Bethlehem and the Cross of Cavalry are +not sufficient for the accomplishment of the purpose for which they +respectively came to pass, without the intervention and ministry of +Christian people. It was for this end amongst others, that each of us +who have received that great gift into our hearts have been enriched by +it. The river is fed from the fountains of the hills, in order that it +may carry verdure and life whithersoever it goes. And you and I have +been brought to the Cross of Christ, and made His disciples, not only in +order that we ourselves might be blessed and quickened by the gift +unspeakable, but in order that through us it may be communicated, just +as each particle when leavened in the mass of the dough communicates its +energy to its adjacent particle until the whole is leavened. + +I am afraid that indifference to the communication of the highest good, +which marks sadly too many Christian professors in all ages, and in this +age, is a suspicious indication of a very slight realisation of the good +for themselves. Luther said that justification was the article of a +standing or a falling church. That may be true in the region of +theology, but in the region of practical life I do not know that you +will find a test more reliable and more easy of application than this, +Does a man care for spreading amongst his fellows the gospel that he +himself has received? If he does not, let him ask himself whether, in +any real sense, he has it. 'Well-doing' includes doing good to others, +and the possession of Christ will make it certain that we shall impart +Him. + +II. Notice the bearing of this elementary injunction upon the scope of +the obligation. + +'Let us do good to all men.' It was Christianity that invented the word +'humanity'; either in its meaning of the aggregate of men or its meaning +of a gracious attitude towards them. And it invented the word because it +revealed the thing on which it rests. 'Brotherhood' is the sequel of +'Fatherhood,' and the conception of mankind, beneath all diversities of +race and culture and the like, as being an organic whole, knit together +by a thousand mystical bands, and each atom of which has connection +with, and obligations to, every other--that is a product of +Christianity, however it may have been in subsequent ages divorced from +a recognition of its source. So, then, the gospel rises above all the +narrow distinctions which call themselves patriotism and are parochial, +and it says that there is 'neither circumcision nor uncircumcision, Jew +nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free,' but all are one. Get +high enough up upon the hill, and the hedges between the fields are +barely perceptible. Live on the elevation to which the Gospel of Jesus +Christ lifts men, and you look down upon a great prairie, without a +fence or a ditch or a division. So my text comes with profound +significance, 'Let us do good to all,' because all are included in the +sweep of that great purpose of love, and in the redeeming possibilities +of that great death on the Cross. Christ has swept the compass, if I may +say so, of His love and work all round humanity; and are we to extend +our sympathies or our efforts less widely? The circle includes the +world; our sympathies should be as wide as the circle that Christ has +drawn. + +Let me remind you, too, that only such a world-wide communication of the +highest good that has blessed ourselves will correspond to the proved +power of that Gospel which treats as of no moment diversities that are +superficial, and can grapple with and overcome, and bind to itself as a +crown of glory, every variety of character, of culture, of circumstance, +claiming for its own all races, and proving itself able to lift them +all. 'The Bread of God which came down from heaven' is an exotic +everywhere, because it came down from heaven, but it can grow in all +soils, and it can bring forth fruit unto eternal life everywhere amongst +mankind. So 'let us do good to all.' + +And then we are met by the old objection, 'The eyes of a fool are in the +ends of the earth. Keep your work for home, that wants it.' Well! I am +perfectly ready to admit that in Christian work, as in all others there +must be division of labour, and that one man's tastes and inclinations +will lead him to one sphere and one form of it; and another man's to +another; and I am quite ready, not to admit, but strongly to insist, +that, whatever happens, home is not to be neglected. 'All men' includes +the slums in England as well as the savages in Africa, and it is no +excuse for neglecting either of these departments that we are trying to +do something in the other. But it is not uncharitable to say that the +objection to which I am referring is most often made by one or other of +two classes, either by people who do not care about the Gospel, nor +recognise the 'good' of it at all, or by people who are ingenious in +finding excuses for not doing the duty to which they are at the moment +summoned. The people that do the one are the people that do the other. +Where do you get your money from for home work? Mainly from the +Christian Churches. Who is it that keeps up missionary work abroad? +Mainly the Christian Churches. There is a vast deal of unreality in that +objection. Just think of the disproportion between the embarrassment of +riches in our Christian appliances here in England and the destitution +in these distant lands. Here the ships are crammed into a dock, close up +against one another, rubbing their yards upon each other; and away out +yonder on the waters there are leagues of loneliness, where never a +sail is seen. Here, at home, we are drenched with Christian teaching, +and the Churches are competing with each other, often like rival +tradespeople for their customers; and away out yonder a man to half a +million is considered a fair allowance. 'Let us do good to all.' + +III. Lastly, note the bearing of this elementary precept on the +occasions that rise for the discharge of the duty. + +'As we have opportunity.' As I have already said, the Christian way to +look at our circumstances is to regard them as openings for the exercise +of Christian virtue, and therefore summonses to its discharge. And if we +regarded our own position individually, so we should find that there +were many, many doors that had long been opened, into which we had been +too blind or too lazy, or too selfishly absorbed in our own concerns, to +enter. The neglected opportunities, the beckoning doors whose thresholds +we have never crossed, the good that we might have done and have not +done--these are as weighty to sink us as the positive sins, the +opportunities for which have appealed to our worse selves. + +But I desire to say a word, not only about the opportunities offered to +us individually, but about those offered to England for this great +enterprise. The prophet of old represented the proud Assyrian conqueror +as boasting, 'My hand hath gathered as a nest the riches of the peoples +. . . and there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or +peeped.' It might be the motto of England to-day. It is not for nothing +that we and our brethren across the Atlantic, the inheritors of the same +faith and morals and literature, and speaking the same tongue, have had +given to us the wide dominion that we possess, I know that England has +not climbed to her place without many a crime, and that in her 'skirts +is found the blood of poor innocents,' but yet we have that connection, +for good or for evil, with subject races all over the earth. And I ask +whether or not that is an opportunity that the Christian Church is bound +to make use of. What have we been intrusted with it for? Commerce, +dominion, the impartation of Western knowledge, literature, laws? Yes! +Is that all? Are you to send shirting and not the Gospel? Are you to +send muskets that will burst, and gin that is poison, and not +Christianity? Are you to send Shakespeare, and Milton, and modern +science, and Herbert Spencer, and not Evangelists and the Gospels? Are +you to send the code of English law and not Christ's law of love? Are +you to send godless Englishmen, 'through whom the name of God is +blasphemed amongst the Gentiles,' and are you not to send missionaries +of the Cross? A Brahmin once said to a missionary, 'Look here! Your Book +is a good Book. If you were as good as your Book you would make India +Christian in ten years.' + +Brethren! the European world to-day is fighting and scrambling over what +it calls the unclaimed corners of the world; looking upon all lands that +are uncivilised by Western civilisation either as markets, or as parts +of their empire. Is there no other way of looking at the heathen world +than that? How did Christ look at it? He was moved when He saw the +multitudes as 'sheep having no shepherd.' Oh! if Christian men, as +members of this nation, would rise to the height of Christ's place of +vision, and would look at the world with His eyes, what a difference it +would make! I appeal to you, Christian men and women, as members of +this nation, and therefore responsible, though it may be +infinitesimally, for what this nation is doing in the distant corners of +the world, and urge on you that you are bound, so far as your influence +goes, to protest against the way of looking at these heathen lands as +existing to be exploited for the material benefit of these Western +Powers. You are bound to lend your voice, however weak it may be, to the +protests against the savage treatment of native races--against the +drenching of China with narcotics, and Africa with rum; to try to look +at the world as Christ looked at it, to rise to the height of that great +vision which regards all men as having been in His heart when He died on +the Cross, and refuses to recognise in this great work 'Barbarian, +Scythian, bond or free.' We have awful responsibilities; the world is +open to us. We have the highest good. How shall we obey this elementary +principle of our text, unless we help as we can in spreading Christ's +reign? Blessed shall we be if, and only if, we fill the seed-time with +delightful work, and remember that well-doing is imperfect unless it +includes doing good to others, and that the best good we can do is to +impart the Unspeakable Gift to the men that need it. + + + + +THE OWNER'S BRAND + + 'I bear in my body the marks of the Lord + Jesus.'--GAL. vi. 17. + + +The reference in these words is probably to the cruel custom of branding +slaves as we do cattle, with initials or signs, to show their ownership. +It is true that in old times criminals, and certain classes of Temple +servants, and sometimes soldiers, were also so marked, but it is most in +accordance with the Apostle's way of thinking that he here has reference +to the first class, and would represent himself as the _slave_ of Jesus +Christ, designated as His by the scars and weaknesses which were the +consequences of his apostolic zeal. Imprisonment, beating by the Jewish +rod, shipwrecks, fastings, weariness, perils, persecutions, all these he +sums up in another place as being the tokens by which he was approved as +an apostle of Jesus Christ. And here he, no doubt, has the same thought +in his mind, that his bodily weakness, which was the direct issue of his +apostolic work, showed that he was Christ's. The painful infirmity under +which, as we learn, he was more especially suffering, about the time of +writing this letter, may also have been in his mind. + +All through this Epistle he has been thundering and lightning against +the disputers of this apostolic authority. And now at last he softens, +and as it were, bares his thin arm, his scarred bosom, and bids these +contumacious Galatians look upon them, and learn that he has a right to +speak as the representative and messenger of the Lord Jesus. + +So we have here two or three points, I think, worth considering. First, +think for a moment of the slave of Christ; then of the brands which mark +the ownership; then of the glory in the servitude and the sign; and then +of the immunity from human disturbances which that service gives. 'From +henceforth let no man trouble me. I bear in my body the marks of the +Lord Jesus.' + +I. First, then, a word or two about that conception of the slave of +Christ. + +It is a pity that our Bible has not rendered the title which Paul ever +gives himself at the beginning of his letters, by that simple word +'slave,' instead of the feebler one, 'servant.' For what he means when +he calls himself the 'servant of Jesus Christ' is not that he bore to +Christ the kind of relation which servants among us bear to those who +have hired and paid them, and to whom they have come under obligations +of their own will which they can terminate at any moment by their own +caprice; but that he was in the roughest and simplest sense of the word, +Christ's slave. + +What lies in that metaphor? Well, it is the most uncompromising +assertion of the most absolute authority on the one hand, and claim of +unconditional submission and subjection on the other. + +The slave belonged to his master; the master could do exactly as he +liked with him. If he killed him nobody had anything to say. He could +set him to any task; he could do what he liked with any little +possession or property that the slave seemed to have. He could break all +his relationships, and separate him from wife and kindred. + +All that is atrocious and blasphemous when it is applied to the +relations between man and man, but it is a blessed and magnificent truth +when it is applied to the relations between a man and Christ. For this +Lord has absolute authority over us, and He can do what He likes with +everything that belongs to us; and we, and our duties, and our +circumstances, and our relationships, are all in His hands, and the one +thing that we have to render to Him is utter, absolute, unquestioning, +unhesitating, unintermittent and unreserved obedience and submission. +That which is abject degradation when it is rendered to a man, that +which is blasphemous presumption when it is required by a man, that +which is impossible, in its deepest reality, as between man and man, is +possible, is blessed, is joyful and strong when it is required by, and +rendered to, Jesus Christ. We are His slaves if we have any living +relationship to Him at all. Where, then, in the Christian life, is there +a place for self-will; where a place for self-indulgence; where for +murmuring or reluctance; where for the assertion of any rights of my own +as against that Master? We owe absolute obedience and submission to +Jesus Christ. + +And what does the metaphor carry as to the basis on which this authority +rests? How did men acquire slaves? Chiefly by purchase. The abominations +of the slave market are a blessed metaphor for the deep realities of the +Christian life. Christ has bought you for His own. The only thing that +gives a human soul the right to have any true authority over another +human soul is that it shall have yielded itself to the soul whom it +would control. We must first of all give ourselves away before we have +the right to possess, and the measure in which we give ourselves to +another is the measure in which we possess another. And so Christ our +Lord, according to the deep words of one of Paul's letters, 'gives +Himself for us, that He might purchase unto Himself a people for His +possession.' 'Ye are not your own; ye are bought with a price.' + +Therefore the absolute authority, and unconditional surrender and +submission which are the very essence of the Christian life, at bottom +are but the corresponding and twofold effects of one thing, and that is +love. For there is no possession of man by man except that which is +based on love. And there is no submission of man to man worth calling +so except that which is also based therein. + + 'Thou hearts alone wouldst move; + Thou only hearts dost love.' + +The relation in both its parts, on the side of the Master and on the +side of the captive bondsman, is the direct result and manifestation of +that love which knits them together. + +Therefore the Christian slavery, with its abject submission, with its +utter surrender and suppression of mine own will, with its complete +yielding up of self to the control of Jesus, who died for me; because it +is based upon His surrender of Himself to me, and in its inmost essence +it is the operation of love, is therefore co-existent with the noblest +freedom. + +This great Epistle to the Galatians is the trumpet call and clarion +proclamation of Christian liberty. The breath of freedom blows +inspiringly through it all. The very spirit of the letter is gathered up +in one of its verses, 'I have been called unto liberty,' and in its +great exhortation, 'Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ +hath made you free.' It is then sufficiently remarkable and profoundly +significant that in this very letter, which thus is the protest of the +free Christian consciousness against all limitations and outward +restrictions, there should be this most emphatic declaration that the +liberty of the Christian is slavery and the slavery of the Christian is +freedom. He is free whose will coincides with his outward law. He is +free who delights to do what he must do. He is free whose rule is love, +and whose Master is Incarnate Love. 'If the Son make you free, ye shall +be free indeed.' 'O Lord, truly I am Thy servant, Thou hast loosed my +bands.' 'I bear in my body' the charter of my liberty, for I bear in my +body the 'brand of the Lord Jesus.' + +II. And so now a word in the next place about these marks of ownership. + +As I have said, the Apostle evidently means thereby distinctly the +bodily weaknesses, and possibly diseases, which were the direct +consequences of his own apostolic faithfulness and zeal. He considered +that he proved himself to be a minister of God by his stripes, +imprisonments, fastings, by all the pains and sufferings and their +permanent consequences in an enfeebled constitution, which he bore +because he had preached the Cross of Christ. He knew that these things +were the result of his faithful ministry. He believed that they had been +sent by no blundering, blind fate; by no mere secondary causes; but by +his Master Himself, whose hand had held the iron that branded into the +hissing flesh the marks of His ownership. He felt that by means of these +he had been drawn nearer to his Master, and the ownership had been made +more perfect. And so in a rapture of contempt of pain, this heroic soul +looks upon even bodily weakness and suffering as being the signs that he +belonged to Christ, and the means of that possession being made more +perfect. + +Now, what is all that to us Christian people who have no persecutions to +endure, and none of whom I am afraid have ever worked hard enough for +Christ to have damaged our health by it? Is there anything in this text +that may be of general application to us all? Yes! I think so. Every +Christian man or woman ought to bear, in his or her body, in a plain, +literal sense, the tokens that he or she belongs to Jesus Christ. You +ask me how? 'If thy foot or thine hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast +it from thee.' + +There are things in your physical nature that you have to suppress; that +you have always to regulate and coerce; that you have sometimes entirely +to cast away and to do without, if you mean to be Jesus Christ's at all. +The old law of self-denial, of subduing the animal nature, its passions, +appetites, desires, is as true and as needful to-day as it ever was; and +for us all it is essential to the loftiness and purity of our Christian +life that our animal nature and our fleshly constitution should be well +kept down under heel and subdued. As Paul himself said in another place, +'I bring under my body, and I keep it in subjection, lest by any means I +should myself, having proclaimed to others the laws of the contest, be +rejected from the prize.' Oh, you Christian men and women! if you are +not living a life of self-denial, if you are not crucifying the flesh, +with its affections and lusts, if you are not bearing 'about in the body +the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Christ may be +manifested in your mortal body,' what tokens are there that you are +Christ's slaves at all? + +Then, besides this, we may expand the thought even further, and say +that, in a very real sense, all the pains and sorrows and +disappointments and afflictions that mainly touch our mortal part should +be taken by us as, and made by us to be, the tokens that we belong to +the Master. + +But it is not only in limitations and restrictions and self-denials and +pains that Christ's ownership of us ought to be manifested in our daily +lives, and so by means of our mortal bodies, but if there be in our +hearts a deep indwelling possession of the grace and sweetness of +Christ, it will make itself visible, ay! even in our faces, and 'beauty +born of' our communion with Him 'shall pass into' and glorify even +rugged and care-lined countenances. There may be, and there ought to be, +in all Christian people, manifestly visible the tokens of the indwelling +serenity of the indwelling Christ. And it should not be left to some +moment of rapture at the end of life, for men to look upon us, to behold +our faces, 'as it had been the face of an angel,' but by our daily walk, +by our countenances full of a removed tranquillity, and a joy that rises +from within, men ought to take knowledge of us that we have been with +Jesus, and it should be the truth--I bear in my body the tokens of His +possession. + +III. Now, once more notice the glorying in the slavery and its signs. + +'I bear,' says Paul; and he uses, as many of you may know, a somewhat +remarkable word, which does not express mere bearing in the sense of +toleration and patient endurance, although that is much; nor mere +bearing in the sense of carrying, but implies bearing with a certain +triumph as men would do who, coming back victorious from conflict, and +being received into the city, were proud to show their scars, the +honourable signs of their courage and constancy. So, with a triumph that +is legitimate, the Apostle solemnly and proudly bears before men the +marks of the Lord Jesus. Just as he says in another place:--'Thanks be +unto God, which always leadeth us about in triumph in Jesus Christ,' He +was proud of being dragged at the conqueror's chariot wheels, chained to +them by the cords of love; and so he was proud of being the slave of +Christ. + +It is a degradation to a man to yield abject submission, unconditional +service to another man. It is the highest honour of our natures so to +bow before that dear Lord. To prostrate ourselves to Him is to lift +ourselves high in the scale of being. The King's servant is every other +person's master. And he that feels that he is Christ's, may well be, not +proud but conscious, of the dignity of belonging to such a Lord. The +monarch's livery is a sign of honour. In our old Saxon kingdom the +king's menials were the first nobles. So it is with us. The aristocracy +of humanity are the slaves of Jesus Christ. + +And let us be proud of the marks of the branding iron, whether they come +in the shape of sorrows and pains, or otherwise. It is well that we +should have to carry these. It is blessed, and a special mark of the +Master's favour that He should think it worth His while to mark us as +His own, by any sorrow or by any pain. Howsoever hot may be the iron, +and howsoever deeply it may be pressed by His firm, steady, gentle hand +upon the quivering flesh and the shrinking heart, let us be thankful if +He, even by it, impresses on us the manifest tokens of ownership. Oh, +brethren! if we could come to look upon sorrows and losses with this +clear recognition of their source, meaning and purpose, they change +their nature, the paradox is fulfilled that we do 'gather grapes of +thorns and figs of thistles.' 'I bear in my body,' with a solemn triumph +and patient hope, 'the marks of the Lord Jesus.' + +IV. And now, lastly, the immunity from any disturbance which men can +bring, which these marks, and the servitude they express, secure. + +'From henceforth let no man trouble me.' Paul claims that his apostolic +authority, having been established by the fact of his sufferings for +Christ, should give him a sacredness in their eyes; that henceforth +there should be no rebellion against his teaching and his word. We may +expand the thought to apply more to ourselves, and say that, in the +measure in which we belong to Christ, and hear the marks of His +possession of us, in that measure are we free from the disturbance of +earthly influences and of human voices; and from all the other sources +of care and trouble, of perturbation and annoyance, which harass and vex +other men's spirits. 'Ye are bought with a price,' says Paul elsewhere. +'Be not the servants of men.' Christ is your Master; do not let men +trouble you. Take your orders from Him; let men rave as they like. Be +content to be approved by Him; let men think of you as they please. The +Master's smile is life, the Master's frown is death to the slave; what +matters it what other people may say? 'He that judgeth me is the Lord.' +So keep yourselves above the cackle of 'public opinion'; do not let your +creed be crammed down your throats even by a consensus of however +venerable and grave human teachers. Take your directions from your +Master, and pay no heed to other voices if they would command. Live to +please Him, and do not care what other people think. You are Christ's +servant; 'let no man trouble' you. + +And so it should be about all the distractions and petty annoyances that +disturb human life and harass our hearts. A very little breath of wind +will ruffle all the surface of a shallow pond, though it would sweep +across the deep sea and produce no effect. Deepen your natures by close +union with Christ, and absolute submission to Him, and there will be a +great calm in them, and cares and sorrows, and all the external sources +of anxiety, far away, down there beneath your feet, will 'show scarce +so gross as beetles,' whilst you stand upon the high cliff and look down +upon them all. 'From henceforth no man shall trouble me.' 'I bear in my +body the marks of the Lord Jesus.' + +My brother! Whose marks do you bear? There are only two masters. If an +eye that could see things as they are, were to go through this +congregation, whose initials would it discern in your faces? There are +some of us, I have no doubt, who in a very horrid sense bear in our +bodies the marks of the idol that we worship. Men who have ruined their +health by dissipation and animal sensualism--are there any of them here +this morning? Are there none of us whose faces, whose trembling hands, +whose diseased frames, are the tokens that they belong to the flesh and +the world and the devil? Whose do _you_ bear? + +Oh! when one looks at all the faces that pass one upon the street--this +all drawn with avarice and earthly-mindedness; that all bloated with +self-indulgence and loose living--when one sees the mean faces, the +passionate faces, the cruel faces, the vindictive faces, the lustful +faces, the worldly faces, one sees how many of us bear in our bodies the +marks of _another_ lord. They have no rest day nor night who worship the +beast; and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. + +I pray you, yield yourselves to your true Lord, so on earth you may bear +the beginnings of the likeness that stamps you His, and hereafter, as +one of His happy slaves, shall do priestly service at His throne and see +His face, and His name shall be in your foreheads. + + + + +PHILIPPIANS + + + + +LOVING GREETINGS + + 'Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to + all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at + Philippi, with the bishops and deacons: 2. Grace + to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord + Jesus Christ. 3. I thank my God upon all my + remembrance of you, 4. Always in every + supplication of mine on behalf of you all making + my supplication with joy, 5. For your fellowship + in furtherance of the gospel from the first day + until now; 6. Being confident of this very thing + that He which began a good work in you will + perfect it until the day of Jesus Christ: 7. Even + as it is right for me to be thus minded on behalf + of you all, because I have you in my heart, + inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the defence + and confirmation of the gospel, ye all are + partakers with me of grace. 8. For God is my + witness, how I long after you all in the tender + mercies of Christ Jesus.'--PHIL. i. 1-8 (R.V.). + + +The bond between Paul and the church at Philippi was peculiarly close. +It had been founded by himself, as is narrated at unusual length in the +book of Acts. It was the first church established in Europe. Ten years +had elapsed since then, possibly more. Paul is now a prisoner in Rome, +not suffering the extremest rigour of imprisonment, but still a prisoner +in his own hired house, accessible to his friends and able to do work +for God, but still in the custody of soldiers, chained and waiting till +the tardy steps of Roman law should come up to him, or perhaps till the +caprice of Nero should deign to hear his cause. In that imprisonment we +have his letters to the Philippians, Ephesians, Colossians, and +Philemon, which latter three are closely connected in time, the two +former in subject, and the two latter in destination. This letter stands +apart from those to the great Asiatic churches. + +Its tone and general cast are unlike those of most of his letters. It +contains no doctrinal discussions and no rebukes of evil, but is an +outpouring of happy love and confidence. Like all Paul's epistles it +begins with salutations, and like most of them with prayer, but from the +very beginning is a long gush of love. These early verses seem to me +very beautiful if we regard them either as a revelation of the personal +character of the Apostle, or as a picture of the relation between +teacher and taught in its most blessed and undisturbed form, or as a +lovely ideal of friendship and love in any relation, hallowed and +solemnised by Christian feeling. + +Verses one and two contain the apostolic greeting. In it we note the +senders. Timothy is associated with Paul, according to his custom in all +his letters even when he goes on immediately to speak in the singular. +He ever sought to hide his own supremacy and to bring his friends into +prominence. He was a great, lowly soul, who had no pride in the dignity +of his position but felt the weight of its responsibility and would fain +have had it shared. He calls Timothy and himself the slaves of Christ. +He regarded it as his highest honour to be Christ's born servant, bound +to absolute submission to the all-worthy Lord who had died to win him. +It is to be noted that there is no reference here to apostolic +authority, and the contrast is very remarkable in this respect with the +Epistle to the Galatians, where with scornful emphasis he asserts it as +bestowed 'not from men, neither through man, but through Jesus Christ +and God the Father.' In this designation of himself, we have already the +first trace of the intimate and loving relationship in which Paul stood +to the Philippians. There was no need for him to assert what was not +denied, and he did not wish to deal with them officially, but rather +personally. There is a similar omission in Philemon and a pathetic +substitution there of the 'prisoner of Jesus Christ' for the 'slave of +Christ Jesus.' + +The persons addressed are 'all the saints in Christ Jesus.' As he had +not called himself an apostle, so he does not call them a church. He +will not lose in an abstraction the personal bond which unites them. +They are saints, which is not primarily a designation of moral purity, +but of consecration to God, from whom indeed purity flows. The primitive +meaning of the word is _separation_; the secondary meaning is +_holiness_, and the connection between these two meanings contains a +whole ethical philosophy. They are saints in Christ Jesus; union with +Him is the condition both of consecration and of purity. + +The Philippian community had an organisation primitive but sufficient. +We do not enter on the discussion of its two offices further than to +note that the bishops are evidently identical with the elders, in the +account in Acts xx. of Paul's parting with the Ephesian Christians, +where the same persons are designated by both titles, as is also the +case in Titus i. 5 and 7; the one name (elder) coming from the Hebrew +and designating the office on the side of dignity, the other (bishop) +being of Greek origin and representing it in terms of function. We note +that there were several elders then in the Philippian church, and that +their place in the salutation negatives the idea of hierarchical +supremacy. + +The benediction or prayer for grace and peace is couched in the form +which it assumes in all Paul's letters. It blends Eastern and Western +forms of greeting. 'Grace' being the Greek and 'Peace' the Hebrew form +of salutation. So Christ fuses and fulfils the world's desires. The +grace which He gives is the self-imparting love of God, the peace which +He gives is its consequence, and the salutation is an unmistakable +evidence of Paul's belief in Christ's divinity. + +This salutation is followed by a great burst of thankful love, for the +full apprehension of which we must look briefly at the details of these +verses. We have first Paul's thankfulness in all his remembrance of the +Philippians, then he further defines the times of his thankfulness as +'always in every supplication of mind on behalf of you all making my +supplication with joy.' His gratitude for them is expressed in all his +prayers which are all thank-offerings. He never thinks of them nor prays +for them without thanking God for them. Then comes the reason for his +gratitude--their fellowship in furtherance of the gospel, from the first +day when Lydia constrained him to come into her house, until this moment +when now at the last their care of him had flourished again. The Revised +Version's rendering 'fellowship in furtherance of' instead of +'fellowship in' conveys the great lesson which the other rendering +obscures--that the true fellowship is not in enjoyment but in service, +and refers not so much to a common participation in the blessedness as +in the toils and trials of Christian work. This is apparent in an +immediately following verse where the Philippians' fellowship with +Christ is again spoken of as consisting in sharing both in His bonds and +in the double work of defending the gospel from gainsayers and in +positively proclaiming it. Very beautifully in this connection does he +designate that work and toil as 'my grace.' + +The fellowship which thus is the basis of his thanksgiving leads on to a +confidence which he cherishes for them and which helps to make his +prayers joyful thanksgivings. And such confidence becomes him because +he has them in his heart, and 'love hopeth all things' and delights to +believe in and anticipate all good concerning its object. He has them in +his heart because they faithfully share with him his honourable, blessed +burdens. But that is not all, it is 'in the tender mercies' of Christ +that he loved them. His love is the love of Christ in him; his being is +so united to Jesus that his heart beats with the same emotion as throbs +in Christ's, and all that is merely natural and of self in his love is +changed into a solemn participation in the great love which Christ has +to them. This, then, being the general exposition of the words, let us +now dwell for a little while on the broad principles suggested by them. + +I. Participation in the work of Christ is the noblest basis for love and +friendship. + +Paul had tremendous courage and yet hungered for sympathy. He had no +outlets for his love but his fellow Christians. There had, no doubt, +been a wrenching of the ties of kindred when he became a Christian, and +his love, dammed back and restrained, had to pour itself on his +brethren. + +The Church is a workshop, not a dormitory, and every Christian man and +woman is bound to help in the common cause. These Philippians help Paul +by sympathy and gifts, indeed, but by their own direct work as well, and +things are not right with us unless leaders can say, 'Ye all are +partakers of my grace.' There are other real and sweet bonds of love and +friendship, but the most real and sweetest is to be found in our common +relation to Jesus Christ and in our co-operation in the work which is +ours because it is His and we are His. + +II. Thankful, glad prayer flows from such co-operation. + +The prisoner in his bonds in the alien city had the remembrance of his +friends coming into his chamber like fresh, cool air, or fragrance from +far-off gardens. A thrill of gladness was in his soul as often as he +thought on them. It is blessed if in our experience teacher and taught +are knit together thus; without some such bond of union no good will be +done. The relation of pastor and people is so delicate and spiritual, +the purpose of it so different from that of mere teaching, the laws of +it so informal and elastic, the whole power of it, therefore, so +dependent on sympathy and mutual kindliness that, unless there be +something like the bond which united Paul and the Philippians, there +will be no prosperity or blessing. The thinnest film of cloud prevents +deposition of dew. If all men in pulpits could say what Paul said of the +Philippians, and all men in pews could deserve to have it said of them, +the world would feel the power of a quickened Church. + +III. Confidence is born of love and common service. + +Paul delights to think that God will go on because God has already begun +a good work in them, and Paul delights to think of their perfection +because he loves them. 'God is not a man that He should lie, or the son +of man that He should repent.' His past is the guarantee for His future; +what He begins He finishes. + +IV. Our love is hallowed and greatened in the love of Christ. + +Paul lived, yet not he, but Christ lived in him. It is but one +illustration of the principle of his being that Christ who was the life +of his life, is the heart of his love. He longed after his Philippian +friends in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus. This and this only is +the true consecration of love when we live and love in the Lord; when we +will as Christ does, think as He does, love as He does, when the mind +that was in Christ Jesus was in us. It is needful to guard against the +intrusion of mere human affection and regard into our sacred relations +in the Church; it is needful to guard against it in our own personal +love and friendship. Let us see that we ourselves know and believe the +love wherewith Christ hath loved us, and then let us see that that love +dwells in us informing and hallowing our hearts, making them tender with +His great tenderness, and turning all the water of our earthly +affections into the new wine of His kingdom. Let the law for our hearts, +as well as for our minds and wills, be 'I live, yet not I but Christ +liveth in me.' + + + + +A COMPREHENSIVE PRAYER + + 'And this I pray, that your love may abound yet + more and more in knowledge and all discernment; + 10. So that ye may approve the things that are + excellent; that ye may be sincere and void of + offence unto the day of Christ; 11. Being filled + with the fruits of righteousness, which are + through Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of + God.'--PHIL. i. 9-11 (R.V.). + + +What a blessed friendship is that of which the natural language is +prayer! We have many ways, thank God, of showing our love and of helping +one another, but the best way is by praying for one another. All that is +selfish and low is purged out of our hearts in the act, suspicions and +doubts fade away when we pray for those whom we love. Many an alienation +would have melted like morning mists if it had been prayed about, added +tenderness and delicacy come to our friendships so like the bloom on +ripening grapes. We may test our loves by this simple criterion--Can we +pray about them? If not, should we have them? Are they blessings to us +or to others? + +This prayer, like all those in Paul's epistles, is wonderfully full. His +deep affection for, and joy in, the Philippian church breathes in every +word of it. Even his jealous watchfulness saw nothing in them to desire +but progress in what they possessed. Such a desire is the highest that +love can frame. We can wish nothing better for one another than growth +in the love of God. Paul's estimate of the highest good of those who +were dearest to him was that they should be more and more completely +filled with the love of God and with its fruits of holiness and purity, +and what was his supreme desire for the Philippians is the highest +purpose of the gospel for us all, and should be the aim of our effort +and longing, dominating all others as some sovereign mountain peak +towers above the valleys. Looking then at this prayer as containing an +outline of true progress in the Christian life, we may note: + +I. The growth in keenness of conscience founded on growth in love. + +Paul does not merely desire that their love may abound, but that it may +become more and more 'rich in knowledge and all discernment.' The former +is perhaps accurate knowledge, and the latter the application of it. +'Discernment' literally means 'sense,' and here, of course, when +employed about spiritual and moral things it means the power of +apprehending good and bad as such. It is, I suppose, substantially +equivalent to conscience, the moral tact or touch of the soul by which, +in a manner analogous to bodily sense, it ascertains the moral character +of things. This growth of love in the power of spiritual and moral +discernment is desired in order to its exercise in 'proving things that +differ.' It is a process of discrimination and testing that is meant, +which is, I think, fairly represented by the more modern expression +which I have used--keenness of conscience. + +I need spend little time in remarking on the absolute need of such a +process of discrimination. We are surrounded by temptations to evil, and +live in a world where maxims and principles not in accordance with the +gospel abound. Our own natures are but partially sanctified. The shows +of things must be tested. Apparent good must be proved. The Christian +life is not merely to unfold itself in peace and order, but through +conflict. We are not merely to follow impulses, or to live as angels do, +who are above sin, or as animals do who are beneath it. When false coin +is current it is folly to accept any without a test. All around us there +is glamour, and so within us there is need for careful watchfulness and +quick discrimination. + +This keenness of conscience follows on the growth of love. Nothing makes +a man more sensitive to evil than a hearty love to God. Such a heart is +keener to discern what is contrary to its love than any ethical maxims +can make it. A man who lives in love will be delivered from the blinding +influence of his own evil tastes, and a heart steadfast in love will not +be swayed by lower temptations. Communion with God will, from its very +familiarity with Him, instinctively discern the evil of evil, as a man +coming out of pure air is conscious of vitiated atmosphere which those +who dwell in it do not perceive. It used to be said that Venice glass +would shiver into fragments if poison were poured into the cup. As evil +spirits were supposed to be cast out by the presence of an innocent +child or a pure virgin, so the ugly shapes that sometimes tempt us by +assuming fair disguises will be shown in their native hideousness when +confronted with a heart filled with the love of God. + +Such keenness of judgment is capable of indefinite increase. Our +consciences should become more and more sensitive: we should always be +advancing in our discovery of our own evils, and be more conscious of +our sins, the fewer we have of them. Twilight in a chamber may reveal +some foul things, and the growing light will disclose more. 'Secret +faults' will cease to be secret when our love abounds more and more in +knowledge, and in all discernment. + +II. The purity and completeness of character flowing from this keenness +of conscience. + +The Apostle desires that the knowledge which he asks for his Philippian +friends may pass over into character, and he describes the sort of men +which he desires them to be in two clauses, 'sincere and void of +offence' being the one, 'filled with the fruits of righteousness' being +the other. The former is perhaps predominantly negative, the latter +positive. That which is sincere is so because when held up to the light +it shows no flaws, and that which is without offence is so because the +stones in the path have been cleared away by the power of +discrimination, so that there is no stumbling. The life which discerns +keenly will bring forth the fruit which consists of righteousness, and +that fruit is to fill the whole nature so that no part shall be without +it. + +Nothing lower than this is the lofty standard towards which each +Christian life is to aim, and to which it can indefinitely approximate. +It is not enough to aim at the negative virtue of sincerity so that the +most searching scrutiny of the web of our lives shall detect no flaws +in the weaving, and no threads dropped or broken. There must also be the +actual presence of positive righteousness filling life in all its parts. +That lofty standard is pressed upon us by a solemn motive, 'unto the day +of Christ.' We are ever to keep before us the thought that in that +coming day all our works will be made manifest, and that all of them +should be done, so that when we have to give account of them we shall +not be ashamed. + +The Apostle takes it for granted here that if the Philippian Christians +know what is right and what is wrong, they will immediately choose and +do the right. Is he forgetting the great gulf between knowledge and +practice? Not so, but he is strong in the faith that love needs only to +know in order to do. The love which abounds more and more in knowledge +and in all discernment will be the soul of obedience, and will delight +in fulfilling the law which it has delighted in beholding. Other +knowledge has no tendency to lead to practice, but this knowledge which +is the fruit of love has for its fruit righteousness. + +III. The great Name in which this completeness is secured. + +The Apostle's prayer dwells not only on the way by which a Christian +life may increase itself, but in its close reaches the yet deeper +thought that all that growth comes 'through Jesus Christ.' He is the +Giver of it all, so that we are not so much called to a painful toil as +to a glad reception. Our love fills us with the fruits of righteousness, +because it takes all these from His hands. It is from His gift that +conscience derives its sensitiveness. It is by His inspiration that +conscience becomes strong enough to determine action, and that even our +dull hearts are quickened into a glow of desiring to have in our lives, +the law of the spirit of life, that was in Christ Jesus, and to make our +own all that we see in Him of 'things that are lovely and of good +report.' + +The prayer closes with a reference to the highest end of all our +perfecting--the glory and praise of God; the former referring rather to +the transcendent majesty of God in itself, and the latter to the +exaltation of it by men. The highest glory of God comes from the gradual +increase in redeemed men's likeness to Him. They are 'the secretaries of +His praise,' and some portion of that great honour and responsibility +lies on each of us. If all Christian men were what they all might be and +should be, swift and sure in their condemnation of evil and loyal +fidelity to conscience, and if their lives were richly hung with ripened +clusters of the fruits of righteousness, the glory of God would be more +resplendent in the world, and new tongues would break into praise of Him +who had made men so like Himself. + + + + +A PRISONER'S TRIUMPH + + 'Now I would have you know, brethren, that the + things which happened unto me have fallen out + rather unto the progress of the gospel; 13. So + that my bonds became manifest in Christ throughout + the whole praetorian guard, and to all the rest; + 14. And that most of the brethren in the Lord, + being confident through my bonds, are more + abundantly bold to speak the word of God without + fear. 15. Some indeed preach Christ even of envy + and strife; and some also of good will: 16. The + one do it of love, knowing that I am set for the + defence of the gospel: 17. But the other proclaim + Christ of faction, not sincerely, thinking to + raise up affliction for me in my bonds. 18. What + then? only that in every way, whether in pretence + or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and therein I + rejoice, yea, and will rejoice. 19. For I know + that this shall turn to my salvation, through your + supplication and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus + Christ. 20. According to my earnest expectation + and hope, that in nothing shall I be put to shame, + but that with all boldness, as always, so now also + Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether by + life or by death.'--PHIL. i. 12-20 (R.V.) + + +Paul's writings are full of autobiography, that is partly owing to +temperament, partly to the profound interpenetration of his whole +nature with his religion. His theology was but the generalisation of his +experience. He has felt and verified all that he has to say. But the +personal experiences of this sunny letter to his favourite church have a +character all their own. In that atmosphere of untroubled love and +sympathy a shyer heart than Paul's would have opened: his does so in +tenderness, gladness, and trust. We have here the unveiling of his +inmost self in response to what he knew would be an eager desire for +news of his welfare. This whole section appears to me to be a wonderful +revelation of his prison thoughts, an example of what we may call the +ennobling power of a passionate enthusiasm for Christ. Remember that he +is a prisoner, shut out from his life's work, waiting to be tried before +Nero, whose reign had probably, by this time, passed from its delusive +morning of dewy promise to its lurid noon. The present and the future +were dark for him, and yet in spite of them all comes forth this burst +of undaunted courage and noble gladness. We simply follow the course of +the words as they lie, and we find in them, + +I. An absorbing purpose which bends all circumstances to its service and +values them only as instruments. + +The things which happened unto me; that is Paul's minimising euphemism +for the grim realities of imprisonment, or perhaps for some recent +ominous turns in his circumstances. To him they are not worth dwelling +on further, nor is their personal incidence worth taking into account; +the only thing which is important is to say how these things have +affected his life's work. It is enough for him, and he believes that it +will be enough even for his loving friends at Philippi to know that, +instead of their being as they might have feared, and as he sometimes +when he was faithless expected, hindrances to his work, they have turned +out rather to 'the furtherance of the gospel.' Whether he has been +comfortable or not is a matter of very small importance, the main thing +is that Christ's work has been helped, and then he goes on to tell two +ways in which his imprisonment had conduced to this end. + +'My bonds became manifest in Christ.' It has been clearly shown why I +was a prisoner; all the Praetorian guard had learned what Paul was there +for. We know from Acts that he was 'suffered to abide by himself with +the soldier that kept him.' He has no word to say of the torture of +compulsory association, night and day, with the rude legionaries, or of +the horrors of such a presence in his sweetest, sacredest moments of +communion with his Lord. These are all swallowed up in the thought as +they were in the fact, that each new guard as he came to sit there +beside Paul was a new hearer, and that by this time he must have told +the story of Christ and His love to nearly the whole corps. That is a +grand and wonderful picture of passionate earnestness and absorbed +concentration in one pursuit. Something of the same sort is in all +pursuits, the condition of success and the sure result of real interest. +We have all to be specialists if we would succeed in any calling. The +river that spreads wide flows slow, and if it is to have a scour in its +current it must be kept between high banks. We have to bring ourselves +to a point and to see that the point is red-hot if we mean to bore with +it. If our limitations are simply enforced by circumstances, they may be +maiming, but if they come of clear insight and free choice of worthy +ends, they are noble. The artist, the scholar, the craftsman, all need +to take for their motto 'This one thing I do.' I suppose that a man +would not be able to make a good button unless he confined himself to +button-making. We see round us abundant examples of men who, for +material aims and almost instinctively, use all circumstances for one +end and appraise them according to their relations to that, and they are +quoted as successful, and held up to young souls as patterns to be +imitated. Yes! But what about the man who does the same in regard to +Christ and His work? Is he thought of as an example to be imitated or as +a warning to be avoided? Is not the very same concentration when applied +to Christian work and living thought to be fanatical, which is welcomed +with universal applause when it is directed to lower pursuits? The +contrast of our eager absorption in worldly things and of the ease with +which any fluttering butterfly can draw us away from the path which +leads us to God, ought to bring a blush to all cheeks and penitence to +all hearts. There was no more obligation on Paul to look at the +circumstances of his life thus than there is on every Christian to do +so. We do not desire that all should be apostles, but the Apostle's +temper and way of looking at 'the things which happened unto' him should +be our way of looking at the things which happen unto us. We shall +estimate them rightly, and as God estimates them, only when we estimate +them according to their power to serve our souls and to further Christ's +kingdom. + +II. The magnetism or contagion of enthusiasm. + +The second way by which Paul's circumstances furthered the gospel was +'that most of the brethren, being confident through my bonds, are more +abundantly bold to speak the word of God.' His constancy and courage +stirred them up. Moved by good-will and love, they were heartened to +preach because they saw in him one 'appointed by God for the defence of +the gospel.' A soul all on flame has power to kindle others. There is an +old story of a Scottish martyr whose constancy at the stake touched so +many hearts that 'a merry gentleman' said to Cardinal Beaton, 'If ye +burn any more you should burn them in low cellars, for the reek (smoke) +of Mr. Patrick Hamilton has infected as many as it blew upon.' + +It is not only in the case of martyrs that enthusiasm is contagious. +However highly we may estimate the impersonal forces that operate for +'the furtherance of the gospel' we cannot but see that in all ages, from +the time of Paul down to to-day, the main agents for the spread of the +gospel have been individual souls all aflame with the love of God in +Christ Jesus and filled with the life of His Spirit. The history of the +Church has largely consisted in the biographies of its saints, and every +great revival of religion has been the flame kindled round a flaming +heart. Paul was impelled by his own love; the brethren in Rome were in a +lower state as only reflecting his, and it ought to be the prerogative +of every Christian to be a centre and source of kindling influence +rather than a mere recipient of it. It is a question which may well be +asked by each of us about ourselves--would anybody find quickening +impulses to divine life and Christian service coming from us, or do we +simply serve to keep others' coldness in countenance? It was said of old +of Jesus Christ, 'He shall baptize you in the Holy Ghost and in fire,' +and that promise remains effective to-day, however little one looking on +the characters of the mass of so-called Christians would believe it. +They seem rather to have been plunged into ice-cold water than into +fire, and their coldness is as contagious as Paul's radiant enthusiasm +was. Let us try, for our parts, to radiate out the warmth of the love of +God, that it may kindle in others the flame which it has lighted in +ourselves, and not be like icebergs floating southwards and bringing +down the temperature of even the very temperate seas in which we find +ourselves. + +III. The wide tolerance of such enthusiasm. + +It is stigmatised as 'narrow,' which to-day is the sin of sins, but it +is broad with the true breadth. Such enthusiasm lifts a man high enough +to see over many hedges and to be tolerant even of intolerance, and of +the indifference which tolerates everything but earnestness. Paul here +deals with a class amongst the Roman Christians who were 'preaching of +envy and strife,' with the malicious calculation that so they would +annoy him and 'add affliction' to his bonds. It is generally supposed +that these were Judaising Christians against whom Paul fulminates in all +his letters, but I confess that, notwithstanding the arguments of +authoritative commentators, I cannot believe that they are the same set +of men preaching the same doctrines which in other places he treats as +destructive of the whole gospel. The change of tone is so great as to +require the supposition of a change of subjects, and the Judaisers with +whom the Apostle waged a neverending warfare, never did evangelistic +work amongst the heathen as these men seem to have done, but confined +themselves to trying to pervert converts already made. It was not their +message but their spirit that was faulty. With whatever purpose of +annoyance they were animated, they did 'preach Christ,' and Paul +superbly brushes aside all that was antagonistic to him personally, in +his triumphant recognition that the one thing needful _was_ spoken, even +from unworthy motives and with a malicious purpose. The situation here +revealed, strange though it appears with our ignorance of the facts, is +but too like much of what meets us still. Do we not know denominational +rivalries which infuse a bitter taint of envy and strife into much +evangelistic earnestness, and is the spectacle of a man preaching Christ +with a taint of sidelong personal motives quite unknown to this day? We +may press the question still more closely home and ask ourselves if we +are entirely free from the influence of such a spirit. No man who knows +himself and has learned how subtly lower motives blend themselves with +the highest will be in haste to answer these questions with an +unconditional 'No,' and no man who looks on the sad spectacle of +competing Christian communities and knows anything of the methods of +competition that are in force, will venture to deny that there are still +those who preach Christ of envy and strife. + +It comes, then, to be a testing question for each of us, have we learned +from Paul this lesson of tolerance, which is not the result of cold +indifference, but the outcome of fiery enthusiasm and of a clear +recognition of the one thing needful? Granted that there is preaching +from unworthy motives and modes of work which offend our tastes and +prejudices, and that there are types of evangelistic earnestness which +have errors mixed up with them, are we inclined to say 'Nevertheless +Christ is proclaimed, and therein I rejoice, Yea, and will rejoice'? +Much chaff may be blended with the seeds sown; the chaff will lie inert +and the seed will grow. Such tolerance is the very opposite of the +carelessness which comes from languid indifference. The one does not +mind what a man preaches because it has no belief in any of the things +preached, and to it one thing is as good as another, and none are of any +real consequence. The other proceeds from a passionate belief that the +one thing which sinful men need to hear is the great message that Christ +has lived and died for them, and therefore, it puts all else on one side +and cares nothing for jangling notes that may come in, if only above +them the music of His name sounds out clear and full. + +IV. The calm fronting of life and death as equally magnifying Christ. + +The Apostle is sure that all the experiences of his prison will turn to +his ultimate salvation, because he is sure that his dear friends in +Philippi will pray for him, and that through their prayers he will +receive a 'supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ,' which shall be enough +to secure his steadfastness. His expectation is not that he will escape +from prison or from martyrdom, both of which stand only too clearly +before him, but that whatever may be waiting for him in the future, 'all +boldness' will be granted him, so that whether he lives he will live to +the Lord, or whether he dies, he will die to the Lord. He had so +completely accepted it as his life's purpose to magnify Jesus, that the +extremest possible changes of condition came to be insignificant to him. +He had what we may have, the true anaesthetic which will give us a +'solemn scorn of ills' and make even the last and greatest change from +life to death of little account. If we magnify Christ in our lives with +the same passionate earnestness and concentrated absorption as Paul had, +our lives like some train on well-laid rails will enter upon the bridge +across the valley with scarce a jolt. With whatever differences--and the +differences are to us tremendous--the same purpose will be pursued in +life and in death, and they who, living, live to the praise of Christ, +dying will magnify Him as their last act in the body which they leave. +What was it that made possible such a passion of enthusiasm for a man +whom Paul had never seen in the flesh? What changed the gloomy +fuliginous fanaticism of the Pharisee, at whose feet were laid the +clothes of the men who stoned Stephen, into this radiant light, all +aflame with a divine splendour? The only answer is in Paul's own words, +'He loved me and gave Himself for me.' That answer is as true for each +of us as it was for him. Does it produce in us anything like the effects +which it produced in him? + + + + +A STRAIT BETWIXT TWO + + 'To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22. + But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of + my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23. + For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire + to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far + better: 24. Nevertheless to abide in the flesh is + more needful for you. 25. And having this + confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue + with you all for your furtherance and joy of + faith.'--PHIL. i. 21-25. + + +A preacher may well shrink from such a text. Its elevation of feeling +and music of expression make all sermons on it sound feeble and harsh, +like some poor shepherd's pipe after an organ. But, though this be true, +it may not be useless to attempt, at least, to point out the course of +thought in these grand words. They flow like a great river, which +springs at first with a strong jet from some deep cave, then is torn and +chafed among dividing rocks, and after a troubled middle course, moves +at last with stately and equable current to the sea. The Apostle's +thoughts and feelings have here, as it were, a threefold bent in their +flow. First, we have the clear, unhesitating statement of the +comparative advantages of life and death to a Christian man, when +thought of as affecting himself alone. The one is Christ, the other +gain. But we neither live nor die to ourselves; and no man has a right +to think of life or death only from the point of view of his own +advantage. So the problem is not so simple as it looked. Life here is +the condition of fruitful labour here. There are his brethren and his +work to think of. These bring him to a stand, and check the rising wish. +He knows not which state to prefer. The stream is dammed back between +rocks, and it chafes and foams and seems to lose its way among them. +Then comes a third bend in the flow of thought and feeling, and he +gladly apprehends it as his present duty to remain at his work. If his +own joy is thereby less, his brethren's will be more. If he is not to +depart and be with Christ, he will remain and be with Christ's friends, +which is, in some sort, being with Him too. If he may not have the gain +of death, he will have the fruit of work in life. + +Let us try to fill up, somewhat, this meagre outline of the warm stream +that pours through these great words. + +I. The simplicity of the comparison between life and death to a +Christian thinking of himself alone. + +'To me' is plainly emphatic. It means more than 'in my judgment' or even +'in my case.' It is equal to 'To me personally, if I stood alone, and +had no one to consider but myself.' 'To live' refers mainly here to +outward practical life of service, and 'to die' should, perhaps, rather +be 'to be dead,' referring, not to the act of dissolution, but to the +state after; not to the entrance chamber, but to the palace to which it +admits. + +So we have here grandly set forth the simplicity and unity of the +Christian life. While the words probably refer mainly to outward life, +they presuppose an inward, of which that outward is the expression. In +every possible phase of the word 'life,' Christ is the life of the +Christian. To live is Christ, for He is the mystical source from whom +all ours flows. 'With Thee is the fountain of life,' and all life, both +of body and spirit, is from Him, by Him, and in Him. 'To live is +Christ,' for He is the aim and object, as well as the Lord, of it all, +and no other is worth calling life, but that which is _for_ Him by +willing consecration, as well as _from_ Him by constant derivation. 'To +live is Christ,' for He is the model of all our life, and the one +all-sufficient law for us is to follow Him. + +Life is to be _as_ Christ, _for_ Christ, _by_, _in_, and _from_ Christ. +So shall there be strength, peace, and freedom in our days. The unity +brought into life thereby will issue in calm blessedness, contrasted +wondrously with the divided hearts and aims which fritter our days into +fragments, and make our lives heaps of broken links instead of chains. + +Surely this is the charm which brings rest into the most troubled +history, and nobleness into the lowliest duties. There is nothing so +grand as the unity breathed into our else distracted days by the +all-pervading reference to and presence of Christ. Without that, we are +like the mariners of the old world, who crept timidly from headland to +headland, making each their aim for a while, and leaving each inevitably +behind, never losing sight of shore, nor ever knowing the wonders of the +deep and all the majesty of mid-ocean, nor ever touching the happy +shores beyond, which they reach who carry in their hearts a compass that +ever points to the unseen pole. + +Then comes the other great thought, that where life is simply Christ, +death will be simply gain. + +Paul, no doubt, shrank from the act of death, as we all do. It was not +the narrow passage which attracted him, but the broad land beyond. Every +other aspect of that was swallowed up in one great thought, which will +occupy us more at length presently. But that word 'gain' suggests that +to Paul's confident faith death was but an increase and progression in +all that was good here. To him it was no loss to lose flesh and sense +and all the fleeting joys with which they link us. To him death was no +destruction of his being, and not even an interruption of its +continuity. Everything that was of any real advantage to him was to be +his after as before. The change was clear gain. Everything good was to +be just as it had been, only better. Nothing was to be dropped but what +it was progress to lose, and whatever was kept was to be heightened. + +How strongly does that view express the two thoughts of the _continuity_ +and _intensifying_ of the Christian life beyond the grave! And what a +contrast does that simple, sublime confidence present to many another +thought of death! To how many men its blackness seems to be the sudden +swallowing up of the light of their very being! To how many more does it +seem to put an end to all their occupations, and to shear their lives in +twain, as remorselessly as the fall of the guillotine severs the head +from the body. How are the light butterfly wings of the trivialities in +which many men and women spend their days to carry them across the awful +gulf? What are the people to do on the other side whose lives have all +been given to purposes and tasks that stop on this side? Are there shops +and mills, or warehouses and drawing-rooms, or studies and +lecture-halls, over there? Will the lives which have not struck their +roots down through all the surface soil to the rock, bear transplanting? +Alas! for the thousands landed in that new country, as unfit for it by +the tenor of their past occupations, as some pale artisan, with delicate +fingers and feeble muscles, set down as a colonist to clear the forest! + +This Paul had a work here which he could carry on hereafter. There would +be no reversal of view, no change in the fundamental character of his +occupations. True, the special forms of work which he had pursued here +would be left behind, but the principle underlying them would continue. +It matters very little to the servant whether he is out in the cold and +wet 'ploughing and tending cattle,' or whether he is waiting on his +master at table. It is service all the same, only it is warmer and +lighter in the house than in the field, and it is promotion to be made +an indoor servant. + +So the direction of the life, and the source of the life, and the +fundamentals of the life continue unchanged. Everything is as it was, +only in the superlative degree. To other men the narrow plain on which +their low-lying lives are placed is rimmed by the jagged, forbidding +white peaks. It is cold and dreary on these icy summits where no +creature can live. Perhaps there is land on the other side; who knows? +The pale barrier separates all here from all there; we know not what may +be on the other side. Only we feel that the journey is long and chill, +that the ice and the barren stone appal, and that we never can carry our +household goods, our tools, or our wealth with us up to the black jaws +of the pass. + +But for this man the Alps were tunnelled. There was no interruption in +his progress. He would go, he believed, without 'break of gauge,' and +would pass through the darkness, scarcely knowing when it came, and +certainly unchecked for even a moment, right on to the other side where +he would come out, as travellers to Italy do, to fairer plains and bluer +skies, to richer harvests and a warmer sun. No jolt, no pause, no +momentary suspension of consciousness, no reversal, nor even +interruption in his activity, did Paul expect death to bring him, but +only continuance and increase of all that was essential to his life. + +He has calmness in his confidence. There is nothing hysterical or +overwrought or morbid in these brief words, so peaceful in their trust, +so moderate and restrained in their rapture. Are our anticipations of +the future moulded on such a pattern? Do we think of it as quietly as +this man did? Are we as tranquilly sure about it? Is there as little +mist of uncertainty about the clearly defined image to our eye as there +was to his? Is our confidence so profound that these brief monosyllables +are enough to state it? Above all, do we know that to die will be gain, +because we can honestly say that to live is Christ? If so, our hope is +valid, and will not yield when we lean heavily upon it for support in +the ford over the black stream. If our hope is built on anything +besides, it will snap then like a rotten pole, and leave us to stumble +helpless among the slippery stones and the icy torrent. + +II. The second movement of thought here, which troubles and complicates +this simple decision, as to what is the best for Paul himself, is the +hesitation springing from the wish to help his brethren. + +As we said, no man has a right to forget others in settling the question +whether he would live or die. We see the Apostle here brought to a stand +by two conflicting currents of feelings. For himself he would gladly +go, for his friends' sake he is drawn to the opposite choice. He has +'fallen into a place where two seas meet,' and for a minute or two his +will is buffeted from side to side by the 'violence of the waves.' The +obscurity of his language, arising from its broken construction, +corresponds to the struggle of his feelings. As the Revised Version has +it, 'If to live in the flesh--if this is the fruit of my work, then what +I shall choose, I wot not.' By which fragmentary sentence, rightly +representing as it does the roughness of the Greek, we understand him to +mean that if living on in this life is the condition of his gaining +fruit from his toil, then he has to check the rising wish, and is +hindered from decisive preference either way. Both motives act upon him, +one drawing him deathward, the other holding him firmly here. He is in a +dilemma, pinned in, as it were, between the two opposing pressures. On +the one hand he has the desire (not 'a desire,' as the English Bible has +it, as if it were but one among many) turned towards departing to be +with Christ; but on the other, he knows that his remaining here is for +the present all but indispensable for the immature faith of the churches +which he has founded. So he stands in doubt for a moment, and the +picture of his hesitation may well be studied by us. + +Such a reason for wishing to die in conflict with such a reason for +wishing to live, is as noble as it is rare, and, thank God, as imitable +as it is noble. + +Notice the aspect which death wore to his faith. He speaks of it as +'departing,' a metaphor which does not, like many of the flattering +appellations which men give that last enemy, reveal a quaking dread +which cannot bear to look him in his ashen, pale face. Paul calls him +gentle names, because he fears him not at all. To him all the +dreadfulness, the mystery, the pain and the solitude have melted away, +and death has become a mere change of place. The word literally means +_to unloose_, and is employed to express pulling up the tent-pegs of a +shifting encampment, or drawing up the anchor of a ship. In either case +the image is simply that of removal. It is but striking the earthly +house of this tent; it is but one more day's march, of which we have had +many already, though this is over Jordan. It is but the last day's +journey, and to-morrow there will be no packing up in the morning and +resuming our weary tramp, but we shall be at home, and go no more out. +So has the awful thing at the end dwindled, and the brighter and greater +the land behind it shines, the smaller does it appear. + +The Apostle thinks little of dying because he thinks so much of what +comes after. Who is afraid of a brief journey if a meeting with dear +friends long lost is at the end of it? The narrow avenue seems short, +and its roughness and darkness are nothing, because Jesus Christ stands +with outstretched arms at the other end, beckoning us to Himself, as +mothers teach their children to walk. Whosoever is sure that he will be +with Christ can afford to smile at death, and call it but a shifting of +place. And whosoever feels the desire to be with Christ will not shrink +from the means by which that desire is fulfilled, with the agony of +revulsion that it excites in many an imagination. It will always be +solemn, and its physical accompaniments of pain and struggle will always +be more or less of a terror, and the parting, even for a time, from our +dear ones, will always be loss, but nevertheless if we see Christ across +the gulf, and know that one struggle more and we shall clasp Him with +'inseparable hands with joy and bliss in over measure for ever,' we +shall not dread the leap. + +One thought about the future should fill our minds, as it did Paul's, +that it is to be with Christ. How different that nobly simple +expectation, resolving all bliss into the one element, is from the +morbid curiosity as to details, which vulgarises and weakens so much of +even devout anticipation of the future. To us as to him Heaven should be +Christ, and Christ should be Heaven. All the rest is but accident. +Golden harps and crowns, and hidden manna and white robes and thrones, +and all the other representations, are but symbols of the blessedness of +union with Him, or consequences of it. Immortal life and growth in +perfection, both of mind and heart, and the cessation of all that +disturbs, and our investiture with glory and honour, flung around our +poor natures like a royal robe over a naked body, are all but the +many-sided brightnesses that pour out from Him, and bathe in their +rainbowed light those who are with Him. + +To be with Christ is all we need. For the loving heart to be near Him is +enough. + + 'I shall clasp thee again, O soul of my soul, + And with God be the rest.' + +Let us not fritter away our imaginations and our hopes on the +subordinate and non-essential accompaniments, but concentrate all their +energy on the one central thought. Let us not lose this gracious image +in a maze of symbols, that, though precious, are secondary. Let us not +inquire, with curiosity that will find no answer, about the unrevealed +wonders and staggering mysteries of that transcendent thought, life +everlasting. Let us not acquire the habit of thinking of the future as +the perfecting of our humanity, without connecting all our speculations +with Him, whose presence will be all of heaven to us all. But let us +keep His serene figure ever clear before our imaginations in all the +blaze of the light, and try to feed our hopes and stay our hearts on +this aspect of heavenly blessedness as the all-embracing one, that all, +each for himself, shall be for ever conscious of Christ's loving +presence, and of the closest union with Him, a union in comparison with +which the dearest and sacredest blendings of heart with heart and life +with life are cold and distant. For the clearness of our hope the fewer +the details the better: for the willingness with which we turn from life +and face the inevitable end, it is very important that we should have +that one thought disengaged from all others. The one full moon, which +dims all the stars, draws the tides after it. These lesser lights may +gem the darkness, and dart down white shafts of brilliance in quivering +reflections on the waves, but they have no power to move their mass. It +is Christ and Christ only who draws us across the gulf to be with Him, +and reduces death to a mere shifting of our encampment. + +This is a noble and worthy reason for wishing to die; not because Paul +is disappointed and sick of life, not because he is weighed down with +sorrow, or pain, or loss, or toil, but because he would like to be with +his Master. He is no morbid sentimentalist, he is cherishing no +unwholesome longing, he is not weary of work, he indulges in no +hysterical raptures of desire. What an eloquent simplicity is in that +quiet 'very far better!' It goes straight to one's heart, and says more +than paragraphs of falsetto yearnings. There is nothing in such a wish +to die, based on such a reason, that the most manly and wholesome piety +need be ashamed of. It is a pattern for us all. + +The attraction of life contends with the attraction of heaven in these +verses. That is a conflict which many good men know something of, but +which does not take the shape with many of us which it assumed with +Paul. Drawn, as he is, by the supreme desire of close union with his +Master, for the sake of which he is ready to depart, he is tugged back +even more strongly by the thought that, if he stays here, he can go on +working and gaining results from his labour. It does not follow that he +did not expect service if he were with Christ. We may be very sure that +Paul's heaven was no idle heaven, but one of happy activity and larger +service. But he will not be able to help these dear friends at Philippi +and elsewhere who need him, as he knows. So love to them drags at his +skirts, and ties him here. + +One can scarcely miss the remarkable contrast between Paul's 'To abide +in the flesh is more needful for you,' and the saying of Paul's Master +to people who assuredly needed His presence more than Philippi needed +Paul's, 'It is expedient for you that I go away.' This is not the place +to work out the profound significance of the contrast, and the questions +which it raises as to whether Christ expected His work to be finished +and His helpfulness ended by His death, as Paul did by his. It must +suffice to have suggested the comparison. + +Returning to our text, such a reason for wishing to die, held in check +and overcome by such a reason for wishing to live, is great and noble. +There are few of us who would not own to the mightier attraction of +life; but how few of us who feel that, for ourselves personally, if we +were free to think only of ourselves, we should be glad to go, because +we should be closer to Christ, but that we hesitate for the sake of +others whom we think we can help! Many of us cling to life with a +desperate clutch, like some poor wretch pushed over a precipice and +trying to dig his nails into the rock as he falls. Some of us cling to +it because we dread what is beyond, and our longing to live is the +measure of our dread to die. But Paul did not look forward to a thick +darkness of judgment, or to nothingness. He saw in the darkness a great +light, the light in the windows of his Father's house, and yet he turned +willingly away to his toil in the field, and was more than content to +drudge on as long as he could do anything by his work. Blessed are they +who share his desire to depart, and his victorious willingness to stay +here and labour! They shall find that such a life in the flesh, too, is +being with Christ. + +III. Thus the stream of thought passes the rapids and flows on smoothly +to its final phase of peaceful acquiescence. + +That is expressed very beautifully in the closing verse, 'Having this +confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all, for +your furtherance and joy in faith.' Self is so entirely overcome that he +puts away his own desire to enter into their joy, and rejoices with +them. He cannot yet have for himself the blessedness which his spirit +seeks. Well, be it so; he will stop here and find a blessedness in +seeing them growing in confidence and knowledge of Christ and in the +gladness that comes from it. He gives up the hope of that higher +companionship with Jesus which drew him so mightily. Well, be it so; he +will have companionship with his brethren, and 'abiding with you all' +may haply find, even before the day of final account, that to 'visit' +Christ's little ones is to visit Christ. Therefore he fuses his opposing +wishes into one. He is no more in a strait betwixt two, or unwitting +what he shall choose. He chooses nothing, but accepts the appointment of +a higher wisdom. There is rest for him, as for us, in ceasing from our +own wishes, and laying our wills silent and passive at His feet. + +The true attitude for us in which to face the unknown future, with its +dim possibilities, and especially the supreme alternative of life or +death, is neither desire nor reluctance, nor a hesitation compounded of +both, but trustful acquiescence. Such a temper is far from indifference, +and as far from agitation. In all things, and most of all in regard to +these matters, it is best to hold desire in equilibrium till God shall +speak. Torture not yourself with hopes or fears. They make us their +slaves. Put your hand in God's hand, and let Him guide you as He will. +Wishes are bad steersmen. We are only at peace when desires and dreads +are, if not extinct, at all events held tightly in. Rest, and wisdom, +and strength come with acquiescence. Let us say with Richard Baxter, in +his simple, noble words: + + 'Lord, it belongs not to my care + Whether I die or live; + To love and serve Thee is my share, + And that Thy grace must give.' + +We may learn, too, that we may be quite sure that we shall be left here +as long as we are needed. Paul knew that his stay was needful, so he +could say, 'I know that I shall abide with you.' We do not, but we may +be sure that if our stay is needful we shall abide. We are always +tempted to think ourselves indispensable, but, thank God, nobody is +necessary. There are no irreparable losses, hard as it is to believe it. +We look at our work, at our families, our business, our congregations, +our subjects of study, and we say to ourselves, 'What will become of +them when I am gone? Everything would fall to pieces if I were +withdrawn.' Do not be afraid. Depend on it, you will be left here as +long as you are wanted. There are no incomplete lives and no premature +removals. To the eye of faith the broken column in our cemeteries is a +sentimental falsehood. No Christian life is broken short off so, but +rises in a symmetrical shaft, and its capital is garlanded with +amaranthine flowers in heaven. In one sense all our lives are +incomplete, for they and their issues are above, out of our sight here. +In another none are, for we are 'immortal till our work is done.' + +The true attitude, then, for us is patient service till He withdraws us +from the field. We do not count him a diligent servant who is always +wearying for the hour of leaving off to strike. Be it ours to labour +where He puts us, patiently waiting till 'death's mild curfew' sets us +free from the long day's work, and sends us home. + +Brethren! there are but two theories of life; two corresponding aspects +of death. The one says, 'To me to live is Christ, and to die gain'; the +other, 'To me to live is self, and to die is loss and despair.' One or +other must be your choice. Which? + + + + +CITIZENS OF HEAVEN + + 'Only let your conversation be as it becometh the + gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, + or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, + that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind + striving together for the faith of the gospel; 28. + And in nothing terrified by your + adversaries.'--PHIL. i. 27, 28. + + +We read in the Acts of the Apostles that Philippi was the chief city of +that part of Macedonia, and a 'colony.' Now, the connection between a +Roman colony and Rome was a great deal closer than that between an +English colony and England. It was, in fact, a bit of Rome on foreign +soil. + +The colonists and their children were Roman citizens. Their names were +enrolled on the lists of Roman tribes. They were governed not by the +provincial authorities, but by their own magistrates, and the law to +which they owed obedience was not that of the locality, but the law of +Rome. + +No doubt some of the Philippian Christians possessed these privileges. +They knew what it was to live in a community to which they were less +closely bound than to the great city beyond the sea. They were members +of a mighty polity, though they had never seen its temples nor trod its +streets. They lived in Philippi, but they belonged to Rome. Hence there +is a peculiar significance in the first words of our text. The +rendering, 'conversation,' was inadequate even when it was made. It has +become more so now. The word then meant 'conduct.' It now means little +more than words. But though the phrase may express loosely the Apostle's +general idea, it loses entirely the striking metaphor under which it is +couched. The Revised Version gives the literal rendering in its +margin--'Behave as citizens'--though it adopts in its text a rendering +which disregards the figure in the word, and contents itself with the +less picturesque and vivid phrase--'let your manner of life be worthy.' +But there seems no reason for leaving out the metaphor; it entirely fits +in with the purpose of the Apostle and with the context. + +The meaning is, Play the citizen in a manner worthy of the Gospel. Paul +does not, of course, mean, Discharge your civic duties as Christian men, +though some Christian Englishmen need that reminder; but the city of +which these Philippians were citizens was the heavenly Jerusalem, the +metropolis, the mother city of us all. He would kindle in them the +consciousness of belonging to another order of things than that around +them. He would stimulate their loyalty to obedience to the city's laws. +As the outlying colonies of Rome had sometimes entrusted to them the +task of keeping the frontiers and extending the power of the imperial +city, so he stirs them up to aggressive warfare; and as in all their +conflicts the little colony felt that the Empire was at its back, and +therefore looked undaunted on shoals of barbarian foes, so he would have +his friends at Philippi animated by lofty courage, and ever confident of +final victory. + +Such seems to be a general outline of these eager exhortations to the +citizens of heaven in this outlying colony of earth. Let us think of +them briefly in order now. + +I. Keep fresh the sense of belonging to the mother city. + +Paul was not only writing _to_ Philippi, but _from_ Rome, where he might +see how, even in degenerate days, the consciousness of being a Roman +gave dignity to a man, and how the idea became almost a religion. He +would kindle a similar feeling in Christians. + +We do belong to another polity or order of things than that with which +we are connected by the bonds of flesh and sense. Our true affinities +are with the mother city. True, we are here on earth, but far beyond the +blue waters is another community, of which we are really members, and +sometimes in calm weather we can see, if we climb to a height above the +smoke of the valley where we dwell, the faint outline of the mountains +of that other land, lying bathed in sunlight and dreamlike on the opal +waves. + +Therefore it is a great part of Christian discipline to keep a vivid +consciousness that there is such an unseen order of things at present in +existence. We speak popularly of 'the future life,' and are apt to +forget that it is also the _present_ life to an innumerable company. In +fact, this film of an earthly life floats in that greater sphere which +is all around it, above, beneath, touching it at every point. + +It is, as Peter says, 'ready to be unveiled.' Yes, behind the thin +curtain, through which stray beams of the brightness sometimes shoot, +that other order stands, close to us, parted from us by a most slender +division, only a woven veil, no great gulf or iron barrier. And before +long His hand will draw it back, rattling with its rings as it is put +aside, and _there_ will blaze out what has always been, though we saw it +not. It is so close, so real, so bright, so solemn, that it is worth +while to try to feel its nearness; and we are so purblind, and such +foolish slaves of mere sense, shaping our lives on the legal maxim that +things which are non-apparent must be treated as non-existent, that it +needs a constant effort not to lose the feeling altogether. + +There is a present connection between all Christian men and that +heavenly City. It not merely exists, but we belong to it in the measure +in which we are Christians. All these figurative expressions about our +citizenship being in heaven and the like, rest on the simple fact that +the life of Christian men on earth and in heaven is fundamentally the +same. The principles which guide, the motives which sway, the tastes and +desires, affections and impulses, the objects and aims, are +substantially one. A Christian man's true affinities are with the things +not seen, and with the persons there, however his surface relationship +knit him to the earth. In the degree in which he is a Christian, he is a +stranger here and a native of the heavens. That great City is, like some +of the capitals of Europe, built on a broad river, with the mass of the +metropolis on the one bank, but a wide-spreading suburb on the other. As +the Trastevere is to Rome, as Southwark to London, so is earth to +heaven, the bit of the city on the other side the bridge. As Philippi +was to Rome, so is earth to heaven, the colony on the outskirts of the +empire, ringed round by barbarians, and separated by sounding seas, but +keeping open its communications, and one in citizenship. + +Be it our care, then, to keep the sense of that city beyond the +river vivid and constant. Amid the shows and shams of earth look +ever onward to the realities 'the things which _are_,' while all +else only seems to be. The things which are seen are but smoke +wreaths, floating for a moment across space, and melting into +nothingness while we look. We do not belong to them or to the +order of things to which they belong. There is no kindred between +us and them. Our true relationships are elsewhere. In this present +visible world all other creatures find their sufficient and homelike +abode. 'Foxes have holes, and birds their roosting-places'; but man +alone has not where to lay his head, nor can he find in all the width +of the created universe a place in which and with which he can be +satisfied. Our true _habitat_ is elsewhere. So let us set our thoughts +and affections on things above. The descendants of the original settlers +in our colonies talk still of coming to England as going 'home,' though +they were born in Australia, and have lived there all their lives. In +like manner we Christian people should keep vigorous in our minds the +thought that our true home is there where we have never been, and that +here we are foreigners and wanderers. + +Nor need that feeling of detachment from the present sadden our spirits, +or weaken our interest in the things around us. To recognise our +separation from the order of things in which we 'move,' because we +belong to that majestic unseen order in which we really 'have our +being,' makes life great and not small. It clothes the present with +dignity beyond what is possible to it if it be not looked at in the +light of its connection with 'the regions beyond.' From that connection +life derives all its meaning. Surely nothing can be conceived more +unmeaning, more wearisome in its monotony, more tragic in its joy, more +purposeless in its efforts, than man's life, if the life of sense and +time be all. Truly it is 'like a tale told by an idiot, full of sound +and fury, signifying nothing.' 'The white radiance of eternity,' +streaming through it from above, gives all its beauty to the 'dome of +many-coloured glass' which men call life. They who feel most their +connection with the city which hath foundations should be best able to +wring the last drop of pure sweetness out of all earthly joys, to +understand the meaning of all events, and to be interested most keenly, +because most intelligently and most nobly, in the homeliest and +smallest of the tasks and concerns of the present. + +So, in all things, act as citizens of the great Mother of heroes and +saints beyond the sea. Ever feel that you belong to another order, and +let the thought, 'Here we have no continuing city,' be to you not merely +the bitter lesson taught by the transiency of earthly joys and treasures +and loves, but the happy result of 'seeking for the city which hath the +foundations.' + +II. Another exhortation which our text gives is, Live by the laws of the +city. + +The Philippian colonists were governed by the code of Rome. Whatever +might be the law of the province of Macedonia, they owed no obedience to +it. So Christian men are not to be governed by the maxims and rules of +conduct which prevail in the province, but to be governed from the +capital. We ought to get from on-lookers the same character that was +given to the Jews, that we are 'a people whose laws are different from +all people that be on earth,' and we ought to reckon such a character +our highest praise. Paul would have these Philippian Christians act +'worthy of _the gospel_.' That is our law. + +The great good news of God manifest in the flesh, and of our salvation +through Christ Jesus, is not merely to be believed, but to be obeyed. +The gospel is not merely a message of deliverance, it is also a rule of +conduct. It is not merely theology, it is also ethics. Like some of the +ancient municipal charters, the grant of privileges and proclamation of +freedom is also the sovereign code which imposes duties and shapes life. +A gospel of laziness and mere exemption from hell was not Paul's gospel. +A gospel of doctrines, to be investigated, spun into a system of +theology, and accepted by the understanding, and there an end, was not +Paul's gospel. He believed that the great facts which he proclaimed +concerning the self-revelation of God in Christ would unfold into a +sovereign law of life for every true believer, and so his one +all-sufficient precept and standard of conduct are in these simple +words, 'worthy of the gospel.' + +That law is all-sufficient. In the truths which constituted Paul's +gospel, that is to say, in the truths of the life, death, and +resurrection of Jesus Christ, lies all that men need for conduct and +character. In Him we have the 'realised ideal,' the flawless example, +and instead of a thousand precepts, for us all duty is resolved into +one--be like Christ. In Him we have the mighty motive, powerful enough +to overcome all forces that would draw us away, and like some strong +spring to keep us in closest contact with right and goodness. Instead of +a confusing variety of appeals to manifold motives of interest and +conscience, and one knows not what beside, we have the one all-powerful +appeal, 'If ye love Me, keep My commandments,' and that draws all the +agitations and fluctuations of the soul after it, as the rounded fulness +of the moon does the heaped waters in the tidal wave that girdles the +world. In Him we have all the helps that weakness needs, for He Himself +will come and dwell with us and in us, and be our righteousness and our +strength. + +Live 'worthy of the gospel,' then. How grand the unity and simplicity +thus breathed into our duties and through our lives! All duties are +capable of reduction to this one, and though we shall still need +detailed instruction and specific precepts, we shall be set free from +the pedantry of a small scrupulous casuistry, which fetters men's limbs +with microscopic bands, and shall joyfully learn how much mightier and +happier is the life which is shaped by one fruitful principle, than that +which is hampered by a thousand regulations. + +Nor is such an all-comprehensive precept a mere toothless generality. +Let a man try honestly to shape his life by it; and he will find soon +enough how close it grips him, and how wide it stretches, and how deep +it goes. The greatest principles of the gospel are to be fitted to the +smallest duties. Indeed that combination--great principles and small +duties--is the secret of all noble and calm life, and nowhere should it +be so beautifully exemplified as in the life of a Christian man. The +tiny round of the dew-drop is shaped by the same laws that mould the +giant sphere of the largest planet. You cannot make a map of the poorest +grass-field without celestial observations. The star is not too high nor +too brilliant to move before us and guide simple men's feet along their +pilgrimage. 'Worthy of the gospel' is a most practical and stringent +law. + +And it is an exclusive commandment too, shutting out obedience to other +codes, however common and fashionable they may be. We are governed from +home, and we give no submission to provincial authorities. Never mind +what people say about you, nor what may be the maxims and ways of men +around you. These are no guides for you. Public opinion (which only +means for most of us the hasty judgments of the half-dozen people who +happen to be nearest us), use and wont, the customs of our set, the +notions of the world about duty, with all these we have nothing to do. +The censures or the praise of men need not move us. We report to +headquarters, and subordinates' estimate need be nothing to us. Let us +then say, 'With me it is a very small matter that I should be judged of +men's judgment. He that judgeth me is the Lord.' When we may be +misunderstood or harshly dealt with, let us lift our eyes to the lofty +seat where the Emperor sits, and remove ourselves from men's sentences +by our 'appeal unto Caesar'; and, in all varieties of circumstances and +duty, let us take the Gospel which is the record of Christ's life, +death, and character, for our only law, and labour that, whatever others +may think of us, we 'may be well pleasing to Him.' + +III. Further, our text bids the colonists fight for the advance of the +dominions of the City. + +Like the armed colonists whom Russia and other empires had on their +frontier, who received their bits of land on condition of holding the +border against the enemy, and pushing it forward a league or two when +possible, Christian men are set down in their places to be 'wardens of +the marches,' citizen soldiers who hold their homesteads on a military +tenure, and are to 'strive together for the faith of the gospel.' + +There is no space here and now to go into details of the exposition of +this part of our text. Enough to say in brief that we are here exhorted +to 'stand fast'; that is, as it were, the defensive side of our warfare, +maintaining our ground and repelling all assaults; that this successful +resistance is to be 'in one spirit,' inasmuch as all resistance depends +on our poor feeble spirits being ingrafted and rooted in God's Spirit, +in vital union with whom we may be knit together into a unity which +shall oppose a granite breakwater to the onrushing tide of opposition; +that in addition to the unmoved resistance which will not yield an inch +of the sacred soil to the enemy, we are to carry the war onwards, and, +not content with holding our own, are with one mind to strive together +for the faith of the gospel. There is to be discipline, then, and +compact organisation, like that of the legions whom Paul, from his +prison among the Praetorian guards, had often seen shining in steel, +moving like a machine, grim, irresistible. The cause for which we are to +fight is the faith of the gospel, an expression which almost seems to +justify the opinion that 'the faith' here means, as it does in later +usage, the sum and substance of that which is believed. But even here +the word may have its usual meaning of the subjective act of trust in +the gospel, and the thought may be that we are unitedly to fight for its +growing power in our own hearts and in the hearts of others. In any +case, the idea is plainly here that Christian men are set down in the +world, like the frontier guard, to push the conquests of the empire, and +to win more ground for their King. + +Such work is ever needed, never more needed than now. In this day when a +wave of unbelief seems passing over society, when material comfort and +worldly prosperity are so dazzlingly attractive to so many, the solemn +duty is laid upon us with even more than usual emphasis, and we are +called upon to feel more than ever the oneness of all true Christians, +and to close up our ranks for the fight. All this can only be done after +we have obeyed the other injunctions of this text. The degree in which +we feel that we belong to another order of things than this around us, +and the degree in which we live by the Imperial laws, will determine the +degree in which we can fight with vigour for the growth of the dominion +of the City. Be it ours to cherish the vivid consciousness that we are +here dwelling not in the cities of the Canaanites, but, like the father +of the faithful, in tents pitched at their gates, nomads in the midst +of a civic life to which we do not belong, in order that we may breathe +a hallowing influence through it, and win hearts to the love of Him whom +to imitate is perfection, whom to serve is freedom. + +IV. The last exhortation to the colonists is, Be sure of victory. + +'In nothing terrified by your adversaries,' says Paul. He uses a very +vivid, and some people might think, a very vulgar metaphor here. The +word rendered _terrified_ properly refers to a horse shying or plunging +at some object. It is generally things half seen and mistaken for +something more dreadful than themselves that make horses shy; and it is +usually a half-look at adversaries, and a mistaken estimate of their +strength, that make Christians afraid. Go up to your fears and speak to +them, and as ghosts are said to do, they will generally fade away. So we +may go into the battle, as the rash French minister said he did into the +Franco-German war, 'with a light heart,' and that for good reasons. We +have no reason to fear for ourselves. We have no reason to fear for the +ark of God. We have no reason to fear for the growth of Christianity in +the world. Many good men in this time seem to be getting half-ashamed of +the gospel, and some preachers are preaching it in words which sound +like an apology rather than a creed. Do not let us allow the enemy to +overpower our imaginations in that fashion. Do not let us fight as if we +expected to be beaten, always casting our eyes over our shoulders, even +while we are advancing, to make sure of our retreat, but let us trust +our gospel, and trust our King, and let us take to heart the old +admonition, 'Lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not +afraid.' + +Such courage is a prophecy of victory. Such courage is based upon a sure +hope. 'Our citizenship is in heaven, from whence also we look for the +Lord Jesus as Saviour.' The little outlying colony in this far-off edge +of the empire is ringed about by wide-stretching hosts of dusky +barbarians. Far as the eye can reach their myriads cover the land, and +the watchers from the ramparts might well be dismayed if they had only +their own resources to depend on. But they know that the Emperor in his +progress will come to this sorely beset outpost, and their eyes are +fixed on the pass in the hills where they expect to see the waving +banners and the gleaming spears. Soon, like our countrymen in Lucknow, +they will hear the music and the shouts that tell that He is at hand. +Then when He comes, He will raise the siege and scatter all the enemies +as the chaff of the threshing-floor, and the colonists who held the post +will go with Him to the land which they have never seen, but which is +their home, and will, with the Victor, sweep in triumph 'through the +gates into the city.' + + + + +A PLEA FOR UNITY + + 'If there is therefore any comfort in Christ, if + any consolation of love, if any fellowship of the + Spirit, if any tender mercies and compassions, 2. + Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be of the same mind, + having the same love, being of one accord, of one + mind; 3. Doing nothing through faction or through + vainglory, but in lowliness of mind each counting + other better than himself; 4. Not looking each of + you to his own things, but each of you also to the + things of others.'--PHIL. ii. 1-4 (R.V.). + + +There was much in the state of the Philippian church which filled Paul's +heart with thankfulness, and nothing which drew forth his censures, but +these verses, with their extraordinary energy of pleading, seem to hint +that there was some defect in the unity of heart and mind of members of +the community. It did not amount to discord, but the concord was not as +full as it might have been. There is another hint pointing in the same +direction in the appeal to Paul's true yoke-fellow, in chapter iv., to +help two good women who, though they had laboured much in the gospel, +had not managed to keep 'of the same mind in the Lord,' and there is +perhaps a still further indication that Paul's sensitive heart was +conscious of the beginnings of strife in the air, in the remarkable +emphasis with which, at the very outset of the letter, he over and over +again pours out his confidence and affection on them 'all,' as if aware +of some incipient rifts in their brotherhood. There are always forces at +work which tend to part the most closely knit unities even when these +are consecrated by Christian faith. Where there are no dogmatical +grounds of discord, nor any open alienation, there may still be the +beginnings of separation, and a chill breeze may be felt even when the +sun is shining with summer warmth. Wasps are attracted by the ripest +fruit. + +The words of our text present no special difficulty, and bring before us +a well-worn subject, but it has at least this element of interest, that +it grips very tightly the deepest things in Christian life, and that +none of us can truly say that we do not need to listen to Paul's +pleading voice. We may notice the general division of his thoughts in +these words, in that he puts first the heart-touching motives for +listening to his appeal, next describes with the exuberance of +earnestness the fair ideal of unity to which he exhorts, and finally +touches on the hindrances to its realisation, and the victorious powers +which will overcome these. + +I. The motives and bonds of Christian unity. + +It is not a pedantic dissection (and vivisection) of the Apostle's +earnest words, if we point out that they fall into four clauses, of +which the first and third ('any comfort in Christ, any fellowship of the +Spirit') urge the objective facts of Christian revelation, and the +second and fourth ('any consolation of love, any tender mercies and +compassions') put emphasis on the subjective emotions of Christian +experience. We may lay the warmth of all of these on our own hearts, and +shall find that these hearts will be drawn into the blessedness of +Christian unity in the precise measure in which they are affected by +them. + +As to the first of them, it may be suggested that here, as elsewhere in +the New Testament, the true idea of the word rendered 'comfort' is +rather 'exhortation.' The Apostle is probably not so much pointing to +the consolations for trouble which come from Jesus, as to the stimulus +to unity which flows from Him. It would rather weaken the force of +Paul's appeal, if the two former grounds of it were so nearly identical +as they are, if the one is based upon 'comfort' and the other on +'consolation.' The Apostle is true to his dominant belief, that in Jesus +Christ there lies, and from Him flows, the sovereign exhortation that +rouses men to 'whatsoever things are lovely and of good report.' In Him +we shall find in the measure in which we are in Him, the most persuasive +of all exhortations to unity, and the most omnipotent of all powers to +enforce it. Shall we not be glad to be in the flock of the Good +Shepherd, and to preserve the oneness which He gave His life to +establish? Can we live in Him, and not share His love for His sheep? +Surely those who have felt the benediction of His breath on their +foreheads when He prayed 'that they may all be one; even as Thou, +Father, art in Me and I in Thee,' cannot but do what is in them to +fulfil that prayer, and to bring a little nearer the realisation of +their Lord's purpose in it, 'that the world may believe that Thou didst +send Me.' Surely if we lay to heart, and enter into sympathy with, the +whole life and death of Jesus Christ, we shall not fail to feel the +dynamic power fusing us together, nor fail to catch the exhortation to +unity which comes from the lips that said, 'I am the vine, ye are the +branches.' + +The Apostle next bases his appeal for unity on the experiences of the +Philippian Christians, and on their memories of the comfort which they +have tasted in the exercise of mutual love. Our hearts find it hard to +answer the question whether they are more blessed when their love passes +out from them in a warm stream to others, or when the love of others +pours into them. To love and to be loved equally elevate courage, and +brace the weakest for calm endurance and high deeds. The man who loves +and knows that he is loved will be a hero. It must always seem strange +and inexplicable that a heart which has known the enlargement and joy of +love given and received, should ever fall so far beneath itself as to be +narrowed and troubled by nourishing feelings of separation and +alienation from those whom it might have gathered into its embrace, and +thereby communicated, and in communicating acquired, courage and +strength. We have all known the comfort of love; should it not impel us +to live in 'the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace'? Men around +us are meant to be our helpers, and to be helped by us, and the one way +to secure both is to walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us. + +But Paul has still further heart-melting motives to urge. He turns the +Philippians' thoughts to their fellowship in the Spirit. All believers +have been made to drink into one spirit, and in that common +participation in the same supernatural life they partake of a oneness, +which renders any clefts or divisions unnatural, and contradictory of +the deepest truths of their experience. The branch can no more shiver +itself off from the tree, or keep the life sap enclosed within itself, +than one possessor of the common gift of the Spirit can separate himself +from the others who share it. We are one in Him; let us be one in heart +and mind. The final appeal is connected with the preceding, inasmuch as +it lays emphasis on the emotions which flow from the one life common to +all believers. That participation in the Spirit naturally leads in each +participant to 'tender mercies and compassions' directed to all sharers +in it. The very mark of truly possessing the Spirit's life is a nature +full of tenderness and swift to pity, and they who have experienced the +heaven on earth of such emotions should need no other motive than the +memory of its blessedness, to send them out among their brethren, and +even into a hostile world, as the apostles of love, the bearers of +tender mercies, and the messengers of pity. + +II. The fair ideal which would complete the Apostle's joy. + +We may gather from the rich abundance of motives which the Apostle +suggests before he comes to present his exhortation, that he suspected +the existence of some tendencies in the opposite direction in Philippi, +and possibly the same conclusion may be drawn from the exuberance of +the exhortation itself, and from its preceding the dehortation which +follows. He does not scold, he scarcely even rebukes, but he begins by +trying to melt away any light frost that had crept over the warmth of +the Philippians' love; and having made that preparation, he sets before +them with a fulness which would be tautological but for the earnestness +that throbs in it, the ideal of unity, and presses it upon them still +more meltingly, by telling them that their realisation of it will be the +completion of his joy. The main injunction is 'that ye be of the same +mind,' and that is followed by three clauses which are all but exactly +synonymous with it, 'having the same love, being of one accord, of one +mind.' The resemblance of the latter clause to the main exhortation is +still more complete, if we read with Revised Version (margin) 'of the +same mind,' but in any case the exhortations are all practically the +same. The unity which Paul would fain see, is far deeper and more vital +than mere unanimity of opinion, or identity of polity, or co-operation +in practice. The clauses which expand it guard us against the mistake of +thinking that intellectual or practical oneness is all that is meant by +Christian unity. They are 'of the same mind,' who have the same wishes, +aims, outlooks, the same hopes and fears, and who are one in the depths +of their being. They have 'the same love,' all similarly loving and +being loved, the same emotion filling each heart. They are united in +soul, or 'with accordant souls' having, and knowing that they have them, +akin, allied to one another, moving to a common end, and aware of their +oneness. The unity which Christian people have hitherto reached is at +its best but a small are of the great circle which the Apostle drew, +and none of us can read these fervid words without shame. His joy is not +yet fulfilled. + +That exhortation to be 'of the same mind,' not only points to a deep and +vital unity, but suggests that the ground of the unity is to be found +without us, in the common direction of our 'minds,' which means far more +than popular phraseology means by it, to an external object. It is +having our hearts directed to Christ that makes us one. He is the bond +and centre of unity. We have just said that the object is external, but +that has to be taken with a modification, for the true basis of unity is +the common possession of 'Christ in us.' It is when we have this mind in +us 'which was also in Christ Jesus,' that we have 'the same mind' one +with another. + +The very keynote of the letter is joy, as may be seen by a glance over +it. He joys and rejoices with them all, but his cup is not quite full. +One more precious drop is needed to make it run over. Probably the +coldness which he had heard of between Euodias and Syntyche had troubled +him, and if he could be sure of the Philippians' mutual love he would +rejoice in his prison. We cannot tell whether that loving and careful +heart is still aware of the fortunes of the Church, but we know of a +more loving and careful heart which is, and we cannot but believe that +the alienations and discords of His professed followers bring some +shadow over the joy of Christ. Do we not hear His voice again asking, +'what was it that you disputed among yourselves by the way?' and must we +not, like the disciples, 'hold our peace' when that question is asked? +May we not hear a voice sweeter in its cadence, and more melting in its +tenderness than Paul's, saying to us 'Fulfil ye My joy that ye be of +the same mind.' + +III. The hindrances and helps to being of the same mind. + +The original has no verb in front of 'nothing' in verse 3, and it seems +better to supply the one which has been so frequently used in the +preceding exhortation than 'doing,' which carries us too abruptly into +the outer region of action. Paul indicates two main hindrances to being +of the same mind, namely, faction and vainglory on the one hand, and +self-absorption on the other, and opposed to each the tone of mind which +is its best conqueror. Faction and vainglory are best defeated by +humility and unselfishness. As to the former, the love of making or +heading little cliques in religion or politics or society, has oftenest +its roots in nothing loftier than vanity or pride. Many a man who poses +as guided by staunch adherence to conviction is really impelled only by +a wish to make himself notorious as a leader, and loves to talk of +'those with whom I act.' There is a strong admixture of a too lofty +estimate of self in most of the disagreements of Christian people. They +expect more deference than they get, or their judgment is not taken as +law, or their place is not so high as they think is their due, or in a +hundred different ways self-love is wounded, and self-esteem is +inflamed. All this is true in reference to the smaller communities of +congregations, and with the necessary modifications it is quite as true +in reference to the larger aggregations which we call churches or +denominations. If all in their work that is directly due to faction and +vainglory were struck out there would be great gaps in their activities, +and many a flourishing scheme would fall dead. + +The cure for all these evils is lowliness of mind. That is a Christian +word. Used by Greek thinkers, it meant abjectness; and it is one +conspicuous instance of the change effected in morals by Christian +teaching that it has become the name of a virtue. We are to dwell not on +our gifts but on our imperfections, and if we judge ourselves with +constant reference to the standard in Christ's life, we shall need +little more to bring us to our knees in true lowliness of mind. The man +who has been forgiven so many talents will not be in a hurry to take his +brother by the throat and leave the marks of his fingers for tenpence. + +Christian unity is further broken by selfishness. To be absorbed in self +is of course to have the heart shut to others. Our own interests, +inclinations, possessions, when they assert themselves in our lives, +build up impassable barriers between us and our fellows. To live to self +is the real root of every sin as it is of all loveless life. The Apostle +uses careful language: he admits the necessity for attention to our 'own +things,' and only requires that we should look 'also' on the things of +others. His cure for the hindrances to Christian unity is very complete, +very practical, and very simple. Each counting other better than +himself, and each 'looking also to the things of others' seem very +homely and pedestrian virtues, but homely as they are we shall find that +they grip us tight, if we honestly try to practise them in our daily +lives, and we shall find also that the ladder which has its foot on +earth has its top in the heavens, and that the practice of humility and +unselfishness leads straight to having 'the mind which was also in +Christ Jesus.' + + + + +THE DESCENT OF THE WORD + + 'Have this mind in you which was also in Christ + Jesus: 6. Who, being in the form of God, counted + it not a prize to be on an equality with God, 7. + But emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, + being made in the likeness of men; 8. And being + found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, + becoming obedient even unto death, yea, the death + of the cross.'--PHIL. ii. 5-8 (R.V.). + + +The purpose of the Apostle in this great passage must ever be kept +clearly in view. Our Lord's example is set forth as the pattern of that +unselfish disregard of one's own things, and devotion to the things of +others, which has just been urged on the Philippians, and the mind which +was in Him is presented as the model on which they are to fashion their +minds. This purpose in some measure explains some of the peculiarities +of the language here, and may help to guide us through some of the +intricacies and doubtful points in the interpretation of the words. It +explains why Christ's death is looked at in them only in its bearing +upon Himself, as an act of obedience and of condescension, and why even +that death in which Jesus stands most inimitable and unique is presented +as capable of being imitated by us. The general drift of these verses is +clear, but there are few Scripture passages which have evoked more +difference of opinion as to the precise meaning of nearly every phrase. +To enter on the subtle discussions involved in the adequate exposition +of the words would far exceed our limits, and we must perforce content +ourselves with a slight treatment of them, and aim chiefly at bringing +out their practical side. + +The broad truth which stands sun-clear amid all diverse interpretations +is--that the Incarnation, Life, and Death are the great examples of +living humility and self-sacrifice. To be born was His supreme act of +condescension. It was love which made Him assume the vesture of human +flesh. To die was the climax of His voluntary obedience, and of His +devotion to us. + +I. The height from which Jesus descended. + +The whole strange conception of birth as being the voluntary act of the +Person born, and as being the most stupendous instance of condescension +in the world's history, necessarily reposes on the clear conviction that +He had a prior existence so lofty that it was an all but infinite +descent to become man. Hence Paul begins with the most emphatic +assertion that he who bore the name of Jesus lived a divine life before +He was born. He uses a very strong word which is given in the margin of +the Revised Version, and might well have been in its text. 'Being +originally' as the word accurately means, carries our thoughts back not +only to a state which preceded Bethlehem and the cradle, but to that +same timeless eternity from which the prologue of the Gospel of John +partially draws the veil when it says, 'In the beginning was the Word,' +and to which Jesus Himself more obscurely pointed when He said, 'Before +Abraham was I am.' + +Equally emphatic in another direction is Paul's next expression, 'In the +form of God,' for 'form' means much more than 'shape.' I would point out +the careful selection in this passage of three words to express three +ideas which are often by hasty thought regarded as identical. We read of +'the _form_ of God' (verse 6), 'the _likeness_ of men' (verse 7), and +'in _fashion_ as a man.' Careful investigation of these two words 'form' +and 'fashion' has established a broad distinction between them, the +former being more fixed, the latter referring to that which is +accidental and outward, which may be fleeting and unsubstantial. The +possession of the form involves participation in the essence also. Here +it implies no corporeal idea as if God had a material form, but it +implies also much more than a mere apparent resemblance. He who is in +the form of God possesses the essential divine attributes. Only God can +be 'in the form of God': man is made in the likeness of God, but man is +not 'in the form of God.' Light is thrown on this lofty phrase by its +antithesis with the succeeding expression in the next verse, 'the form +of a servant,' and as that is immediately explained to refer to Christ's +assumption of human nature, there is no room for candid doubt that +'being originally in the form of God' is a deliberately asserted claim +of the divinity of Christ in His pre-existent state. + +As we have already pointed out, Paul soars here to the same lofty height +to which the prologue of John's Gospel rises, and he echoes our Lord's +own words about 'the glory which I had with Thee before the foundation +of the world.' Our thoughts are carried back before creatures were, and +we become dimly aware of an eternal distinction in the divine nature +which only perfects its eternal oneness. Such an eternal participation +in the divine nature before all creation and before time is the +necessary pre-supposition of the worth of Christ's life as the pattern +of humility and self-sacrifice. That pre-supposition gives all its +meaning, its pathos, and its power, to His gentleness, and love, and +death. The facts are different in their significance, and different in +their power to bless and gladden, to purge and sway the soul, according +as we contemplate them with or without the background of His +pre-existent divinity. The view which regards Him as simply a man, like +all the rest of us, beginning to be when He was born, takes away from +His example its mightiest constraining force. Only when we with all our +hearts believe 'that the Word became flesh,' do we discern the +overwhelming depths of condescension manifested in the Birth. If it was +not the incarnation of God, it has no claim on the hearts of men. + +II. The wondrous act of descent. + +The stages in that long descent are marked out with a precision and +definiteness which would be intolerable presumption, if Paul were +speaking only his own thoughts, or telling what he had seen with his own +eyes. They begin with what was in the mind of the eternal Word before He +began His descent, and whilst yet He is 'in the form of God.' He stands +on the lofty level before the descent begins, and in spirit makes the +surrender, which, stage by stage, is afterwards to be wrought out in +act. Before any of these acts there must have been the disposition of +mind and will which Paul describes as 'counting it not a thing to be +grasped to be on an equality with God.' He did not regard the being +equal to God as a prey or treasure to be clutched and retained at all +hazards. That sweeps our thoughts into the dim regions far beyond +Calvary or Bethlehem, and is a more overwhelming manifestation of love +than are the acts of lowly gentleness and patient endurance which +followed in time. It included and transcended them all. + +It was the supreme example of not 'looking on one's own things.' And +what made Him so count? What but infinite love. To rescue men, and win +them to Himself and goodness, and finally to lift them to the place from +which He came down for them, seemed to Him to be worth the temporary +surrender of that glory and majesty. We can but bow and adore the +perfect love. We look more deeply into the depths of Deity than unaided +eyes could ever penetrate, and what we see is the movement in that abyss +of Godhead of purest surrender which, by beholding, we are to +assimilate. + +Then comes the wonder of wonders, 'He emptied Himself.' We cannot enter +here on the questions which gather round that phrase, and which give it +a factitious importance in regard to present controversies. All that we +would point out now is that while the Apostle distinctly treats the +Incarnation as being a laying aside of what made the Word to be equal +with God, he says nothing, on which an exact determination can be based, +of the degree or particulars in which the divine nature of our Lord was +limited by His humanity. The fact he asserts, and that is all. The scene +in the Upper Chamber was but a feeble picture of what had already been +done behind the veil. Unless He had laid aside His garments of divine +glory and majesty, He would have had no human flesh from which to strip +the robes. Unless He had willed to take the 'form of a servant,' He +would not have had a body to gird with the slave's towel. The +Incarnation, which made all His acts of lowly love possible, was a +greater act of lowly love than those which flowed from it. Looking at it +from earth, men say, 'Jesus was born.' Looking at it from heaven, Angels +say, 'He emptied Himself.' + +But how did He empty Himself? By taking the form of a slave, that is to +God. And how did He take the form of a slave? By 'becoming in the +likeness of men.' Here we are specially to note the remarkable language +implying that what is true of none other in all the generations of men +is true of Him. That just as 'emptying Himself' was His own act, also +the taking the form of a slave by His being born was His own act, and +was more truly described as a 'becoming.' We note, too, the strong +contrast between that most remarkable word and the 'being originally' +which is used to express the mystery of divine pre-existence. + +Whilst His becoming in the likeness of men stands in strong contrast +with 'being originally' and energetically expresses the voluntariness of +our Lord's birth, the 'likeness of men' does not cast any doubt on the +reality of His manhood, but points to the fact that 'though certainly +perfect man, He was by reason of the divine nature present in Him not +simply and merely man.' + +Here then the beginning of Christ's manhood is spoken of in terms which +are only explicable, if it was a second form of being, preceded by a +pre-existent form, and was assumed by His own act. The language, too, +demands that that humanity should have been true essential manhood. It +was in 'the form' of man and possessed of all essential attributes. It +was in 'the likeness' of man possessed of all external characteristics, +and yet was something more. It summed up human nature, and was its +representative. + +III. The obedience which attended the descent. + +It was not merely an act of humiliation and condescension to become man, +but all His life was one long act of lowliness. Just as He 'emptied +Himself' in the act of becoming in the 'likeness of men,' so He 'humbled +Himself,' and all along the course of His earthly life He chose constant +lowliness and to be 'despised and rejected of men.' It was the result +moment by moment of His own will that to the eyes of men He presented +'no form nor comeliness,' and that will was moment by moment steadied +in its unmoved humility, because He perpetually looked 'not on His own +things, but on the things of others.' The guise He presented to the eyes +of men was 'the _fashion_ of a man.' That word corresponds exactly to +Paul's carefully selected term, and makes emphatic both its superficial +and its transitory character. + +The lifelong humbling of Himself was further manifested in His becoming +'obedient.' That obedience was, of course, to God. And here we cannot +but pause to ask the question, How comes it that to the man Jesus +obedience to God was an act of humiliation? Surely there is but one +explanation of such a statement. For all men but this one to be God's +slaves is their highest honour, and to speak of obedience as humiliation +is a sheer absurdity. + +Not only was the life of Jesus so perfect an example of unbroken +obedience that He could safely front His adversaries with the question, +'Which of you convinceth Me of sin?' and with the claim to 'do always +the things that pleased Him,' but the obedience to the Father was +perfected in His death. Consider the extraordinary fact that a man's +death is the crowning instance of his humility, and ask yourselves the +question, Who then is this who chose to be born, and stooped in the act +of dying? His death was obedience to God, because by it He carried out +the Father's will for the salvation of the world, His death is the +greatest instance of unselfish self-sacrifice, and the loftiest example +of looking on the 'things of others' that the world has ever seen. It +dwindles in significance, in pathos, and in power to move us to +imitation unless we clearly see the divine glory of the eternal Lord as +the background of the gentle lowliness of the Man of Sorrows, and the +Cross. No theory of Christ's life and death but that He was born for us, +and died for us, either explains the facts and the apostolic language +concerning them, or leaves them invested with their full power to melt +our hearts and mould our lives. There is a possibility of imitating Him +in the most transcendent of His acts. The mind may be in us which was in +Christ Jesus. That it may, His death must first be the ground of our +hope, and then we must make it the pattern of our lives, and draw from +it the power to shape them after His blessed Example. + + + + +THE ASCENT OF JESUS + + 'Wherefore also God highly exalted Him and gave + unto Him the name which is above every name; 10. + That in the name of Jesus every knee should bow, + of things in heaven, and things on earth, and + things under the earth; 11. And that every tongue + should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the + glory of God the Father.'--PHIL. ii. 9-11 (R.V.). + + +'He that humbleth himself shall be exalted,' said Jesus. He is Himself +the great example of that law. The Apostle here goes on to complete his +picture of the Lord Jesus as our pattern. In previous verses we had the +solemn steps of His descent, and the lifelong humility and obedience of +the incarnate Son, the man Christ Jesus. Here we have the wondrous +ascent which reverses all the former process. Our text describes the +reflex motion by which Jesus is borne back to the same level as that +from which the descent began. + +We have + +I. The act of exaltation which forms the contrast and the parallel to +the descent. + +'God highly exalted Him.' The Apostle coins an emphatic word which +doubly expresses elevation, and in its grammatical form shows that it +indicates a historical fact. That elevation was a thing once +accomplished on this green earth; that is to say it came to pass in the +fact of our Lord's ascension when from some fold of the Mount of Olives +He was borne upwards and, with blessing hands, was received into the +Shechinah cloud, the glory of which hid Him from the upward-gazing eyes. + +It is plain that the 'Him' of whom this tremendous assertion is made, +must be the same as the 'He' of whom the previous verses spoke, that is, +the Incarnate Jesus. It is the manhood which is exalted. His humiliation +consisted in His becoming man, but His exaltation does not consist in +His laying aside His humanity. It is not a transient but an eternal +union into which in the Incarnation it entered with divinity. +Henceforward we have to think of Him in all the glory of His heavenly +state as man, and as truly and completely in the 'likeness of men' as +when He walked with bleeding feet on the flinty road of earthly life. He +now bears for ever the 'form of God' and 'the fashion of a man.' + +Here I would pause for a moment to point out that the calm tone of this +reference to the ascension indicates that it was part of the recognised +Christian beliefs, and implies that it had been familiar long before the +date of this Epistle, which itself dates from not more than at the most +thirty years from the death of Christ. Surely that lapse of time is far +too narrow to allow of such a belief having sprung up, and been +universally accepted about a dead man, who all the while was lying in a +nameless grave. + +The descent is presented as _His_ act, but decorum and truth required +that the exaltation should be God's act. 'He humbled Himself,' but 'God +exalted Him.' True, He sometimes represented Himself as the Agent of His +own Resurrection and Ascension, and established a complete parallel +between His descent and His ascent, as when He said, 'I came out from +the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go +unto the Father.' He was no less obedient to the Father's will when He +ascended up on high, than He was when He came down to earth, and whilst, +from one point of view, His Resurrection and Ascension were as truly His +own acts as were His birth and His death, from another, He had to pray, +'And now, O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine own self with the glory +which I had with Thee before the world was.' The Titans presumptuously +scaled the heavens, according to the old legend, but the Incarnate Lord +returned to 'His own calm home, His habitation from eternity,' was +exalted thither by God, in token to the universe that the Father +approved the Son's descent, and that the work which the Son had done was +indeed, as He declared it to be, 'finished.' By exalting Him, the Father +not merely reinstated the divine Word in its eternal union with God, but +received into the cloud of glory the manhood which the Word had assumed. + +II. The glory of the name of Jesus. + +What is the name 'which is above every name'? It is the name Jesus. It +is to be noted that Paul scarcely ever uses that simple appellative. +There are, roughly speaking, about two hundred instances in which he +names our Lord in his Epistles, and there are only four places, besides +this, in which he uses this as his own, and two in which he, as it were, +puts it into the mouth of an enemy. Probably then, some special reason +led to its occurrence here, and it is not difficult, I think, to see +what that reason is. The simple personal name was given indeed with +reference to His work, but had been borne by many a Jewish child before +Mary called her child Jesus, and the fact that it is this common name +which is exalted above every name, brings out still more strongly the +thought already dwelt upon, that what is thus exalted is the manhood of +our Lord. The name which expressed His true humanity, which showed His +full identification with us, which was written over His Cross, which +perhaps shaped the taunt 'He _saved_ others, Himself He cannot +save,'--that name God has lifted high above all names of council and +valour, of wisdom and might, of authority and rule. It is shrined in the +hearts of millions who render to it perfect trust, unconditional +obedience, absolute loyalty. Its growing power, and the warmth of +personal love which it evokes, in centuries and lands so far removed +from the theatre of His life, is a unique thing in the world's history. +It reigns in heaven. + +But Paul is not content with simply asserting the sovereign glory of the +name of Jesus. He goes on to set it forth as being what no other name +borne by man can be, the ground and object of worship, when he declares, +that 'in the name of Jesus every knee shall bow.' The words are quoted +from the second Isaiah, and occur in one of the most solemn and majestic +utterances of the monotheism of the Old Testament. And Paul takes these +words, undeterred by the declaration which precede them, 'I Am am God +and there is none else,' applies them to Jesus, to the manhood of our +Lord. Bowing the knee is of course prayer, and in these great words the +issue of the work of Jesus is unmistakably set forth, as not only being +that He has declared God to men, who through Him are drawn to worship +the Father, but that their emotions of love, reverence, worship, are +turned to _Him_, though as the Apostle is careful immediately to note, +they are not thereby intercepted from, but directed to, the glory of God +the Father. In the eternities before His descent, there was equality +with God, and when He returns, it is to the Father, who in Him has +become the object of adoration, and round whose throne gather with +bended knees all those who in Jesus see the Father. + +The Apostle still further dwells on the glory of the name as that of the +acknowledged Lord. And here we have with significant variation in strong +contrast to the previous name of Jesus, the full title 'Jesus Christ +Lord.' That is almost as unusual in its completeness as the other in its +simplicity, and it comes in here with tremendous energy, reminding us of +the great act to which we owe our redemption, and of all the prophecies +and hopes which, from of old, had gathered round the persistent hope of +the coming Messiah, while the name of Lord proclaims His absolute +dominion. The knee is bowed in reverence, the tongue is vocal in +confession. That confession is incomplete if either of these three names +is falteringly uttered, and still more so, if either of them is wanting. +The Jesus whom Christians confess is not merely the man who was born in +Bethlehem and known among men as 'Jesus the carpenter.' In these modern +days, His manhood has been so emphasised as to obscure His Messiahship +and to obliterate His dominion, and alas! there are many who exalt Him +by the name that Mary gave Him, who turn away from the name of Jesus as +'Hebrew old clothes,' and from the name of Lord as antiquated +superstition. But in all the lowliness and gentleness of Jesus there +were not wanting lofty claims to be the Christ of whom prophets and +righteous men of old spake, and whose coming many a generation desired +to see and died without the sight, and still loftier and more absolute +claims to be invested with 'all power in heaven and earth,' and to sit +down with the Father on His throne. It is dangerous work to venture to +toss aside two of these three names, and to hope that if we pronounce +the third of them, Jesus, with appreciation, it will not matter if we do +not name Him either Christ or Lord. + +If it is true that the manhood of Jesus is thus exalted, how wondrous +must be the kindred between the human and the divine, that it should be +capable of this, that it should dwell in the everlasting burnings of the +Divine Glory and not be consumed! How blessed for us the belief that our +Brother wields all the forces of the universe, that the human love which +Jesus had when He bent over the sick and comforted the sorrowful, is at +the centre. Jesus is Lord, the Lord is Jesus! + +The Psalmist was moved to a rapture of thanksgiving when he thought of +man as 'made a little lower than the angels, and crowned with glory and +honour,' but when we think of the Man Jesus 'sitting at the right hand +of God,' the Psalmist's words seem pale and poor, and we can repeat them +with a deeper meaning and a fuller emphasis, 'Thou madest Him to have +dominion over the works of Thy hands, Thou hast put all things under His +feet.' + +III. The universal glory of the name. + +By the three classes into which the Apostle divides creation, 'things in +heaven, and things on earth, and things under the earth,' he simply +intends to declare, that Jesus is the object of all worship, and the +words are not to be pressed as containing dogmatic assertions as to the +different classes mentioned. But guided by other words of Scripture, we +may permissibly think that the 'things in heaven' tell us that the +angels who do not need His mediation learn more of God by His work and +bow before His throne. We cannot be wrong in believing that the glory of +His work stretches far beyond the limits of humanity, and that His +kingdom numbers other subjects than those who draw human breath. Other +lips than ours say with a great voice, 'Worthy is the Lamb that hath +been slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honour +and glory and blessing.' + +The things on earth are of course men, and the words encourage us to dim +hopes about which we cannot dogmatise of a time when all the wayward +self-seeking and self-tormenting children of men shall have learned to +know and love their best friend, and 'there shall be one flock and one +shepherd.' + +'Things under the earth' seems to point to the old thought of 'Sheol' or +'Hades' or a separate state of the dead. The words certainly suggest +that those who have gone from us are not unconscious nor cut off from +the true life, but are capable of adoration and confession. We cannot +but remember the old belief that Jesus in His death 'descended into +Hell,' and some of us will not forget Fra Angelico's picture of the open +doorway with a demon crushed beneath the fallen portal, and the crowd of +eager faces and outstretched hands swarming up the dark passage, to +welcome the entering Christ. Whatever we may think of that ancient +representation, we may at least be sure that, wherever they are, the +dead in Christ praise and reverence and love. + +IV. The glory of the Father in the glory of the name of Jesus. + +Knees bent and tongues confessing the absolute dominion of Jesus Christ +could only be offence and sin if He were not one with the Father. But +the experience of all the thousands since Paul wrote, whose hearts have +been drawn in reverent and worshipping trust to the Son, has verified +the assertion, that to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord diverts no +worship from God, but swells and deepens the ocean of praise that breaks +round the throne. If it is true, and only if it is true, that in the +life and death of Jesus all previous revelations of the Father's heart +are surpassed, if it is true and only if it is true, as He Himself said, +that 'I and the Father are one,' can Paul's words here be anything but +an incredible paradox. But unless these great words close and crown the +Apostle's glowing vision, it is maimed and imperfect, and Jesus +interposes between loving hearts and God. One could almost venture to +believe that at the back of Paul's mind, when he wrote these words, was +some remembrance of the great prayer, 'I glorified Thee on the earth, +having accomplished the work which Thou gavest Me to do.' When the Son +is glorified we glorify the Father, and the words of our text may well +be remembered and laid to heart by any who will not recognise the deity +of the Son, because it seems to them to dishonour the Father. Their +honour is inseparable and their glory one. + +There is a sense in which Jesus is our example even in His ascent and +exaltation, just as He was in His descent and humiliation. The mind +which was in Him is for us the pattern for earthly life, though the +deeds in which that mind was expressed, and especially His 'obedience to +the death of the Cross,' are so far beyond any self-sacrifice of ours, +and are inimitable, unique, and needing no repetition while the world +lasts. And as we can imitate His unexampled sacrifice, so we may share +His divine glory, and, resting on His own faithful word, may follow the +calm motion of His Ascension, assured that where He is there we shall be +also, and that the manhood which is exalted in Him is the prophecy that +all who love Him will share His glory. The question for us all is, have +we in us 'the mind that was in Christ'? and the other question is, what +is that name to us? Can we say, 'Thy mighty name salvation is'? If in +our deepest hearts we grasp that name, and with unfaltering lips can say +that 'there is none other name under heaven given amongst men whereby we +must be saved but the name of Jesus,' then we shall know that + + 'To us with Thy dear name are given, + Pardon, and holiness, and heaven.' + + + + +WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION + + 'Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, + 13. For it is God which worketh in you both to + will and to do of His good pleasure.'--PHIL. ii. + 12, 13. + + +'What God hath joined together, let no man put asunder!' Here are, +joined together, in the compass of one practical exhortation, the truths +which, put asunder, have been the war-cries and shibboleths of +contending sects ever since. _Faith_ in a finished salvation, and yet +_work_; God working all _in_ me, and yet I able and bound to work +likewise; God upholding and sustaining His child to the very end; +'perfecting that which concerns him,' making his salvation certain and +sure, and yet the Christian working 'with fear and trembling,' lest he +should be a castaway and come short of the grace of God;--who does not +recognise in these phrases the mottoes that have been written on the +opposing banners in many a fierce theological battle, waged with much +harm to both sides, and ending in no clear victory for either? Yet here +they are blended in the words of one who was no less profound a thinker +than any that have come after, and who had the gift of a divine +inspiration to boot. + +Not less remarkable than the fusion here of apparent antagonisms, the +harmonising of apparent opposites, is the intensely practical character +of the purpose for which they are adduced at all. Paul has no idea of +giving his disciples a lesson in abstract theology, or laying for them a +foundation of a philosophy of free will and divine sovereignty; he is +not merely communicating to these Philippians truths for their creed, +but precepts for their deeds. The Bible knows nothing of an unpractical +theology, but, on the other hand, the Bible knows still less of an +untheological morality. It digs deep, bottoming the simplest right +action upon right thinking, and going down to the mountain bases on +which the very pillars of the universe rest, in order to lay there, firm +and immovable, the courses of the temple of a holy life. Just as little +as Scripture gives countenance to the error that makes religion theology +rather than life, just so little does it give countenance to the far +more contemptible and shallower error common in our day, which _says_, +Religion is not theology, but life; and _means_, 'Therefore, it does +not matter what theology you have, you can work a good life out with any +creed!' The Bible never teaches unpractical speculations, and the Bible +never gives precepts which do not rest on the profoundest truths. Would +God, brethren, that we all had souls as wide as would take in the whole +of the many-sided scriptural representation of the truths of the Gospel, +and so avoid the narrowness of petty, partial views of God's infinite +counsel; and that we had as close, direct, and as free communication +between head, and heart, and hand, as the Scripture has between precept +and practice! + +But in reference more especially to my text. Keeping in view these two +points I have already suggested, namely,--that it is the reconciling of +apparent opposites, and that it is intensely practical, I find in it +these three thoughts;--First, a Christian has his whole salvation +accomplished for him, and yet he is to work it out. Secondly, a +Christian has everything done in him by God, and yet he is to work. +Lastly, a Christian has his salvation certainly secured, and yet he is +to fear and tremble. + +I. In the first place, A Christian man has his whole salvation already +accomplished for him in Christ, and yet he is to work it out. + +There are two points absolutely necessary to be kept in view in order to +a right understanding of the words before us, for the want of noticing +which it has become the occasion of terrible mistakes. These are--the +persons to whom it is addressed, and the force of the scriptural +expression 'salvation.' As to the first, this exhortation has been +misapplied by being addressed to those who have no claim to be +Christians, and by having such teaching deduced from it as, You do your +part, and God will do His; You work, and God will certainly help you; +You co-operate in the great work of your salvation, and you will get +grace and pardon through Jesus Christ. Now let us remember the very +simple thing, but very important to the right understanding of these +words, that none but Christian people have anything to do with them. To +all others, to all who are not already resting on the finished salvation +of Jesus Christ, this injunction is utterly inapplicable. It is +addressed to the 'beloved, who have always obeyed'; to the 'saints in +Christ Jesus, which are at Philippi.' The whole Epistle is addressed, +and this injunction with the rest, to Christian men. That is the first +thing to be remembered. If there be any of you, who have thought that +these words of Paul's to those who had believed on Christ contained a +rule of action for you, though you have not rested your souls on Him, +and exhorted you to try to win salvation by your own doings, let me +remind you of what Christ said when the Jews came to Him in a similar +spirit and asked Him, 'What shall we do that we may work the works of +God?' His answer to them was, and His answer to you, my brother, is, +'_This_ is the work of God, that ye should _believe_ in Him whom He hath +sent.' That is the first lesson: Not _work_, but _faith_; unless there +be faith, no work. Unless you are a Christian, the passage has nothing +to do with you. + +But now, if this injunction be addressed to those who are looking for +their salvation only to the perfect work of Christ, how can they be +exhorted to work it out themselves? Is not the oft-recurring burden of +Paul's teaching 'not by works of righteousness, which we have done, but +by His mercy He saved us'? How does this text harmonise with these +constantly repeated assertions that Christ has done all for us, and +that we have nothing to do, and can do nothing? To answer this question, +we have to remember that that scriptural expression, 'salvation,' is +used with considerable width and complexity of signification. It +sometimes means the whole of the process, from the beginning to the end, +by which we are delivered from sin in all its aspects, and are set safe +and stable at the right hand of God. It sometimes means one or other of +three different parts of that process--either deliverance from the +guilt, punishment, condemnation of sin; or secondly, the gradual process +of deliverance from its power in our own hearts; or thirdly, the +completion of that process by the final and perfect deliverance from sin +and sorrow, from death and the body, from earth and all its weariness +and troubles, which is achieved when we are landed on the other side of +the river. Salvation, in one aspect, is a thing _past_ to the Christian; +in another, it is a thing _present_; in a third, it is a thing _future_. +But all these three are one; all are elements of the one +deliverance--the one mighty and perfect act which includes them all. + +These three all come equally from Christ Himself. These three all depend +equally on His work and His power. These three are all given to a +Christian man in the first act of faith. But the attitude in which he +stands in reference to that _accomplished_ salvation which means +deliverance from sin as a penalty and a curse, and that in which he +stands to the continuing and progressive salvation which means +deliverance from the power of evil in his own heart, are somewhat +different. In regard to the one, he has only to take the finished +blessing. He has to exercise faith and faith alone. He has nothing to +do, nothing to add, in order to fit himself for it, but simply to +receive the gift of God, and to believe on Him whom He hath sent. But +then, though that reception involves what shall come after it, and +though every one who has and holds the first thing, the pardon of his +transgression, has and holds thereby and therein his growing sanctifying +and his final glory, yet the salvation which means our being delivered +from the evil that is in our hearts, and having our souls made like unto +Christ, is one which--free gift though it be--is not ours on the sole +condition of an initial act of faith, but is ours on the condition of +continuous faithful reception and daily effort, not in our own strength, +but in God's strength, to become like Him, and to make our own that +which God has given us, and which Christ is continually bestowing upon +us. + +The two things, then, are not inconsistent--an accomplished salvation, a +full, free, perfect redemption, with which a man has nothing to do at +all, but to take it;--and, on the other hand, the injunction to them who +have received this divine gift: 'Work out your own salvation.' Work, as +well as believe, and in the daily practice of faithful obedience, in the +daily subjugation of your own spirits to His divine power, in the daily +crucifixion of your flesh with its affections and lusts, in the daily +straining after loftier heights of godliness and purer atmospheres of +devotion and love--make more thoroughly your own that which you possess. +Work into the substance of your souls that which you _have_. Apprehend +that for which you are apprehended of Christ. 'Give all diligence to +make your calling and election sure'; and remember that not a past act +of faith, but a present and continuous life of loving, faithful work in +Christ, which is His and yet yours, is the 'holding fast the beginning +of your confidence firm unto the end.' + +II. In the second place, God works all in us, and yet we have to work. + +There can be no mistake about the good faith and firm emphasis--as of a +man who knows his own mind, and _knows_ that his word is true--with +which the Apostle holds up here the two sides of what I venture to call +the one truth; 'Work out your own salvation--for God works in you.' +Command implies power. Command and power involve duty. The freedom of +the Christian's action, the responsibility of the believer for his +Christian growth in grace, the committal to the Christian man's own +hands of the means of sanctifying, lie in that injunction, 'Work out +your own salvation.' Is there any faltering, any paring down or cautious +guarding of the words, in order that they may not seem to clash with the +other side of the truth? No: Paul does not say, 'Work it out; _yet_ it +is God that worketh in you'; not 'Work it out _although_ it is God that +worketh in you'; not 'Work it out, but then it must always be remembered +and taken as a caution that it is God that worketh in you!' He blends +the two things together in an altogether different connection, and +sees--strangely to some people, no contradiction, nor limitation, nor +puzzle, but a ground of encouragement to cheerful obedience. Do you +work, '_for_ it is God that worketh in you both to will and to do of His +good pleasure.' And does the Apostle limit the divine operation? Notice +how his words seem picked out on purpose to express most emphatically +its all-pervading energy. Look how his words seem picked out on purpose +to express with the utmost possible emphasis that all which a good man +is, and does, is its fruit. It is God that _worketh in_ you. That +expresses more than bringing outward means to bear upon heart and will. +It speaks of an inward, real, and efficacious operation of the +Indwelling Spirit of all energy on the spirit in which He dwells. +'Worketh in you _to will_'; this expresses more than the presentation of +motives from without, it points to a direct action on the will, by which +impulses are originated within. God puts in you the first faint motions +of a better will. 'Worketh in you, doing as well as willing'; this +points to all practical obedience, to all external acts as flowing from +His grace in us, no less than all inward good thoughts and holy desires. + +It is not that God gives men the power, and then leaves them to make the +use of it. It is not that the desire and purpose come forth from Him, +and that then we are left to ourselves to be faithful or unfaithful +stewards in carrying it out. The whole process, from the first sowing of +the seed until its last blossoming and fruiting, in the shape of an +accomplished act, of which God shall bless the springing--it is all +God's together! There is a thorough-going, absolute attribution of every +power, every action, all the thoughts words, and deeds of a Christian +soul, to God. No words could be selected which would more thoroughly cut +away the ground from every half-and-half system which attempts to deal +them out in two portions, part God's and part mine. With all emphasis +Paul attributes all to God. + +And none the less strongly does he teach, by the implication contained +in his earnest injunction, that human responsibility, that human control +over the human will, and that reality of human agency which are often +thought to be annihilated by these broad views of God as originating all +good in the soul and life. The Apostle thought that this doctrine did +not absorb all our individuality in one great divine Cause which made +men mere tools and puppets. He did not believe that the inference from +it was, 'Therefore do you sit still, and feel yourselves the cyphers +that you are.' His practical conclusion is the very opposite. It is--God +does all, therefore do you work. His belief in the power of God's grace +was the foundation of the most intense conviction of the reality and +indispensableness of his own power, and was the motive which stimulated +him to vigorous action. Work, for God works in you. + +Each of these truths rests firmly on its own appropriate evidence. My +own consciousness tells me that I am free, that I have power, that I am +therefore responsible and exposed to punishment for neglect of duty. I +know what I mean when I speak of the will of God, because I myself am +conscious of a will. The power of God is an object of intelligent +thought to me, because I myself am conscious of power. And on the other +hand, that belief in a God which is one of the deep and universal +beliefs of men contains in it, when it comes to be thought about, the +belief in Him as the source of all power, as the great cause of all. If +I believe in a God at all, I must believe that He whom I so call, +worketh all things after the counsel of His own will. These two +convictions are both given to us in the primitive beliefs which belong +to us all. The one rests on consciousness, and underlies all our moral +judgments. The other rests on an original belief, which belongs to man +as such. These two mighty pillars on which all morality and all +religion repose have their foundations down deep in our nature, and +tower up beyond our sight. They seem to stand opposite to each other, +but it is only as the strong piers of some tall arch are opposed. +Beneath they repose on one foundation, above they join together in the +completing keystone and bear the whole steady structure. + +Wise and good men have toiled to harmonise them, in vain. The task +transcends the limits of human faculties, as exercised here, at all +events. Perhaps the time may come when we shall be lifted high enough to +see the binding arch, but here on earth we can only behold the shafts on +either side. The history of controversy on the matter surely proves +abundantly what a hopeless task they undertake who attempt to reconcile +these truths. The attempt has usually consisted in speaking the one +loudly and the other in a whisper, and then the opposite side has +thundered what had been whispered, and has whispered very softly what +had been shouted very loudly. One party lays hold of the one pole of the +ark, and the other lays hold of that on the other side. The fancied +reconciliation consists in paring down one half of the full-orbed truth +to nothing, or in admitting it in words while every principle of the +reconciler's system demands its denial. Each antagonist is strong in his +assertions, and weak in his denials, victorious when he establishes his +half of the whole, easily defeated when he tries to overthrow his +opponent's. + +This apparent incompatibility is no reason for rejecting truths each +commended to our acceptance on its own proper grounds. It may be a +reason for not attempting to dogmatise about them. It may be a warning +to us that we are on ground where our limited understandings have no +firm footing, but it is no ground for suspecting the evidence which +certifies the truths. The Bible admits and enforces them both. It never +tones down the emphasis of its statement of the one for fear of clashing +against the other, but points to us the true path for thought, in a firm +grasp of both, in the abandonment of all attempts to reconcile them, and +for practical conduct, in the peaceful trust in God who hath wrought all +our works in us, and in strenuous working out of our own salvation. Let +us, as we look back on that battlefield where much wiser men than we +have fought in vain, doing little but raising up 'a little dust that is +lightly laid again,' and building trophies that are soon struck down, +learn the lesson it teaches, and be contented to say, The short cord of +my plummet does not quite go down to the bottom of the bottomless, and I +do not profess either to understand God or to understand man, both of +which I should want to do before I understood the mystery of their +conjoint action. Enough for me to believe that, + + 'If any force we have, it is to ill, + And all the power is God's, to do and eke to will.' + +Enough for me to know that I have solemn duties laid upon me, a life's +task to be done, my deliverance from mine own evil to work out, and that +I shall only accomplish that work when I can say with the Apostle, 'I +live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' + +God is all, but _thou_ canst work! My brother, take this belief, that +God worketh all in you, for the ground of your confidence, and feel that +unless He do all, you can do nothing. Take this conviction, that thou +canst work, for the spur and stimulus of thy life, and think, These +desires in my soul come from a far deeper source than the little cistern +of my own individual life. They are God's gift. Let me cherish them with +the awful carefulness which their origin requires, lest I should seem to +have received the grace of God in vain. These two streams of truth are +like the rain-shower that falls upon the watershed of a country. The one +half flows down the one side of the everlasting hills, and the other +down the other. Falling into rivers that water different continents, +they at length find the sea, separated by the distance of half the +globe. But the sea into which they fall is one, in every creek and +channel. And so, the truth into which these two apparent opposites +converge, is 'the depth of the wisdom and the knowledge of God,' whose +ways are past finding out--the Author of all goodness, who, if we have +any holy thought, has given it us; if we have any true desire, has +implanted it; has given us the strength to do the right and to live in +His fear; and who yet, doing all the willing and the doing, says to us, +'Because I do everything, therefore let not _thy_ will be paralysed, or +_thy_ hand palsied; but because I do everything, therefore will _thou_ +according to My will, and do _thou_ according to My commandments!' + +III. Lastly: The Christian has his salvation secured, and yet he is to +fear and tremble. + +'Fear and trembling.' 'But,' you may say, 'perfect love casts out fear.' +So it does. The fear which has torment it casts out. But there is +another fear in which there is no torment, brethren; a fear and +trembling which is but another shape of confidence and calm hope! +Scripture does tell us that the believing man's salvation is certain. +Scripture tells us it is certain since he believes. And your faith can +be worth nothing unless it have, bedded deep in it, that trembling +distrust of your own power which is the pre-requisite and the companion +of all thankful and faithful reception of God's infinite mercy. Your +horizon ought to be full of fear, if your gaze be limited to yourself; +but oh! above our earthly horizon with its fogs, God's infinite blue +stretches untroubled by the mist and cloud which are earth-born. I, as +working, have need to tremble and to fear, but I, as wrought upon, have +a right to confidence and hope, a hope that is full of immortality, and +an assurance which is the pledge of its own fulfilment. The worker is +nothing, the Worker in him is all. Fear and trembling, when the thoughts +turn to mine own sins and weaknesses, hope and confidence when they turn +to the happier vision of God! 'Not I'--there is the tremulous +self-distrust; 'the grace of God in me'--there is the calm assurance of +victory. Forasmuch, then, as God worketh all things, be _you_ diligent, +faithful, prayerful, confident. Forasmuch as Christ has perfected the +work for you, do _you_ 'go on unto perfection.' Let all fear and +trembling be yours, as a man; let all confidence and calm trust be yours +as a child of God. Turn your confidence and your fears alike into +prayer. 'Perfect, O Lord, that which concerneth me; forsake not the work +of Thine own hands!'--and the prayer will evoke the merciful answer, 'I +will never leave thee, nor forsake thee God is faithful, who hath called +you unto the Gospel of His Son; and _will_ keep you unto His everlasting +kingdom of glory.' + + + + +COPIES OF JESUS + + 'Do all things without murmurings and disputings; + 15. That ye may be blameless and harmless, + children of God without blemish in the midst of a + crooked and perverse generation, among whom ye are + seen as lights in the world, 16. Holding forth the + word of life.'--PHIL. ii. 14-16 (R.V.). + + +We are told by some superfine modern moralists, that to regard one's own +salvation as the great work of our lives is a kind of selfishness, and +no doubt there may be a colour of truth in the charge. At least the +meaning of the injunction to work out our own salvation may have been +sometimes so misunderstood, and there have been types of Christian +character, such as the ascetic and monastic, which have made the +representation plausible. I do not think that there is much danger of +anybody so misunderstanding the precept now. But it is worthy of notice +that there stand here side by side two paragraphs, in the former of +which the effort to work out one's own salvation is urged in the +strongest terms, and in the other of which the regard for others is +predominant. We shall see that the connection between these two is not +accidental, but that one great reason for working out our salvation is +here set forth as being the good we may thereby do to others. + +I. We note the one great duty of cheerful yielding to God's will. + +It is clear, I think, that the precept to do 'all things without +murmurings and disputings' stands in the closest connection with what +goes before. It is, in fact, the explanation of how salvation is to be +wrought out. It presents the human side which corresponds to the divine +activity, which has just been so earnestly insisted on. God works in us +'willing and doing,' let us on our parts do with ready submission all +the things which He so inspires to will and to do. + +The 'murmurings' are not against men but against God. The 'disputings' +are not wrangling with others but the division of mind in one's +self-questionings, hesitations, and the like. So the one are more moral, +the other more intellectual, and together they represent the ways in +which Christian men may resist the action on their spirits of God's +Spirit, 'willing,' or the action of God's providence on their +circumstances, 'doing.' Have we never known what it was to have some +course manifestly prescribed to us as right, from which we have shrunk +with reluctance of will? If some course has all at once struck us as +wrong which we had been long accustomed to do without hesitation, has +there been no 'murmuring' before we yielded? A voice has said to us, +'Give up such and such a habit,' or 'such and such a pursuit is becoming +too engrossing': do we not all know what it is not only to feel +obedience an effort, but even to cherish reluctance, and to let it +stifle the voice? + +There are often 'disputings' which do not get the length of +'murmurings.' The old word which tried to weaken the plain imperative of +the first command by the subtle suggestion, 'Yea, hath God said?' still +is whispered into our ears. We know what it is to answer God's commands +with a 'But, Lord.' A reluctant will is clever to drape itself with more +or less honest excuses, and the only safety is in cheerful obedience and +glad submission. The will of God ought not only to receive obedience, +but prompt obedience, and such instantaneous and whole-souled submission +is indispensable if we are to 'work out our own salvation,' and to +present an attitude of true, receptive correspondence to that of God, +who 'works in us both to will and to do of His own good pleasure.' Our +surrender of ourselves into the hands of God, in respect both to inward +and outward things, should be complete. As has been profoundly said, +that surrender consists 'in a continual forsaking and losing all self in +the will of God, willing only what God from eternity has willed, +forgetting what is past, giving up the time present to God, and leaving +to His providence that which is to come, making ourselves content in the +actual moment seeing it brings along with it the eternal order of God +concerning us' (Madame Guyon). + +II. The conscious aim in all our activity. + +What God works in us for is that for which we too are to yield ourselves +to His working, 'without murmurings and disputings,' and to co-operate +with glad submission and cheerful obedience. We are to have as our +distinct aim the building up of a character 'blameless and harmless, +children of God without rebuke.' The blamelessness is probably in +reference to men's judgment rather than to God's, and the difficulty of +coming untarnished from contact with the actions and criticisms of a +crooked and perverse generation is emphasised by the very fact that such +blamelessness is the first requirement for Christian conduct. It was a +feather in Daniel's cap that the president and princes were foiled in +their attempt to pick holes in his conduct, and had to confess that they +would not 'find any occasion against him, except we find it concerning +the laws of his God.' God is working in us in order that our lives +should be such that malice is dumb in their presence. Are we +co-operating with Him? We are bound to satisfy the world's requirements +of Christian character. They are sharp critics and sometimes +unreasonable, but on the whole it would not be a bad rule for Christian +people, 'Do what irreligious men expect you to do.' The worst man knows +more than the best man practises, and his conscience is quick to decide +the course for other people. Our weaknesses and compromises, and love of +the world, might receive a salutary rebuke if we would try to meet the +expectations which 'the man in the street' forms of us. + +'Harmless' is more correctly pure, all of a piece, homogeneous and +entire. It expresses what the Christian life should be in itself, whilst +the former designation describes it more as it appears. The piece of +cloth is to be so evenly and carefully woven that if held up against the +light it will show no flaws nor knots. Many a professing Christian life +has a veneer of godliness nailed thinly over a solid bulk of +selfishness. There are many goods in the market finely dressed so as to +hide that the warp is cotton and only the weft silk. No Christian man +who has memory and self-knowledge can for a moment claim to have reached +the height of his ideal; the best of us, at the best, are like +Nebuchadnezzar's image, whose feet were iron and clay, but we ought to +strain after it and to remember that a stain shows most on the whitest +robe. What made David's sin glaring and memorable was its contradiction +of his habitual nobler self. One spot more matters little on a robe +already covered with many. The world is fully warranted in pointing +gleefully or contemptuously at Christians' inconsistencies, and we have +no right to find fault with their most pointed sarcasms, or their +severest judgments. It is those 'that bear the vessels of the Lord' +whose burden imposes on them the duty 'be ye clean,' and makes any +uncleanness more foul in them than in any other. + +The Apostle sets forth the place and function of Christians in the +world, by bringing together in the sharpest contrast the 'children of +God' and a 'crooked and perverse generation.' He is thinking of the old +description in Deuteronomy, where the ancient Israel is charged with +forgetting 'Thy Father that hath bought thee,' and as showing by their +corruption that they are a 'perverse and crooked generation.' The +ancient Israel had been the Son of God, and yet had corrupted itself; +the Christian Israel are 'sons of God' set among a world all deformed, +twisted, perverted. 'Perverse' is a stronger word than 'crooked,' which +latter may be a metaphor for moral obliquity, like our own right and +wrong, or perhaps points to personal deformity. Be that as it may, the +position which the Apostle takes is plain enough. He regards the two +classes as broadly separated in antagonism in the very roots of their +being. Because the 'sons of God' are set in the midst of that 'crooked +and perverse generation' constant watchfulness is needed lest they +should conform, constant resort to their Father lest they should lose +the sense of sonship, and constant effort that they may witness of Him. + +III. The solemn reason for this aim. + +That is drawn from a consideration of the office and function of +Christian men. Their position in the midst of a 'crooked and perverse +generation' devolves on them a duty in relation to that generation. They +are to 'appear as lights in the world.' The relation between them and it +is not merely one of contrast, but on their parts one of witness and +example. The metaphor of light needs no explanation. We need only note +that the word, 'are seen' or 'appear,' is indicative, a statement of +fact, not imperative, a command. As the stars lighten the darkness with +their myriad lucid points, so in the divine ideal Christian men are to +be as twinkling lights in the abyss of darkness. Their light rays forth +without effort, being an involuntary efflux. Possibly the old paradox of +the Psalmist was in the Apostle's mind, which speaks of the eloquent +silence, in which 'there is no speech nor language, and their voice is +not heard,' but yet 'their line has gone out through all the earth, and +their words unto the end of the world.' + +Christian men appear as lights by 'holding forth the word of life.' In +themselves they have no brightness but that which comes from raying out +the light that is in them. The word of life must live, giving life in +us, if we are ever to be seen as 'lights in the world.' As surely as the +electric light dies out of a lamp when the current is switched off, so +surely shall we be light only when we are 'in the Lord.' There are many +so-called Christians in this day who stand tragically unaware that their +'lamps are gone out.' When the sun rises and smites the mountain tops +they burn, when its light falls on Memnon's stony lips they breathe out +music, 'Arise, shine, for thy light has come.' + +Undoubtedly one way of 'holding forth the word of life' must be to speak +the word, but silent living 'blameless and harmless' and leaving the +secret of the life very much to tell itself is perhaps the best way for +most Christian people to bear witness. Such a witness is constant, +diffused wherever the witness-bearer is seen, and free from the +difficulties that beset speech, and especially from the assumption of +superiority which often gives offence. It was the sight of 'your good +deeds' to which Jesus pointed as the strongest reason for men's +'glorifying your Father.' If we lived such lives there would be less +need for preachers. 'If any will not hear the word they may without the +word be won.' And reasonably so, for Christianity is a life and cannot +be all told in words, and the Gospel is the proclamation of freedom from +sin, and is best preached and proved by showing that we are free. The +Gospel was lived as well as spoken. Christ's life was Christ's mightiest +preaching. + + 'The word was flesh and wrought + With human hands the creed of creeds.' + +If we keep near to Him we too shall witness, and if our faces shine like +Moses' as he came down from the mountain, or like Stephen's in the +council chamber, men will 'take knowledge of us that we have been with +Jesus.' + + + + +A WILLING SACRIFICE + + 'That I may have whereof to glory in the day of + Christ, that I did not run in vain neither labour + in vain. 17. Yea, and if I am offered upon the + sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and + rejoice with you all. 18. And in the same manner + do ye also joy, and rejoice with me.'--PHIL. ii. + 16-18 (R.V.). + + +We come here to another of the passages in which the Apostle pours out +all his heart to his beloved Church. Perhaps there never was a Christian +teacher (always excepting Christ) who spoke more about himself than +Paul. His own experience was always at hand for illustration. His +preaching was but the generalisation of his life. He had felt it all +first, before he threw it into the form of doctrine. It is very hard to +keep such a style from becoming egotism. + +This paragraph is remarkable, especially if we consider that this is +introduced as a motive to their faithfulness, that thereby they will +contribute to his joy at the last great testing. There must have been a +very deep love between Paul and the Philippians to make such words as +these true and appropriate. They open the very depths of his heart in a +way from which a less noble and fervid nature would have shrunk, and +express his absolute consecration in his work, and his eager desire for +their spiritual good, with such force as would have been exaggeration in +most men. + +We have here a wonderful picture of the relation between him and the +church at Philippi which may well stand as a pattern for us all. I do +not mean to parallel our relations with that between him and them, but +it is sufficiently analogous to make these words very weighty and solemn +for us. + +I. The Philippians' faithfulness Paul's glory in the day of Christ. + +The Apostle strikes a solemn note, which was always sounding through his +life, when he points to that great Day of Christ as the time when his +work was to be tested. The thought of that gave earnestness to all his +service, and in conjunction with the joyful thought that, however his +work might be marred by failures and flaws, he himself was 'accepted in +the beloved,' was the impulse which carried him on through a life than +which none of Christ's servants have dared, and done, and suffered more +for Him. Paul believed that, according to the results of that test, his +position would in some sort be determined. Of course he does not here +contradict the foundation principle of his whole Gospel, that salvation +is not the result of our own works, or virtues, but is the free +unmerited gift of Christ's grace. But while that is true, it is none the +less true, that the degree in which believers receive that gift depends +on their Christian character, both in their life on earth and in the day +of Christ. One element in that character is faithful work for Jesus. +Faithful work indeed is not necessarily successful work, and many who +are welcomed by Jesus, the judge, will have the memory of many +disappointments and few harvested grains. It was not a reaper, 'bringing +his sheaves with him,' who stayed himself against the experience of +failure, by the assurance, 'Though Israel be not gathered yet shall I be +glorious in the eyes of the Lord.' If our want of success, and others' +lapse, and apostasy or coldness has not been occasioned by any fault of +ours, there will be no diminution of our reward. But we can so seldom be +sure of that, and even then there will be an absence of what might have +added to gladness. + +We need not do more than note that the text plainly implies, that at +that testing time men's knowledge of all that they did, and the results +of it, will be complete. Marvellous as it seems to us, with our +fragmentary memories, and the great tracts of our lives through which we +have passed mechanically, and which seem to have left no trace on the +mirror of our consciousness, we still, all of us, have experiences which +make that all-recovering memory credible. Some passing association, a +look, a touch, an odour, a sun-set sky, a chord of music will bring +before us some trivial long-forgotten incident or emotion, as the chance +thrust of a boat-hook will draw to the surface by its hair, a +long-drowned corpse. If we are, as assuredly we are, writing with +invisible ink our whole life's history on the pages of our own minds, +and if we shall have to read them all over again one day, is it not +tragic that most of us scribble the pages so hastily and carelessly, and +forget that, 'what I have written I have written,' and what I have +written I must read. + +But there is another way of looking at Paul's words as being an +indication of his warm love for the Philippians. Even among the glories, +he would feel his heart filled with new gladness when he found them +there. The hunger for the good of others which cannot bear to think even +of heaven without their presence has been a master note of all true +Christian teachers, and without it there will be little of the toil, of +which Paul speaks in the context, 'running and labouring.' He that would +win men's hearts for any great cause must give his heart to them. + +That Paul should have felt warranted in using such a motive with the +Philippians tells how surely he reckoned on their true and deep love. He +believes that they care enough for him to feel the power as a motive +with them, that their faithfulness will make Paul more blessed amidst +the blessings of heaven. Oh! if such love knit together all Christian +teachers and their hearers in this time, and if the 'Day of Christ' +burned before them, as it did before him, and if the vision stirred to +such running and labouring as his, teachers and taught would oftener +have to say, 'We are your rejoicing, even as ye are also ours in the Day +of our Lord Jesus.' The voice of the man who is in the true 'Apostolic +Succession' will dare to make the appeal, knowing that it will call +forth an abundant answer, 'Look to yourselves that we lose not the +things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.' + +II. Paul's death an aid to the Philippians' faith. + +The general meaning of the Apostle's words is, 'If I have not only to +run and labour, but to die in the discharge of my Apostolic Mission, I +joy and rejoice, and I bid you rejoice with me.' We need only note that +the Apostle here casts his language into the forms consecrated for +sacrifice. He will not speak of death by its own ugly and threadbare +name, but thinks of himself as a devoted victim, and of his death as +making the sacrifice complete. In the figure there is a solemn scorn of +death, and at the same time a joyful recognition that it is the means of +bringing him more nearly to God, with whom he would fain be. It is +interesting, as showing the persistence of these thoughts in the +Apostle's mind, that the word rendered in our text 'offered,' which +fully means 'poured out as a drink offering,' occurs again in the same +connection in the great words of the swan song in II. Timothy, 'I am +already being offered, and the time of my departure is come.' Death +looked to him, when he looked it in the eyes, and the block was close by +him, as it had done when he spoke of it to his Philippian friends. + +It is to be noted, in order to bring out more vividly the force of the +figure, that Paul here speaks of the libation being poured '_on_' the +sacrifice, as was the practice in heathen ritual. The sacrifice is the +victim, 'service' is the technical word for priestly ministration, and +the general meaning is, 'If my blood is poured out as a drink offering +on the sacrifice ministered by you, which is your faith, I joy with you +all.' This man had no fear of death, and no shrinking from 'leaving the +warm precincts of the cheerful day.' He was equally ready to live or to +die as might best serve the name of Jesus, for to him 'to live was +Christ,' and therefore to him it could be nothing but 'gain' to die. +Here he seems to be treating his death as a possibility, but as a +possibility only, for almost immediately afterwards he says, that he +'trusts in the Lord that I myself will come shortly.' It is interesting +to notice the contrast between his mood of mind here and that in the +previous chapter (i. 25) where the 'desire to depart and to be with +Christ' is deliberately suppressed, because his continuous life is +regarded as essential for the Philippians' 'progress and joy in faith.' +Here he discerns that perhaps his death would do more for their faith +than would his life, and being ready for either alternative he welcomes +the possibility. May we not see in the calm heart, which is at leisure +to think of death in such a fashion, a pattern for us all? Remember how +near and real his danger was. Nero was not in the habit of letting a +man, whose head had been in the mouth of the lion, take it out unhurt. +Paul is no eloquent writer or poet playing with the idea of death, and +trying to say pretty things about it, but a man who did not know when +the blow would come, but _did_ know that it would come before long. + +We may point here to the two great thoughts in Paul's words, and notice +the priesthood and sacrifice of life, and the sacrifice and libation of +death. The Philippians offered as their sacrifice their faith, and all +the works which flow therefrom. Is that our idea of life? Is it our idea +of faith? We have no gifts to bring, we come empty-handed unless we +carry in our hands the offering of our faith, which includes the +surrender of our will, and the giving away of our hearts, and is +essentially laying hold of Christ's sacrifice. When we come empty, +needy, sinful, but cleaving wholly to that perfect sacrifice of the +Great Priest, we too become priests and our poor gift is accepted. + +But another possibility than that of a life of running and labour +presented itself to Paul, and it is a revelation of the tranquillity of +his heart in the midst of impending danger, all the more pathetic +because it is entirely unconscious, that he should be free to cast his +anticipations into that calm metaphor of being, 'offered upon the +sacrifice and service of your faith.' His heart beats no faster, nor +does the faintest shadow of reluctance cross his will, when he thinks of +his death. All the repulsive accompaniments of a Roman execution fade +away from his imagination. These are but negligible accidents; the +substantial reality which obscures them all is that his blood will be +poured out as a libation, and that by it his brethren's faith will be +strengthened. To this man death had finally and completely ceased to be +a terror, and had become what it should be to all Christians, a +voluntary surrender to God, an offering to Him, an act of worship, of +trust, and of thankful praise. Seneca, in his death, poured out a +libation to Jupiter the Liberator, and if we could only know beforehand +what death delivers us from, and admits us to, we should not be so prone +to call it 'the last enemy.' What Paul's death was for himself in the +process of his perfecting called forth, and warranted, the 'joy' with +which he anticipated it. It did no more for him than it will do for each +of us, and if our vision were as clear, and our faith as firm as his, we +should be more ready than, alas! we too often are, to catch up the +exulting note with which he hails the possibility of its coming. + +But it is not the personal bearing only of his death that gives him joy. +He thinks of it mainly as contributing to the furtherance of the faith +of others. For that end he was spending the effort and toil of an +effortful and toilsome life, and was equally ready to meet a violent and +shameful death. He knew that 'the blood of the martyrs is the seed of +the Church,' and rejoiced, and called upon his brethren also to 'joy +and rejoice' with him in his shedding of his martyr's blood. + +The Philippians might well have thought, as we all are tempted to think, +that the withdrawal of those round whom our hearts desperately cling, +and who seem to us to bring love and trust nearer to us, can only be +loss, but surely the example in our text may well speak to our hearts of +the way in which we should look at death for ourselves, and for our +dearest. Their very withdrawal may send us nearer to Christ. The holy +memories which linger in the sky, like the radiance of a sunken sun, may +clothe familiar truths with unfamiliar power and loveliness. The thought +of where the departed have gone may lift our thoughts wistfully thither +with a new feeling of home. The path that they have trodden may become +less strange to us, and the victory that they have won may prophesy that +we too shall be 'more than conquerors through Him that loveth us.' So +the mirror broken may turn us to the sun, and the passing of the dearest +that can die may draw us to the Dearer who lives. + +Paul, living, rejoiced in the prospect of death. We may be sure that he +rejoiced in it no less dead than living. And we may permissibly think of +this text as suggesting how + + 'The saints on earth and all the dead + But one communion make,' + +and are to be united in one joy. They rejoice for their own sakes, but +their joy is not self-absorbed, and so putting them farther away from +us. They look back upon earth, the runnings and labourings of the +unforgotten life here; and are glad to bear in their hearts the +indubitable token that they have 'not run in vain neither laboured in +vain.' But surely the depth of their own repose will not make them +indifferent to those who are still in the midst of struggle and toil, +nor the fulness of their own felicity make them forget those whom they +loved of old, and love now with the perfect love of Heaven. It is hard +for us to rise to complete sympathy with these serenely blessed spirits, +but yet we too should rejoice. Not indeed to the exclusion of sorrow, +nor to the neglect of the great purpose to be effected in us by the +withdrawal, as by the presence of dear ones, the furtherance of our +faith, but having made sure that that purpose has been effected in us, +we should then give solemn thanksgivings if it has. It is sad and +strange to think of how opposite are the feelings about their departure, +of those who have gone and of those who are left. Would it not be better +that we should try to share theirs and so bring about a true union? We +may be sure that their deepest desire is that we should. If some lips +that we shall never hear any more, till we come where they are, could +speak, would not they bring to us as their message from Heaven, Do 'ye +also joy and rejoice with me'? + + + + +PAUL AND TIMOTHY + + 'But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy + shortly unto you, that I also may be of good + comfort, when I know your state. 20. For I have no + man like-minded, who will care truly for your + state. 21. For they all seek their own, not the + things of Jesus Christ. 22. But ye know the proof + of him, that, as a child serveth a father, so he + served with me in furtherance of the gospel. 23. + Him therefore I hope to send forthwith, so soon as + I shall see how it will go with me: 24. But I + trust in the Lord that I myself also shall come + shortly.'--PHIL. ii. 19-24 (R.V.). + + +Like all great men Paul had a wonderful power of attaching followers to +himself. The mass of the planet draws in small aerolites which catch +fire as they pass through its atmosphere. There is no more beautiful +page in the history of the early Church than the story of Paul and his +companions. They gathered round him with such devotion, and followed him +with such love. They were not small men. Luke and Aquila were among +them, and they would have been prominent in most companies, but gladly +took a place second to Paul. He impressed his own personality and his +type of teaching on his followers as Luther did on his, and as many +another great teacher has done. + +Among all these Timothy seems to have held a special place. Paul first +found him on his second journey either at Derbe or Lystra. His mother, +Eunice, was already a believer, his father a Greek. Timothy seems to +have been converted on Paul's first visit, for on his second he was +already a disciple well reported of, and Paul more than once calls him +his 'son in the faith.' He seems to have come in to take John Mark's +place as the Apostle's 'minister,' and from that time to have been +usually Paul's trusted attendant. We hear of him as with the Apostle on +his first visit to Philippi, and to have gone with him to Thessalonica +and Beroea, but then to have been parted until Corinth. Thence Paul +went quickly up to Jerusalem and back to Antioch, from which he set out +again to visit the churches, and made a special stay in Ephesus. While +there he planned a visit to Macedonia and Achaia, in preparation for one +to Jerusalem, and finally to Rome. So he sent Timothy and Erastus on +ahead to Macedonia, which would of course include Philippi. After that +visit to Macedonia and Greece Paul returned to Philippi, from which he +sailed with Timothy in his company. He was probably with him all the way +to Rome, and we find him mentioned as sharer in the imprisonment both +here and in Colossians. + +The references made to him point to a very sweet, good, pure and +gracious character without much strength, needing to be stayed and +stiffened by the stronger character, but full of sympathy, unselfish +disregard of self, and consecrated love to Christ. He had been +surrounded with a hallowed atmosphere from his youth, and 'from a child +had known the holy Scriptures,' and 'prophecies' like fluttering doves +had gone before on him. He had 'often infirmities' and 'tears.' He +needed to be roused to 'stir up the gift that was in him,' and braced up +'not to be ashamed,' but to fight against the disabling 'spirit of +fear,' and to be 'strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus.' + +The bond between these two was evidently very close, and the Apostle +felt something of a paternal interest in the very weakness of character +which was in such contrast to his own strength, and which obviously +dreaded the discouragement which was likely to be produced by his own +martyrdom. This favourite companion he will now send to his favourite +church. The verses of our text express that intention, and give us a +glimpse into the Apostle's thoughts and feelings in his imprisonment. + +I. The prisoner's longing and hope. + +The first point which strikes us in this self-revelation of Paul's is +his conscious uncertainty as to his future. In the previous chapter +(ver. 25) he is confident that he will live. In the verses immediately +preceding our text he faces the possibility of death. Here he recognises +the uncertainty but still 'trusts' that he will be liberated, but yet he +does not know 'how it may go with' him. We think of him in his lodging +sometimes hoping and sometimes doubting. He had a tyrant's caprice to +depend on, and knew how a moment's whim might end all. Surely his way of +bearing that suspense was very noteworthy and noble. It is difficult to +keep a calm heart, and still more difficult to keep on steadily at work, +when any moment might bring the victor's axe. Suspense almost enforces +idleness, but Paul crowded these moments of his prison time with +letters, and Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, and Philemon are the +fruits for which we are indebted to a period which would have been to +many men a reason for throwing aside all work. + +How calmly too he speaks of the uncertain issue! Surely never was the +possibility of death more quietly spoken of than in 'so soon as I shall +see how it will go with me.' That means--'as soon as my fate is decided, +be it what it may, I will send Timothy to tell you.' What a calm pulse +he must have had! There is no attitudinising here, all is perfectly +simple and natural. Can we look, do we habitually look, into the +uncertain future with such a temper--accepting all that may be in its +grey mists, and feeling that our task is to fill the present with +strenuous loving service, leaving tomorrow with all its alternatives, +even that tremendous one of life and death, to Him who will shape it to +a perfect end? + +We note, further, the purpose of Paul's love. It is beautiful to see how +he yearns over these Philippians and feels that his joy will be +increased when he hears from them. He is sure, as he believes, to hear +good, and news which will be a comfort. Among the souls whom he bore on +his heart were many in the Macedonian city, and a word from them would +be like 'cold water to a thirsty soul.' + +What a noble suppression of self; how deep and strong the tie that bound +him to them must have been! Is there not a lesson here for all Christian +workers, for all teachers, preachers, parents, that no good is to be +done without loving sympathy? Unless our hearts go out to people we +shall never reach their hearts. We may talk to them for ever, but unless +we have this loving sympathy we might as well be silent. It is possible +to pelt people with the Gospel, and to produce the effect of flinging +stones at them. Much Christian work comes to nothing mainly for that +reason. + +And how deep a love does he show in his depriving himself of Timothy for +their sakes, and in his reason for sending him! Those reasons would have +been for most of us the strongest reason for keeping him. It is not +everybody who will denude himself of the help of one who serves him 'as +a child serveth a father,' and will part with the only like-minded +friend he has, because his loving eye will clearly see the state of +others. + +Paul's expression of his purpose to send Timothy is very much more than +a piece of emotional piety. He 'hopes in the Lord' to accomplish his +design, and that hope so rooted and conditioned is but one instance of +the all-comprehending law of his life, that, to him, to 'live is +Christ.' His whole being was so interpenetrated with Christ's that all +his thoughts and feelings were 'in the Lord Jesus.' So should our +purposes be. Our hopes should be derived from union with Him. They +should not be the play of our own fancy or imagination. They should be +held in submission to him, and ever with the limitation, 'Not as I will, +but as Thou wilt.' We should be trusting to Him to fulfil them. If thus +we hope, our hopes may lead us nearer to Jesus instead of tempting us +away from Him by delusive brightnesses. There is a religious use of hope +not only when it is directed to heavenly certainties, and 'enters within +the veil,' but even when occupied about earthly things. Spenser twice +paints for us the figure of Hope, one has always something of dread in +her blue eyes, the other, and the other only, leans on the anchor, and +'maketh not ashamed'; and her name is 'Hope in the Lord.' + +II. The prisoner solitary among self-seeking men. + +With wonderful self-surrender the Apostle thinks of his lack of +like-minded companions as being a reason for depriving himself of the +only like-minded one who was left with him. He felt that Timothy's +sympathetic soul would truly care for the Philippians' condition, and +would minister to it lovingly. He could rely that Timothy would have no +selfish by-ends to serve, but would seek the things of Jesus Christ. We +know too little of the circumstances of Paul's imprisonment to know how +he came to be thus lonely. In the other Epistles of the Captivity we +have mention of a considerable group of friends, many of whom would +certainly have been included in a list of the 'like-minded.' We hear, +for example, of Tychicus, Onesimus, Aristarchus, John Mark, Epaphras, +and Luke. What had become of them all we do not know. They were +evidently away on Christian service, somewhere or other, or some of them +perhaps had not yet arrived. At all events for some reason Paul was for +the time left alone but for Timothy. Not that there were no Christian +men in Rome, but of those who could have been sent on such an errand +there were none in whom love to Christ and care for His cause and flock +were strong enough to mark them as fit for it. + +So then we have to take account of Paul's loneliness in addition to his +other sorrows, and we may well mark how calmly and uncomplainingly he +bears it. We are perpetually hearing complaints of isolation and the +difficulty of finding sympathy, or 'people who understand me.' That is +often the complaint of a morbid nature, or of one which has never given +itself the trouble of trying to 'understand' others, or of showing the +sympathy for which it says that it thirsts. And many of these +complaining spirits might take a lesson from the lonely Apostle. There +never was a man, except Paul's Master and ours, who cared more for human +sympathy, had his own heart fuller of it, and received less of it from +others than Paul. But he had discovered what it would be blessedness for +us all to lay to heart, that a man who has Christ for his companion can +do without others, and that a heart in which there whispers, 'Lo, I am +with you always,' can never be utterly solitary. + +May we not take the further lesson that the sympathy which we should +chiefly desire is sympathy and fellow-service in Christian work? Paul +did not want like-minded people in order that he might have the luxury +of enjoying their sympathy, but what he wanted was allies in his work +for Christ. It was sympathy in his care for the Philippians that he +sought for in his messenger. And that is the noblest form of +like-mindedness that we can desire--some one to hold the ropes for us. + +Note, too, that Paul does not weakly complain because he had no helpers. +Good and earnest men are very apt to say much about the half-hearted way +in which their brethren take up some cause in which they are eagerly +interested, and sometimes to abandon it altogether for that reason. May +not such faint hearts learn a lesson from him who had 'no man +like-minded,' and yet never dreamt of whimpering because of it, or of +flinging down his tools because of the indolence of his fellow-workers? + +There is another point to be observed in the Apostle's words here. He +felt that their attitude to Christ determined his affinities with men. +He could have no deep and true fellowship with others, whatever their +name to live, who were daily 'seeking their own,' and at the same time +leaving unsought 'the things of Jesus Christ.' They who are not alike in +their deepest aims can have no real kindred. Must we not say that hosts +of so-called Christian people do not seem to feel, if one can judge by +the company they affect, that the deepest bond uniting men is that which +binds them to Jesus Christ? I would press the question, Do we feel that +nothing draws us so close to men as common love to Jesus, and that if we +are not alike on that cardinal point there is a deep gulf of separation +beneath a deceptive surface of union, an unfathomable gorge marked by a +quaking film of earth? + +It is a solemn estimate of some professing Christians which the Apostle +gives here, if he is including the members of the Roman Church in his +judgment that they are not 'like-minded' with him, and are 'seeking +their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.' We may rather hope that he +is speaking of others around him, and that for some reason unknown to us +he was at the time secluded from the Roman Christians. He brings out +with unflinching precision the choice which determines a life. There is +always that terrible 'either--or.' To live for Christ is the antagonist, +and only antagonist of life for self. To live for self is death. To live +for Jesus is the only life. There are two centres, heliocentric and +geocentric as the scientists say. We can choose round which we shall +draw our orbit, and everything depends on the choice which we make. To +seek 'the things of Jesus Christ' is sure to lead to, and is the only +basis of, care for men. Religion is the parent of compassion, and if we +are looking for a man who will care truly for the state of others, we +must do as Paul did, look for him among those who 'seek the things of +Jesus Christ.' + +III. The prisoner's joy in loving co-operation. + +The Apostle's eulogium on Timothy points to his long and intimate +association with Paul and to the Philippians' knowledge of him as well +as to the Apostle's clinging to him. There is a piece of delicate beauty +in the words which we may pause for a moment to point out. Paul writes +as 'a child serveth a father,' and the natural sequence would have been +'so he served me,' but he remembers that the service was not to him, +Paul, but to another, and so he changes the words and says he 'served +_with_ me in furtherance of the Gospel.' We are both servants +alike--Christ's servants for the Gospel. + +Paul's joy in Timothy's loving co-operation was so deep because Paul's +whole heart was set on 'the furtherance of the Gospel.' Help towards +that end was help indeed. We may measure the ardour and intensity of +Paul's devotion to his apostolic work by the warmth of gratitude which +he shows to his helper. They who contribute to our reaching our chief +desire win our warmest love, and the catalogue of our helpers follows +the order of the list of our aims. Timothy brought to Paul no assistance +to procure any of the common objects of human desires. Wealth, +reputation, success in any of the pursuits which attract most men might +have been held out to the Apostle and not been thought worth stooping to +take, nor would the offerer have been thanked, but any proffered service +that had the smallest bearing on that great work to which Paul's life +was given, and which his conscience told him there would be a curse on +himself if he did not fulfil, was welcomed as a priceless gift. Do we +arrange the lists of our helpers on the same fashion, and count that +they serve us best who help us to serve Christ? It should be as much the +purpose of every Christian life as it was that of Paul to spread the +salvation and glory of the 'name that is above every name.' If we lived +as continually under the influence of that truth as he did, we should +construe the circumstances of our lives, whether helpful or hindering, +very differently, and we could shake the world. + +Christian unity is very good and infinitely to be desired, but the true +field on which it should display itself is that of united work for the +common Lord. The men who have marched side by side through a campaign +are knit together as nothing else would bind them. Even two horses +drawing one carriage will have ways and feelings and a common +understanding, which they would never have attained in any other way. +There is nothing like common work for clearing away mists. Much +so-called Christian sympathy and like-mindedness are something like the +penal cranks that used to be in jails, which generated immense power on +this side of the wall but ground out nothing on the other. + +Let us not forget that in the field of Christian service there is room +for all manner of workers, and that they are associated, however +different their work. Paul often calls Timothy his 'fellow-labourer,' +and once gives him the eulogium, 'he worketh the work of the Lord as I +also do.' Think of the difference between the two men in age, endowment, +and sphere! Apparently Timothy at first had very subordinate work taking +John Mark's place, and is described as being one of those who +'ministered' to Paul. It is the cup of cold water over again. All work +done for the same Lord, and with the same motive is the same; 'he that +receiveth a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet's +reward.' When Paul associates Timothy with himself he is copying from +afar off his Lord, who lets us think of even our poor deeds as done by +those whom He does not disdain to call His fellow-workers. It would be +worth living for if, at the last, He should acknowledge us, and say even +of us, 'he hath served with Me in the Gospel.' + + + + +PAUL AND EPAPHRODITUS + + 'But I counted it necessary to send to you + Epaphroditus, my brother and fellow-worker and + fellow-soldier, and your messenger and minister to + my need. 26. Since he longed after you all, and + was sore troubled, because ye had heard that he + was sick. 27. For indeed he was sick nigh unto + death: but God had mercy on him; and not on him + only, but on me also, that I might not have sorrow + upon sorrow. 28. I have sent him therefore the + more diligently, that, when ye see him again, ye + may rejoice, and that I may be the less sorrowful. + 29. Receive him therefore in the Lord with all + joy; and hold such in honour: 30. Because for the + work of Christ he came nigh unto death, hazarding + his life to supply that which was lacking in your + service toward me.'--PHIL. ii. 25-30 (R.V.). + + +Epaphroditus is one of the less known of Paul's friends. All our +information about him is contained in this context, and in a brief +reference in Chapter iv. His was a singular fate--to cross Paul's path, +and for one short period of his life to be known to all the world, and +for all the rest before and after to be utterly unknown. The ship sails +across the track of the moonlight, and then vanishes ghost-like into +darkness. Of all the inhabitants of Philippi at that time we know the +names of but three, Euodias, Syntiche, and Epaphroditus, and we owe them +all to Paul. The context gives us an interesting miniature of the last, +and pathetic glimpses into the private life of the Apostle in his +imprisonment, and it is worth our while to try to bring our historic +imagination to bear on Epaphroditus, and to make him a living man. + +The first fact about him is, that he was one of the Philippian +Christians, and sent by them to Rome, with some pecuniary or material +help, such as comforts for Paul's prison-house, food, clothing, or +money. There was no reliable way of getting these to Paul but to take +them, and so Epaphroditus faced the long journey across Greece to +Brindisi and Rome, and when arrived there threw himself with ardour into +serving Paul. The Apostle's heartfelt eulogium upon him shows two phases +of his work. He was in the first place Paul's helper in the Gospel, and +his faithfulness there is set forth in a glowing climax, 'My brother and +fellow-worker and fellow-soldier.' He was in the second place the +minister to Paul's needs. There would be many ways of serving the +captive, looking after his comfort, doing his errands, procuring daily +necessaries, managing affairs, perhaps writing his letters, easing his +chain, chafing his aching wrists, and ministering in a thousand ways +which we cannot and need not specify. At all events he gladly undertook +even servile work for love of Paul. + +He had an illness which was probably the consequence of his toil. +Perhaps over-exertion in travel, or perhaps his Macedonian constitution +could not bear the enervating air of Rome, or perhaps Paul's prison was +unhealthy. At any rate he worked till he made himself ill. The news +reached Philippi in some round-about way, and, as it appears, the news +of his illness only, not of his recovery. The difficulty of +communication would sufficiently account for the partial intelligence. +Then the report found its way back to Rome, and Epaphroditus got +home-sick and was restless, uneasy, 'sore troubled,' as the Apostle +says, because they had heard he had been sick. In his low, nervous +state, barely convalescent, the thought of home and of his brethren's +anxiety about him was too much for him. It is a pathetic little picture +of the Macedonian stranger in the great city--pallid looks, recent +illness, and pining for home and a breath of pure mountain air, and for +the friends he had left. So Paul with rare abnegation sent him away at +once, though Timothy was to follow shortly, and accompanied him with +this outpouring of love and praise in his long homeward journey. Let us +hope he got safe back to his friends, and as Paul bade them, they +received him in the Lord with all joy, the echoes of which we almost +hear as he passes out of our knowledge. + +In the remainder of this sermon we shall simply deal with the two +figures which the text sets before us, and we may look first at the +glimpses of Paul's character which we get here. + +We may note the generous heartiness of his praise in his associating +Epaphroditus with himself as on full terms of equality, as worker and +soldier, and the warm generosity of the recognition of all that he had +done for the Apostle's comfort. Paul's first burst of gratitude and +praise does not exhaust all that he has to say about Epaphroditus. He +comes back to the theme in the last words of the context, where he says +that the Philippian messenger had 'hazarded' his life, or, as we might +put it with equal accuracy and more force, had 'gambled' his life, or +'staked it on the die' for Paul's sake. No wonder that men were eager to +risk their lives for a leader who lavished such praise and such love +upon them. A man who never opens his lips but to censure or criticise, +who fastens on faults as wasps do on blemished fruit, will never be +surrounded by loyal love. Faithful service is most surely bought by +hearty praise. A caressing hand on a horse's neck is better than a whip. + +We may further note the intensity of Paul's sympathy. He speaks of +Epaphroditus' recovery as a mercy to himself 'lest he should have the +sorrow of imprisonment increased by the sorrow of his friend's death.' +That attitude of mind stands in striking contrast to the heroism which +said, 'To me, to live is Christ and to die is gain,' but the two are +perfectly consistent, and it was a great soul which had room for them +both. + +We must not leave unnoticed the beautiful self-abnegation which sends +off Epaphroditus as soon as he was well enough to travel, as a gift of +the Apostle's love, in order to repay them for what they had done for +him. He says nothing of his own loss or of how much more lonely he would +be when the brother whom he had praised so warmly had left him alone. +But he suns himself in the thought of the Philippians' joy, and in the +hope that some reflection of it will travel across the seas to him, and +make him, if not wholly glad, at any rate 'the less sorrowful.' + +We have also to notice Paul's delicate recognition of all friendly help. +He says that Epaphroditus risked his life to 'supply that which was +lacking in your service toward me.' That implies that all which the +Philippians' ministration lacked was their personal presence, and that +Epaphroditus, in supplying that, made his work in a real sense theirs. +All the loving thoughts, and all the material expressions of them which +Epaphroditus brought to Paul were fragrant with the perfume of the +Philippians' love, 'an odour of a sweet smell, acceptable' to Paul as to +Paul's Lord. + +We briefly note some general lessons which may be suggested by the +picture of Epaphroditus as he stands by the side of Paul. + +The first one suggested is the very familiar one of the great uniting +principle which a common faith in Christ brought into action. Think of +the profound clefts of separation between the Macedonian and the Jew, +the antipathies of race, the differences of language, the +dissimilarities of manner, and then think of what an unheard-of new +thing it must have been that a Macedonian should 'serve' a Jew! We but +feebly echo Paul's rapture when he thought that there was 'neither +Barbarian or Scythian, bond or free, but all were one in Christ Jesus,' +and for all our talk about the unity of humanity and the like, we permit +the old gulfs of separation to gape as deeply as ever. Dreadnoughts are +a peculiar expression of the brotherhood of men after nineteen centuries +of so-called Christianity. + +The terms in which the work of Epaphroditus is spoken of by Paul are +very significant. He has no hesitation in describing the work done for +himself as 'the work of Christ,' nor in using, as the name for it, the +word ('service'), which properly refers to the service rendered by +priestly hands. Work done for Paul was done for Jesus, and that, not +because of any special apostolic closeness of relation of Paul to Jesus, +but because, like all other Christians, he was one with his Lord. 'The +cup of cold water' given 'in the name of a disciple' is grateful to the +lips of the Master. We have no reason to suppose that Epaphroditus took +part with Paul in his more properly apostolic work, and the fact that +the purely material help, and pecuniary service which most probably +comprised all his 'ministering,' is honoured by Paul with these lofty +designations, carries with it large lessons as to the sanctity of common +life. All deeds done from the same motive are the same, however +different they may be in regard to the material on which they are +wrought. If our hearts are set to 'hallow all we find,' the most secular +duties will be acts of worship. It is possible for us in the ordering of +our own lives to fulfil the great prophecy with which Zechariah crowned +his vision of the Future, 'In that day shall there be on the bells of +the horses Holiness unto the Lord'; and the 'pots in the Lord's house +shall be like the bowls before the altar.' + +May we not further draw from Paul's words here a lesson as to the honour +due to Christian workers? It was his brethren who were exhorted to +receive their own messenger back again 'in the Lord with all joy, and to +hold him in honour.' Possibly there were in Philippi some sharp tongues +and envious spirits, who needed the exhortation. Whether there were so +or no, the exhortation itself traces lightly but surely the lines on +which Christians should render, and their fellow-Christians can rightly +receive, even praise from men. If Epaphroditus were 'received in the +Lord,' there would be no foolish and hurtful adulation of him, nor +prostration before him, but he would be recognised as but the instrument +through which the true Helper worked, and not he, but the Grace of +Christ in him would finally receive the praise. There are very many +Christian workers who never get their due of recognition and welcome +from their brethren, and there are many who get far more of both than +belongs to them, and both they and the crowds who bring them adulation +would be freed from dangers, which can scarcely be over-stated, if the +spirit of Paul's warm-hearted praise of Epaphroditus were kept in view. + +Epaphroditus but passes across the illuminated disc of the lantern for a +moment, and we have scarcely time to catch a glimpse of his face before +it is lost to us. He and all his brethren are gone, but his name lives +for ever, and Paul's praise of him and of his work outshines all else +remembered of the city, where conquerors once reigned, and outside whose +walls was fought a battle that decided for a time the fate of the world. + + + + +PREPARING TO END + + 'Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To + write the same things to you, to me indeed is not + irksome, but for you it is safe. 2. Beware of the + dogs, beware of the evil workers, beware of the + concision: 3. For we are the circumcision, who + worship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ + Jesus, and have no confidence in the + flesh.'--PHIL. iii. 1-3 (R.V.). + + +The first words of the text show that Paul was beginning to think of +winding up his letter, and the preceding context also suggests that. The +personal references to Timothy and Epaphroditus would be in their +appropriate place near the close, and the exhortation with which our +text begins is also most fitting there, for it is really the key-note +of the letter. How then does he come to desert his purpose? The answer +is to be found in his next advice, the warning against the Judaising +teachers who were his great antagonists all his life. A reference to +them always roused him, and here the vehement exhortation to mark them +well and avoid them opens the flood-gates. Forgetting all about his +purpose to come to an end, he pours out his soul in the long and +precious passage which follows. Not till the next chapter does he get +back to his theme in the reiterated exhortation (iv. 4), 'Rejoice in the +Lord alway; again I will say, rejoice.' This outburst is very +remarkable, for its vehemence is so unlike the tone of the rest of the +letter. That is calm, joyous, bright, but this is stormy and +impassioned, full of flashing and scathing words, the sudden +thunder-storm breaks in on a mellow, autumn day, but it hurtles past and +the sun shines out again, and the air is clearer. + +Another question suggested is the reference of the second half of verse +1. What are 'the same things' to write which is 'safe' for the +Philippians? Are they the injunctions preceding to 'rejoice in the +Lord,' or that following, the warning against the Judaisers? The former +explanation may be recommended by the fact that 'Rejoice' is in a sense +the key-note of the Epistle, but on the other hand, the things where +repetition would be 'safe' would most probably be warnings against some +evil that threatened the Philippians' Christian standing. + +There is no attempt at unity in the words before us, and I shall not try +to force them into apparent oneness, but follow the Apostle's thoughts +as they lie. We note-- + +I. The crowning injunction as to the duty of Christian gladness. + +A very slight glance over the Epistle will show how continually the note +of gladness is struck in it. Whatever in Paul's circumstances was 'at +enmity with joy' could not darken his sunny outlook. This bird could +sing in a darkened cage. If we brought together the expressions of his +joy in this letter, they would yield us some precious lessons as to what +were the sources of his, and what may be the sources of ours. There runs +through all the instances in the Epistle the implication which comes out +most emphatically in his earnest exhortation, 'Rejoice in the Lord +always, and again I say rejoice.' The true source of true joy lies in +our union with Jesus. To be in Him is the condition of every good, and, +just as in the former verses 'trust _in the Lord_' is set forth, so the +joy which comes from trust is traced to the same source. The joy that is +worthy, real, permanent, and the ally of lofty endeavour and noble +thoughts has its root in union with Jesus, is realised in communion with +Him, has Him for its reason or motive, and Him for its safeguard or +measure. As the passages in question in this Epistle show, such joy does +not shut out but hallows other sources of satisfaction. In our weakness +creatural love and kindness but too often draw us away from our joy in +Him. But with Paul the sources which we too often find antagonistic were +harmoniously blended, and flowed side by side in the same channel, so +that he could express them both in the one utterance, 'I rejoiced in the +Lord greatly that now at the last your care of me hath flourished +again.' + +We do not sufficiently realise the Christian duty of Christian joy, +some of us even take mortified countenances and voices in a minor key as +marks of grace, and there is but little in any of us of 'the joy in the +Lord' which a saint of the Old Testament had learned was our 'strength.' +There is plenty of gladness amongst professing Christians, but a good +many of them would resent the question, is your gladness 'in the Lord'? +No doubt any deep experience in the Christian life makes us aware of +much in ourselves that saddens, and may depress, and our joy in Him must +always be shaded by penitent sorrow for ourselves. But that necessary +element of sadness in the Christian life is not the cause why so many +Christian lives have little of the buoyancy and hope and spontaneity +which should mark them. The reason rather lies in the lack of true union +with Christ, and habitual keeping of ourselves 'in the love of God.' + +II. Paul's apology for reiteration. + +He is going to give once more old and well-worn precepts which are often +very tedious to the hearer, and not much less so to the speaker. He can +only say that to him the repetition of familiar injunctions is not +'irksome,' and that to them it is 'safe.' The diseased craving for +'originality' in the present day tempts us all, hearers and speakers +alike, and we ever need to be reminded that the staple of Christian +teaching must be old truths reiterated, and that it is not time to stop +proclaiming them until all men have begun to practise them. But a +speaker must try to make the thousandth repetition of a truth fresh to +himself, and not a wearisome form, or a dead commonplace, by freshening +it to his own mind and by living on it in his own practice, and the +hearers must remember that it is only the completeness of their +obedience that antiquates the commandment. The most threadbare +commonplace becomes a novelty when occasions for its application arise +in our own lives, just as a prescription may lie long unnoticed in a +drawer, but when a fever attacks its possessor it will be quickly drawn +out and worth its weight in gold. + +III. Paul's warning against teachers of a ceremonial religion. + +It scarcely seems congruous with the tone of the rest of this letter +that the preachers whom Paul so scathingly points out here had obtained +any firm footing in the Philippian Church, but no doubt there, as +everywhere, they had dogged Paul's footsteps, and had tried as they +always did to mar his work. They had not missionary fervour or Christian +energy enough to initiate efforts amongst the Gentiles so as to make +them proselytes, but when Paul and his companions had made them +Christians, they did their best, or their worst, to insist that they +could not be truly Christians, unless they submitted to the outward sign +of being Jews. Paul points a scathing finger at them when he bids the +Philippians 'beware,' and he permits himself a bitter retort when he +lays hold of the Jewish contemptuous word for Gentiles which stigmatised +them as 'dogs,' that is profane and unclean, and hurls it back at the +givers. But he is not indulging in mere bitter retorts when he brings +against these teachers the definite charge that they are 'evil workers.' +People who believed that an outward observance was the condition of +salvation would naturally be less careful to insist upon holy living. A +religion of ceremonies is not a religion of morality. Then the Apostle +lets himself go in a contemptuous play of words, and refuses to +recognise that these sticklers for circumcision had themselves been +circumcised. 'I will not call them the circumcision, they have not been +circumcised, they have only been gashed and mutilated, it has been a +mere fleshly maiming.' His reason for denying the name to them is his +profound belief that it belonged to true Christians. His contemptuous +reference puts in a word, the principle which he definitely states in +another place, 'He is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that +circumcision which is outward in the flesh.' + +The Apostle here is not only telling us who are the truly circumcised, +but at the same time he is telling us what makes a Christian, and he +states three points in which, as I take it, he begins at the end and +works backwards to the beginning. 'We are the circumcision who worship +in the Spirit of God'--that is the final result--'and glory in Christ +Jesus'--'and have no confidence in the flesh'--that is the +starting-point. The beginning of all true Christianity is distrust of +self. What does Paul mean by 'flesh'? Body? Certainly not. Animal +nature, or the passions rooted in it? Not only these, as may be seen by +noting the catalogue which follows of the things in the flesh, in which +he might have trusted. What are these? 'Circumcised the eighth day, of +the tribe of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of the +Hebrews'--these belong to ritual and race; 'as touching the law a +Pharisee'--that belongs to ecclesiastical standing; 'concerning zeal +persecuting the church'--that has nothing to do with the animal nature: +'touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless'--that +concerns the moral nature. All these come under the category of the +'flesh,' which, therefore, plainly includes all that belongs to +humanity apart from God. Paul's old-fashioned language translated into +modern English just comes to this--it is vain to trust in external +connection with the sacred community of the Church, or in participation +in any of its ordinances and rites. To Paul, Christian rites and Jewish +rites were equally rites and equally insufficient as bases of +confidence. Do not let us fancy that dependence on these is peculiar to +certain forms of Christian belief. It is a very subtle all-pervasive +tendency, and there is no need to lift up Nonconformist hands in holy +horror at the corruptions of Romanism and the like. Their origin is not +solely priestly ambition, but also the desires of the so-called laity. +Demand creates a supply, and if there were not people to think, 'Now it +shall be well with me because I have a Levite for my priest,' there +would be no Levites to meet their wishes. + +Notice that Paul includes amongst the things belonging to the flesh this +'touching the righteousness which is in the law blameless.' Many of us +can say the same. We do our duties so far as we know them, and are +respectable law-abiding people, but if we are trusting to that, we are +of the 'flesh.' Have we estimated what God is, and what the real worth +of our conduct is? Have we looked not at our actions but at our motives, +and seen them as they are seen from above or from the inside? How many +'blameless' lives are like the scenes in a theatre, effective and +picturesque, when seen with the artificial glory of the footlights? But +go behind the scenes and what do we find? Dirty canvas and cobwebs. If +we know ourselves we know that a life may have a fair outside, and yet +not be a thing to trust to. + +The beginning of our Christianity is the consciousness that we are +'naked and poor, and blind, and in need of all things.' Men come to +Jesus Christ by many ways, thank God, and I care little by what road +they come so long as they get there, nor do I insist upon any +stereotyped order of religious experience. But of this I am very sure: +that unless we abandon confidence in ourselves, because we have seen +ourselves in the light of God's law, we have not learned all that we +need nor laid hold of all that Christ gives. Let us measure ourselves in +the light of God, and we shall learn that we have to take our places +beside Job, when the vision of God silenced his protestations of +innocence. 'I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear, but now mine +eye seeth Thee; wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes.' + +That self-distrust should pass into glorying in Christ Jesus. If a man +has learned his emptiness he will look about for something to fill it. +Unless I know myself to be under condemnation because of my sin, and +fevered, disturbed, and made wretched, by its inward consequences which +forbid repose, the sweetest words of Gospel invitation will pass by me +like wind whistling through an archway. But if once I have been driven +from self-confidence, then like music from heaven will come the word, +'Trust in Jesus.' The seed dropped into the ground puts out a +downward-going shoot, which is the root, and an upward-growing one, +which is the stalk. The downward-going shoot is 'no confidence in the +flesh,' the upward-going is 'glorying in Christ Jesus.' + +But that word suggests the blessed experience of triumph in the +possession of the Person known and felt to be all, and to give all that +life needs. A true Christian should ever be triumphant in a felt +experience, in a Name proved to be sufficient, in a power which infuses +strength into his weakness, and enables him to do the will of God. It is +for want of utter self-distrust and absolute faith in Christ that +'glorying' in Him is so far beyond the ordinary mood of the average +Christian. You say, 'I hope, sometimes I doubt, sometimes I fear, +sometimes I tremblingly trust.' Is that the kind of experience that +these words shadow? Why do we continue amidst the mist when we might +rise into the clear blue above the obscuring pall? Only because we are +still in some measure clinging to self, and still in some measure +distrusting our Lord. If our faith were firm and full our 'glorying' +would be constant. Do not be contented with the prevailing sombre type +of Christian life which is always endeavouring, and always foiled, which +is often doubting and often indifferent, but seek to live in the +sunshine, and expatiate in the light, and 'rejoice in the Lord always.' + +'Glorying' not only describes an attitude of mind, but an activity of +life. Many things to-day tempt Christian people to speak of their +religion and of their Lord in an apologetic tone, in the face of strong +and educated unbelief; but if we have within us, as we all may have, and +ought to have, the triumphant assurance of His sufficiency, nearness, +and power, it will not be with bated breath that we shall speak of our +Master, or apologise for our Christianity, but we shall obey the +commandment, 'Lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not +afraid.' Ring out the name and be proud that you can ring it out, as the +Name of _your_ Lord, and _your_ Saviour, and _your_ all-sufficient +Friend. Whatever other people say, you have the experience, if you are +a Christian, which more than answers all that they can say. + +We have said that the final result set forth here by Paul is, 'We +worship by the Spirit of God.' The expression translated worship is the +technical word for rendering priestly service. Just as Paul has asserted +that uncircumcised Christians, not circumcised Jews, are the true +circumcision, so he asserts that they are the true priests, and that +these officials in the outward temple at Jerusalem have forfeited the +title, and that it has passed over to the despised followers of the +despised Nazarene. If we have 'no confidence in the flesh,' and are +'glorying in Christ Jesus,' we are all priests of the most high God. +'Worship in the Spirit' is our function and privilege. The externals of +ceremonial worship dwindle into insignificance. They may be means of +helping, or they may be means of hindering, the 'worship in the Spirit,' +which I venture to think all experience shows is the more likely to be +pure and real, the less it invokes the aid of flesh and sense. To make +the senses the ladder for the soul by which to climb to God is quite as +likely to end in the soul's going down the ladder as up it. Aesthetic +aids to worship are crutches which keep a lame soul lame all its days. + +Such worship is the obligation as well as the prerogative of the +Christian. We have no right to say that we have truly forsaken +confidence in ourselves, and are truly 'glorying' in Christ Jesus, +unless our daily life is communion with God, and all your work +'worshipping by the Spirit of God.' Such communion and worship are +possible for those, and for those only, who have 'no confidence in the +flesh' and who 'glory in Christ Jesus.' + + + + +THE LOSS OF ALL + + 'Though I myself might have confidence even in the + flesh: if any other man thinketh to have + confidence in the flesh, I yet more: circumcised + the eighth day of the stock of Israel, of the + tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as + touching the law, a Pharisee; as touching zeal, + persecuting the church; as touching the + righteousness which is in the law, found + blameless. Howbeit what things were gain to me, + these have I counted loss for Christ. Yea verily, + and I count all things to be loss for the + excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my + Lord: for whom I suffered the loss of all things, + and do count them but dung.'--PHIL. iii. 4-8 + (R.V.). + + +We have already noted that in the previous verses the Apostle is +beginning to prepare for closing his letter, but is carried away into +the long digression of which our text forms the beginning. The last +words of the former verse open a thought of which his mind is always +full. It is as when an excavator strikes his pickaxe unwittingly into a +hidden reservoir and the blow is followed by a rush of water, which +carries away workmen and tools. Paul has struck into the very deepest +thoughts which he has of the Gospel and out they pour. That one +antithesis, 'the loss of all, the gain of Christ,' carried in it to him +the whole truth of the Christian message. We may well ask ourselves what +are the subjects which lie so near our hearts, and so fill our thoughts, +that a chance word sets us off on them, and we cannot help talking of +them when once we begin. + +The text exemplifies another characteristic of Paul's, his constant +habit of quoting his own experience as illustrating the truth. His +theology is the generalisation of his own experience, and yet that +continual autobiographical reference is not egotism, for the light in +which he delights to present himself is as the recipient of the great +grace of God in pardoning sinners. It is a result of the complete +saturation of himself with the Gospel. It was to him no mere body of +principles or thoughts, it was the very food and life of his life. And +so this characteristic reveals not only his natural fervour of +character, but the profound and penetrating hold which the Gospel had on +his whole being. + +In our text he presents his own experience as the type to which ours +must on the whole be conformed. He had gone through an earthquake which +had shattered the very foundations of his life. He had come to despise +all that he had counted most precious, and to clasp as the only true +treasures all that he had despised. With him the revolution had turned +his whole life upside down. Though the change cannot be so subversive +and violent with us, the forsaking of self-confidence must be as real, +and the clinging to Jesus must be as close, if our Christianity is to be +fervid and dominant in our lives. + +I. The treasures that were discovered to be worthless. + +We have already had occasion in the previous sermon to refer to Paul's +catalogue of 'things that were gain' to him, but we must consider it a +little more closely here. We may repeat that it is important for +understanding Paul's point of view to note that by 'flesh' he means the +whole self considered as independent of God. The antithesis to it is +'spirit,' that is humanity regenerated and vitalised by Divine +influence. 'Flesh,' then, is humanity not so vitalised. That is to say, +it is 'self,' including both body and emotions, affections, thoughts, +and will. + +As to the points enumerated, they are those which made the ideal to a +Jew, including purity of race, punctilious orthodoxy, flaming zeal, +pugnacious antagonism, and blameless morality. With reference to race, +the Jewish pride was in 'circumcision on the eighth day,' which was the +exclusive privilege of one of pure blood. Proselytes might be +circumcised in later life, but one of the 'stock of Israel' only on the +'eighth day.' Saul of Tarsus had in earlier days been proud of his +tribal genealogy, which had apparently been carefully preserved in the +Gentile home, and had shared ancestral pride in belonging to the once +royal tribe, and perhaps in thinking that the blood of the king after +whom he was named flowed in his veins. He was a 'Hebrew of the Hebrews,' +which does not mean, as it is usually taken to do, intensely, +superlatively Hebrew, but simply is equivalent to 'myself a Hebrew, and +come from pure Hebrew ancestors on both sides.' Possibly also the phrase +may have reference to purity of language and customs as well as blood. +These four items make the first group. Paul still remembers the time +when, in the blindness which he shared with his race, he believed that +these wholly irrelevant points had to do with a man's acceptance before +God. He had once agreed with the Judaisers that 'circumcision' admitted +Gentiles into the Jewish community, and so gave them a right to +participate in the blessings of the Covenant. + +Then follow the items of his more properly religious character, which +seem in their three clauses to make a climax. 'As touching the law a +Pharisee,' he was of the 'straitest sect,' the champions and +representatives of the law. 'As touching zeal persecuting the Church,' +it was not only in Judaism that the mark of zeal for a cause has been +harassing its opponents. We can almost hear a tone of sad irony as Paul +recalls that past, remembering how eagerly he had taken charge of the +clothes trusted to his care by the witnesses who stoned Stephen, and how +he had 'breathed threatening and slaughter' against the disciples. 'As +touching the righteousness which is in the law found blameless,' he is +evidently speaking of the obedience of outward actions and of +blamelessness in the judgment of men. + +So we get a living picture of Paul and of his confidence before he was a +Christian. All these grounds for pride and self-satisfaction were like +triple armour round the heart of the young Pharisee, who rode out of +Jerusalem on the road to Damascus. How little he thought that they would +all have been pierced and have dropped from him before he got there! The +grounds of his confidence are antiquated in form, but in substance are +modern. At bottom the things in which Paul's 'flesh' trusted are exactly +the same as those in which many of us trust. Even his pride of race +continues to influence some of us. We have got the length of separating +between our nationality and our acceptance with God, but we have still a +kind of feeling that 'God's Englishmen,' as Milton called them, have a +place of their own, which is, if not a ground of confidence before God, +at any rate a ground for carrying ourselves with very considerable +complacency before men. It is not unheard of that people should rely, if +not on 'circumcision on the eighth day,' on an outward rite which seems +to connect them with a visible Church. Strict orthodoxy takes the place +among us which Pharisaism held in Paul's mind before he was a Christian, +and it is easier to prove our zeal by pugnacity against heretics, than +by fervour of devotion. The modern analogue of Paul's, 'touching the +righteousness which is in the law blameless,' is 'I have done my best, I +have lived a decent life. My religion is to do good to other people.' +All such talk, which used to be a vague sentiment or excuse, is now put +forward in definite theoretical substitution for the Christian Truth, +and finds numerous teachers and acceptors. But how short a way all such +grounds of confidence go to satisfy a soul that has once seen the vision +that blazed in on Paul's mind on the road to Damascus! + +II. The discovery of their worthlessness. + +'These have I counted loss for Christ.' There is a possibility of +exaggeration in interpreting Paul's words. The things that were 'gain' +to him were in themselves better than their opposites. It is better to +to be 'blameless' than to have a life all stained with foulness and +reeking with sins. But these 'gains' were 'losses,' disadvantages, in so +far as they led him to build upon them, and trust in them as solid +wealth. The earthquake that shattered his life had two shocks: the first +turned upside down his estimate of the value of his gains, the second +robbed him of them. He first saw them to be worthless, and then, so far +as others' judgment went, he was stripped of them. Actively he 'counted +them loss,' passively he 'suffered the loss of all things.' His estimate +came, and was followed by the practical outcome of his brethren's +excommunication. + +What changed his estimate? In our text he answers the question in two +forms: first he gives the simple, all-sufficient monosyllabic reason for +his whole life--'for Christ,' and then he enlarges that motive into 'the +excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord.' The former carries +us back straight to the vision which revolutionised Paul's life, and +made him abjure all which he had trusted, and adore what he had +abhorred. The latter dwells a little more upon the subjective process +which followed on the vision, but the two are substantially the same, +and we need only note the solemn fulness of the name of 'Jesus Christ,' +and the intense motion of submission and of personal appropriation +contained in the designation, 'my Lord.' It was not when he found his +way blinded into Damascus that he had learned that knowledge, or could +apprehend its 'excellency.' The words are enriched and enlarged by later +experiences. The sacrifice of his earlier 'gains' had been made before +the 'excellency of the knowledge' had been discerned. It was no mere +intellectual perception which could be imparted in words, or by +eyesight, but here as always Paul by 'knowledge' means experience which +comes from possession and acquaintance, and which therefore gleams ever +before us as we move, and is capable of endless increase, in the measure +in which we are true to the estimate of 'gains' and 'losses' to which +our initial vision of Him has led us. At first we may not know that that +knowledge excels all others, but as we grow in acquaintance with Jesus, +and in experience of Him, we shall be sure that it transcends all +others, because He does and we possess Him. + +The revolutionising motive may be conceived of in two ways. We have to +abandon the lower 'gains' in order to gain Christ, or to abandon these +because we have gained Him. Both are true. The discernment of Christ as +the one ground of confidence is ever followed by the casting away of all +others. Self-distrust is a part of faith. When we feel our feet upon the +rock, the crumbling sands on which we stood are left to be broken up by +the sea. They who have seen the Apollo Belvedere will set little store +by plaster of Paris casts. In all our lives there come times when the +glimpse of some loftier ideal shows up our ordinary as hollow and poor +and low. And when once Christ is seen, as Scripture shows Him, our +former self appears poor and crumbles away. + +We are not to suppose that the act of renunciation must be completed +before a second act of possession is begun. That is the error of many +ascetic books. The two go together, and abandonment in order to win +merges into abandonment because we have won. The strongest power to make +renunciation possible is 'the expulsive power of a new affection.' When +the heart is filled with love to Christ there is no sense of 'loss,' but +only of 'exceeding gain,' in casting away all things for Him. + +III. The continuous repetition of the discovery. + +Paul compares his present self with his former Christian self, and with +a vehement 'Yea, verily,' affirms his former judgment, and reiterates it +in still more emphatic terms. It is often easy to depreciate the +treasures which we possess. They sometimes grow in value as they slip +from our hands. It is not usual for a man who has 'suffered the loss of +all things' to follow their disappearance by counting them 'but dung.' +The constant repetition through the whole Christian course of the +depreciatory estimate of grounds of confidence is plainly necessary. +There are subtle temptations to the opposite course. It is hard to keep +perfectly clear of all building on our own blamelessness or on our +connection with the Christian Church, and we have need ever to renew the +estimate which was once so epoch-making, and which 'cast down all our +imaginations and high things.' If we do not carefully watch ourselves, +the whispering tempter that was silenced will recover his breath again, +and be once more ready to drop into our ears his poisonous suggestions. +We have to take pains and 'give earnest heed' to the initial, +revolutionary estimate, and to see that it is worked out habitually in +our daily lives. It is a good exchange when we count 'all but loss for +the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus our Lord.' + + + + +THE GAIN OF CHRIST + + 'That I may gain Christ, and be found in Him, not + having a righteousness of my own, even that which + is of the law, but that which is through faith in + Christ, the righteousness which is of God by + faith.'--PHIL. iii. 8, 9 (R.V.). + + +It is not everybody who _can_ say what is his aim in life. Many of us +have never thought enough about it to have one beyond keeping alive. We +lose life in seeking for the means of living. Many of us have such a +multitude of aims, each in its turn drawing us, that no one of them is +predominant and rules the crowd. There is no strong hand at the tiller, +and so the ship washes about in the trough of the waves. + +It is not everybody who _dares_ to say what is his aim in life. We are +ashamed to acknowledge even to ourselves what we are not at all ashamed +to do. Paul knew his aim, and was not afraid to speak it. It was high +and noble, and was passionately and persistently pursued. He tells us it +here, and we can see his soul kindling as he speaks. We may note how +there is here the same double reference as we found in the previous +verses, gaining Christ corresponding to the previous loss for Christ, +and the later words of our text being an expansion of the 'excellency of +the knowledge of Christ Jesus.' No man will ever succeed in any life's +purpose, unless like Paul he is enthusiastic about it. If his aim does +not rouse his fervour when he speaks of it, he will never accomplish it. +We may just remark that Paul does not suppose his aim to be wholly +unattained, even although he does not count himself to 'have +apprehended.' He knows that he has gained Christ, and is 'found in Him,' +but he knows also that there stretch before him the possibilities of +infinite increase. + +I. His life's aim was to have the closest possession of, and +incorporation in, Christ. + +His two expressions, 'that I may gain Christ and be found in Him,' are +substantially identical in meaning, though they put the same truth from +different sides, and with some variety of metaphor. We may deal with +them separately. + +The 'gain' is of course the opposite of the 'loss.' His balance-sheet +has on one side 'all things lost,' on the other 'Christ gained,' and +that is profitable trading. But we have to go deeper than such a +metaphor, and to give full scope to the Scriptural truth, that Christ +really imparts Himself to the believing soul. There is a real +communication of His own life to us, and thereby we live, as He Himself +declared, 'He that hath the Son hath life.' The true deep sense in which +we possess Christ is not to be weakened down, as it, alas! so often is +in our shallow Christianity, which is but the echo of a shallow +experience, and a feeble hold of that possession of the Son to which +Jesus called us, as the condition of our possession of life. Christ is +thus Himself possessed by all our faculties, each after its kind; head +and heart, passions and desires, hopes and longings, may each have Him +abiding in them, guiding them with His strong and gentle hand, animating +them into nobler life, restraining and controlling, gradually +transforming and ultimately conforming them to His own likeness. Till +that Divine Indweller enters in, the shrine is empty, and unclean things +lurk in its hidden corners. To be a man full summed in all his powers, +each of us must 'gain Christ.' + +The other expression in the text, 'be found in Him,' presents the same +truth from the completing point of view. We gain Christ in us when we +are 'found in Him.' We are to be incorporated as members are in the +body, or imbedded as a stone in the foundation, or to go back to the +sweetest words, which are the source of all these representations, +included as 'a branch in the vine.' We are to be in Him for safety and +shelter, as fugitives take refuge in a strong tower when an enemy swarms +over the land. + + 'And lo! from sin and grief and shame, + I hide me, Jesus, in Thy name.' + +We are to be in Him that the life sap may freely flow through us. We are +to be in Him that the Divine Love may fall on us, and that in Jesus we +may receive our portion of all which is His heritage. + +This mutual possession and indwelling is possible if Jesus be the Son of +God, but the language is absurd in any other interpretation of His +person. It is clearly in its very nature capable of indefinite increase, +and as containing in itself the supply of all which we need for life and +blessedness, is fitted to be what nothing else can pretend to be, +without wrecking the lives that are unwise enough to pursue it--the +sovereign aim of a human life. In following it, and only in following +it, the highest wisdom says Amen to the aspiration of the lowliest +faith. 'This one thing I do.' + +II. Paul's life's aim was righteousness to be received. + +He goes on to present some of the consequences which follow on his +gaining Christ and being 'found in Him,' and before all others he names +as his aim the possession of 'righteousness.' We must remember that Paul +believed that righteousness in the sense of 'justification' had been his +from the moment when Ananias came to where he was sitting in darkness, +and bid him be baptized and wash away his sins. The word here must be +taken in its full sense of moral perfectness; even if we included only +this in our thoughts of his life's aim, how high above most men would he +tower! But his statement carries him still higher above, and farther +away from, the common ideas of moral perfection, and what he means by +righteousness is widely separated from the world's conception, not only +in regard to its elements, but still more in regard to its source. + +It is possible to lose oneself in a dreamy mysticism which has had much +to say of 'gaining Christ and being found in Him,' and has had too +little to say about 'having righteousness,' and so has turned out to be +an ally of indifference and sometimes of unrighteousness. Buddhism and +some forms of mystical Christianity have fallen into a pit of immorality +from which Paul's sane combination here would have saved them. There is +no danger in the most mystical interpretation of the former statement of +his aim, when it is as closely connected as it is here with the second +form in which he states it. I have just said that Paul differed from men +who were seeking for righteousness, not only because his conceptions of +what constituted it were not the same as theirs, though he in this very +letter endorses the Greek ideals of 'virtue and praise,' but also and +more emphatically because he looked for it as a gift, and not as the +result of his own efforts. To him the only righteousness which availed +was one which was not 'my own,' but had its source in, and was imparted +by, God. The world thought of righteousness as the general designation +under which were summed up a man's specific acts of conformity to law, +the sum total reached by the addition of many specific instances of +conformity to a standard of duty. Paul had learned to think of it as +preceding and producing the specific acts. The world therefore said, and +says, Do the deeds and win the character; Paul says, Receive the +character and do the deeds. The result of the one conception of +righteousness is in the average man spasmodic efforts after isolated +achievements, with long periods between in which effort subsides into +torpor. The result in Paul's case was what we know: a continuous effort +to keep his mind and heart open for the influx of the power which, +entering into him, would make him able to do the specific acts which +constitute righteousness. The one road is a weary path, hard to tread, +and, as a matter of fact, not often trodden. To pile up a righteousness +by the accumulation of individual righteous acts is an endeavour less +hopeful than that of the coral polypes slowly building up their reef out +of the depths of the Pacific, till it rises above the waves. He who +assumes to be righteous on the strength of a succession of righteous +acts, not only needs a profounder idea of what makes his acts righteous, +but should also make a catalogue of his unrighteous ones and call +himself wicked. The other course is the final deliverance of a man from +dependence upon his own struggles, and substitutes for the dreary +alternations of effort and torpor, and for the imperfect harvest of +imperfectly righteous acts, the attitude of receiving, which supersedes +painful strife and weary endeavour. To seek after a righteousness which +is 'my own,' is to seek what we shall never find, and what, if found, +would crumble beneath us. To seek the righteousness which is from God, +is to seek what He is waiting to bestow, and what the blessed receivers +blessedly know is more than they dreamed of. + +But Paul looked for this great gift as a gift in Christ. It was when he +was 'found in Him' that it became his, and he was found 'blameless.' +That gift of an imparted life, which has a bias towards all goodness, +and the natural operation of which is to incline all our faculties +towards conformity with the will of God, is bestowed when we 'win +Christ.' Possessing Him, we possess it. It is not only 'imputed,' as our +fathers delighted to say, but it is 'imparted.' And because it is the +gift of God in Christ, it was in Paul's view received by faith. He +expresses that conviction in a double form in our text. It is 'through +faith' as the channel by which it passes into our happy hands. It is 'by +faith,' or, more accurately, 'upon faith,' as the foundation on which it +rests, or the condition on which it depends. Our trust in Christ does +bring His life to us to sanctify us, and the plain English of all this +blessed teaching is--if we wish to be better let us trust Christ and get +Him into the depths of our lives, and righteousness will be ours. That +transforming Presence laid up in 'the hidden man of the heart,' will be +like some pungent scent in a wardrobe which keeps away moths, and gives +out a fragrance that perfumes all that hangs near it. + +But all which we have been saying is not to be understood as if there +was no effort to be made, in order to receive, and to live manifesting, +the 'righteousness which is of God.' There must be the constant +abandonment of self, and the constant utilising of the grace given. The +righteousness is bestowed whenever faith is exercised. The hand is never +stretched out and the gift not lodged in it. But it is a life's aim to +possess the 'righteousness which is of God by faith,' because that gift +is capable of indefinite increase, and will reward the most strenuous +efforts of a believing soul as long as life continues. + +III. Paul's life's aim stretches beyond this life. + +Shall we be chargeable with crowding too much meaning into his words, if +we fix on his remarkable expression, 'be found in Him,' as containing a +clear reference to that great day of final judgment? We recall other +instances of the use of the same expression in connections which +unmistakably point to that time. Such as 'being clothed we shall not be +found naked,' or 'the proof of your faith . . . might be found unto praise +and glory and honour at the revelation of Jesus Christ,' or 'found of +Him in peace without spot, blameless.' In the light of these and similar +passages, it does not seem unreasonable to suppose that this 'being +found' does include a reference to the Apostle's place after death, +though it is not confined to that. He thinks of the searching eye of the +Judge taking keen account, piercing through all disguises, and wistfully +as well as penetratingly scrutinising characters, till it finds that for +which it seeks. They who are 'found in Him' in that day, are there and +thus for ever. There is no further fear of falling out of union with +Him, or of being, by either gradual and unconscious stages, or by sudden +and overmastering assaults, carried out of the sacred enclosure of the +City of Refuge in which they dwell henceforth for ever. A dangerous +presumptuousness has sometimes led to the over-confident assertion, +'Once in Christ always in Christ.' But Paul teaches us that that +security of permanent dwelling in Him is to be for ever in this life the +aim of our efforts, rather than an accomplished fact. So long as we are +here, the possibility of falling away cannot be shut out, and there must +always rise before us the question, Am I in Christ? Hence there is need +for continual watchfulness, self-control, and self-distrust, and the +life's aim has to be perpetual, not only because it is capable of +indefinite expansion, but because our weakness is capable of deserting +it. It is only when at the last we are found by Him, in Him, that we are +there for ever, with all dangers of departure from Him at an end. In +that City of Refuge, and there only, 'the gates shall not be shut at +all,' not solely because no enemies shall attempt to come in, but also +because no citizens shall desire to go out. + +We should ever have before us that hour, and our life's aim should ever +definitely include the final scrutiny in which many a hidden thing will +come to light, many a long-lost thing be found, and each man's ultimate +place in relation to Jesus Christ will be freed from uncertainties, +ambiguities, hypocrisies, and disguises, and made plain to all +beholders. In that great day of 'finding,' some of us will have to ask +with sinking hearts, 'Hast thou found me, O mine enemy?' and others will +break forth into the glad acclaim, 'I have found Him,' or rather 'been +found of Him.' + +So we have before us the one reasonable aim for a man to have Christ, to +be found in Him, to have His righteousness. It is reasonable, it is +great enough to absorb all our energies, and to reward them. It will +last a lifetime, and run on undisturbed beyond life. Following it, all +other aims will fall into their places. Is this my aim? + + + + +SAVING KNOWLEDGE + + 'That I may know Him, and the power of His + resurrection, and the fellowship of His + sufferings, becoming conformed unto His death; if + by any means I may attain unto the resurrection + from the dead.'--PHIL. iii. 10-11 (R.V.). + + +We have seen how the Apostle was prepared to close his letter at the +beginning of this chapter, and how that intention was swept away by the +rush of new thoughts. His fervid faith caught fire when he turned to +think of what he had lost, and how infinitely more he had gained in +Christ. His wealth is so great that it cannot be crowded into the narrow +space of one brief sentence, and after all the glowing words which +precede our text, he feels that he has not yet adequately set forth +either his present possessions or his ultimate aims. So here he +continues the theme which might have seemed most fully dealt with in the +great thoughts that occupied us in the former sermon, but which still +wait to be completed here. They are most closely connected with the +former, and the unity of the sentence is but a parallel to the oneness +of the idea. The elements of our present text constitute a part of the +Apostle's aim in life, and may be dealt with as such. + +I. Paul's life's aim was the knowledge of Christ. + +That sounds an anti-climax after 'Gain' and 'Be in Him.' These phrases +seem to express a much more intimate relation than this, but we must +note that it is no mere theoretical or intellectual knowledge which is +intended. Such knowledge would need no surrender or suffering 'the loss +of all things.' We can only buy the knowledge of Christ at such a rate, +but we can buy knowledge about Him very much cheaper. Such knowledge +would not be worth the price; it lies on the surface of the soul, and +does nothing. Many a man amongst us has it, and it is of no use to him. +If Paul had undergone all that he had undergone and sacrificed all that +he had given up, and for his reward had only gained accurate knowledge +about Christ, he had certainly wasted his life and made a bad bargain. +But as always, so here, to know means knowledge based upon experience. +Did Christ mean that a correct creed was eternal life when He said, +'This is life eternal to know Thee, the only true God and Jesus Christ +whom Thou has sent?' Did Paul mean the dry light of the understanding +when he prayed that the Ephesians might know the love of Christ which +passeth knowledge, in order to be filled with all the fulness of God? +Clearly we have to go much deeper down than that superficial +interpretation in order to reach the reality of the New Testament +conception of knowledge. It is co-extensive with life, and is built upon +inward experience. In a word, it is one aspect of winning Jesus. It is +consciousness contemplating its riches, counting its gains. As a man +knows the bliss of parental or wedded love only by having it, or as he +knows the taste of wine only by drinking it, or the glory of music only +by hearing it, and the brightness of the day only by seeing it, so we +know Christ only by winning Him. There must first be the perception and +possession by sense or emotion, and then the reflection on the +possession by understanding. This applies to all religious truth. It +must be possessed ere it be fully known. Like the new name written upon +the Apocalyptic stone, 'No one knoweth but he that receiveth it.' + +The knowledge which was Paul's life's aim was knowledge of a Person: +the object determines the nature of the knowledge. The mental act of +knowing a proposition or a science or even of knowing about a person by +hearing of him is different from that of knowing people when we have +lived beside them. We need not be afraid of attaching too familiar a +meaning to this word of our text, if we say that it implies personal +acquaintance with the Christ whom we know. Of course we come to know Him +in the first instance through the medium of statements about Him, and we +cannot too strongly insist, in these days of destructive criticism, on +the absolute necessity of accepting the Gospel statements as to the life +of Jesus as the only possible method of knowing Him. But then, beyond +that acceptance of the record must come the application and +appropriation of it, and the transmutation of a historical fact into a +personal experience. We may take an illustration from any of the +Scriptural truths about Jesus:--For instance, Scripture declares Him to +be our Redeemer. One man believes Him to be so, welcomes Him into his +life as such, and finds Him to be such. Another man believes Him to be +so, but never puts His redeeming power to the proof. Is the knowledge of +these two rightly called by the same name? That which comes after +experience is surely not rightly designated by the same title as that +which has no vivification nor verification of such a sort to build on, +and is the mere product of the understanding. There is nothing which the +great mass of so-called Christians need more than to have forced into +their thoughts the difference between these two kinds of knowledge of +Christ. There are thousands of them who, if asked, are ready to profess +that they know Jesus, but to whom He has never been anything more than +a partially understood article of an uncared for creed, and has never +been in living contact with their needs, nor known for their strength in +weakness, their comforter in sorrow, 'their life in death,' their all in +all. + +To deepen that experimental knowledge of Jesus is a worthy aim for the +whole life, and is a process that may go on indefinitely through it all. +To know Him more and more is to have more of heaven in us. To be +penetrating ever deeper into His fulness, and finding every day new +depths to penetrate is to have a fountain of freshness in our dusty days +that will never fail or run dry. There is only one inexhaustible person, +and that is Jesus Christ. We have all fulness in our Lord: we have +already received all when we received Him. Are we advancing in the +experience that is the parent of knowing Him? Do new discoveries meet us +every day as if we were explorers in a virgin land? To have this for our +aim is enough for satisfaction, for blessedness, and for growth. To know +Him is a liberal education. + +II. That knowledge involves knowing the power of His Resurrection. + +The power of His Resurrection is an expression which covers a wide +ground. There are several distinct and well-marked powers ascribed to it +in Paul's writings. It has a demonstrative force in reference to our +Lord's person and work. For He is by it 'declared to be the Son of God +with power.' That rising again from the dead, taken in conjunction with +the fact that He dieth no more, but is ascended up on high, and in +conjunction with His own words concerning Himself and His Resurrection, +sets Him forth before the world as the Son of God, and is the solemn +divine approval and acceptance of His work. + +It has a revealing power in regard to the condition of humanity in +death. It is the one fact which establishes immortality, and which not +only establishes it, but casts some light on the manner of it. The +possibility of personal life after, and therefore, in death, the +unbroken continuity of being, the possibility of a resurrection, and a +glorifying of this corporeal frame, with all the far-reaching +consequences of these truths in the triumph they give over death, in the +support and substance they afford to the else-shadowy idea of +immortality, in the lofty place which they assign to the bodily frame, +and the conception which they give of man's perfection as consisting of +body, soul, and spirit--these thoughts have flashed light into all the +darkness of the grave, have narrowed to a mere strip of coast-line the +boundaries of the kingdom of death, have proclaimed love as the victor +in her contest with that shrouded horror. The basis of them all is +Christ's Resurrection; its power in this respect is the power to +illuminate, to console, to certify, to wrench the sceptre from the hands +of death, and to put it in the pierced hands of the Living One that was +dead, and is Lord both of the dead and the living. + +Further, the Resurrection is treated by Paul as having a power for our +justification, in so far as the risen Lord bestows upon us by His risen +life the blessings of His righteousness. Paul also represents the +Resurrection of Christ as having the power of quickening our Spiritual +life. I need not spend time in quoting the many passages where His +rising from the dead, and His life after the Resurrection, are treated +as the type and pattern of our lives: and are not only regarded as +pattern, but are also regarded as the power by which that new life of +ours is brought about. It has the power of raising us from the death of +sin, and bringing us into a new life of the Spirit. And finally, the +Resurrection of Christ is regarded as having the power of raising His +servants from the grave to the full possession of His own glorious life, +and so it is the power of our final victory over death. + +Now I do not know that we are entitled to exclude any of these powers +from view. The broad words of the text include them all, but perhaps the +two last are mainly meant, and of these chiefly the former. + +The risen life of Christ quickens and raises us, and that not merely as +a pattern, but as a power. It is only if we are in Him that there is so +real a unity of life between Him and us that there enters into us some +breath of His own life. + +That risen life of the Saviour which we share if we have Him, enters +into our nature as leaven into the three measures of meal; transforming +and quickening it, gives new directions, tastes, motives, impulses, and +power. It bids and inclines us to seek the things that are above, and +its great exhortation to the hearts in which it dwells, to fix +themselves there, and to forsake the things that are on the earth, is +based upon the fact that they have died, and 'their life is hid with +Christ in God.' Without that leaven the life that we live is a death, +because it is lived in the 'lusts of the flesh,' doing the desires of +the flesh and of the mind. There is no real union with Jesus Christ, of +which the direct issue is not a living experience of the power of His +Resurrection in bringing us to the likeness of itself in regard to our +freedom from the bondage to sin, and to our presenting ourselves unto +God as alive from the dead, and our members as instruments of +righteousness unto God. It is a solemn thought which we all need to +press upon our consciences, that the only infallible sign that we have +been in any measure quickened together with Christ and raised up with +Him is that we have ceased to live in the lusts of our flesh, doing the +desires of the flesh and of the mind. The risen life of Jesus may +indefinitely increase, and will do so in the measure in which we +honestly make it our life's aim to know Him and the power of His +Resurrection. + +III. The experience of the power of Christ's Resurrection is inseparable +from the fellowship of His sufferings. + +We must not suppose that Paul's solemn and awful words here trench in +the smallest degree on the solitary unapproachableness of Christ's +death. He would have answered, as in fact he does answer, the appeal of +the prophetic sufferer, 'Behold and see if there be any sorrow like unto +my sorrow' with the strongest negative. No other human lips have ever +tasted, or can ever taste, a cup of such bitterness as He drained for us +all, and no other human lips have ever been so exquisitely sensitive to +the bitterness which they have drunk. The identification of Himself with +a sinful world, the depth and closeness of His community of feeling with +all sorrow, the consciousness of the glory which He had left, and the +perpetual sense of the hostility into which He had come, set Christ's +sufferings by themselves as surely as the effects that flow from them +declare that they need no repetition, and cannot be degraded by any +parallel whilst the world lasts. + +But yet His Death, like His Resurrection, is set forth in Scripture as +being a type and power of ours. We have to die to the world by the power +of the Cross. If we truly trust in His sacrifice there will operate +upon us motives which separate and detach us from our old selves and the +old world. A fundamental, ethical, and spiritual change is effected on +us through faith. We were dead in sin, we are dead to sin. We have to +blend the two thoughts of the Christian life as being a daily dying and +a continual resurrection in order to get the whole truth of the double +aspect of it. + +It may be a question whether the Apostle is here referring to outward or +inward and ethical sorrows, but perhaps we should not do justice to the +thought unless we extend it to cover both of these. Certainly if his +theology was but the generalising of his experience, he had ample +material in his daily life for knowing the fellowship of Christ's +sufferings. One of his most frequently recurring and most cherished +thoughts is, that to suffer for Christ is to suffer with Christ, and in +it he found and teaches us to find strength to endure, and patience to +outlast any sorrows that may swoop upon us like birds of prey because we +are Christians. Happy shall we be if Christ's sufferings are ours, +because it is our union with Him and our likeness to Him, not to +ourselves, our sins, or our worldliness, that is their occasion. There +is an old legend that Peter was crucified head downwards, because he +felt himself unworthy to be as his Master. We may well feel that nothing +which we can ever bear for Him is worthy to be compared with what He has +borne for us, and be the more overwhelmed with the greatness of the +condescension, and the humility of the love which reckon our light +affliction, which is but for a moment, along with the heavy weight which +He bore, and the blessed issue of which outlasts time and enriches +eternity. + +But there is another sense in which it is a worthy aim of our lives that +our sufferings may be felt to be fellowship with His. That is a blessed +sorrow which brings us closer to our Lord. That is a wholesome sorrow of +which the issue is an intenser faith in Him, a fuller experience of His +sufficiency. The storm blows us well when it blows us to His breast, and +sorrow enriches us, whatever it may take away, which gives us fuller and +more assured possession of Jesus. + +But when we are living in fellowship with Jesus, that union works in two +directions, and while on the one hand we may then humbly venture to feel +that our sufferings for Him are sufferings with Him, we may thankfully +feel, too, that in all our affliction He is afflicted. If His sufferings +are ours we may be sure that ours are His. And how different they all +become when we are certain of His sympathy! It is possible that we may +have a kind of common consciousness with our Lord, if our whole hearts +and wills are kept in close touch with Him, so that in our experience +there may be a repetition in a higher form of that strange experience +alleged to be familiar in hypnotism, where the bitter in one mouth is +tasted in another. + +So, what we ought to make our aim is that in our lives our growing +knowledge of Christ should lead to the two results, so inexorably +intertwined, of daily death and daily resurrection, and that we may be +kept faithful to Him so that our outward sufferings may be caused by our +union with Him, and not by our own faithlessness, and may be discerned +by us to be fellowship with His. Then we shall also feel that He bears +ours with us, and sorrow itself will be calmed and beautified into a +silent bliss, as the chill peaks when the morning strikes them glow with +tender pink, and seem soft and warm, though they are grim rock and +ice-cold snow. Then some faint echo of His history 'who was acquainted +with grief' may be audible in our outward lives and we, too, may have +our Gethsemane and our Calvary. It may not be presumption in us to say +'We are able' when He asks 'Can ye drink of the cup that I drink of'? +nor terror to hear Him prophesy 'Ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I +drink of,' for we shall remember 'joint-heirs in Christ, if so be that +we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together.' + +IV. The end attained. + +The Christian life as here manifested is even in its highest forms +manifestly incomplete. It is a reflected light, and like the reflected +light in the heavens, advances by imperceptible degrees to fill the +whole silver round. It may be 'e'en in its imperfections beautiful,' but +it assuredly has 'a ragged edge.' The hypothetical form of the last +words of our text does not so much imply a doubt of the possibility of +attaining the result as the recognition of the indispensable condition +of effort on the part of him who attains it. That effort forthcoming, +the attainment is certain. + +The Revised Version makes a slight correction which involves a great +matter, in reading 'the resurrection _from_ the dead.' It is necessary +to insist on this change in rendering, not because it implies that only +saints are raised, but because Paul is thinking of that first +resurrection of which the New Testament habitually speaks. 'The dead in +Christ shall rise first' as he himself declared in his earliest epistle, +and the seer in the Apocalypse shed a benediction on 'him that hath part +in the first resurrection.' Our knowledge of that solemn future is so +fragmentary that we cannot venture to draw dogmatic inferences from the +little that has been declared to us, but we cannot forget the distinct +words of Jesus in which He not only plainly declares a universal +resurrection, but as plainly proclaims that it falls into two parts, one +a 'resurrection of life,' and one a 'resurrection of judgment.' The +former may well be the final aim of a Christian life: the latter is a +fate which one would think no sane man would deliberately provoke. Each +carries in its name its dominant characteristic, the one full of +attractiveness, the other partially unveiling depths of shame and +punitive retributions which might appal the stoutest heart. + +This resurrection of life is the last result of the power of Christ's +Resurrection received into and working on the human spirit. It is plain +enough that if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead +dwell in us there is no term to its operations until our mortal bodies +also are quickened by His Spirit that dwelleth in us. The ethical and +spiritual resurrection in the present life finds its completion in the +bodily resurrection in the future. It cannot be that the transformation +wrought in a human life shall be complete until it has flowed outwards +into and permeated the whole of manhood, body, soul, and spirit. The +three measures of meal have each to be influenced before 'the whole is +leavened.' If we duly consider the elements necessary to a perfect +realisation of the divine ideal of humanity, we shall discern that +redemption must have a gospel to bring to the body as well as to the +spirit. Whatever has been devastated by sin must be healed by Jesus. It +is not necessary to suppose that the body which dies is the body which +rises again, rather the Apostle's far-reaching series of antitheses +between that which is sown and that which is raised leads us to think +that the natural body, which has passed through corruption, and the +particles of which have been gathered into many different combinations, +does not become the spiritual body. The person who dies is the person +who lives through death, and who assumes the body of the resurrection, +and it is the person, not the elements which make up the personality, +who is spoken of as risen from the dead. The vesture may be different, +but the wearer is the same. + +So that resurrection from the dead is the end of a supernatural life +begun here and destined to culminate hereafter. It is the last step in +the manifestation of our being in Christ, and so is being prepared for +here by every step in advance in gaining Jesus. It should ever be before +every Christian soul that participation in Christ hereafter is +conditioned by its progress in likeness to Him here. The Resurrection +from the dead is not a gift which can be bestowed apart from a man's +moral state. If he dies having had no knowledge by experience of the +power of Christ's Resurrection, there is nothing in the fact of death to +give him that knowledge, and it is impossible to bring 'any means' to +bear on him by which he will attain unto the 'resurrection from the +dead.' If God could give that gift irrespective of a man's relations to +Jesus, He would give it to all. Let us ask ourselves, then, is it not +worth making the dominant aim of our lives the same as that of Paul's? +How stands our account then? Are we not wise traders presenting a good +balance-sheet when we show entered on the one side the loss of all +things, and on the other the gaining of Christ, and the attaining the +resurrection from the dead, the perfect transformation of body, soul, +and spirit, into the perfect likeness of the perfect Lord? Does the +other balance-sheet show the man as equally solvent who enters on one +side the gain of a world, and on the other a Christless life, to be +followed by a resurrection in which is no joy, no advance, no life, but +which is a resurrection of judgment? May we all be found in Him, and +attain to the resurrection from the dead! + + + + +LAID HOLD OF AND LAYING HOLD + + 'I follow after if that I may apprehend that for + which also I was apprehended of Christ + Jesus.'--PHIL. iii. 12. + + +'I was laid hold of by Jesus Christ.' That is how Paul thinks of what we +call his conversion. He would never have 'turned' unless a hand had been +laid upon him. A strong loving grasp had gripped him in the midst of his +career of persecution, and all that he had done was to yield to the +grip, and not to wriggle out of it. The strong expression suggests, as +it seems to me, the suddenness of the incident. Possibly impressions may +have been working underground, ever since the martyrdom of Stephen, +which were undermining his convictions, and the very insanity of his +zeal may have been due to an uneasy consciousness that the ground was +yielding beneath his feet. That may have been so, but, whether it were +so or not, the crisis came like a bolt out of the blue, and he was +checked in full career, as if a voice had spoken to the sea in its +wildest storm, and frozen its waves into immobility. + +There is suggested in the word, too, distinctly, our Lord's personal +action in the matter. No doubt, the fact of His supernatural appearance +gives emphasis to the phrase here. But every Christian man and woman has +been, as truly as ever Paul was, laid hold of by the personal action of +Jesus Christ. He is present in His Word, and, by multitudes of inward +impulses and outward providences, He is putting out a gentle and a firm +hand, and laying it upon the shoulders of all of us. Have we yielded? +Have we resisted, when we were laid hold of? Did we try to get away? Did +we plant our feet and say, 'I will not be drawn,' or did we simply +neglect the pressure? If we have yielded, my text tells us what we have +to do next. For that hand is laid upon a man for a purpose, and that +purpose is not secured by the hand being laid upon him, unless he, in +his turn, will put out a hand and grasp. Our activity is needed; that +activity will not be put forth without very distinct effort, and that +effort has to be life-long, because our grasp at the best is incomplete. +So then, we have here, first of all, to consider-- + +I. What Christ has laid His grip on us for. + +Now, the immediate result of that grasp, when it is yielded to, is the +sense of the removal of guilt, forgiveness of sins, acceptance with God. +But these, the immediate results, are by no means the whole results, +although a great many of us live as if we thought that the only thing +that Christianity is meant to do to us is that it bars the gates of some +future hell, and brings to us the message of forgiveness. We cannot +think too nobly or too loftily of that gift of forgiveness, the initial +gift that is laid in every Christian man's hands, but we may think too +exclusively of it, and a great many of us do think of it as if it were +all that was to be given. A painter has to clear away the old paint off +a door, or a wall, before he lays on the new. The initial gift that +comes from being laid hold of by Jesus Christ is the burning off of the +old coat of paint. But that is only the preliminary to the laying on of +the new. A man away in the backwoods will spend a couple of years after +he has got his bit of land in felling and burning the trees, and rooting +out and destroying the weeds. But is that what he got the clearing for? +That is only a preliminary to sowing the seed. My friend! If Jesus +Christ has laid hold of you, and you have let Him keep hold of you, it +is not only that you may be forgiven, not only that you may sun yourself +in the light of God's countenance, and feel that a new blessed relation +is set up between you and Him, but there are great purposes lying at the +back of that, of which all that is only the preliminary and the +preparation. + +Conversion. Yes; but what is the good of turning a man round unless he +goes in the direction in which his face is turned? And so here the +Apostle having for years lived in the light of that great thought, that +God was reconciled in Jesus Christ, and that he was God's friend, +discerns far beyond that, in dim perspective, towering high above the +land in the front, the snowy sunlit summits of a great range to which he +has yet to climb, and says, 'I press on to lay hold of that for which I +was laid hold of by Jesus Christ.' + +And what was that? On the road to Damascus Paul was only told one thing, +that Christ had grasped him and drawn him to Himself in order that He +might make him a chosen vessel to bear the Word far hence amongst the +Gentiles. The bearing of His conversion upon Paul himself was never +mentioned. The bearing of His conversion on the world was the only +subject that Jesus spoke of at first. But here Paul has nothing to say +about his world-wide mission. He does not think of himself as being +called to be an Apostle, but as being summoned to be a Christian. And +so, forgetting for the time all the glorious and yet burdensome +obligations which were laid upon him, and the discharge of which was the +very life of his life, he thinks only of what affects his own character, +the perfecting of which he regards as being the one thing for which he +was 'laid hold of by Christ Jesus.' The purpose is twofold. No Christian +man is made a Christian only in order that he may secure his own +salvation; there is the world to think of. No Christian man is made a +Christian only in order that he may be Christ's instrument for carrying +the Word to other people; there is himself to think of. And these two +phases of the purpose for which Jesus Christ lays hold upon us are very +hard to unite in practice, giving to each its due place and prominence, +and they are often separated, to the detriment of both the one that is +attended to, and the one that is neglected. The monastic life has not +produced the noblest Christians; and there are pitfalls lying in the +path of every man who, like me, has for his profession to preach the +Gospel, which, if they are fallen into, the inward life is utterly +wrecked. + +The two sides of Christ's purpose have, in our practice, to be held +together, but for the present I only wish to say a word or two about +that which, as I have indicated, is but one hemisphere of the completed +orb, and that is our personal culture and growth in the divine life. +What did Christ lay hold of me for? Paul answers the question very +strikingly and beautifully in a previous verse. Here is his conception +of the purpose, 'that I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection, +and the fellowship of His sufferings, being made conformable unto His +death, if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the +dead.' That is what you were forgiven for; that is what you have 'passed +from death unto life' for; that is what you have come into the sweet +fellowship of God, and can think of Him as your Friend and Helper for. + +Let us take the clauses _seriatim_, and say a word about each of them. +'That I may know Him.' Ah! there is a great deal more in Jesus Christ +than a man sees when he first sees Him through his tears and his fears, +and apprehends Him as the Saviour of his soul, and the sacrifice on whom +the burden and the guilt of his sins were laid. We must begin there, as +I believe. But woe to us if we stop there. There is far more in Christ +than that; although all that is in Him is included in that, yet you have +to dig deep before you find all that is included in it. You have to live +with Him day by day, and year by year, and to learn to know Him as we +learn to know husbands and wives, by continual intercourse, by continual +experience of a sweet and unfailing love, by many a sacred hour of +interchange of affection and reception of gifts and counsels. It is only +thus that we learn to know what Jesus Christ is. When He lays hold of +us, He comes like the angel that came to Peter in the prison in the dark +and awoke him out of his sleep and said 'Rise! and follow me.' It is +only when we get out into the street, and have been with Him for awhile, +and the daylight begins to stream in, that we see clearly the face of +our Deliverer, and know Him for all that He is. This knowledge is not +the sort of knowledge that you can get by thinking, or out of a book. +It is the knowledge of experience. It is the knowledge of love, it is +the knowledge of union, and it is in order that we may know Christ that +He lays his hand upon us. + +'The power of His Resurrection.' Now, by that I understand a similar +knowledge, by experience, of the risen life of Jesus Christ flowing into +us, and filling our hearts and minds with its own power. The risen life +of Jesus is the nourishment and strengthening and blessing and life of a +Christian. Our daily experience ought to be that there comes, wavelet by +wavelet, that silent, gentle, and yet omnipotent influx into our empty +hearts, the very life of Christ Himself. + +I know that this generation says that that is mysticism. I do not know +whether it is mysticism or not. I am sure it is truth; and I do not +understand Christianity at all, unless there is that kind of mysticism, +perfectly wholesome and good, in it. You will never know Jesus Christ +until you know Him as pouring into your hearts the power of an endless +life, His own life. Christ for us by all means,--Christ's death the +basis of our hope, but Christ in us, and Christ's life as the true gift +to His Church. Have you got that? Do you know the power of His +Resurrection? + +'The fellowship of His sufferings.' Has Paul made a mistake, and +deserted the chronological order? Why does he put the 'fellowship of the +sufferings' after the 'power of the Resurrection'? For this plain +reason, that if we get Christ's life into our hearts, in the measure in +which we get it we shall bear a similar relation to the world which He +bore to it, and in our measure will 'fill up that which is behind in the +sufferings of Christ,' and will understand how true it is that 'if they +hate Me they will hate you also.' Brethren, the test of us who have the +life of Christ in our hearts is that we shall, in some measure, suffer +with Him, because 'as He is, so are we, in this world,' and because we +must in that case look upon the world, its sins and its sorrows, with +something of the sad gaze with which He looked across the valley to the +Temple sparkling in the morning light, and wept over it. So if we know +the power of His Resurrection we shall know the fellowship of His +sufferings. + +And then Paul goes on, in his definition of the purpose for which Christ +lays hold upon men, apparently to say the same thing over again, only in +the opposite order, 'that I may be conformable to His death, if by any +means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.' Both of these +clauses, I think, refer to the future, to the actual dying of the body, +and the actual future resurrection of the same. And the thought is this, +that if here, through our earthly lives, we have been recipients of the +risen life of Jesus Christ, and so have stood to the world in our degree +as He stood to it, then when the moment of death comes to us, we shall, +in so far, have our departure shaped after His as that we shall be able +to say, 'Into Thy hands I commit my spirit,' and die willingly, and at +last shall be partakers of that blessed Resurrection unto life eternal +which closes the vista of our earthly history. Stephen's death was +conformed to Christ's in outward fashion, in so far as it echoed the +Master's prayer, 'Father forgive them, for they know not what they do,' +and in so far as it echoed the Master's last words, with the significant +alteration that, whilst Jesus commended His spirit to the Father, the +first martyr commended his to Jesus Christ. + +These, then, are the purposes for which Christ laid His hand upon us, +that we might know Him, the power of His Resurrection, the fellowship of +His sufferings, being made conformable to His death yet by attaining the +resurrection of the dead. + +II. Notice, again, our laying hold because we have been laid hold of. + +Christ's laying hold of me, blessed and powerful as it is, does not of +itself secure that I shall reach the end which He had in view in His +arresting of me. What more is wanted? My effort. 'I follow after if I +may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended.' Now, notice, in the +one case, the Apostle speaks of himself, not as passive, but certainly +not as active. 'I was laid hold of.' What did he do? As I have said, he +simply yielded to the grasp. But 'I may lay hold of' conveys the idea of +personal effort; and so these two expressions, 'I was apprehended,' and +'I apprehend,' suggest this consideration, that, for the initial +blessings of the Christian life, forgiveness, acceptance, the sense of +God's favour, and of reconciliation with him, nothing is needed but the +simple faith that yields itself altogether to the grasp of Christ's +hand, but that for my possessing what Christ means that I should possess +when He lays His hand on me, there is needed not only faith but effort. +I have to put out _my_ hand and tighten my fingers round the thing, if I +would make it my own, and keep it. + +So--faith, to begin with, and work based on faith, to go on with. It is +because a man is sure that Jesus Christ has laid His hand upon him, and +meant something when He did it, that he fights on with all his might to +realise Christ's purpose, and to get and keep the thing which Christ +meant him to have. There is stimulus in the thought, I was laid hold of +by Him for a purpose. There is all the difference between striving, +however eagerly, however nobly, however strenuously, however constantly, +after self-improvement, by one's own effort only, and striving after it +because one knows that he is therein fulfilling the purpose for which +Jesus Christ drew him to Himself. + +And if that be so, then the nature of the thing to be laid hold of +determines what we are to do to lay hold of it. And since to know +Christ, and the power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His +sufferings, is the aim and end of our conversion, the way to secure it +must be keeping in continual touch with Jesus by meditating upon Him, by +holding many a moment of still, sacred, sweet communion with Him, by +carefully avoiding whatever might come between us and our knowledge of +Him, and the influx of His life into us, and by yielding ourselves, day +by day, to the continual influence of His divine grace upon us and by +the discipline which shall make our inward natures more and more capable +of receiving more and more of that dear Lord. These being the things to +do, in regard to the inward life, there must be effort too, in regard to +the outward; for we must, if we are to lay hold of that for which we are +laid hold of by Jesus Christ, bring all the outward life under the +dominion of this inward impulse, and when the flood pours into our +hearts we must, by many a sluice and trench, guide it into every corner +of the field, that all may be irrigated. The first thing they do when +they are going to sow rice in an Eastern field is to flood it, and then +they cast in the seed, and it germinates. Flood your lives with Christ, +and then sow the seed and you will get a crop. + +III. Lastly, the text suggests the incompleteness of our grasp. + +'I follow that,' says Paul, 'if that I may apprehend.' This letter was +written far on in his career, in the time of his imprisonment in Rome, +which all but ended his ministerial activity; and was many years after +that day on the road to Damascus. And yet, matured Christian and +exercised Apostle as he was, with all that past behind him, he says, 'I +follow after, that I may apprehend.' Ah, brother, our experience must be +incomplete, for we have an infinite aim set before us, and there is no +end to the possibilities of plunging deeper and deeper and deeper into +the knowledge of Christ, and having larger and larger and larger +draughts of the fulness of His life. We have only been like goldseekers, +who have contented themselves as yet with washing the precious grains +out of the gravel of the river. There are great reefs filled with the +ore that we have not touched. Thank God for the necessary incompleteness +of our 'apprehending.' It is the very salt of life. To have realised our +aims, to have fulfilled our ideals, to have sucked dry the cluster of +the grapes is the death of aspiration, of hope, of blessedness; and to +have the distance beckoning, and all experience 'an arch, wherethro' +gleams the untravelled world to which we move,' is the secret of +perpetual youth and energy. + +Because incomplete, our experience should be progressive; and that is a +truth that needs hammering into Christian people to-day. About how many +of us can it be said that our light 'shineth more and more unto the +noonday.' Alas! about an enormous number of us it must be said, 'When +for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you.' +All our churches have many grown babies, and cases of arrested +development--people that ought to be living on strong meat, and are +unable to masticate or digest it, and by their own fault have still need +of the milk of infancy. There is an old fable about a strange animal +that fastened itself to the keel of sailing ships, and by some uncanny +power was able to arrest them in mid-ocean, though the winds were +filling all their sails. There is a remora, as they called it, of that +sort adhering to a great many Christian people, and keeping them fixed +on one spot, instead of 'following after, if that they may apprehend.' + +Dear friends--and especially you younger Christians--Christ has laid +hold of you. Well and good! that is the beginning. He has laid hold of +you for an end. That end will not be reached without your effort, and +that effort must be perpetual. It is a life-long task. Ay! and even up +yonder the apprehending will be incomplete. Like those mathematical +lines that ever approximate to a point which they never reach, we shall +through Eternity be, as it were, rising, in ascending and ever-closer +drawing spirals, to that great Throne, and to Him that sits upon it. So +that, striking out the humble 'may' from our text, the rest of it +describes the progressive blessedness of the endless life in the +heavens, as truly as it does the progressive duty of the Christian life +here, and the glorified flock that follows the Lamb in the heavenly +pastures may each say: I follow after in order to apprehend that 'for +which,' long ago and down amidst the dim shadows of earth, 'I was +apprehended of Christ Jesus.' + + + + +THE RACE AND THE GOAL + + 'This one thing I do, forgetting those things + which are behind, and reaching forth unto those + things which are before, I press toward the mark + for the prize.'--PHIL. iii. 13, 14. + + +This buoyant energy and onward looking are marvellous in 'Paul the aged, +and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ.' Forgetfulness of the past and +eager anticipation for the future are, we sometimes think, the child's +prerogatives. They may be ignoble and puerile, or they may be worthy and +great. All depends on the future to which we look. If it be the creation +of our fancies, we are babies for trusting it. If it be, as Paul's was, +the revelation of God's purposes, we cannot do a wiser thing than look. + +The Apostle here is letting us see the secret of his own life, and +telling us what made him the sort of Christian that he was. He counsels +wise obliviousness, wise anticipation, strenuous concentration, and +these are the things that contribute to success in any field of life. +Christianity is the perfection of common sense. Men become mature +Christians by no other means than those by which they become good +artisans, ripe scholars, or the like. But the misery is that, though +people know well enough that they cannot be good carpenters, or doctors, +or fiddlers without certain habits and practices, they seem to fancy +that they can be good Christians without them. + +So the words of my text may suggest appropriate thoughts on this first +Sunday of a new year. Let us listen, then, to Paul telling us how he +came to be the sort of Christian man he was. + +I. First, then, I would say, make God's aim your aim. + +Paul distinguishes here between the 'mark' and the 'prize.' He aims at +the one for the sake of the other. The one is the object of effort; the +other is the sure result of successful effort. If I may so say, the +crown hangs on the winning post; and he who touches the goal clutches +the garland. + +Then, mark that he regards the aim towards which he strains as being the +aim which Christ had in view in his conversion. For he says in the +preceding context, 'I labour if that I may lay hold of that for which +also I have been laid hold of by Jesus Christ.' In the words that follow +the text he speaks of the prize as being the result and purpose of the +high calling of God 'in Christ Jesus.' So then he took God's purpose in +calling, and Christ's purpose in redeeming him, as being his great +object in life. God's aims and Paul's were identical. + +What, then, is the aim of God in all that He has done for us? The +production in us of God-like and God-pleasing character. For this suns +rise and set; for this seasons and times come and go; for this sorrows +and joys are experienced; for this hopes and fears and loves are +kindled. For this all the discipline of life is set in motion. For this +we were created; for this we have been redeemed. For this Jesus Christ +lived and suffered and died. For this God's Spirit is poured out upon +the world. All else is scaffolding; this is the building which it +contemplates, and when the building is reared the scaffolding may be +cleared away. God means to make us like Himself, and so pleasing to +Himself, and has no other end in all the varieties of His gifts and +bestowments but only this, the production of character. + +Such is the aim that we should set before us. The acceptance of that aim +as ours will give nobleness and blessedness to our lives as nothing else +will. How different all our estimates of the meaning and true nature of +events would be, if we kept clearly before us that their intention was +not merely to make us blessed and glad, or to make us sorrowful, but +that, through the blessedness, through the sorrow, through the gift, +through the withdrawal, through all the variety of dealings, the +intention was one and the same, to mould us to the likeness of our Lord +and Saviour! There would be fewer mysteries in our lives, we should +seldomer have to stand in astonishment, in vain regret, in miserable and +weakening looking back upon vanished gifts, and saying to ourselves, +'Why has this darkness stooped upon my path?' if we looked beyond the +darkness and the light to that for which both were sent. Some plants +require frost to bring out their savour, and men need sorrow to test and +to produce their highest qualities. There would be fewer knots in the +thread of our lives, and fewer mysteries in our experience, if we made +God's aim ours, and strove through all variations of condition to +realise it. + +How different all our estimate of nearer objects and aims would be, if +once we clearly recognised what we are here for! The prostitution of +powers to obviously unworthy aims and ends is the saddest thing in +humanity. It is like elephants being set to pick up pins; it is like the +lightning being harnessed to carry all the gossip and filth of one +capital of the world to the prurient readers in another. Men take these +great powers which God has given them, and use them to make money, to +cultivate their intellects, to secure the gratification of earthly +desires, to make a home for themselves here amidst the illusions of +time; and all the while the great aim which ought to stand out clear and +supreme is forgotten by them. + +There is nothing that needs more careful examination by us than our +accepted schemes of life for ourselves; the roots of our errors mostly +lie in these things that we take to be axioms, and that we never examine +into. Let us begin this new year by an honest dealing with ourselves, +asking ourselves this question, 'What am I living for?' And if the +answer, first of all, be, as, of course, it will be, the accomplishment +of the nearer and necessary aims, such as the conduct of our business, +the cultivating of our understandings, the love and peace of our homes, +then let us press the investigation a little further, and say, What +then? Suppose I make a fortune, what then? Suppose I get the position I +am striving for, what then? Suppose I cultivate my understanding and win +the knowledge that I am nobly striving after, what then? Let us not +cease to ask the question until we can say, 'Thy aim, O Lord, is my aim, +and I press toward the mark,' the only mark which will make life noble, +elastic, stable, and blessed, that I 'may be found in Christ, not having +mine own righteousness, but that which is of God by faith.' For this we +have all been made, guided, redeemed. If we carry this treasure out of +life we shall carry all that is worth carrying. If we fail in this we +fail altogether, whatever be our so-called success. There is one mark, +one only, and every arrow that does not hit that target is wasted and +spent in vain. + +II. Secondly, let me say, concentrate all effort on this one aim. + +'This one thing I do,' says the Apostle, 'I press toward the mark.' That +aim is the one which God has in view in all circumstances and +arrangements. Therefore, obviously, it is one which may be pursued in +all of these, and may be sought whatsoever we are doing. All +occupations of life except only sin are consistent with this highest +aim. It needs not that we should seek any remote or cloistered form of +life, nor sheer off any legitimate and common interests and occupations, +but in them all we may be seeking for the one thing, the moulding of our +characters into the shapes that are pleasing to Him. 'One thing have I +desired of the Lord, that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the +house of the Lord all the days of my life'; wheresoever the outward days +of my life may be passed. Whatsoever we are doing in business, in shop, +at a study table, in the kitchen, in the nursery, by the road, in the +house, we may still have the supreme aim in view, that from all +occupations there may come growth in character and in likeness to Jesus +Christ. + +Only, to keep this supreme aim clear there will require far more +frequent and resolute effort of what the old mystics used to call +'recollection' than we are accustomed to put forth. It is hard, amidst +the din of business, and whilst yielding to other lower, legitimate +impulses and motives, to set this supreme one high above them all. But +it is possible if only we will do two things: keep ourselves close to +God, and be prepared to surrender much, laying our own wills, our own +fancies, purposes, eager hopes and plans in His hands, and asking Him to +help us, that we may never lose sight of the harbour light because of +any tossing waves that rise between us and it, nor may ever be so +swallowed up in ends, which are only means after all, as to lose sight +of the only end which is an end in itself. But for the attainment of +this aim in any measure, the concentration of all our powers upon it is +absolutely needful. If you want to bore a hole you take a sharp point; +you can do nothing with a blunt one. Every flight of wild ducks in the +sky will tell you the form that is most likely to secure the maximum of +motion with the minimum of effort. The wedge is that which pierces +through all the loosely-compacted textures against which it is pressed. +The Roman strategy forced the way of the legion through the +loose-ordered ranks of barbarian foes by arraying it in that wedge-like +form. So we, if we are to advance, must gather ourselves together and +put a point upon our lives by compaction and concentration of effort and +energy on the one purpose. The conquering word is, 'This one thing I +do.' The difference between the amateur and the artist is that the one +pursues an art at intervals by spurts, as a _parergon_--a thing that is +done in the intervals of other occupations--and that the other makes it +his life's business. There are a great many amateur Christians amongst +us, who pursue the Christian life by spurts and starts. If you want to +be a Christian after God's pattern--and unless you are you are scarcely +a Christian at all--you have to make it your business, to give the same +attention, the same concentration, the same unwavering energy to it +which you do to your trade. The man of one book, the man of one idea, +the man of one aim is the formidable and the successful man. People will +call you a fanatic; never mind. Better be a fanatic and get what you aim +at, which is the highest thing, than be so broad that, like a stream +spreading itself out over miles of mud, there is no scour in it +anywhere, no current, and therefore stagnation and death. Gather +yourselves together, and amidst all the side issues and nearer aims keep +this in view as the aim to which all are to be subservient--that, +'whether I eat or drink, or whatsoever I do, I may do all to the glory +of God.' Let sorrow and joy, and trade and profession, and study and +business, and house and wife and children, and all home joys, be the +means by which you may become like the Master who has died for this end, +that we may become partakers of His holiness. + +III. Pursue this end with a wise forgetfulness. + +'Forgetting the things that are behind.' The art of forgetting has much +to do with the blessedness and power of every life. Of course, when the +Apostle says 'Forgetting the things that are behind,' he is thinking of +the runner, who has no time to cast his eye over his shoulder to mark +the steps already trod. He does not mean, of course, either, to tell us +that we are so to cultivate obliviousness as to let God's mercies to us +'lie forgotten in unthankfulness, or without praises die.' Nor does he +mean to tell us that we are to deny ourselves the solace of remembering +the mercies which may, perhaps, have gone from us. Memory may be like +the calm radiance that fills the western sky from a sun that has set, +sad and yet sweet, melancholy and lovely. But he means that we should so +forget as, by the oblivion, to strengthen our concentration. + +So I would say, let us remember, and yet forget, our past failures and +faults. Let us remember them in order that the remembrance may cultivate +in us a wise chastening of our self-confidence. Let us remember where we +were foiled, in order that we may be the more careful of that place +hereafter. If we know that upon any road we fell into ambushes, 'not +once nor twice,' like the old king of Israel, we should guard ourselves +against passing by that road again. He who has not learned, by the +memory of his past failures, humility and wise government of his life, +and wise avoidance of places where he is weak, is an incurable fool. + +But let us forget our failures in so far as these might paralyse our +hopes, or make us fancy that future success is impossible where past +failures frown. Ebenezer was a field of defeat before it rang with the +hymns of victory. And there is no place in your past life where you have +been shamefully baffled and beaten, but there, and in that, you may yet +be victorious. Never let the past limit your hopes of the possibilities +and your confidence in the certainties and victories of the future. And +if ever you are tempted to say to yourselves, 'I have tried it so often, +and so often failed, that it is no use trying it any more. I am beaten +and I throw up the sponge,' remember Paul's wise exhortation, and +'forgetting the things that are behind . . . press toward the mark.' + +In like manner I would say, remember and yet forget past successes and +achievements. Remember them for thankfulness, remember them for hope, +remember them for counsel and instruction, but forget them when they +tend, as all that we accomplish does tend, to make us fancy that little +more remains to be done; and forget them when they tend, as all that we +accomplish ever does tend, to make us think that such and such things +are our line, and of other virtues and graces and achievements of +culture and of character, that these are not our line, and not to be won +by us. + +'Our line!' Astronomers take a thin thread from a spider's web and +stretch it across their object glasses to measure stellar magnitudes. +Just as is the spider's line in comparison with the whole shining +surface of the sun across which it is stretched, so is what we have +already attained to the boundless might and glory of that to which we +may come. Nothing short of the full measure of the likeness of Jesus +Christ is the measure of our possibilities. + +There is a mannerism in Christian life, as there is in everything else, +which is to be avoided if we would grow into perfection. There was a +great artist in the last century who never could paint a picture without +sticking a brown tree in the foreground. We have all got our 'brown +trees,' which we think we can do well, and these limit our ambition to +secure other gifts which God is ready to bestow upon us. So 'forget the +things that are behind.' Cultivate a wise obliviousness of past sorrows, +past joys, past failures, past gifts, past achievements, in so far as +these might limit the audacity of our hopes and the energy of our +efforts. + +IV. So, lastly, pursue the aim with a wise, eager reaching forward. + +The Apostle employs a very graphic word here, which is only very +partially expressed by that 'reaching forth.' It contains a condensed +picture which it is scarcely possible to put into any one expression. +'Reaching out over' is the full though clumsy rendering of the word, and +it gives us the picture of the runner with his whole body thrown +forward, his hand extended, and his eye reaching even further than his +hand, in eager anticipation of the mark and the prize. So we are to +live, with continual reaching out of confidence, clear recognition, and +eager desire to make our own the unattained. + +What is that which gives an element of nobleness to the lives of great +idealists, whether they be poets, artists, students, thinkers, or what +not? Only this, that they see the unattained burning ever so clearly +before them that all the attained seems as nothing in their eyes. And +so life is saved from commonplace, is happily stung into fresh effort, +is redeemed from flagging, monotony, and weariness. + +The measure of our attainments may be fairly estimated by the extent to +which the unattained is clear in our sight. A man down in the valley +sees the nearer shoulder of the hill, and he thinks it the top. The man +up on the shoulder sees all the heights that lie beyond rising above +him. Endeavour is better than success. It is more to see the Alpine +heights unscaled than it is to have risen so far as we have done. They +who thus have a boundless future before them have an endless source of +inspiration, of energy, of buoyancy granted to them. + +No man has such an absolutely boundless vision of the future which may +be his as we have, if we are Christian people, as we ought to be. We +only can thus look forward. For all others a blank wall stretches at the +end of life, against which hopes, when they strike, fall back stunned +and dead. But for us the wall may be overleaped, and, living by the +energy of a boundless hope, we, and only we, can lay ourselves down to +die, and say then, 'Reaching forth unto the things that are before.' + +So, dear friends, make God's aim your aim; concentrate your life's +efforts upon it; pursue it with a wise forgetfulness; pursue it with an +eager confidence of anticipation that shall not be put to shame. +Remember that God reaches His aim for you by giving to you Jesus Christ, +and that you can only reach it by accepting the Christ who is given and +being found in Him. Then the years will take away nothing from us which +it is not gain to lose. They will neither weaken our energy nor flatten +our hopes, nor dim our confidence, and, at the last we shall reach the +mark, and, as we touch it, we shall find dropping on our surprised and +humble heads the crown of life which they receive who have so run, not +as uncertainly, but doing this one thing, pressing towards the mark for +the prize. + + + + +THE SOUL'S PERFECTION + + 'Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus + minded: and if in anything ye be otherwise minded, + God shall reveal even this unto you.'--PHIL. iii. + 15. + + +'As many as be perfect'; and how many may they be? Surely a very short +bede-roll would contain their names; or would there be any other but the +Name which is above every name upon it? Part of the answer to such a +question may be found in observing that the New Testament very +frequently uses the word to express not so much the idea of moral +completeness as that of physical maturity. For instance, when Paul says +that he would have his converts to be '_men_ in understanding,' and when +the Epistle to the Hebrews speaks of 'them that are of full age,' the +same word is used as this 'perfect' in our text. Clearly in such cases +it means 'full grown,' as in contrast with 'babes,' and expresses not +absolute completeness, but what we may term a relative perfection, a +certain maturity of character and advanced stage of Christian +attainment, far removed from the infantile epoch of the Christian life. + +Another contribution to the answer may be found in observing that in +this very context these 'perfect' people are exhorted to cultivate the +sense of not having 'already attained,' and to be constantly reaching +forth to unattained heights, so that a sense of imperfection and a +continual effort after higher life are parts of Paul's 'perfect man.' +And it is to be still further noticed that on the same testimony +'perfect' people may probably be 'otherwise minded'; by which we +understand not divergently minded from one another, but 'otherwise' than +the true norm or law of life would prescribe, and so may stand in need +of the hope that God will by degrees bring them into conformity with His +will, and show them 'this,' namely, their divergence from His Pattern +for them. + +It is worth our while to look at these large thoughts thus involved in +the words before us. + +I. Then there are people whom without exaggeration the judgment of truth +calls _perfect_. + +The language of the New Testament has no scruple in calling men 'saints' +who had many sins, and none in calling men perfect who had many +imperfections; and it does so, not because it has any fantastic theory +about religious emotions being the measure of moral purity, but partly +for the reasons already referred to, and partly because it wisely +considers the main thing about a character to be not the degree to which +it has attained completeness in its ideal, but what that ideal is. The +distance a man has got on his journey is of less consequence than the +direction in which his face is turned. The arrow may fall short, but to +what mark was it shot? In all regions of life a wise classification of +men arranges them according to their aims rather than their +achievements. The visionary who attempts something high and accomplishes +scarcely anything of it, is often a far nobler man, and his poor, +broken, foiled, resultless life far more perfect than his who aims at +marks on the low levels and hits them full. Such lives as these, full +of yearning and aspiration, though it be for the most part vain, are + + 'Like the young moon with a ragged edge + E'en in its imperfection beautiful.' + +If then it be wise to rank men and their pursuits according to their +aims rather than their accomplishments, is there one class of aims so +absolutely corresponding to man's nature and relations that to take them +for one's own, and to reach some measure of approximation to them, may +fairly be called the perfection of human nature? Is there one way of +living concerning which we may say that whosoever adopts it has, in so +far as he does adopt it, discerned and attained the purpose of his +being? The literal force of the word in our text gives pertinence to +that question, for it distinctly means 'having reached the end.' And if +that be taken as the meaning, there need be no doubt about the answer. +Grand old words have taught us long ago 'Man's chief end is to glorify +God and to enjoy Him for ever.' Yes, he who lives for God has taken that +for his aim which all his nature and all his relations prescribe, he is +doing what he was made and meant to do; and however incomplete may be +its attainments, the lowest form of a God-fearing, God-obeying life is +higher and more nearly 'perfect' than the fairest career or character +against which, as a blight on all its beauty, the damning accusation may +be brought, 'The God in whose hand thy breath is, and whose are all thy +ways, thou hast not glorified.' + +People sneer at 'saints' and point at their failings. They remind us of +the foul stains in David's career, for instance, and mock as they ask, +'Is this your man after God's own heart?' Yes, he is; not because +religion has a morality of its own different from that of the world +(except as being higher), nor because 'saints' make up for adultery and +murder by making or singing psalms, but because the main set and current +of the life was evidently towards God and goodness, and these hideous +sins were glaring contradictions, eddies and backwaters, as it were, +wept over with bitter self-abasement and conquered by strenuous effort. +Better a life of Godward aspiration and straining after purity, even if +broken by such a fall, so recovered, than one of habitual earthward +grubbing, undisturbed by gross sin. + +And another reason warrants the application of the word to men whose +present is full of incompleteness, namely, the fact that such men have +in them the germ of a life which has no natural end but absolute +completeness. The small seed may grow very slowly in the climate and +soil which it finds here, and be only a poor little bit of ragged green, +very shabby and inconspicuous by the side of the native flowers of earth +flaunting around it, but it has a divine germinant virtue within, and +waits but being carried to its own clime and 'planted in the house of +the Lord' above, to 'flourish in the courts of our God,' when these +others with their glorious beauty have faded away and are flung out to +rot. + +II. We have set forth here very distinctly two of the characteristics of +this perfection. + +The Apostle in our text exhorts the perfect to be '_thus_ minded.' How +is that? Evidently the word points back to the previous clauses, in +which he has been describing his own temper and feeling in the Christian +race. He sets that before the Philippians as their pattern, or rather +invites them to fellowship with him in the estimate of themselves and in +their efforts after higher attainments. 'Be thus minded' means, Think +as I do of yourselves, and do as I do in your daily life. + +How did he think of himself? He tells us in the sentence before, 'Not as +though I were already perfect. I count not myself to have apprehended.' +So then a leading characteristic of this true Christian perfection is a +constant consciousness of imperfection. In all fields of effort, whether +intellectual, moral, or mechanical, as faculty grows, consciousness of +insufficiency grows with it. The farther we get up the hill, the more we +see how far it is to the horizon. The more we know, the more we know our +ignorance. The better we can do, the more we discern how much we cannot +do. Only people who never have done and never will do anything, or else +raw apprentices with the mercifully granted self-confidence of youth, +which gets beaten out of most of us soon enough, think that they can do +everything. + +In morals and in Christian life the same thing is true. The measure of +our perfection will be the consciousness of our imperfection--a paradox, +but a great truth. It is plain enough that it will be so. Conscience +becomes more sensitive as we get nearer right. The worse a man is the +less it speaks to him, and the less he hears it. When it ought to +thunder it whispers; when we need it most it is least active. The thick +skin of a savage will not be disturbed by lying on sharp stones, while a +crumpled rose-leaf robs the Sybarite of his sleep. So the practice of +evil hardens the cuticle of conscience, and the practice of goodness +restores tenderness and sensibility; and many a man laden with crime +knows less of its tingling than some fair soul that looks almost +spotless to all eyes but its own. One little stain of rust will be +conspicuous on a brightly polished blade, but if it be all dirty and +dull, a dozen more or fewer will make little difference. As men grow +better they become like that glycerine barometer recently introduced, on +which a fall or a rise that would have been invisible with mercury to +record it takes up inches, and is glaringly conspicuous. Good people +sometimes wonder, and sometimes are made doubtful and sad about +themselves, by this abiding and even increased consciousness of sin. +There is no need to be so. The higher the temperature the more chilling +would it be to pass into an ice-house, and the more our lives are +brought into fellowship with the perfect life, the more shall we feel +our own shortcomings. Let us be thankful if our consciences speak to us +more loudly than they used to do. It is a sign of growing holiness, as +the tingling in a frost-bitten limb is of returning life. Let us seek to +cultivate and increase the sense of our own imperfection, and be sure +that the diminution of a consciousness of sin means not diminished power +of sin, but lessened horror of it, lessened perception of right, +lessened love of goodness, and is an omen of death, not a symptom of +life. Painter, scholar, craftsman all know that the condition of advance +is the recognition of an ideal not attained. Whoever has not before him +a standard to which he has not reached will grow no more. If we see no +faults in our work we shall never do any better. The condition of all +Christian, as of all other progress, is to be drawn by that fair vision +before us, and to be stung into renewed effort to reach it, by the +consciousness of present imperfection. + +Another characteristic to which these perfect men are exhorted is a +constant striving after a further advance. How vigorously, almost +vehemently, that temper is put in the context--'I follow after'; 'I +press toward the mark'; and that picturesque 'reaching forth,' or, as +the Revised Version gives it, 'stretching forward.' The full force of +the latter word cannot be given in any one English equivalent, but may +be clumsily hinted by some such phrase as 'stretching oneself out over,' +as a runner might do with body thrown forward and arms extended in +front, and eagerness in every strained muscle, and eye outrunning foot, +and hope clutching the goal already. So yearning forward, and setting +all the current of his being, both faculty and desire, to the yet +unreached mark, the Christian man is to live. His glances are not to be +bent backwards, but forwards. He is not to be a 'praiser of the past,' +but a herald and expectant of a nobler future. He is the child of the +day and of the morning, forgetting the things which are behind, and ever +yearning towards the things which are before, and drawing them to +himself. To look back is to be stiffened into a living death; only with +faces set forward are we safe and well. + +This buoyant energy of hope and effort is to be the result of the +consciousness of imperfection of which we have spoken. Strange to many +of us, in some moods, that a thing so bright should spring up from a +thing so dark, and that the more we feel our own shortcomings, the more +hopeful should we be of a future unlike the past, and the more earnest +in our effort to make that future the present! There is a type of +Christian experience not uncommon among devout people, in which the +consciousness of imperfection paralyses effort instead of quickening it; +men lament their evil, their slow progress and so on, and remain the +same year after year. They are stirred to no effort. There is no +straining onwards. They almost seem to lose the faith that they can ever +be any better. How different this from the grand, wholesome completeness +of Paul's view here, which embraces both elements, and even draws the +undying brightness of his forward-looking confidence from the very +darkness of his sense of present imperfection! + +So should it be with us, 'as many as be perfect.' Before us stretch +indefinite possibilities of approximating to the unattainable fulness of +the divine life. We may grow in knowledge and in holiness through +endless ages and grades of advance. In a most blessed sense we may have +that for our highest joy which in another meaning is a punishment of +unfaithfulness and indocility, that we shall be 'ever learning, and +never coming to the full knowledge of the truth.' No limit can be put to +what we may receive of God, nor to the closeness, the fulness of our +communion with Him, nor to the beauty of holiness which may pass from +Him into our poor characters, and irradiate our homely faces. Then, +brethren, let us cherish a noble discontent with all that we at present +are. Let our spirits stretch out all their powers to the better things +beyond, as the plants grown in darkness will send out pale shoots that +feel blindly towards the light, or the seed sown on the top of a rock +will grope down the bare stone for the earth by which it must be fed. +Let the sense of our own weakness ever lead to a buoyant confidence in +what we, even we, may become if we will only take the grace we have. To +this touchstone let us bring all claims to higher holiness--they who are +perfect are most conscious of imperfection, and most eager in their +efforts after a further progress in the knowledge, love, and likeness of +God in Christ. + +III. We have here also distinctly brought out the co-existence with +these characteristics of their opposites. + +'If in anything ye are otherwise minded,' says Paul. I have already +suggested that this expression evidently refers not to difference of +opinion among themselves, but to a divergence of character from the +pattern of feeling and life which he has been proposing to them. If in +any respects ye are unconscious of your imperfections, if there be any +'witch's mark' of insensibility in some spot of your conscience to some +plain transgressions of law, if in any of you there be some complacent +illusion of your own stainlessness, if to any of you the bright vision +before you seem faint and unsubstantial, God will show you what you do +not see. Plainly then he considers that there will be found among these +perfect men states of feeling and estimates of themselves opposed to +those which he has been exhorting them to cherish. Plainly he supposes +that a good man may pass for a time under the dominion of impulses and +theories which are of another kind from those that rule his life. + +He does not expect the complete and uninterrupted dominion of these +higher powers. He recognises the plain facts that the true self, the +central life of the soul, the higher nature, 'the new man,' abides in a +self which is but gradually renewed, and that there is a long distance, +so to speak, from the centre to the circumference. That higher life is +planted, but its germination is a work of time. The leaven does not +leaven the whole mass in a moment, but creeps on from particle to +particle. 'Make the tree good' and in due time its fruit will be good. +But the conditions of our human life are conflict, and these peaceful +images of growth and unimpeded natural development, 'first the blade, +then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear,' are not meant to +tell all the truth. Interruptions from external circumstances, struggles +of flesh with spirit, and of imagination and heart and will against the +better life implanted in the spirit, are the lot of all, even the most +advanced here, and however a man may be perfect, there will always be +the possibility that in something he may be 'otherwise minded.' + +Such an admission does not make such interruptions less blameworthy when +they occur. The doctrine of averages does not do away with the voluntary +character of each single act. The same number of letters are yearly +posted without addresses. Does anybody dream of not scolding the errand +boy who posted them, or the servant who did not address them, because he +knows that? We are quite sure that we could have resisted each time that +we fell. That piece of sharp practice in business, or that burst of bad +temper in the household which we were last guilty of--could we have +helped it or not? Conscience must answer that question, which does not +depend at all on the law of averages. Guilt is not taken away by +asserting that sin cleaves to men, 'perfect men.' + +But the feelings with which we should regard sin and contradictions of +men's truest selves in ourselves and others should be so far altered by +such thoughts that we should be very slow to pronounce that a man cannot +be a Christian because he has done so and so. Are there any sins which +are clearly _incompatible_ with a Christian character? All sins are +_inconsistent_ with it, but that is a very different matter. The uniform +direction of a man's life being godless, selfish, devoted to the objects +and pursuits of time and sense, is incompatible with his being a +Christian--but, thank God, no single act, however dark, is so, if it be +in contradiction to the main tendency impressed upon the character and +conduct. It is not for us to say that any single deed shows a man cannot +be Christ's, nor to fling ourselves down in despair saying, 'If I were a +Christian, I could not have done that.' Let us remember that 'all +unrighteousness is sin,' and the least sin is in flagrant opposition to +our Christian profession; but let us also remember, and that not to +blunt our consciences or weaken our efforts, that Paul thought it +possible for perfect men to be 'otherwise minded' from their deepest +selves and their highest pattern. + +IV. The crowning hope that lies in these words is the certainty of a +gradual but complete attainment of all the Christian aspirations after +God and goodness. + +The ground of that confidence lies in no natural tendencies in us, in no +effort of ours, but solely in that great name which is the anchor of all +our confidence, the name of God. Why is Paul certain that 'God will +reveal even this unto you'? Because He is God. The Apostle has learned +the infinite depth of meaning that lies in that name. He has learned +that God is not in the way of leaving off His work before He has done +His work, and that none can say of Him, that 'He began to build, and was +not able to finish.' The assurances of an unchangeable purpose in +redemption, and of inexhaustible resources to effect it; of a love that +can never fade, and of a grace that can never be exhausted--are all +treasured for us in that mighty name. And such confidence is confirmed +by the manifest tendency of the principles and motives brought to bear +on us in Christianity to lead on to a condition of absolute perfection, +as well as by the experience which we may have, if we will, of the +sanctifying and renewing power of His Spirit in our Spirit. + +By the discipline of daily life, by the ministry of sorrow and joy, by +merciful chastisements dogging our steps when we stray, by duties and +cares, by the teaching of His word coming even closer to our hearts and +quickening our consciences to discern evil where we had seen none, as +well as kindling in us desires after higher and rarer goodness, by the +reward of enlarged perceptions of duty and greater love towards it, with +which He recompenses lowly obedience to the duty as yet seen, by the +secret influences of His Spirit of Power and of Love and of a sound Mind +breathed into our waiting spirits, by the touch of His own sustaining +hand and glance of His own guiding eye, He will reveal to the lowly soul +all that is yet wanting in its knowledge, and communicate all that is +lacking in character. + +So for us, the true temper is confidence in His power and will, an +earnest waiting on Him, a brave forward yearning hope blended with a +lowly consciousness of imperfection, which is a spur not a clog, and +vigorous increasing efforts to bring into life and character the fulness +and beauty of God. Presumption should be as far from us as despair--the +one because we have not already attained, the other because 'God will +reveal even this unto us.' Only let us keep in mind the caution which +the Apostle, knowing the possible abuses which might gather round His +teaching, has here attached to it, 'Nevertheless'--though all which I +have been saying is true, it is only on this understanding--'Whereto we +have already attained, by the same let us walk.' God will perfect that +which concerneth you if--and only if--you go on as you have begun, if +you make your creed a life, if you show what you are. If so, then all +the rest is a question of time. A has been said, and Z will come in its +proper place. Begin with humble trust in Christ, and a process is +commenced which has no natural end short of that great hope with which +this chapter closes, that the change which begins in the deepest +recesses of our being, and struggles slowly and with many interruptions, +into partial visibility in our character, shall one day triumphantly +irradiate our whole nature out to the very finger-tips, and 'even the +body of our humiliation shall be fashioned like unto the body of +Christ's glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to +subdue all things to Himself.' + + + + +THE RULE OF THE ROAD + + 'Nevertheless, whereto we have already attained, + let us walk by the same rule.'--PHIL. iii. 16. + + +Paul has just been laying down a great principle--viz. that if the main +direction of a life be right, God will reveal to a man the points in +which he is wrong. But that principle is untrue and dangerous, unless +carefully guarded. It may lead to a lazy tolerance of evil, and to +drawing such inferences as, 'Well! it does not much matter about +strenuous effort, if we are right at bottom it will all come right +by-and-by,' and so it may become a pillow for indolence and a clog on +effort. This possible abuse of a great truth seems to strike the +Apostle, and so he enters here, with this 'Nevertheless,' a _caveat_ +against that twist of his meaning. It is as if he said, 'Now mind! while +all that is perfectly true, it is true on conditions; and if they be not +attended to, it is not true.' God will reveal to a man the things in +which he is wrong if, and only if, he steadfastly continues in the +course which he knows and sees to be right. Present attainments, then, +are in some sense a standard of duty, and if we honestly and +conscientiously observe that standard we shall get light as we journey. +In this exhortation of the Apostle's there are many exhortations wrapped +up; and in trying to draw them out I venture to adhere to the form of +exhortation for the sake of impressiveness and point. + +I. First, then, I would say the Apostle means, 'Live up to your faith +and your convictions.' + +It may be a question whether 'that to which we have already attained' +means the amount of knowledge which we have won or the amount of +practical righteousness which we have made our own. But I think that, +instead of sharply dividing between these two, we shall follow more in +the course of the Apostle's thought if we unite them together, and +remember that the Bible does not make the distinct separation which we +sometimes incline to make between knowledge on the one side and practice +on the other, but regards the man as a living unity. And thus, both +aspects of our attainments come into consideration here. + +So, then, there are two main thoughts--first, live out your creed, and +second, live up to your convictions. + +Live out your creed. Men are meant to live, not by impulse, by accident, +by inclination, but by principle. We are not intended to live by rule, +but we _are_ intended to live by law. And unless we know _why_ we do as +well as _what_ we do, and give a rational account of our conduct, we +fall beneath the height on which God intends us to walk. Impulse is all +very well, but impulse is blind and needs a guide. The imitation of +those around us, or the acceptance of the apparent necessities of +circumstances, are, to some extent, inevitable and right. But to be +driven merely by the force of externals is to surrender the highest +prerogative of manhood. The highest part of human nature is the reason +guided by conscience, and a man's conscience is only then rightly +illuminated when it is illuminated by his creed, which is founded on the +acceptance of the revelation that God has made of Himself. + +And whilst we are clearly meant to be guided by the intelligent +appropriation of God's truth, that truth is evidently all meant for +guidance. We are not told anything in the Bible in order that we may +know as an ultimate object, but we are told it all in order that, +knowing, we may be, and, being, we may do, according to His will. + +Just think of the intensely practical tendency of all the greatest +truths of Christianity. The Cross is the law of life. The revelation +that was made there was made, not merely that we might cling to it as a +refuge from our sins, but that we might accept it as the rule of our +conduct. All our duties to mankind are summed up in the word 'Love one +another as I have loved you.' We say that we believe in the divinity of +Christ; we say that we believe in the great incarnation and sacrificial +death and eternal priesthood of the loving Son of God. We say that we +believe in a judgment to come and a future life. Well, then, do these +truths produce any effect upon my life? have they shaped me in any +measure into conformity with their great principles? Does there issue +from them constraining power which grasps me and moulds me as a sculptor +would a bit of clay in his hands? Am I subject to the Gospel's +authority, and is the word in which God has revealed Himself to me the +word which dominates and impels all my life? 'Whereunto we have already +attained, by the same let us walk.' + +But we shall not do that without a distinct effort. For it is a great +deal easier to live from hand to mouth than to live by principle. It is +a great deal easier to accept what seems forced upon us by circumstances +than to exercise control over the circumstances, and make them bend to +God's holy will. It is a great deal easier to take counsel of +inclination, and to put the reins in the hands of impulses, passions, +desires, tastes, or even habits, than it is, at each fresh moment, to +seek for fresh impulses from a fresh illumination from the ancient and +yet ever fresh truth. The old kings of France used to be kept with all +royal state in the palace, but they were not allowed to do anything. And +there was a rough, unworshipped man that stood by their side, and who +was the real ruler of the realm. That is what a great many professing +Christians do with their creeds. They instal them in some inner chamber +that they very seldom visit, and leave them there, in dignified +idleness, and the real working ruler of their lives is found elsewhere. +Let us see to it, brethren, that all our thoughts are incarnated in our +deeds, and that all our deeds are brought into immediate connection with +the great principles of God's word. Live by that law, and we live at +liberty. + +And, then, remember that this translating of creed into conduct is the +only condition of growing illumination. When we act upon a belief, the +belief grows. That is the source of a great deal of stupid obstinacy in +this world, because men have been so long accustomed to go upon certain +principles that it seems incredible to them but that these principles +should be true. But that, too, is at the bottom of a great deal of +intelligent and noble firmness of adherence to the true. A man who has +tested a principle because he has lived upon it has confidence in it +that nobody else can have. + +Projectors may have beautiful specifications with attractive pictures of +their new inventions; they look very well upon paper, but we must see +them working before we are sure of their worth. And so, here is this +great body of Divine truth, which assumes to be sufficient for guidance, +for conduct, for comfort, for life. Live upon it, and thereby your grasp +of it and your confidence in it will be immensely increased. And no man +has a right to say 'I have rejected Christianity as untrue,' unless he +has put it to the test by living upon it; and if he has, he will never +say it. A Swiss traveller goes into a shop and buys a brand-new +alpenstock. Does he lean upon it with as much confidence as another man +does, who has one with the names of all the mountains that it has helped +him up branded on it from top to bottom? Take _this_ staff and lean on +it. Live your creed, and you will believe your creed as you never will +until you do. Obedience takes a man up to an elevation from which he +sees further into the deep harmonies of truth. In all regions of life +the principle holds good: 'To him that hath shall be given.' And it +holds eminently in reference to our grasp of Christian principles. Use +them and they grow; neglect them and they perish. Sometimes a man dies +in a workhouse who has a store of guineas and notes wrapped up in rags +somewhere about him; and so they have been of no use to him. If you want +your capital to increase, trade with it. As the Lord said when He gave +the servants their talents: 'Trade with them till I come.' The creed +that is utilised is the creed that grows. And that is why so many of you +Christian people have so little real intellectual grasp of the +principles of Christianity, because you have not lived upon them, nor +tried to do it. + +And, in like manner, another side of this thought is, be true to your +convictions. There is no such barrier to a larger and wholesomer view of +our duty as the neglect of anything that plainly is our duty. It stands +there, an impassable cliff between us and all progress. Let us live and +be what we know we ought to be, and we shall know better what we ought +to be at the next moment. + +II. Secondly, let me put the Apostle's meaning in another exhortation, +Go on as you have begun. + +'Whereunto we have already attained, by the same let us walk.' The +various points to which the men have reached are all points in one +straight line; and the injunction of my text is 'Keep the road.' There +are a great many temptations to stray from it. There are nice smooth +grassy bits by the side of it where it is a great deal easier walking. +There are attractive things just a footstep or two out of the path--such +a little deviation that it can easily be recovered. And so, like +children gathering daisies in the field, we stray away from the path; +and, like men on a moor, we then look round for it, and it is gone. The +angle of divergence may be the acutest possible; the deviation when we +begin may be scarcely visible, but if you draw a line at the sharpest +angle and the least deviation from a straight line, and carry it out far +enough, there will be space between it and the line from which it +started ample to hold a universe. Then, let us take care of small +deviations from the plain straight path, and give no heed to the +seductions that lie on either side, but 'whereunto we have already +attained, by _the same_ let us walk.' + +There are temptations, too, to slacken our speed. The river runs far +more slowly in its latter course than when it came babbling and leaping +down the hillside. And sometimes a Christian life seems as if it crept +rather than ran, like those sluggish streams in the Fen country, which +move so slowly that you cannot tell which way the water is flowing. Are +not there all round us, are there not amongst ourselves instances of +checked growth, of arrested development? There are people listening to +me now, calling themselves--and I do not say that they have not a right +to do so--Christians, who have not grown a bit for years, but stand at +the very same point of attainment, both in knowledge and in purity and +Christlikeness, as they were many, many days ago. I beseech you, listen +to this exhortation of my text, 'Whereunto we have already attained, by +the same let us walk,' and continue patient and persistent in the course +that is set before us. + +III. The Apostle's injunction may be cast into this form, Be yourselves. + +The representation which underlies my text, and precedes it in the +context, is that of the Christian community as a great body of +travellers all upon one road, all with their faces turned in one +direction, but at very different points on the path. The difference of +position necessarily involves a difference in outlook. They see their +duties, and they see the Word of God, in some respects diversely. And +the Apostle's exhortation is: 'Let each man follow his own insight, and +whereunto he has attained, by that, and not by his brother's attainment, +by that let him walk.' From the very fact of the diversity of +advancement there follows the plain duty for each of us to use our own +eyesight, and of independent faithfulness to our own measure of light, +as the guide which we are bound to follow. + +There is a dreadful want, in the ordinary Christian life, of any +appearance of first-hand communication with Jesus Christ, and daring to +be myself, and to act on the insight into His will which Christ has +given _me_. + +Conventional Godliness, Christian people cut after one pattern, a little +narrow round of certain statutory duties and obligations, a parrot-like +repetition of certain words, a mechanical copying of certain methods of +life, an oppressive sameness, mark so much of modern religion. What a +freshening up there would come into all Christian communities if every +man lived by his own perception of truth and duty! If a musician in an +orchestra is listening to his neighbour's note and time, he will lose +many an indication from the conductor that would have kept him far more +right, if he had attended to it. And if, instead of taking our beliefs +and our conduct from one another, or from the average of Christian men +round us, we went straight to Jesus Christ and said to Him, 'What +wouldst _Thou_ have _me_ to do?' there would be a different aspect over +Christendom from what there is to-day. The fact of individual +responsibility, according to the measure of our individual light, and +faithful following of that, wheresoever it may lead us, are the grand +and stirring principles that come from these words. 'Whereunto we have +already attained,' by that--and by no other man's attainment or +rule--let us walk. + +But do not let us forget that that same faithful independence and +independent faithfulness because Christ speaks to us, and we will not +let any other voice blend with His, are quite consistent with, and, +indeed, demand, the frank recognition of our brother's equal right. If +we more often thought of all the great body of Christian people as an +army, united in its diversity, its line of march stretching for leagues, +and some in the van, and some in the main body, and some in the rear, +but all one, we should be more tolerant of divergences, more charitable +in our judgment of the laggards, more patient in waiting for them to +come up with us, and more wise and considerate in moderating our pace +sometimes to meet theirs. All who love Jesus Christ are on the same road +and bound for the same home. Let us be contented that they shall be at +different stages on the path, seeing that we know that they will all +reach the Temple above. + +IV. Lastly, cherish the consciousness of imperfection and the confidence +of success. + +'Whereunto we have attained' implies that that is only a partial +possession of a far greater whole. The road is not finished at the stage +where we stand. And, on the other hand, 'by the same let us walk,' +implies that beyond the present point the road runs on equally patent +and pervious to our feet. These two convictions, of my own imperfection +and of the certainty of my reaching the great perfectness beyond, are +indispensable to all Christian progress. As soon as a man begins to +think that he has realised his ideal, Good-bye! to all advance. The +artist, the student, the man of business, all must have gleaming before +them an unattained object, if they are ever to be stirred to energy and +to run with patience the race that is set before them. + +The more distinctly that a man is conscious of his own imperfection in +the Christian life, the more he will be stung and stirred into +earnestness and energy of effort, if only, side by side with the +consciousness of imperfection, there springs triumphant the confidence +of success. That will give strength to the feeble knees; that will lift +a man buoyant over difficulties; that will fire desire; that will +stimulate and solidify effort; that will make the long, monotonous +stretches of the road easy, the rough places plain, the crooked things +straight. Over all reluctant, repellent duties it will bear us, in all +weariness it will re-invigorate us. We are saved by hope, and the more +brightly there burns before us, not as a tremulous hope, but as a future +certainty, the thought, 'I shall be like Him, for I shall see Him as He +is,' the more shall I set my face to the loved goal and my feet to the +dusty road, and 'press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling +of God.' Christian progress comes out of the clash and collision of +these two things, like that of flint and steel--the consciousness of +imperfection and the confidence of success. And they who thus are driven +by the one and drawn by the other, in all their consciousness of failure +are yet blessed, and are crowned at last with that which they believed +before it came. + +'Blessed are they that dwell in Thy house'--the prize won is heaven. But +'blessed are they in whose hearts are the ways'--the prize desired and +strained after is heaven upon earth. We may all live a life of continual +advancement, each step leading upwards, for the road always climbs, to +purer air, grander scenery, and a wider view. And yonder, progress will +still be the law, for they who here have followed the Lamb, and sought +to make Him their pattern and Commander, will there 'follow Him +whithersoever He goeth.' If here we walk according to that 'whereunto we +have attained,' there He shall say, 'They will walk with Me in white, +for they are worthy.' + + + + +WARNINGS AND HOPES + + 'Brethren, be ye imitators together of me, and + mark them which so walk even as ye have us for an + ensample. For many walk, of whom I told you often, + and now tell you even weeping, that they are the + enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is + perdition, whose God is the belly, and whose glory + is in their shame, who mind earthly things. For + our citizenship is in heaven; from whence also we + wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who + shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, + that it may be conformed to the body of His glory, + according to the working whereby he is able even + to subject all things unto Himself.'--PHIL. iii. + 17-21 (R.V.). + + +There is a remarkable contrast in tone between the sad warnings which +begin this section and the glowing hopes with which it closes, and that +contrast is made the more striking when we notice that the Apostle binds +the gloom of the one and the radiance of the other by 'For,' which makes +the latter the cause of the former. + +The exhortation in which the Apostle begins by proposing himself as an +example sounds strange on any lips, and, most of all, on his, but we +have to note that the points in which he sets himself up as a pattern +are obviously those on which he touched in the preceding outpouring of +his heart, and which he has already commended to the Philippians in +pleading with them to be 'thus minded.' What he desires them to copy is +his self-distrust, his willingness to sacrifice all things to win +Christ, his clear sense of his own shortcomings, and his eager straining +towards as yet unreached perfection. His humility is not disproved by +such words, but what is remarkable in them is the clear consciousness of +the main direction and set of his life. We may well hesitate to take +them for ours, but every Christian man and woman ought to be able to say +this much. If we cannot in some degree declare that we are so walking, +we have need to look to our foundations. Such words are really in sharp +contrast to those in which Jesus is held forth as an example. Notice, +too, how quickly he passes to associate others with him, and to merge +the 'Me' into 'Us.' We need not ask who his companions were, since +Timothy is associated with him at the beginning of the letter. + +The exhortation is enforced by pointing to others who had gone far +astray, and of whom he had warned the Philippians often, possibly by +letter. Who these unworthy disciples were remains obscure. They were +clearly not the Judaisers branded in verse 2, who were teachers seeking +to draw away the Philippians, while these others seem to have been +'enemies of the Cross of Christ,' not by open hostility nor by +theoretical errors, but by practical worldliness, and that in these +ways; they make sense their God, they are proud of what is really their +disgrace, namely, they are shaking off the restraints of morality; and, +most black though it may seem least so, they 'mind earthly things' on +which thought, feeling, and interest are concentrated. Let us lay to +heart the lesson that such direction of the current of a life to the +things of earth makes men 'enemies of the Cross of Christ,' whatever +their professions, and will surely make their end perdition, whatever +their apparent prosperity. Paul's life seemed loss and was gain; these +men's lives seemed gain and was loss. + +From this dark picture charged with gloom, and in one corner showing +white waves breaking far out against an inky sky, and a vessel with torn +sails driving on the rocks, the Apostle turns with relief to the +brighter words in which he sets forth the true affinities and hopes of a +Christian. They all stand or fall with the belief in the Resurrection of +Christ and His present life in His glorified corporeal manhood. + +I. Our true metropolis. + +The Revised Version puts in the margin as an alternative rendering for +'citizenship' commonwealth, and there appears to be a renewed allusion +here to the fact already noted that Philippi was a 'colony,' and that +its inhabitants were Roman citizens. Paul uses a very emphatic word for +'is' here which it is difficult to reproduce in English, but which +suggests essential reality. + +The reason why that heavenly citizenship is ours in no mere play of the +imagination but in most solid substance, is because He is there for whom +we look. Where Christ is, is our Mother-country, our Fatherland, +according to His own promise, 'I go to prepare a place for you.' His +being there draws our thoughts and sets our affections on Heaven. + +II. The colonists looking for the King. + +The Emperors sometimes made a tour of the provinces. Paul here thinks of +Christians as waiting for their Emperor to come across the seas to this +outlying corner of His dominions. The whole grand name is given here, +all the royal titles to express solemnity and dignity, and the character +in which we look for Him is that of Saviour. We still need salvation, +and though in one sense it is past, in another it will not be ours until +He comes the second time without sin unto salvation. The eagerness of +the waiting which should characterise the expectant citizens is +wonderfully described by the Apostle's expression for it, which +literally means to look away out--with emphasis on both +prepositions--like a sentry on the walls of a besieged city whose eyes +are ever fixed on the pass amongst the hills through which the relieving +forces are to come. + +It may be said that Paul is here expressing an expectation which was +disappointed. No doubt the early Church looked for the speedy return of +our Lord and were mistaken. We are distinctly told that in that point +there was no revelation of the future, and no doubt they, like the +prophets of old, 'searched what manner of time the spirit of Christ +which was in them did signify.' In this very letter Paul speaks of death +as very probable for himself, so that he had precisely the same double +attitude which has been the Church's ever since, in that he looked for +Christ's coming as possible in his own time, and yet anticipated the +other alternative. It is difficult, no doubt, to cherish the vivid +anticipation of any future event, and not to have any certainty as to +its date. But if we are sure that a given event will come sometime and +do not know when it may come, surely the wise man is he who thinks to +himself it may come any time, and not he who treats it as if it would +come at no time. The two possible alternatives which Paul had before him +have in common the same certainty as to the fact and uncertainty as to +the date, and Paul had them both before his mind with the same vivid +anticipation. + +The practical effect of this hope of the returning Lord on our 'walk' +will be all to bring it nearer Paul's. It will not suffer us to make +sense our God, nor to fix our affections on things above; it will +stimulate all energies in pressing towards the goal, and will turn away +our eyes from the trivialities and transiencies that press upon us, away +out toward the distance where 'far off His coming shone.' + +III. The Christian sharing in Christ's glory. + +The same precise distinction between 'fashion' and 'form,' which we have +had occasion to notice in Chapter II., recurs here. The 'fashion' of +the body of our humiliation is external and transient; the 'form' of the +body of His glory to which we are to be assimilated consists of +essential characteristics or properties, and may be regarded as being +almost synonymous with 'Nature.' Observing the distinction which the +Apostle draws by the use of these two words, and remembering their force +in the former instance of their occurrence, we shall not fail to give +force to the representation that in the Resurrection the fleeting +fashion of the bodily frame will be altered, and the glorified bodies of +the saints made participant of the essential qualities of His. + +We further note that there is no trace of false asceticism or of gnostic +contempt for the body in its designation as 'of our humiliation.' Its +weaknesses, its limitations, its necessities, its corruption and its +death, sufficiently manifest our lowliness, while, on the other hand, +the body in which Christ's glory is manifested, and which is the +instrument for His glory, is presented in fullest contrast to it. + +The great truth of Christ's continual glorified manhood is the first +which we draw from these words. The story of our Lord's Resurrection +suggests indeed that He brought the same body from the tomb as loving +hands had laid there. The invitation to Thomas to thrust his hands into +the prints of the nails, the similar invitation to the assembled +disciples, and His partaking of food in their presence, seemed to forbid +the idea of His rising changed. Nor can we suppose that the body of His +glory would be congruous with His presence on earth. But we have to +think of His ascension as gradual, and of Himself as 'changed by still +degrees' as He ascended, and so as returned to where the 'glory which He +had with the Father before the world was,' as the Shechinah cloud +received Him out of the sight of the gazers below. If this be the true +reading of His last moments on earth, He united in His own experience +both the ways of leaving it which His followers experience--the way of +sleep which is death, and the way of 'being changed.' + +But at whatever point the change came, He now wears, and for ever will +wear, the body of a man. That is the dominant fact on which is built the +Christian belief in a future life, and which gives to that belief all +its solidity and force, and separates it from vague dreams of +immortality which are but a wish tremblingly turned into a hope, or a +dread shudderingly turned into an expectation. The man Christ Jesus is +the pattern and realised ideal of human life on earth, the revelation of +the divine life through a human life, and in His glorified humanity is +no less the pattern and realised ideal of what human nature may become. +The present state of the departed is incomplete in that they have not a +body by which they can act on, and be acted on by, an external universe. +We cannot indeed suppose them lapped in age-long unconsciousness, and it +may be that the 'dead in Christ' are through Him brought into some +knowledge of externals, but for the full-summed perfection of their +being, the souls under the altar have to wait for the resurrection of +the body. If resurrection is needful for completion of manhood, then +completed manhood must necessarily be set in a locality, and the +glorified manhood of Jesus must also now be in a place. To think thus of +it and of Him is not to vulgarise the Christian conception of Heaven, +but to give it a definiteness and force which it sorely lacks in popular +thinking. Nor is the continual manhood of our Lord less precious in its +influence in helping our familiar approach to Him. It tells us that He +is still and for ever the same as when on earth, glad to welcome all who +came and to help and heal all who need Him. It is one of ourselves who +'sitteth at the right hand of God.' His manhood brings Him memories +which bind Him to us sorrowing and struggling, and His glory clothes Him +with power to meet all our needs, to stanch all our wounds, to satisfy +all our desires. + +Our text leads us to think of the wondrous transformation into Christ's +likeness. We know not what are the differences between the body of our +humiliation and the body of His glory, but we must not be led away by +the word Resurrection to fall into the mistake of supposing that in +death we 'sow that body which shall be.' Paul's great chapter in I. +Corinthians should have destroyed that error for ever, and it is a +singular instance of the persistency of the most unsupported mistakes +that there are still thousands of people who in spite of all that they +know of what befalls our mortal bodies, and of how their parts pass into +other forms, still hold by that crude idea. We have no material by which +to construct any, even the vaguest, outline of that body that shall be. +We can only run out the contrasts as suggested by Paul in 1st +Corinthians, and let the dazzling greatness of the positive thought +which he gives in the text lift our expectations. Weakness will become +power, corruption incorruption, liability to death immortality, +dishonour glory, and the frame which belonged and corresponded to 'that +which was natural,' shall be transformed into a body which is the organ +of that which is spiritual. These things tell us little, but they may +be all fused into the great light of likeness to the body of His glory; +and though that tells us even less, it feeds hope more and satisfies our +hearts even whilst it does not feed our curiosity. We may well be +contented to acknowledge that 'it doth not yet appear what we shall be,' +when we can go on to say, 'We know that when He shall appear we shall be +like Him.' It is enough for the disciple that he be as his Master. + +But we must not forget that the Apostle regards even this overwhelming +change as but part of a mightier process, even the universal subjection +of all things unto Christ Himself. The Emperor reduces the whole world +to subjection, and the glorifying of the body as the climax of the +universal subjugation represents it as the end of the process of +assimilation begun in this mortal life. There is no possibility of a +resurrection unto life unless that life has been begun before death. +That ultimate glorious body is needed to bring men into correspondence +with the external universe. As is the locality so is the body. Flesh and +blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. This whole series of thoughts +makes our glorious resurrection the result not of death, but of Christ's +living power on His people. It is only in the measure in which He lives +in us and we in Him, and are partaking by daily participation in the +power of His Resurrection, that we shall be made subjects of the working +whereby He is able even to subject all things unto Himself, and finally +be conformed to the body of His glory. + + + + +_EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE_ + +ALEXANDER MACLAREN, D. D., Litt. D. + + PHILIPPIANS, COLOSSIANS, FIRST + AND SECOND THESSALONIANS + AND FIRST TIMOTHY + + + + +CONTENTS + + +PHILIPPIANS + +A TENDER EXHORTATION (Phil. iv. 1) 1 + +NAMES IN THE BOOK OF LIFE (Phil. iv. 3) 11 + +REJOICE EVERMORE (Phil. iv. 4) 21 + +HOW TO OBEY AN IMPOSSIBLE INJUNCTION (Phil. iv. 6) 31 + +THE WARRIOR PEACE (Phil. iv. 7) 39 + +THINK ON THESE THINGS (Phil. iv. 8) 48 + +HOW TO SAY 'THANK YOU' (Phil. iv. 10-14, R.V.) 58 + +GIFTS GIVEN, SEED SOWN (Phil. iv. 15-19, R.V.) 66 + +FAREWELL WORDS (Phil. iv. 20-23, R.V.) 74 + + +COLOSSIANS + +SAINTS, BELIEVERS, BRETHREN (Col. i. 2) 82 + +THE GOSPEL-HOPE (Col. i. 5) 92 + +'ALL POWER' (Col. i. 11, R.V.) 99 + +THANKFUL FOR INHERITANCE (Col. i. 12, R.V.) 106 + +CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR (Col. i. 29) 114 + +CHRISTIAN PROGRESS (Col. ii. 6, 7, R.V.) 124 + +RISEN WITH CHRIST (Col. iii. 1-15) 127 + +RISEN WITH CHRIST (Col. iii. 1, 2) 134 + +WITHOUT AND WITHIN (Col. iv. 5) 143 + + +I. THESSALONIANS + +FAITH, LOVE, HOPE, AND THEIR FRUITS (1 Thess. i. 3) 155 + +GOD'S TRUMPET (1 Thess. i. 8) 164 + +WALKING WORTHILY (1 Thess. ii. 12) 170 + +SMALL DUTIES AND THE GREAT HOPE (1 Thess. iv. 9-18; v. 1, 2) 183 + +SLEEPING THROUGH JESUS (1 Thess. iv. 14) 190 + +THE WORK AND ARMOUR OF THE CHILDREN OF THE DAY (1 Thess. v. 8) 198 + +WAKING AND SLEEPING (1 Thess. v. 10) 210 + +EDIFICATION (1 Thess. v. 11) 220 + +CONTINUAL PRAYER AND ITS EFFECTS (1 Thess. v. 16-18) 229 + +PAUL'S EARLIEST TEACHING (1 Thess. v. 27) 237 + + +II. THESSALONIANS + +CHRIST GLORIFIED IN GLORIFIED MEN (2 Thess. i. 10) 248 + +WORTHY OF YOUR CALLING (2 Thess. i. 11, 12) 256 + +EVERLASTING CONSOLATION AND GOOD HOPE (2 Thess. ii. 16, 17) 267 + +THE HEART'S HOME AND GUIDE (2 Thess. iii. 5) 277 + +THE LORD OF PEACE AND THE PEACE OF THE LORD (2 Thess. iii. 16) 288 + + +I. TIMOTHY + +THE END OF THE COMMANDMENT (1 Tim. i. 5) 298 + +'THE GOSPEL OF THE GLORY OF THE HAPPY GOD' (1 Tim. i. 11) 308 + +THE GOSPEL IN SMALL (1 Tim. i. 15) 316 + +THE CHIEF OF SINNERS (1 Tim. i. 15) 326 + +A TEST CASE (1 Tim. i. 16) 335 + +THE GLORY OF THE KING (1 Tim. i. 17) 344 + +WHERE AND HOW TO PRAY (1 Tim. ii. 8) 353 + +SPIRITUAL ATHLETICS (1 Tim. iv. 7) 361 + +THE ONE WITNESS, THE MANY CONFESSORS (1 Tim. vi. 12-14) 370 + +THE CONDUCT THAT SECURES THE REAL LIFE (1 Tim. vi. 19) 379 + + + + +A TENDER EXHORTATION + + 'Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed + for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, + my dearly beloved.'--PHIL. iv. 1. + + +The words I have chosen set forth very simply and beautifully the bond +which knit Paul and these Philippian Christians together, and the chief +desire which his Apostolic love had for them. I venture to apply them to +ourselves, and I speak now especially to the members of my own church +and congregation. + +I. Let us note, then, first, the personal bond which gives force to the +teacher's words. + +That Church at Philippi was, if Paul had any favourites amongst his +children, his favourite child. The circumstances of its formation may +have had something to do with that. It was planted by himself; it was +the first Church in Europe; perhaps the Philippian gaoler and Lydia were +amongst the 'beloved' and 'longed for' ones who were 'his joy and +crown.' But be that as it may, all through the letter we can feel the +throbbing of a very loving heart, and the tenderness of a strong man, +which is the most tender of all things. + +Note how he addresses them. There is no assumption of Apostolic +authority, but he puts himself on their level, and speaks to them as +brethren. Then he lets his heart out, and tells them how they lived in +his love, and how, of course, when he was parted from them, he had +desired to be with them. And then he touches a deeper and a sacreder +chord when he contemplates the results of the relation between them, if +he on his side, and they on theirs, were faithful to it. It says much +for the teacher, and for the taught, if he can truly say 'My joy,'--'I +have no greater joy than to know that my children walk in the truth.' +And not only were they his joy, but they who, by their faithfulness, +have become his joy, will on that one day in the far future, be his +'crown.' That metaphor carries on the thoughts to the great Judgment +Day, and introduces a solemn element, which is as truly present, dear +friends, in our relation to one another, little of an Apostle as I am, +as it was in the relation between Paul and the Philippians. They who +'turn many to righteousness shine as the brightness of the firmament,' +because those whom they have turned, 'shine as lights in the world.' And +at that last august and awful tribunal, where you will have to give an +account for your listening, as I for my speaking, the crown of victory +laid on the locks of a faithful teacher is the characters of those whom +he has taught. 'Who is my joy and hope, and crown of rejoicing?' Are not +even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus at his coming? + +Now, notice, further, how such mutual affection is needed to give force +to the teacher's exhortation. Preaching from unloved lips never does any +good. It irritates, or leaves untouched. Affection melts and opens the +heart to the entrance of the word. And preaching from unloving lips does +very little good either. So speaking, I condemn myself. There are men +who handle God's great, throbbing message of love so coldly as that they +ice even the Gospel. There are men who have a strange gift of taking all +the sap and the fervour out of the word that they proclaim, making the +very grapes of Eshcol into dried raisins. And I feel for myself that my +ministry may well have failed in this respect. For who is there that can +modulate his voice so as to reproduce the music of that great message, +or who can soften and open his heart so as that it shall be a worthy +vehicle of the infinite love of God? + +But, dear brethren, though conscious of many failures in this respect, I +yet thank God that here, at the end of nearly forty years of a ministry, +I can look you in the face and believe that your look responds to mine, +and that I can take these words as the feathers for my arrow, as that +which will make words otherwise weak go further, and may help to write +the precepts upon hearts, and to bring them to bear in practice--'My +beloved and longed for'; 'my joy and my crown.' + +Such feelings do not need to be always spoken. There is very little +chance of us Northerners erring on the side of letting our hearts speak +too fully and frequently. Perhaps we should be all the better if we were +a little less reticent, but at any rate you and I can surely trust each +other after so many years, and now and then, as to-day, let our hearts +speak. + +II. Secondly, notice the all-sufficient precept which such love gives. +'So stand fast in the Lord.' + +That is a very favourite figure of Paul's, as those of you who have any +reasonable degree of familiarity with his letters will know. Here it +carries with it, as it generally does, the idea of resistance against +antagonistic force. But the main thought of it is that of continuous +steadfastness in our union with Jesus Christ. It applies, of course, to +the intellect, but not mainly, and certainly not exclusively to +intellectual adherence to the truths spoken in the Gospel. It covers +the whole ground of the whole man; will, conscience, heart, practical +effort, as well as understanding. And it is really Paul's version, with +a characteristic dash of pugnacity in it, of our Lord's yet deeper and +calmer words, 'Abide in Me and I in you.' It is the same exhortation as +Barnabas gave to the infantile church at Antioch, when, to these men +just rescued from heathenism and profoundly ignorant of much which we +suppose it absolutely necessary that Christians should know, he had only +one thing to say, exhorting them all, that 'with purpose of heart they +should cleave to the Lord.' + +Steadfast continuance of personal union with Jesus Christ, extending +through all the faculties of our nature, and into every corner of our +lives, is the kernel of this great exhortation. And he who fulfils it +has little left unfulfilled. Of course, as I said, there is a very +strong suggestion that such 'standing' is by no means an easy thing, or +accomplished without much antagonism; and it may help us if, just for a +moment, we run over the various forms of resistance which they have to +overcome who stand fast. Nothing stands where it is without effort. That +is true in the moral world, although in the physical world the law of +motion is that nothing moves without force being applied to it. + +What are the things that would shake our steadfastness, and sweep us +away? Well, there are, first, the tiny, continuously acting, and +therefore all but omnipotent forces of daily life--duties, occupations, +distractions of various kinds--which tend to move us imperceptibly away, +as by the slow sliding of a glacier, from the hope of the Gospel. There +is nothing so strong as a gentle pressure, equably and unintermittently +applied. It is far mightier than thrusts and hammerings and sudden +assaults. I stood some time ago looking at the Sphinx. The hard +stone--so hard that it turns the edge of a sculptor's chisel--has been +worn away, and the solemn features all but obliterated. What by? The +continual attrition of multitudinous grains of sand from the desert. The +little things that are always at work upon us are the things that have +most power to sweep us away from our steadfastness in Jesus Christ. + +Then there are, besides, the sudden assaults of strong temptations, of +sense and flesh, or of a more subtle and refined character. If a man is +standing loosely, in some careless _degage_ attitude, and a sudden +impact comes upon him, over he goes. The boat upon a mountain-locked +lake encounters a sudden gust when opposite the opening of a glen, and +unless there be a very strong hand and a watchful eye at the helm, is +sure to be upset. Upon us there come, in addition to that silent +continuity of imperceptible but most real pressure, sudden gusts of +temptation which are sure to throw us over, unless we are well and +always on our guard against them. + +In addition to all these, there are ups and downs of our own nature, the +fluctuations which are sure to occur in any human heart, when faith +seems to ebb and falter, and love to die down almost into cold ashes. +But, dear brethren, whilst we shall always be liable to these +fluctuations of feeling, it is possible for us to have, deep down below +these, a central core of our personality, in which unchanging continuity +may abide. The depths of the ocean know nothing of the tides on the +surface that are due to the mutable moon. We can have in our inmost +hearts steadfastness, immovableness, even though the surface may be +ruffled. Make your spirits like one of those great cathedrals whose +thick walls keep out the noises of the world, and in whose still +equability there is neither excessive heat nor excessive cold, but an +approximately uniform temperature, at midsummer and at midwinter. 'Stand +fast in the Lord.' + +Now, my text not only gives an exhortation, but, in the very act of +giving it, suggests how it is to be fulfilled. For that phrase 'in the +Lord' not only indicates _where_ we are to stand, but also _how_. That +is to say--it is only in proportion as we keep ourselves in union with +Christ, in heart and mind, and will, and work, that we shall stand +steadfast. The lightest substances may be made stable, if they are glued +on to something stable. You can mortice a bit of thin stone into the +living rock, and then it will stand 'four-square to every wind that +blows.' So it is only on condition of our keeping ourselves in Jesus +Christ, that we are able to keep ourselves steadfast, and to present a +front of resistance that does not yield one foot, either to +imperceptible continuous pressure, to sudden assaults, or to the +fluctuations of our own changeful dispositions and tempers. The ground +on which a man stands has a great deal to do with the firmness of his +footing. You cannot stand fast upon a bed of slime, or upon a sand-bank +which is being undermined by the tides. And if we, changeful creatures, +are to be steadfast in any region, our surest way of being so is to knit +ourselves to Him 'who is the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever,' +and from whose immortality will flow some copy and reflection of itself +into our else changeful natures. + +Still further, in regard to this commandment, I would pray you to notice +that very eloquent little word which stands at the beginning of it. +'_So_ stand fast in the Lord.' 'So.' How? That throws us back to what +the Apostle has been saying in the previous context. And what has he +been saying there? The keynote of the previous chapter is progress--'I +follow after; I press toward the mark, forgetting the things that are +behind, and reaching forth to the things that are before.' To these +exhortations to progress he appends this remarkable exhortation: +'So'--that is, by progress--'stand fast in the Lord,' which being turned +into other words is just this--if you stand still, you will not stand +fast. There can be no steadfastness without advancement. If a man is not +going forward, he is going backward. The only way to ensure stability is +'pressing toward the mark.' Why, a child's top only stands straight up +as long as it is revolving. If a man on a bicycle stops, he tumbles. And +so, in the depths of a Christian life, as in all science, and all walks +of human activity, the condition of steadfastness is advance. Therefore, +dear brethren, let no man deceive himself with the notion that he can +keep at the same point of religious experience and of Christian +character. You are either more of a Christian, or less of one, than you +were at a past time. '_So_, stand fast,' and remember that to stand +_still_ is _not_ to stand _fast_. + +Now, whilst all these things that I have been trying to say have +reference to Christian people at all stages of their spiritual history, +they have a very especial reference to those in the earlier part of +Christian life. + +And I want to say to those who have only just begun to run the Christian +life, very lovingly and very earnestly, that this is a text for them. +For, alas! there is nothing more frequent than that, after the first +dawnings of a Christian life in a heart, there should come a period of +overclouding; or that, as John Bunyan has taught us, when Christian has +gone through the wicket-gate, he should fall very soon into the Slough +of Despond. One looks round, and sees how many professing Christians +there are who, perhaps, were nearer Jesus Christ on the day of their +conversion than they have ever been since, and how many cases of +arrested development there are amongst professing and real Christians; +so that when for the 'time they ought to be teachers, they have need' to +be taught again; and when, after the number of years that have passed, +they ought to be full-grown men, they are but babes yet. And so I say to +you, dear young friends, stand fast. Do not let the world attract you +again. Keep near to Jesus. 'Hold fast that thou hast; let no man take +thy crown.' + +III. Lastly, we have here a great motive which encourages obedience to +this command. + +People generally pass over that 'Therefore' which begins my text, but it +is full of significance and of importance. It links the precept which we +have been considering with the immediately preceding hope which the +Apostle has so triumphantly proclaimed, when he says that 'we look for +the Saviour from heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall change the +body of our humiliation that it may be fashioned like unto the body of +His glory, according to the working whereby He is able even to subdue +all things to Himself.' + +So there rises before us that twofold great hope; that the Master +Himself is coming to the succour of His servants, and that when He +comes, He will perfect the incomplete work which has been begun in them +by their faith and steadfastness, and will change their whole humanity +so that it shall become participant of, and conformed to, the glory of +His own triumphant manhood. + +That hope is presented by the Apostle as having its natural sequel in +the 'steadfastness' of my text, and that 'steadfastness' is regarded by +the Apostle as drawing its most animating motives from the contemplation +of that great hope. Blessed be God! The effort of the Christian life is +not one which is extorted by fear, or by the cold sense of duty. There +are no taskmasters with whips to stand over the heart that responds to +Christ and to His love. But hope and joy, as well as love, are the +animating motives which make sacrifices easy, soften the yoke that is +laid upon our shoulders, and turn labour into joy and delight. + +So, dear brethren, we have to set before us this great hope, that Jesus +Christ is coming, and that, therefore, our labour on ourselves is sure +not to be in vain. Work that is done hopelessly is not done long, and +there is no heart in it whilst it is being done. But if we know that +Christ will appear, 'and that when He who is our life shall appear, we +also shall appear with Him in glory,' then we may go to work in keeping +ourselves steadfast in Him, with cheery hearts, and with full assurance +that what we have been doing will have a great result. + +You have read, no doubt, about some little force in North-West India, +hemmed in by enemies. They may well hold out resolutely and hopefully +when they know that three relieving armies are converging upon their +stronghold. And we, too, know that our Emperor is coming to raise the +siege. We may well stand fast with such a prospect. We may well work at +our own sanctifying when we know that our Lord Himself--like some +master-sculptor who comes to his pupil's imperfectly blocked-out work, +and takes his chisel in his hand, and with a touch or two completes +it--will come and finish what we, by His grace, imperfectly began. 'So +stand fast in the Lord,' because you have hope that the Lord is about to +come, and that when He comes you will be like Him. + +One last word. That steadfastness is the condition without which we have +no right to entertain that hope. + +If we keep ourselves near Christ, and if by keeping ourselves near Him, +we are becoming day by day liker Him, then we may have calm confidence +that He will perfect that which concerns us. But I, for my part, can +find nothing, either in Scripture or in the analogy of God's moral +dealings with us in the world, to warrant the holding out of the +expectation to a man that, if he has kept himself apart from Jesus +Christ and his quickening and cleansing power all his life long, Jesus +Christ will take him in hand after he dies, and change him into His +likeness. Don't you risk it! Begin by 'standing fast in the Lord.' He +will do the rest then, not else. The cloth must be dipped into the +dyer's vat, and lie there, if it is to be tinged with the colour. The +sensitive plate must be patiently kept in position for many hours, if +invisible stars are to photograph themselves upon it. The vase must be +held with a steady hand beneath the fountain, if it is to be filled. +Keep yourselves in Jesus Christ. Then here you will begin to be changed +into the same image, and when He comes He will come as your Saviour, and +complete your uncompleted work, and make you altogether like Himself. + +'Therefore, my brethren, dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and +crown, so stand fast in the Lord, dearly beloved.' + + + + +NAMES IN THE BOOK OF LIFE + + 'Other my fellow-labourers whose names are in the + book of life.'--PHIL. iv. 3. + + +Paul was as gentle as he was strong. Winsome courtesy and delicate +considerateness lay in his character, in beautiful union with fiery +impetuosity and undaunted tenacity of conviction. We have here a +remarkable instance of his quick apprehension of the possible effects of +his words, and of his nervous anxiety not to wound even unreasonable +susceptibilities. + +He had had occasion to mention three of his fellow-workers, and he +wishes to associate with them others whom he does not purpose to name. +Lest any of these should be offended by the omission, he soothes them +with this graceful, half-apologetic reminder that their names are +inscribed on a better page than his. It is as if he had said, 'Do not +mind though I do not mention you individually. You can well afford to be +anonymous in my letter since your names are inscribed in the Book of +Life.' + +_There_ is a consolation for obscure good people, who need not expect to +live except in two or three loving hearts; and whose names will only be +preserved on mouldering tombstones that will convey no idea to the +reader. We may well dispense with other commemoration if we have this. + +Now, this figure of the Book of Life appears in Scripture at intervals, +almost from the beginning to the very end. The first instance of its +occurrence is in that self-sacrificing, intercessory prayer of Moses, +when he expressed his willingness to be 'blotted out of Thy book' as an +atonement for the sin of Israel. Its last appearance is when the +Apocalyptic Seer is told that none enter into the City of God come down +from Heaven 'save those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of +Life.' Of course in plain English the expression is just equivalent to +being a real disciple of Jesus Christ. But then it presents that general +notion under a metaphor which, in its various aspects, has a very +distinct and stringent bearing upon our duties as well as upon our +blessings and our hopes. I, therefore, wish to work out, as well as I +can, the various thoughts suggested by this emblem. + +I. The first of them is Citizenship. + +The figure is, of course, originally drawn from the registers of the +tribes of Israel. In that use, though not without a glance at some +higher meaning, it appears in the Old Testament, where we read of 'those +who are written among them living in Jerusalem'; or 'are written in the +writing of the house of Israel.' The suggestion of being inscribed on +the burgess-rolls of a city is the first idea connected with the word. +In the New Testament, for instance, we find in the great passage in the +Epistle to the Hebrews the two notions of the city and the census +brought into immediate connection, where the writer says, 'Ye are come +unto the city of the living God . . . and to the church of the first-born +whose names are written in heaven.' In this very letter we have, only a +verse or two before my text, the same idea of citizenship cropping up. +'Our _citizenship_ is in Heaven, from whence also we look for the +Saviour.' That, no doubt, helped to suggest to the Apostle the words of +my text. And there is another verse in the same letter where the same +idea comes out. 'Only act the citizen as becometh the Gospel of Christ.' +Now, you will remember, possibly, that Philippi was, as the Acts of the +Apostles tells us, a Roman colony. And the reference is exquisitely +close-fitting to the circumstances of the people of that city. For a +Roman colony was a bit of Rome in another land, and the citizens of +Philippi had their names inscribed on the registers of the tribes of +Rome. The writer himself was another illustration of the same thing, of +living in a community to which he did not belong and of belonging to a +community in which he did not live. For Paul was a native of Tarsus; and +Paul, the native of the Asiatic Tarsus, was a Roman. + +So, then, the first thought that comes out of this great metaphor is +that all of us, if we are Christian people, belong to another polity, +another order of things than that in which our outward lives are spent. +And the plain, practical conclusion that comes from it is, cultivate the +sense of belonging to another order. Just as it swelled the heart of a +Macedonian Philippian with pride, when he thought that he did not belong +to the semi-barbarous people round about him, but that his name was +written in the books that lay in the Capitol of Rome, so should we +cultivate that sense of belonging to another order. It will make our +work here none the worse, but it will fill our lives with the sense of +nobler affinities, and point our efforts to grander work than any that +belongs to 'the things that are seen and temporal.' Just as the little +groups of Englishmen in treaty-ports own no allegiance to the laws of +the country in which they live, but are governed by English statutes, so +we have to take our orders from headquarters to which we have to +report. Men in our colonies get their instructions from Downing Street. +The officials there, appointed by the Home Government, think more of +what they will say about them at Westminster than of what they say about +them at Melbourne. So we are citizens of another country, and have to +obey the laws of our own kingdom, and not those of the soil on which we +dwell. Never mind about the opinions of men, the babblements of the +people in the land you live in. To us, the main thing is that we be +acceptable, well-pleasing unto Him. Are you solitary? Cultivate the +sense of, in your solitude, being a member of a great community that +stretches through all the ages, and binds into one the inhabitants of +eternity and of time. + +Remember that this citizenship in the heavens is the highest honour that +can be conferred upon a man. The patricians of Venice used to have their +names inscribed upon what was called the 'golden book' that was kept in +the Doge's Palace. If our names are written in the book of gold in the +heavens, then we have higher dignities than any that belong to the +fleeting chronicles of this passing, vain world. So we can accept with +equanimity evil report or good report, and can acquiesce in a wholesome +obscurity, and be careless though our names appear on no human records, +and fill no trumpet of fame blown by earthly cheeks. Intellectual power, +wealth, gratified ambition, and all the other things that men set before +them, are small indeed compared with the honour, with the blessedness, +with the repose and satisfaction that attend the conscious possession of +citizenship in the heavens. Let us lay to heart the great words of the +Master which put a cooling hand on all the feverish ambitions of earth. +'In this rejoice, not that the spirits are subject unto you, but rather +rejoice that your names are written in heaven.' + +II. Then the second idea suggested by these words is the possession of +the life which is life indeed. + +The 'Book of Life,' it is called in the New Testament. Its designation +in the Old might as well be translated 'the book of living' as 'the book +of life.' It is a register of the men who are truly alive. + +Now, that is but an imaginative way of putting the commonplace of the +New Testament, that anything which is worth calling life comes to us, +not by creation or physical generation, but by being born again through +faith in Jesus Christ, and by receiving into our else dead spirits the +life which He bestows upon all them that trust Him. + +In the New Testament 'life' is far more than 'being'; far more than +physical existence; removed by a whole world from these lower +conceptions, and finding its complete explanation only in the fact that +the soul which is knit to God by conscious surrender, love, aspiration, +and obedience, is the only soul that really lives. All else is +death--death! He 'that liveth in pleasure is dead while he liveth.' The +ghastly imagination of one of our poets, of the dead man standing on the +deck pulling at the ropes by the side of the living, is true in a very +deep sense. In spite of all the feverish activities, the manifold +vitalities of practical and intellectual life in the world, the deepest, +truest, life of every man who is parted from God by alienation of will, +by indifference, and neglect of love, lies sheeted and sepulchred in the +depths of his own heart. Brethren, there is no life worth calling life, +none to which that august name can without degradation be applied, +except the complete life of body, soul, and spirit, in lowly obedience +to God in Christ. The deepest meaning of the work of the Saviour is that +He comes into a dead world, and breathes into the bones--very many and +very dry--the breath of His own life. Christ has died for us; Christ +will live in us if we will; and, unless He does, we are twice dead. + +Do not put away that thought as if it were a mere pulpit metaphor. It is +a metaphor, but yet in the metaphor there lies this deepest truth, which +concerns us all, that only he is truly himself, and lives the highest, +best, and noblest life that is possible for him, who is united to Jesus +Christ, and drawing from Christ his own life. 'He that hath the Son hath +life; he that hath not the Son hath not life.' Either my name and yours +are written in the Book of Life, or they are written in the register of +a cemetery. We have to make our choice which. + +III. Another idea suggested by this emblem is experience of divine +individualising knowledge and care. + +In the Old Testament the book is called 'Thy book,' in the New it is +called 'the Lamb's book.' That is of a piece with the whole relation of +the New to the Old, and of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word and +Manifestor of God, to the Jehovah revealed in former ages. For, +unconditionally, and without thought of irreverence or idolatry, the New +Testament lifts over and confers upon Jesus Christ the attributes which +the Old jealously preserved as belonging only to Jehovah. And thus +Christ the Manifestor of God, and the Mediator to us of all divine +powers and blessings, takes the Book and makes the entries in it. Each +man of us, as in your ledgers, has a page to himself. His account is +opened, and is not confused with other entries. There is +individualising love and care, and as the basis of both, individualising +knowledge. My name, the expression of my individual being, stands there. +Christ does not deal with me as one of a crowd, nor fling out blessings +broadcast, that I may grasp them in the midst of a multitude, if I +choose to put out a hand, but He deals with each of us singly, as if +there were not any beings in the world but He and I, our two selves, all +alone. + +It is hard to realise the essentially individualising and isolating +character of our relation to Jesus Christ. But we shall never come to +the heart of the blessedness and the power of His Gospel unless we +translate all 'us'-es and 'every ones' and 'worlds' in Scripture into +'I' and 'me,' and can say not only He gives Himself to be 'the +propitiation for the sins of the whole world,' but 'He loved _me_ and +gave Himself for _me_.' The same individualising love which is +manifested in that mighty universal Atonement, if we rightly understand +it, is manifested in all His dealings with us. One by one we come under +His notice; the Shepherd tells His sheep singly as they pass out through +the gate or into the fold. He knows them all by name. 'I have called +thee by thy name; thou art Mine.' + +Lift up your eyes and behold who made all these; the countless host of +the nightly stars. What are nebulae to our eyes are blazing suns to His. +'He telleth the number of the stars; He calleth them all _by name_ by +the greatness of His power, for that He is strong in might not one +faileth.' So we may nestle in the protection of His hand, sure of a +separate place in His knowledge and His heart. + +Deliverance and security are the results of that individualising care. +In one of the Old Testament instances of the use of this metaphor, we +read that in the great day of calamity and sorrow 'Thy people shall be +delivered, even every one that is written in Thy Book.' So we need not +dread anything if our names are there. The sleepless King will read the +Book, and will never forget, nor forget to help and succour His poor +servants. + +But there are two other variations of this thought in the Old Testament +even more tenderly suggestive of that individualising care and strong +sufficient love than the emblem of my text. We read that when, in the +exercise of his official functions, the high priest passed into the +Tabernacle he wore, upon his _breast_, near the seat of personality, and +the home of love--the names of the tribes graven, and that the same +names were written on his shoulders, as if guiding the exercise of his +power. So we may think of ourselves as lying near the beatings of His +heart, and as individually the objects of the work of His almighty arm. +Nor is this all. For there is yet another, and still tenderer, +application of the figure, when we read of the Divine voice as saying to +Israel, 'I have graven thee on the palms of My hands.' The name of each +who loves and trusts and serves is written there; printed deep in the +flesh of the Sovereign Christ. We bear in our bodies the marks, the +_stigmata_ that tell whose slaves we are--'the marks of the Lord Jesus.' +And He bears in His body the marks that tell who His servants are. + +IV. Lastly, there is suggested by this text the idea of future entrance +into the land of the living. + +The metaphor occurs three times in the final book of Scripture, the book +which deals with the future and with the last things. And it occurs in +all these instances in very remarkable connection. First we read, in +the highly imaginative picture of the final judgment, that when the +thrones are set two books are opened, one the Book of Life, the other +the book in which are written the deeds of men, and that by these two +books men are judged. There is a judgment by conduct. There is also a +judgment by the Book of Life. That is to say, the question at last comes +to be, 'Is this man's name written in that book?' Is he a citizen of the +kingdom, and therefore capable of entering into it? Has he the life from +Christ in his heart? Or, in other words, the question is, first, has the +man who stands at the bar faith in Jesus Christ; and, second, has he +proved that his faith is genuine and real by the course of his earthly +conduct? These are the books from which the judgment is made. + +Further, we read, in that blessed vision which stands at the far-off end +of all the knowledge of the future which is given to humanity, the +vision of the City of God 'that came down from heaven as a bride adorned +for her husband,' that only they enter in there who are 'written in the +Lamb's Book of Life.' Only citizens are capable of entrance into the +city. Aliens are necessarily shut out. The Lord, when He writeth up His +people, shall count that this man was born there, though he never trod +its streets while on earth, and, therefore, can enter into his native +home. + +Further, in one of the letters to the seven churches our Lord gives as a +promise to him that overcometh, 'I will not blot his name out of the +Book of Life, but I will confess his name.' + +What need we care what other people may think about us, or whether the +'hollow wraith of dying fame' that comes like a nimbus round some men +may fade wholly or no, so long as we may be sure of acknowledgment and +praise from Him from whom acknowledgment and praise are precious indeed. + +I have but one or two more words to add. Remember that Paul had no +hesitation in taking upon himself to declare that the names of these +anonymous saints in Philippi were written in the Book of Life. What +business had he to do that? Had he looked over the pages, and marked the +entries? He had simply the right of estimating their state by their +conduct. He saw their works; he knew that these works were the fruit of +their faith; and he knew that, therefore, their faith had united them to +Jesus Christ. So, Christian men and women, two things: show your faith +by your works, and make it impossible for anybody that looks at you to +doubt what King you serve, and to what city you belong. Again, do not +ask, 'Is my name there?' Ask, 'Have I faith, and does my faith work the +works that belong to the Kingdom of Heaven?' + +Remember that names can be blotted out of the book. The metaphor has +often been pressed into the service of a doctrine of unconditional and +irreversible predestination. But rightly looked at, it points in the +opposite direction. Remember Moses's agonised cry, 'Blot me out of Thy +book'; and the Divine answer, 'Him that sinneth against Me, his name +will I blot out of My book.' And remember that it is only to 'him that +overcometh' that the promise is made, 'I will not blot him out.' We are +made partakers of Christ if we 'hold fast the beginning of our +confidence firm unto the end.' + +Remember that it depends upon ourselves whether our names are there or +not. John Bunyan describes the armed man who came up to the table, where +the man with the book and the inkhorn was seated, and said: 'Set down +my name.' And you and I may do that. If we cast ourselves on Jesus +Christ and yield our wills to be guided by Him, and give our lives for +His service, then He will write our names in His book. If we trust Him +we shall be citizens of the City of God; shall be filled with the life +of Christ; shall be objects of an individualising love and care; shall +be accepted in that Day; and shall enter in through the gates into the +city. 'They that forsake me shall be written on the earth'; and there +wiped out as are the children's scribbles on the sand when the ocean +come up. They that trust in Jesus Christ shall have their names written +in the Book of Life; graven on the High Priest's breastplate, and +inscribed on His mighty hand and His faithful heart. + + + + +REJOICE EVERMORE + + 'Rejoice in the Lord alway; and again I say, + rejoice!'--PHIL. iv. 4. + + +It has been well said that this whole epistle may be summed up in two +short sentences: 'I rejoice'; 'Rejoice ye!' The word and the thing crop +up in every chapter, like some hidden brook, ever and anon sparkling out +into the sunshine from beneath the shadows. This continual refrain of +gladness is all the more remarkable if we remember the Apostle's +circumstances. The letter shows him to us as a prisoner, dependent on +Christian charity for a living, having no man like-minded to cheer his +solitude; uncertain as to 'how it shall be with me,' and obliged to +contemplate the possibility of being 'offered,' or poured out as a +libation, 'on the sacrifice and service of your faith.' Yet out of all +the darkness his clear notes ring jubilant; and this sunny epistle +comes from the pen of a prisoner who did not know but that to-morrow he +might be a martyr. + +The exhortation of my text, with its urgent reiteration, picks up again +a dropped thread which the Apostle had first introduced in the +commencement of the previous chapter. He had there evidently been +intending to close his letter, for he says: 'Finally, my brethren, +rejoice in the Lord'; but he is drawn away into that precious personal +digression which we could so ill spare, in which he speaks of his +continual aspiration and effort towards things not yet attained. And now +he comes back again, picks up the thread once more, and addresses +himself to his parting counsels. The reiteration in the text becomes the +more impressive if we remember that it is a repetition of a former +injunction. 'Rejoice in the Lord alway'; and then he seems to hear one +of his Philippian readers saying: 'Why! you told us that once before!' +'Yes,' he says, 'and you shall hear it once again; so important is my +commandment that it shall be repeated a third time. So I again say, +"rejoice!"' Christian gladness is an important element in Christian +duty; and the difficulty and necessity of it are indicated by the urgent +repetition of the injunction. + +I. So, then, the first thought that suggests itself to me from these +words is this, that close union with Jesus Christ is the foundation of +real gladness. + +Pray note that 'the Lord' here, as is usually the case in Paul's +Epistles, means, not the Divine Father, but Jesus Christ. And then +observe, again, that the phrase 'Rejoice in the Lord' has a deeper +meaning than we sometimes attach to it. We are accustomed to speak of +rejoicing in a thing or a person, which, or who, is thereby represented +as being the occasion or the object of our gladness. And though that is +true, in reference to our Lord, it is not the whole sweep and depth of +the Apostle's meaning here. He is employing that phrase, 'in the Lord,' +in the profound and comprehensive sense in which it generally appears in +his letters, and especially in those almost contemporaneous with this +Epistle to the Philippians. I need only refer you, in passing, without +quoting passages, to the continual use of that phrase in the nearly +contemporaneous letter to the Ephesians, in which you will find that 'in +Christ Jesus' is the signature stamped upon all the gifts of God, and +upon all the possible blessings of the Christian life. 'In Him' we have +the inheritance; in Him we obtain redemption through His blood, even the +forgiveness of sins; in Him we are 'blessed with all spiritual +blessings.' And the deepest description of the essential characteristic +of a Christian life is, to Paul, that it is a life in Christ. + +It is this close union which the Apostle here indicates as being the +foundation and the source of all that gladness which he desires to see +spreading its light over the Christian life. 'Rejoice in the +Lord'--being in Him be glad. + +Now that great thought has two aspects, one deep and mysterious, one +very plain and practical. As to the former, I need not spend much time +upon it. We believe, I suppose, in the superhuman character and nature +of Jesus Christ. We believe in His divinity. We can therefore believe +reasonably in the possibility of a union between Him and us, +transcending all the forms of human association, and being really like +that which the creature holds to its Creator in regard to its physical +being. 'In him we live, and move, and have our being' is the very +foundation truth in regard to the constitution of the universe. 'In Him +we live, and move, and have our being' is the very foundation truth in +regard to the relation of the Christian soul to Jesus Christ. All +earthly unions are but poor adumbrations from afar of that deep, +transcendent, mysterious, but most real union, by which the Christian +soul is in Christ, as the branch is in the vine, the member in the body, +the planet in its atmosphere, and by which Christ is in the Christian +soul as the life sap is in every twig, as the mysterious vital power is +in every member. Thus abiding in Him, in a manner which admits of no +parallel nor of any doubt, we may, and we shall, be glad. + +But then, passing from the mysterious, we come to the plain. To be 'in +Christ' which is commended to us here as the basis of all true +blessedness, means that the whole of our nature shall be occupied with, +and fastened upon, Him; thought turning to Him, the tendrils of the +heart clinging and creeping around Him, the will submitting itself in +glad obedience to His beloved and supreme commandments, the aspirations, +and desires feeling out after Him as the sufficient and eternal good, +and all the current of our being setting towards Him in earnestness of +desire, and resting in Him in tranquillity of possession. Thus 'in +Christ' we may all be. + +And, says Paul, in the great words of my text, such a union, reciprocal +and close, is the secret of all blessedness. If thus we are wedded to +that Lord, and His life is in us and ours enclosed in Him, then there is +such correspondence between our necessities and our supplies as that +there is no room for aching emptiness; no gnawing of unsatisfied +longings, but the blessedness that comes from having found that which we +seek, and in the finding being stimulated to a still closer, happier, +and not restless search after fuller possession. The man that knows +where to get anything and everything that he needs, and to whom desires +are but the prophets of instantaneous fruition; surely that man has in +his possession the talismanic secret of perpetual gladness. They who +thus dwell in Christ by faith, love, obedience, imitation, aspiration, +and enjoyment, are like men housed in some strong fortress, who can look +out over all the fields alive with enemies, and feel that they are safe. +They who thus dwell in Christ gain command over themselves; and because +they can bridle passions, and subdue hot and impossible desires, and +keep themselves well in hand, have stanched one chief source of unrest +and sadness, and have opened one pure and sparkling fountain of +unfailing gladness. To rule myself because Christ rules me is no small +part of the secret of blessedness. And they who thus dwell in Christ +have the purest joy, the joy of self-forgetfulness. He that is absorbed +in a great cause; he whose pitiful, personal individuality has passed +out of his sight; he who is swallowed up by devotion to another, by +aspiration after 'something afar from the sphere of our sorrow,' has +found the secret of gladness. And the man who thus can say, 'I live: yet +not I, but Christ liveth in me,' this is the man who will ever rejoice. +The world may not call such a temper gladness. It is as unlike the +sputtering, flaring, foul-smelling joys which it prizes--like those +filthy but bright 'Lucigens' that they do night work by in great +factories--it is as unlike the joy of the world as these are to the +calm, pure moonlight which they insult. The one is of heaven, and the +other is the foul product of earth, and smokes to extinction swiftly. + +II. So, secondly, notice that this joy is capable of being continuous. + +'Rejoice in the Lord _always_,' says Paul. That is a hard nut to crack. +I can fancy a man saying, 'What is the use of giving me such +exhortations as this? My gladness is largely a matter of temperament, +and I cannot rule my moods. My gladness is largely a matter of +circumstances, and I do not determine these. How vain it is to tell me, +when my heart is bleeding, or beating like a sledge-hammer, to be glad!' +Yes! Temperament has a great deal to do with joy; and circumstances have +a great deal to do with it; but is not the mission of the Gospel to make +us masters of temperament, and independent of circumstances? Is not the +possibility of living a life that has no dependence upon externals, and +that may persist permanently through all varieties of mood, the very +gift that Christ Himself has come to bestow upon us--bringing us into +communion with Himself, and so making us lords of our own inward nature +and of externals: so that 'though the fig-tree shall not blossom, and +there be no fruit in the vine,' yet we may 'rejoice in the Lord, and be +glad in the God of our salvation.' If a ship has plenty of water in its +casks or tanks in its hold, it does not matter whether it is sailing +through fresh water or salt. And if you and I have that union with Jesus +Christ of which my text speaks, then we shall be, not wholly, but with +indefinite increase of approximation towards the ideal, independent of +circumstances and masters of our temperaments. And so it is possible, if +not absolutely to reach this fair achievement of an unbroken continuity +of gladness, at least to bring the lucent points so close to one another +as that the intervals of darkness between shall be scarcely visible, +and the whole will seem to form one continuous ring of light. + +Brother, if you and I can keep near Jesus Christ always--and I suppose +we can do that in sorrow as in joy--He will take care that our keeping +near Him will not want its reward in that blessed continuity of felt +repose which is very near the sunniness of gladness. For, if we in the +Lord sorrow, we may, then, simultaneously, in the Lord rejoice. The two +things may go together, if in the one mood and the other we are in union +with Him. The bitterness of the bitterest calamity is taken away from it +when it does not separate us from Jesus Christ. And just as the mother +is specially tender with her sick child, and just as we have often found +that the sympathy of friends comes to us, when need and grief are upon +us, in a fashion that would have been incredible beforehand, so it is +surely true that Jesus Christ can, and does, soften His tone, and select +the tokens of His presence with especial tenderness for a wounded heart; +so as that sorrow in the Lord passes into joy in the Lord. And if that +be so, then the pillar which was cloud in the sunshine brightens into +fire as night falls on the desert. + +But it is not only that this divine gladness is consistent with the +sorrow that is often necessary for us, but also that the continuity of +such gladness is secured, because in Christ there are open for us +sources of blessedness in what is else a dry and thirsty land. If you +would take this epistle at your leisure, and run over it in order to +note the various occasions of joy which the Apostle expresses for +himself, and commends to his brethren, you would see how beautifully +they reveal to us the power of communion with Jesus Christ, to find +honey in the rock, good in everything, and a reason for thankful +gladness in all events. + +I have not time, at this stage of my sermon, to do more than just glance +at these. We find, for instance, that a very large portion of the joy +which he declares fills his own heart, and which he commends to these +Philippians, arises from the recognition of good in others. He speaks to +them of being his 'joy and crown.' He tells them that in his sorrows and +imprisonment, their 'fellowship in the Gospel, from the first day until +now,' had brought a whiff of gladness into the close air of the prison +cell. He begs them to be Christlike in order that they may 'fulfil his +joy'; and he may lose himself in others' blessings, and therein find +gladness. A large portion of his joy came from very common things. A +large portion of the joy that he commends to them he contemplates as +coming to them from small matters. They were to be glad because Timothy +came with a message from the Apostle. He is glad because he hears of +their well-being, and receives a little contribution from them for his +daily necessities. A large portion of his gladness came from the spread +of Christ's kingdom. 'Christ is preached,' says he, with a flash of +triumph, 'and I therein do rejoice; yea, and will rejoice.' And, most +beautiful of all, no small portion of his gladness came from the +prospect of martyrdom. 'If I be offered upon the sacrifice and service +of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all; and do ye joy and +rejoice with me.' + +Now, put all these things together and they just come to this, that a +heart in union with Jesus Christ can find streams in the desert, joys +blossoming as the rose, in places that to the un-Christlike eye are +wilderness and solitary, and out of common things it can bring the +purest gladness and draw a tribute and revenue of blessedness even from +the prospect of God-sent sorrows. Dear brethren, if you and I have not +learned the secret of modest and unselfish delights, we shall vainly +seek for joy in the vulgar excitements and coarse titillations of +appetites and desires which the world offers. 'Calm pleasures there +abide' in Christ. The northern lights are weird and bright, but they +belong to midwinter, and they come from electric disturbances, and +portend rough weather afterwards. Sunshine is silent, steadfast, pure. +Better to walk in that light than to be led astray by fantastic and +perishable splendours. 'Rejoice in the Lord always.' + +III. Lastly, such gladness is an important part of Christian duty. + +As I have said, the urgency of the command indicates both its importance +and its difficulty. It is important that professing Christians should be +glad Christians (with the joy that is drawn from Jesus Christ, of +course, I mean), because they thereby become walking advertisements and +living witnesses for Him. A gloomy, melancholy, professing Christian is +a poor recommendation of his faith. If you want to 'adorn the doctrine +of Christ' you will do it a great deal more by a bright face, that +speaks of a calm heart, calm because filled with Christ, than by many +more ambitious efforts. This gladness is important because, without it, +there will be little good work done, and little progress made. It is +important, surely, for ourselves, for it can be no small matter that we +should be able to have travelling with us all through the desert that +mystical rock which follows with its streams of water, and ever provides +for us the joys that we need. In every aspect, whether as regards men +who take their notions of Christ and of Christianity, a great deal more +from the concrete examples of both in human lives than from books and +sermons, or from the Bible itself--or as regards the work which we have +to do, or as regards our own inward life, it is all-important that we +should have that close union with Jesus Christ which cannot but result +in pure and holy gladness. + +But the difficulty, as well as the importance, of the obligation, are +expressed by the stringent repetition of the commandment, 'And again I +say, Rejoice.' When objections arise, when difficulties present +themselves, I repeat the commandment again, in the teeth of them all; +and I know what I mean when I am saying it. Thus, thought Paul, we need +to make a definite effort to keep ourselves in touch with Jesus Christ, +or else gladness, and a great deal besides, will fade away from our +grasp. + +And there are two things that you have to do if you would obey the +commandment. The one is the direct effort at fostering and making +continuous your fellowship with Jesus Christ, through your life; and the +other is looking out for the bright bits in your life, and making sure +that you do not sullenly and foolishly, perhaps with vain regrets after +vanished blessings, or perhaps with vain murmurings about unattained +good, obscure to your sight the mercies that you have, and so cheat +yourselves of the occasions for thankfulness and joy. There are people +who, if there be ever such a little bit of a fleecy film of cloud low +down on their horizon, can see nothing of the sparkling blue arch above +them for looking at that, and who behave as if the whole sky was one +roof of doleful grey. Do not you do that! There is always enough to be +thankful for. Lay hold of Christ, and be sure that you open your eyes +to His gifts. + +Surely, dear friends, if there be offered to us, as there is, a gladness +which is perfect in the two points in which all other gladness fails, it +is wise for us to take it. The commonplace which all men believe, and +most men neglect, is that nothing short of an infinite Person can fill a +finite soul. And if we look for our joys anywhere but to Jesus Christ, +there will always be some bit of our nature which, like the sulky elder +brother in the parable, will scowl at the music and dancing, and refuse +to come in. All earthly joys are transient as well as partial. Is it not +better that we should have gladness that will last as long as we do, +that we can hold in our dying hands, like a flower clasped in some cold +palm laid in the coffin, that we shall find again when we have crossed +the bar, that will grow and brighten and broaden for evermore? My joy +shall remain . . . full. + + + + +HOW TO OBEY AN IMPOSSIBLE INJUNCTION + + 'Be careful for nothing; but in everything by + prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let + your requests be made known unto God.'--PHIL. iv. + 6. + + +It is easy for prosperous people, who have nothing to trouble them, to +give good advices to suffering hearts; and these are generally as futile +as they are easy. But who was he who here said to the Church at +Philippi, 'Be careful for nothing?' A prisoner in a Roman prison; and +when Rome fixed its claws it did not usually let go without drawing +blood. He was expecting his trial, which might, so far as he knew, very +probably end in death. Everything in the future was entirely dark and +uncertain. It was this man, with all the pressure of personal sorrows +weighing upon him, who, in the very crisis of his life, turned to his +brethren in Philippi, who had far fewer causes of anxiety than he had, +and cheerfully bade them 'be careful for nothing, but in everything by +prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, make their requests known +unto God.' Had not that bird learned to sing when his cage was darkened? +And do you not think that advice of that sort, coming not from some one +perched up on a safe hillock to the strugglers in the field below, but +from a man in the thick of the fight, would be like a trumpet-call to +them who heard it? + +Now, here are two things. There is an apparently perfectly impossible +advice, and there is the only course that will make it possible. + +I. An apparently impossible advice. + +'Be careful for nothing.' I do not need to remind you--for I suppose +that we all know it--that that word 'careful,' in a great many places in +the New Testament, does not mean what, by the slow progress of change in +the significance of words, it has come to mean to-day; but it means what +it _should_ still mean, 'full of care,' and 'care' meant, not prudent +provision, forethought, the occupation of a man's common-sense with his +duty and his work and his circumstances, but it meant the thing which of +all others unfits a man most for such prudent provision, and that is, +the nervous irritation of a gnawing anxiety which, as the word in the +original means, tears the heart apart and makes a man quite incapable of +doing the wise thing, or seeing the wise thing to do, in the +circumstances. We all know that; so that I do not need to dwell upon it. +'Careful' here means neither more nor less than 'anxious.' + +But I may just remind you how harm has been done, and good has been lost +and missed, by people reading that modern meaning into the word. It is +the same word which Christ employed in the exhortation 'Take no thought +for to-morrow.' It is a great pity that Christian people sometimes get +it into their heads that Christ prohibited what common-sense demands, +and what everybody practises. 'Taking thought for the morrow' is not +only our duty, but it is one of the distinctions which make us 'much +better than' the fowls of the air, that have no barns in which to store +against a day of need. But when our Lord said, 'Take no thought for the +morrow,' he did not mean 'Do not lay yourselves out to provide for +common necessities and duties,' but 'Do not fling yourselves into a +fever of anxiety, nor be too anxious to anticipate the "fashion of +uncertain evils."' + +But even with that explanation, is it not like an unreachable ideal that +Paul puts forward here? 'Be anxious about nothing'--how can a man who +has to face the possibilities that we all have to face, and who knows +himself to be as weak to deal with them as we all are: how can he help +being anxious? There is no more complete waste of breath than those sage +and reverend advices which people give us, not to do the things, nor to +feel the emotions, which our position make absolutely inevitable and +almost involuntary. Here, for instance, is a man surrounded by all +manner of calamity and misfortune; and some well-meaning but foolish +friend comes to him, and, without giving him a single reason for the +advice, says, 'Cheer up! my friend.' Why should he cheer up? What is +there in his circumstances to induce him to fall into any other mood? Or +some unquestionable peril is staring him full in the face, coming +nearer and nearer to him, and some well-meaning, loose-tongued friend, +says to him, 'Do not be afraid!'--but he _ought_ to be afraid. That is +about all that worldly wisdom and morality have to say to us, when we +are in trouble and anxiety. 'Shut your eyes very hard, and make believe +very much, and you will not fear.' An impossible exhortation! Just as +well bid a ship in the Bay of Biscay not to rise and fall upon the wave, +but to keep an even keel. Just as well tell the willows in the river-bed +that they are not to bend when the wind blows, as come to me, and say to +me, 'Be careful about nothing.' Unless you have a great deal more than +that to say, I must be, and I ought to be, anxious, about a great many +things. Instead of anxiety being folly, it will be wisdom; and the folly +will consist in not opening our eyes to facts, and in not feeling +emotions that are appropriate to the facts which force themselves +against our eyeballs. Threadbare maxims, stale, musty old commonplaces +of unavailing consolation and impotent encouragement say to us, 'Do not +be anxious.' We try to stiffen our nerves and muscles in order to bear +the blow; or some of us, more basely still, get into a habit of +feather-headed levity, making no forecasts, nor seeing even what is +plainest before our eyes. But all that is of no use when once the hot +pincers of real trouble, impending or arrived, lay hold of our hearts. +Then of all idle expenditures of breath in the world there is none to +the wrung heart more idle and more painful than the one that says, Be +anxious about nothing. + +II. So we turn to the only course that makes the apparent impossibility +possible. + +Paul goes on to direct to the mode of feeling and action which will +give exemption from the else inevitable gnawing of anxious forethought. +He introduces his positive counsel with an eloquent 'But,' which implies +that what follows is the sure preservative against the temper which he +deprecates; 'But in everything by prayer and supplication, with +thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.' + +There are, then, these alternatives. If you do not like to take the one, +you are sure to have to take the other. There is only one way out of the +wood, and it is this which Paul expands in these last words of my text. +If a man does not pray about everything, he will be worried about most +things. If he does pray about everything, he will not be troubled beyond +what is good for him, about anything. So there are these alternatives; +and we have to make up our minds which of the two we are going to take. +The heart is never empty. If not full of God, it will be full of the +world, and of worldly care. Luther says somewhere that a man's heart is +like a couple of millstones; if you don't put something between them to +grind, they will grind each other. It is because God is not in our +hearts that the two stones rub the surface off one another. So the +victorious antagonist of anxiety is trust, and the only way to turn +gnawing care out of my heart and life is to usher God into it, and to +keep him resolutely in it. + +'In everything.' If a thing is great enough to threaten to make me +anxious, it is great enough for me to talk to God about. If He and I are +on a friendly footing, the instinct of friendship will make me speak. If +so, how irrelevant and superficial seem to be discussions whether we +ought to pray about worldly things, or confine our prayers entirely to +spiritual and religious matters. Why! if God and I are on terms of +friendship and intimacy of communication, there will be no question as +to what I am to talk about to Him; I shall not be able to keep silent as +to anything that interests me. And we are not right with God unless we +have come to the point that entire openness of speech marks our +communications with Him, and that, as naturally as men, when they come +home from business, like to tell their wives and children what has +happened to them since they left home in the morning, so naturally we +talk to our Friend about everything that concerns us. 'In _everything_ +let your requests be made known unto God.' That is the wise course, +because a multitude of little pimples may be quite as painful and +dangerous as a large ulcer. A cloud of gnats may put as much poison into +a man with their many stings as will a snake with its one bite. And if +we are not to get help from God by telling Him about little things, +there will be very little of our lives that we shall tell Him about at +all. For life is a mountain made up of minute flakes. The years are only +a collection of seconds. Every man's life is an aggregate of trifles. +'In _everything_ make your requests known.' + +'By prayer'--that does not mean, as a superficial experience of religion +is apt to suppose it to mean, actual petition that follows. For a great +many of us, the only notion that we have of prayer is asking God to give +us something that we want. But there is a far higher region of communion +than that, in which the soul seeks and finds, and sits and gazes, and +aspiring possesses, and possessing aspires. Where there is no spoken +petition for anything affecting outward life, there may be the prayer of +contemplation such as the burning seraphs before the Throne do ever glow +with. The prayer of silent submission, in which the will bows itself +before God; the prayer of quiet trust, in which we do not so much seek +as cleave; the prayer of still fruition--these, in Paul's conception of +the true order, precede 'supplication.' And if we have such union with +God, by realising His presence, by aspiration after Himself, by trusting +Him and submission to Him, then we have the victorious antagonist of all +our anxieties, and the 'cares that infest the day shall fold their +tents' and 'silently steal away.' For if a man has that union with God +which is effected by such prayer as I have been speaking about, it gives +him a fixed point on which to rest amidst all perturbations. It is like +bringing a light into a chamber when thunder is growling outside, which +prevents the flashing of the lightning from being seen. + +Years ago an ingenious inventor tried to build a vessel in such a +fashion as that the saloon for passengers should remain upon one level, +howsoever the hull might be tossed by waves. It was a failure, if I +remember rightly. But if we are thus joined to God, He will do for our +inmost hearts what the inventor tried to do with the chamber within his +ship. The hull may be buffeted, but the inmost chamber where the true +self sits will be kept level and unmoved. Brethren! prayer in the +highest sense, by which I mean the exercise of aspiration, trust, +submission--prayer will fight against and overcome all anxieties. + +'By prayer and supplication.' Actual petition for the supply of present +wants is meant by 'supplication.' To ask for that supply will very often +be to get it. To tell God what I think I need goes a long way always to +bringing me the gift that I do need. If I have an anxiety which I am +ashamed to speak to Him, that silence is a sign that I ought not to +have it; and if I have a desire that I do not feel I can put into a +prayer, that feeling is a warning to me not to cherish such a desire. + +There are many vague and oppressive anxieties that come and cast a +shadow over our hearts, that if we could once define, and put into plain +words, we should find that we vaguely fancied them a great deal larger +than they were, and that the shadow they flung was immensely longer than +the thing that flung it. Put your anxieties into definite speech. It +will reduce their proportions to your own apprehension very often. +Speaking them, even to a man who may be able to do little to help, eases +them wonderfully. Put them into definite speech to God; and there are +very few of them that will survive. + +'By prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.' That thanksgiving is +always in place. If one only considers what he has from God, and +realises that whatever he has he has received from the hands of divine +love, thanksgiving is appropriate in any circumstances. Do you remember +when Paul was in gaol at the very city to which this letter went, with +his back bloody with the rod, and his feet fast in the stocks, how then +he and Silas 'prayed and sang praises to God.' Therefore the obedient +earthquake came and set them loose. Perhaps it was some reminiscence of +that night which moved him to say to the Church that knew the story--of +which perhaps the gaoler was still a member--'By prayer and supplication +with thanksgiving make your requests known unto God.' + +One aching nerve can monopolise our attention and make us unconscious of +the health of all the rest of the body. So, a single sorrow or loss +obscures many mercies. We are like men who live in a narrow alley in +some city, with great buildings on either side, towering high above +their heads, and only a strip of sky visible. If we see up in that strip +a cloud, we complain and behave as if the whole heavens, right away +round the three hundred and sixty degrees of the horizon, were black +with tempest. But we see only a little strip, and there is a great deal +of blue in the sky; however, there may be a cloud in the patch that we +see above our heads, from the alley where we live. Everything, rightly +understood, that God sends to men is a cause of thanksgiving; therefore, +'in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your +requests be made known unto God.' + +'Casting all your _anxieties_ upon him,' says Peter, 'for He'--not _is +anxious_; that dark cloud does not rise much above the earth--but, 'He +careth for you.' And that loving guardianship and tender care is the one +shield, armed with which we can smile at the poisoned darts of anxiety +which would else fester in our hearts and, perhaps, kill. 'Be careful +for nothing'--an impossibility unless 'in everything' we make 'our +requests known unto God.' + + + + +THE WARRIOR PEACE + + 'The peace of God, which passeth all + understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds + through Christ Jesus.'--PHIL. iv. 7. + + +The great Mosque of Constantinople was once a Christian church, +dedicated to the Holy Wisdom. Over its western portal may still be read, +graven on a brazen plate, the words, 'Come unto Me, all ye that labour +and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.' For four hundred years +noisy crowds have fought, and sorrowed, and fretted, beneath the dim +inscription in an unknown tongue; and no eye has looked at it, nor any +heart responded. It is but too sad a symbol of the reception which +Christ's offers meet amongst men, and--blessed be His name!--its +prominence there, though unread and unbelieved, is a symbol of the +patient forbearance with which rejected blessings are once and again +pressed upon us, and He stretches out His hand though no man regards, +and calls though none do hear. My text is Christ's offer of peace. The +world offers excitement, Christ promises repose. + +I. Mark, then, first, this peace of God. + +What is it? What are its elements? Whence does it come? It is of God, as +being its Source, or Origin, or Author, or Giver, but it belongs to Him +in a yet deeper sense, for Himself is Peace. And in some humble but yet +real fashion our restless and anxious hearts may partake in the divine +tranquillity, and with a calm repose, kindred with that rest from which +it is derived, may enter into His rest. + +If that be too high a flight, at all events the peace that may be ours +was Christ's, in the perfect and unbroken tranquillity of His perfect +Manhood. What, then, are its elements? The peace of God must, first of +all, be peace with God. Conscious friendship with Him is indispensable +to all true tranquillity. Where that is absent there may be the ignoring +of the disturbed relationship; but there will be no peace of heart. The +indispensable requisite is 'a conscience like a sea at rest.' Unless we +have made sure work of our relationship with God, and know that He and +we are friends, there is no real repose possible for us. In the whirl of +excitement we may forget, and for a time turn away from, the realities +of our relation to Him, and so get such gladness as is possible to a +life not rooted in conscious friendship with Him. But such lives will be +like some of those sunny islands in the Eastern Pacific, extinct +volcanoes, where nature smiles and all things are prodigal and life is +easy and luxuriant; but some day the clouds gather, and the earth +shakes, and fire pours forth, and the sea boils, and every living thing +dies, and darkness and desolation come. You are living, brother, upon a +volcano's side, unless the roots of your being are fixed in a God who is +your friend. + +Again, the peace of God is peace within ourselves. The unrest of human +life comes largely from our being torn asunder by contending impulses. +Conscience pulls this way, passion that. Desire says, 'Do this'; reason, +judgment, prudence say, 'It is at your peril if you do!' One desire +fights against another, and so the man is rent asunder. There must be +the harmonising of all the Being if there is to be real rest of spirit. +No longer must it be like the chaos ere the creative word was spoken, +where, in gloom, contending elements strove. + +Again, men have not peace, because in most of them everything is topmost +that ought to be undermost, and everything undermost that ought to be +uppermost. 'Beggars are on horseback' (and we know where they ride), +'and princes walking.' The more regal part of the man's nature is +suppressed, and trodden under foot; and the servile parts, which ought +to be under firm restraint, and guided by a wise hand, are too often +supreme, and wild work comes of that. When you put the captain and the +officers, and everybody on board that knows anything about navigation, +into irons, and fasten down the hatches on them, and let the crew and +the cabin boys take the helm and direct the ship, it is not likely that +the voyage will end anywhere but on the rocks. Multitudes are living +lives of unrestfulness, simply because they have set the lowest parts of +their nature upon the throne, and subordinated the highest to these. + +Our unrest comes from yet another source. We have not peace, because we +have not found and grasped the true objects for any of our faculties. +God is the only possession that brings quiet. The heart hungers until it +feeds upon Him. The mind is satisfied with no truth until behind truth +it finds a Person who is true. The will is enslaved and wretched until +in God it recognises legitimate and absolute authority, which it is +blessing to obey. Love puts out its yearnings, like the filaments that +gossamer spiders send out into the air, seeking in vain for something to +fasten upon, until it touches God, and clings there. There is no rest +for a man until he rests in God. The reason why this world is so full of +excitement is because it is so empty of peace, and the reason why it is +so empty of peace is because it is so void of God. The peace of God +brings peace with Him, and peace within. It unites our hearts to fear +His name, and draws all the else turbulent and confusedly flowing +impulses of the great deep of the spirit after itself, in a tidal wave, +as the moon draws the waters of the gathered ocean. The peace of God is +peace with Him, and peace within. + +I need not, I suppose, do more than say one word about that descriptive +clause in my text, It 'passeth understanding.' The understanding is not +the faculty by which men lay hold of the peace of God any more than you +can see a picture with your ears or hear music with your eyes. To +everything its own organ; you cannot weigh truth in a tradesman's scales +or measure thought with a yard-stick. Love is not the instrument for +apprehending Euclid, nor the brain the instrument for grasping these +divine and spiritual gifts. The peace of God transcends the +understanding, as well as belongs to another order of things than that +about which the understanding is concerned. You must experience it to +know it; you must have it in order that you may feel its sweetness. It +eludes the grasp of the wisest, though it yields itself to the patient +and loving heart. + +II. So notice, in the next place, what the peace of God does. + +It 'shall keep your hearts and minds.' The Apostle here blends together, +in a very remarkable manner, the conceptions of peace and of war, for he +employs a purely military word to express the office of this Divine +peace. That word, 'shall keep,' is the same as is translated in another +of his letters _kept with a garrison_--and, though, perhaps, it might be +going too far to insist that the military idea is prominent in his mind, +it will certainly not be unsafe to recognise its presence. + +So, then, this Divine peace takes upon itself warlike functions, and +garrisons the heart and mind. What does he mean by 'the heart and mind'? +Not, as the English reader might suppose, two different faculties, the +emotional and the intellectual--which is what we usually roughly mean by +our distinction between heart and mind--but, as is always the case in +the Bible, the 'heart' means the whole inner man, whether considered as +thinking, willing, purposing, or doing any other inward act; and the +word rendered 'mind' does not mean another part of human nature, but +the whole products of the operations of the heart. The Revised Version +renders it by 'thoughts,' and that is correct if it be given a wide +enough application, so as to include emotions, affections, purposes, as +well as 'thoughts' in the narrower sense. The whole inner man, in all +the extent of its manifold operations, that indwelling peace of God will +garrison and guard. + +So note, however profound and real that Divine peace is, it is to be +enjoyed in the midst of warfare. Quiet is not quiescence. God's peace is +not torpor. The man that has it has still to wage continual conflict, +and day by day to brace himself anew for the fight. The highest energy +of action is the result of the deepest calm of heart; just as the motion +of this solid, and, as we feel it to be, immovable world, is far more +rapid through the abysses of space, and on its own axis, than any of the +motions of the things on its surface. So the quiet heart, 'which moveth +altogether if it move at all,' rests whilst it moves, and moves the more +swiftly because of its unbroken repose. That peace of God, which is +peace militant, is unbroken amidst all conflicts. The wise old Greeks +chose for the protectress of Athens the goddess of Wisdom, and whilst +they consecrated to her the olive branch, which is the symbol of peace, +they set her image on the Parthenon, helmed and spear-bearing, to defend +the peace, which she brought to earth. So this heavenly Virgin, whom the +Apostle personifies here, is the 'winged sentry, all skilful in the +wars,' who enters into our hearts and fights for us to keep us in +unbroken peace. + +It is possible day by day to go out to toil and care and anxiety and +change and suffering and conflict, and yet to bear within our hearts +the unalterable rest of God. Deep in the bosom of the ocean, beneath the +region where winds howl and billows break, there is calm, but the calm +is not stagnation. Each drop from these fathomless abysses may be raised +to the surface by the power of the sunbeams, expanded there by their +heat, and sent on some beneficent message across the world. So, deep in +our hearts, beneath the storm, beneath the raving winds and the curling +waves, there may be a central repose, as unlike stagnation as it is +unlike tumult; and the peace of God may, as a warrior, keep our hearts +and minds in Christ Jesus. + +What is the plain English of that metaphor? Just this, that a man who +has that peace as his conscious possession is lifted above the +temptations that otherwise would drag him away. The full cup, filled +with precious wine, has no room in it for the poison that otherwise +might be poured in. As Jesus Christ has taught us, there is such a thing +as cleansing a heart in some measure, and yet because it is 'empty,' +though it is 'swept and garnished,' the demons come back again. The best +way to be made strong to resist temptation, is to be lifted above +feeling it to be a temptation, by reason of the sweetness of the peace +possessed. Oh! if our hearts were filled, as they might be filled, with +that divine repose, do you think that the vulgar, coarse-tasting baits +which make our mouths water now would have any power over us? Will a man +who bears in his hands jewels of priceless value, and knows them to be +such, find much temptation when some imitation stone, made of coloured +glass and a tinfoil backing, is presented to him? Will the world draw us +away if we are rooted and grounded in the peace of God? Geologists tell +us that climates are changed and creatures are killed by the slow +variation of level in the earth. If you and I can only heave our lives +up high enough, the foul things that live down below will find the air +too pure and keen for them, and will die and disappear; and all the +vermin that stung and nestled down in the flats will be gone when we get +up to the heights. The peace of God will keep our hearts and thoughts. + +III. Now, lastly, notice how we get the peace of God. + +My text is an exuberant promise, but it is knit on to something before, +by that 'and' at the beginning of the verse. It is a promise, as all +God's promises are, on conditions. And here are the conditions. 'Be +careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication, with +thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God.' That defines +the conditions in part; and the last words of the text itself complete +the definition. 'In Christ Jesus' describes, not so much where we are to +be kept, as a condition under which we shall be kept. How, then, can I +get this peace into my turbulent, changeful life? + +I answer, first, trust is peace. It is always so; even when it is +misplaced we are at rest. The condition of repose for the human heart is +that we shall be 'in Christ,' who has said, 'In the world ye shall have +tribulation, but in Me ye shall have peace.' And how may I be 'in Him'? +Simply by trusting myself to Him. That brings peace with God. + +The sinless Son of God has died on the Cross, a sacrifice for the sins +of the whole world, for yours and for mine. Let us trust to that, and we +shall have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And 'in Him' +we have, by trust, inward peace, for He, through our faith, controls +our whole natures, and Faith leads the lion in a silken leash, like +Spenser's Una. Trust in Christ brings peace amid outward sorrows and +conflicts. When the pilot comes on board the captain does not leave the +bridge, but stands by the pilot's side. His responsibility is past, but +his duties are not over. And when Christ comes into my heart, my effort, +my judgment, are not made unnecessary, or put on one side. Let Him take +the command, and stand beside Him, and carry out His orders, and you +will find rest to your souls. + +Again, submission is peace. What makes our troubles is not outward +circumstances, howsoever afflictive they may be, but the resistance of +our spirits to the circumstances. And where a man's will bends and says, +'Not mine but Thine be done,' there is calm. Submission is like the +lotion that is applied to mosquito bites--it takes away the irritation, +though the puncture be left. Submission is peace, both as resignation +and as obedience. + +Communion is peace. You will get no quiet until you live with God. Until +He is at your side you will always be moved. + +So, dear friend, fix this in your minds: a life without Christ is a life +without peace. Without Him you may have excitement, pleasure, gratified +passions, success, accomplished hopes, but peace never! You never have +had it, have you? If you live without Him, you may forget that you have +not Him, and you can plunge into the world, and so lose the +consciousness of the aching void, but it is there all the same. You +never will have peace until you go to Him. There is only one way to get +it. The Christless heart is like the troubled sea that cannot rest. +There is no peace for it. But in Him you can get it for the asking. +'The chastisement of our peace was laid upon Him.' For our sakes He died +on the Cross, so making peace. Trust Him as your only hope, Saviour and +friend, and the God of peace will 'fill you with all joy and peace in +believing.' Then bow your wills to Him in acceptance of His providence, +and in obedience to His commands, and so, 'your peace shall be as a +river, and your righteousness as the waves of the sea.' Then keep your +hearts in union and communion with Him, and so His presence will keep +you in perfect peace whilst conflicts last, and, with Him at your side, +you will pass through the valley of the shadow of death undisturbed, and +come to the true Salem, the city of peace, where they beat their swords +into ploughshares, and learn and fear war no more. + + + + +THINK ON THESE THINGS + + ' . . . Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever + things are honest, whatsoever things are just, + whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are + lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if + there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, + think on these things.'--PHIL. iv. 8. + + +I am half afraid that some of you may think, as I have at times thought, +that I am too old to preach to the young. You would probably listen with +more attention to one less remote from you in years, and may be disposed +to discount my advices as quite natural for an old man to give, and +quite unnatural for a young man to take. But, dear friends, the message +which I have to bring to you is meant for all ages, and for all sorts of +people. And, if I may venture a personal word, I proved it, when I stood +where you stand, and it is fresher and mightier to me to-day than it +ever was. + +You are in the plastic period of your lives, with the world before you, +and the mightier world within to mould as you will; and you can be +almost anything you like, I do not mean in regard to externals, or +intellectual capacities, for these are only partially in our control, +but in regard to the far more important and real things--viz. elevation +and purity of heart and mind. You are in the period of life to which +fair dreams of the future are natural. It is, as the prophet tells us, +for 'the young man' to 'see visions,' and to ennoble his life thereafter +by turning them into realities. Generous and noble ideas ought to belong +to youth. But you are also in the period when there is a keen joy in +mere living, and when some desires, which get weaker as years go on, are +very strong, and may mar youthful purity. So, taking all these into +account, I have thought that I could not do better than press home upon +you the counsels of this magnificent text, however inadequately my time +may permit of my dealing with them; for there are dozens of sermons in +it, if one could expand it worthily. + +But my purpose is distinctly practical, and so I wish just to cast what +I have to say to you into the answer to three questions, the three +questions that may be asked about everything. What? Why? How? + +I. _What_, then, is the counsel here? + +'Think on these things.' To begin with, that advice implies that we can, +and, therefore, that we should, exercise a very rigid control over that +part of our lives which a great many of us never think of controlling at +all. There are hosts of people whose thoughts are just hooked on to one +another by the slightest links of accidental connection, and who +scarcely ever have put a strong hand upon them, or coerced them into +order, or decided what they are going to let come into their minds, and +what to keep out. Circumstances, the necessities of our daily +occupations, the duties that we owe to one another, all these make +certain streams of thought very necessary, and to some of us very +absorbing. And for the rest--well! 'He that hath no rule over his own +spirit is like a city broken down, without walls'; anybody can go in, +and anybody can come out. I am sure that amongst young men and women +there are multitudes who have never realised how responsible they are +for the flow of the waves of that great river that is always coming from +the depths of their being, and have never asked whether the current is +bringing down sand or gold. Exercise control, as becomes you, over the +run and drift of your thoughts. I said that many of us had minds like +cities broken down. Put a guard at the gate, as they do in some +Continental countries, and let in no vagrant that cannot show his +passport, and a clear bill of health. Now, that is a lesson that some of +you very much want. + +But, further, notice that company of fair guests that you may welcome +into the hospitalities of your heart and mind. 'Think on these +things'--and what are they? It would be absurd of me to try to exhaust +the great catalogue which the Apostle gives here, but let me say a word +or two about it. + +'Whatsoever things are true . . . think on these things.' Let your minds +be exercised, breathed, braced, lifted, filled by bringing them into +contact with truth, especially with the highest of all truths, the +truths affecting God and your relations to Him. Why should you, like so +many of us, be living amidst the small things of daily life, the trifles +that are here, and never coming into vital contact with the greatest +things of all, the truths about God and Christ, and what you have to do +with them, and what they have to do with you? 'Whatsoever things are +true . . . think on these things.' + +'Whatsoever things are honest,' or, as the word more properly and nobly +means, 'Whatsoever things are _reverent_, or _venerable_'--let grave, +serious, solemn thought be familiar to your minds, not frivolities, not +mean things. There is an old story in Roman history about the barbarians +breaking into the Capitol, and their fury being awed into silence, and +struck into immobility, as they saw, round and round in the hall, the +august Senators, each in his seat. Let your minds be like that, with +reverent thoughts clustering on every side; and when wild passions, and +animal desires, and low, mean contemplations dare to cross the +threshold, they will be awed into silence and stillness. 'Whatsoever +things are august . . . think on these things.' + +'Whatsoever things are just'--let the great, solemn thought of duty, +obligation, what I ought to be and do, be very familiar to your +consideration and meditation. 'Whatsoever things are just . . . think on +these things.' + +'Whatsoever things are pure'--let white-robed angels haunt the place. +Let there be in you a shuddering recoil from all the opposite; and +entertain angels _not_ unawares. 'Whatsoever things are pure . . . think +on these things.' + +Now, these characteristics of thoughts which I have already touched upon +all belong to a lofty region, but the Apostle is not contented with +speaking austere things. He goes now into a region tinged with emotion, +and he says, 'whatsoever things are lovely'; for goodness is beautiful, +and, in effect, is the only beautiful. 'Whatsoever things are lovely . . . +think on these things.' And 'whatsoever things are of good report'--all +the things that men speak well of, and speak good in the very naming of, +let thoughts of them be in your minds. + +And then he gathers all up into two words. 'If there be any +virtue'--which covers the ground of the first four, that he has already +spoken about--viz. true, venerable, just, pure; and 'if there be any +praise'--which resumes and sums up the two last: 'lovely and of good +report,' 'think on these things.' + +Now, if my purpose allowed it, one would like to point out here how the +Apostle accepts the non-Christian notions of the people in whose tongue +he was speaking; and here, for the only time in his letters, uses the +great Pagan word 'virtue,' which was a spell amongst the Greeks, and +says, 'I accept the world's notion of what is virtuous and praiseworthy, +and I bid you take it to your hearts.' + +Dear brethren, Christianity covers all the ground that the noblest +morality has ever attempted to mark out and possess, and it covers a +great deal more. 'If there be any virtue, as you Greeks are fond of +talking about, and if there be any praise, if there is anything in men +which commends noble actions, think on these things.' + +Now, you will not obey this commandment unless you obey also the +negative side of it. That is to say, you will not think on these fair +forms, and bring them into your hearts, unless you turn away, by +resolute effort, from their opposites. There are some, and I am afraid +that in a congregation as large as this there must be some +representatives of the class, who seem to turn this apostolic precept +right round about, and whatsoever things are illusory and vain, +whatsoever things are mean, and frivolous, and contemptible, whatsoever +things are unjust, and whatsoever things are impure, and whatsoever +things are ugly, and whatsoever things are branded with a stigma by all +men they think on _these_ things. Like the flies that are attracted to a +piece of putrid meat, there are young men who are drawn by all the +lustful, the lewd, the impure thoughts; and there are young women who +are too idle and uncultivated to have any pleasure in anything higher +than gossip and trivial fiction. 'Whatsoever things are noble and +lovely, think on these things,' and get rid of all the others. + +There are plenty of occasions round about you to force the opposite upon +your notice; and, unless you shut your door fast, and double-lock it, +they will be sure to come in:--Popular literature, the scrappy +trivialities that are put into some periodicals, what they call +'realistic fiction'; modern Art, which has come to be largely the +servant of sense; the Stage, which has come--and more is the pity! for +there are enormous possibilities of good in it--to be largely a minister +of corruption, or if not of corruption at least of frivolity--all these +things are appealing to you. And some of you young men, away from the +restraints of home, and in a city, where you think nobody could see you +sowing your wild oats, have got entangled with them. I beseech you, cast +out all this filth, and all this meanness and pettiness from your +habitual thinkings, and let the august and the lovely and the pure and +the true come in instead. You have the cup in your hand, you can either +press into it clusters of ripe grapes, and make mellow wine, or you can +squeeze into it wormwood and gall and hemlock and poison-berries; and, +as you brew, you have to drink. You have the canvas, and you are to +cover it with the figures that you like best. You can either do as Fra +Angelico did, who painted the white walls of every cell in his quiet +convent with Madonnas and angels and risen Christs, or you can do like +some of those low-toned Dutch painters, who never can get above a brass +pan and a carrot, and ugly boors and women, and fill the canvas with +vulgarities and deformities. Choose which you will have to keep you +company. + +II. Now, let me ask you to think for a moment _why_ this counsel is +pressed upon you. + +Let me put the reasons very briefly. They are, first, because thought +moulds action. 'As a man thinketh in his heart so is he.' One looks +round the world, and all these solid-seeming realities of institutions, +buildings, governments, inventions and machines, steamships and electric +telegrams, laws and governments, palaces and fortresses, they are all +but embodied thoughts. There was a thought at the back of each of them +which took shape. So, in another sense than the one in which the saying +was originally meant, but yet an august and solemn sense, 'the word is +made flesh,' and our thoughts became visible, and stand round us, a +ghastly company. Sooner or later what has been the drift and trend of a +man's life comes out, flashes out sometimes, and dribbles out at other +times, into visibility in his actions; and, just as the thunder follows +on the swift passage of the lightning, so my acts are neither more nor +less than the reverberation and after-clap of my thoughts. + +So if you are entertaining in your hearts and minds this august company +of which my text speaks, your lives will be fair and beautiful. For what +does the Apostle immediately go on to add to our text? 'These things +do'--as you certainly will if you think about them, and as you certainly +will not unless you do. + +Again, thought and work make character. We come into the world with +certain dispositions and bias. But that is not character, it is only the +raw material of character. It is all plastic, like the lava when it +comes out of the volcano. But it hardens, and whatever else my thought +may do, and whatever effects may follow upon any of my actions, the +recoil of them on myself is the most important effect to me. And there +is not a thought that comes into, and is entertained by a man, or rolled +as a sweet morsel under his tongue, but contributes its own little but +appreciable something to the making of the man's character. I wonder if +there is anybody in this chapel now who has been so long accustomed to +entertain these angels of whom my text speaks as that to entertain their +opposites would be an impossibility. I hope there is. I wonder if there +is anybody in this chapel to-night who has been so long accustomed to +live amidst the thoughts that are small and trivial and frivolous, if +not amongst those that are impure and abominable, as that to entertain +their opposites seems almost an impossibility. I am afraid there are +some. I remember hearing about a Maori woman who had come to live in one +of the cities in New Zealand, in a respectable station, and after a year +or two of it she left husband and children, and civilisation, and +hurried back to her tribe, flung off the European garb, and donned the +blanket, and was happy crouching over the embers on the clay hearth. +Some of you have become so accustomed to the low, the wicked, the +lustful, the impure, the frivolous, the contemptible, that you cannot, +or, at any rate, have lost all disposition to rise to the lofty, the +pure, and the true. + +Once more; as thought makes deeds, and thought and deeds make character, +so character makes destiny, here and hereafter. If you have these +blessed thoughts in your hearts and minds, as your continual companions +and your habitual guests, then, my friend, you will have a light within +that will burn all independent of externals; and whether the world +smiles or frowns on you, you will have the true wealth in yourselves; 'a +better and enduring substance.' You will have peace, you will be lords +of the world, and having nothing yet may have all. No harm can come to +the man who has laid up in his youth, as the best treasure of old age, +this possession of these thoughts enjoined in my text. + +And character makes destiny hereafter. What is a man whose whole life +has been one long thought about money-making, or about other objects of +earthly ambition, or about the lusts of the flesh, and the lusts of the +eye, and the pride of life, to do in heaven? What would one of those +fishes in the sunless caverns of America, which, by long living in the +dark, have lost their eyes, do, if it were brought out into the +sunshine? A man will go to his own place, the place for which he is +fitted, the place for which he has fitted himself by his daily life, and +especially by the trend and the direction of his thoughts. + +So do not be led away by talk about 'seeing both sides,' about 'seeing +life,' about 'knowing what is going on.' 'I would have you simple +concerning evil, and wise concerning good.' Do not be led away by talk +about having your fling, and sowing your wild oats. You may make an +indelible stain on your conscience, which even forgiveness will not wipe +out; and you may sow your wild oats, but what will the harvest be? +'Whatsoever a man soweth that'--_that_--'shall he also reap.' Would you +like all your low thoughts, all your foul thoughts, to return and sit +down beside you, and say, 'We have come to keep you company for ever'? +'If there be any virtue . . . think on these things.' + +III. Now, lastly, _how_ is this precept best obeyed? + +I have been speaking to some extent about that, and saying that there +must be real, honest, continuous effort to keep out the opposite, as +well as to bring in the 'things that are lovely and of good report.' But +there is one more word that I must say in answer to the question how +this precept can be observed, and it is just this. All these things, +true, venerable, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, are not things +only; they are embodied in a Person. For whatever things are fair meet +in Jesus Christ, and He, in His living self, is the sum of all virtue +and of all praise. So that if we link ourselves to Him by faith and +love, and take Him into our hearts and minds, and abide in Him, we have +them all gathered together into that One. Thinking on these things is +not merely a meditating upon abstractions, but it is clutching and +living in and with and by the living, loving Lord and Saviour of us all. +If Christ is in my thoughts, all good things are there. + +If you trust Him, and make him your Companion, He will help you, He will +give you His own life, and in it will give you tastes and desires which +will make all these fair thoughts congenial to you, and will deliver you +from the else hopeless bondage of subjection to their very opposites. + +Brethren, our souls cleave to the dust, and all our efforts will be +foiled, partially or entirely, to obey this precept, unless we remember +that it was spoken to people who had previously obeyed a previous +commandment, and had taken Christ for their Saviour. We gravitate +earthwards, alas! after all our efforts, but if we will put ourselves in +His hands, then He will be as a Magnet drawing us upwards, or rather He +will give us wings of love and contemplation by which we can soar above +that dim spot that men call Earth, and walk in the heavenly places. The +way by which this commandment can be obeyed is by obeying the other +precept of the same Apostle, 'Set your minds on things which are above, +where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.' + +I beseech you, take Christ and enthrone Him in the very sanctuary of +your minds. Then you will have all these venerable, pure, blessed +thoughts as the very atmosphere in which you move. 'Think on these +things . . . these things do! . . . and the God of Peace shall be with +you.' + + + + +HOW TO SAY 'THANK YOU' + + 'But I rejoice in the Lord greatly, that now at + length ye have revived your thought for me; + wherein ye did indeed take thought, but ye lacked + opportunity. Not that I speak in respect of want: + for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, + therein to be content. I know how to be abased, + and I know also how to abound: in everything and + in all things have I learned the secret both to be + filled and to be hungry, both to abound and to be + in want. I can do all things in Him that + strengtheneth me. Howbeit ye did well, that ye had + fellowship with my affliction.'--PHIL. iv. 10-14 + (R.V.). + + +It is very difficult to give money without hurting the recipient. It is +as difficult to receive it without embarrassment and sense of +inferiority. Paul here shows us how he could handle a delicate subject +with a feminine fineness of instinct and a noble self-respect joined +with warmest gratitude. He carries the weight of obligation, is profuse +in his thanks, and yet never crosses the thin line which separates the +expression of gratitude from self-abasing exaggeration, nor that other +which distinguishes self-respect in the receiver of benefits from proud +unwillingness to be obliged to anybody. Few words are more difficult to +say rightly than 'Thank you.' Some people speak them reluctantly and +some too fluently: some givers are too exacting in the acknowledgments +they expect, and do not so much give as barter so much help for so much +recognition of superiority. + +The Philippians had sent to Paul some money help by Epaphroditus as we +heard before in Chapter II., and this gift he now acknowledges in a +paragraph full of autobiographical interest which may be taken as a very +model of the money relations between teachers and taught in the church. +It is besides an exquisite illustration of the fineness and delicacy of +Paul's nature, and it includes large spiritual lessons. + +The stream of the Apostle's thoughts takes three turns here. There is +first the exuberant and delicate expression of his thanks, then, as +fearing that they might misunderstand his joy in their affection as if +it were only selfish gladness that his wants had been met, he gives +utterance to his triumphant and yet humble consciousness of his +Christ-given independence in, and of, all circumstances, and then +feeling in a moment that such words, if they stood alone, might sound +ungrateful, he again returns to thanks, but not for their gift so much +as for the sympathy expressed in it. We may follow these movements of +feeling now. + +I. The exuberant expression of thanks, 'I rejoice in the Lord greatly.' + +There is an instance of his following his own twice-given precept, +'Rejoice in the Lord always.' The Philippians' care of him was the +source of the joy, and yet it was joy in the Lord. So we learn the +perfect consistency of that joy in Christ with the full enjoyment of all +other sources of joy, and especially of the joy that arises from +Christian love and friendship. Union with Christ heightens and purifies +all earthly relations. Nobody should be so tender and so sweet in these +as a Christian. His faith should be like the sunshine blazing out over +the meadows making them greener. It should, and does in the measure of +its power, destroy selfishness and guard us against the evils which sap +love and the anxieties which torment it, against the dread that it may +end, and our hopeless desolation when it does. There is a false ascetic +idea of Christian devotion as if it were a regard to Christ which made +our hearts cold to others, which is clean against Paul's experience +here. His joy went out in fuller stream towards the Philippians because +it was 'joy in the Lord.' + +We may just note in passing the tender metaphor by which the +Philippians' renewed thought of him is likened to a tree's putting forth +its buds in a gracious springtide, and may link with it the pretty fancy +of an old commentator whom some people call prosaic and puritanical +(Bengel), that the stormy winter had hindered communication, and that +Epaphroditus and the gifts came with the opening spring. + +Paul's inborn delicacy and quick considerateness comes beautifully +forward in his addition, to remove any suspicion of his thinking that +his friends in Philippi had been negligent or cold. Therefore he adds +that he knew that they had always had the will. What had hindered them +we do not know. Perhaps they had no one to send. Perhaps they had not +heard that such help would be welcome, but whatever frost had kept the +tree from budding, he knew that the sap was in it all the same. + +We may note that trait of true friendship, confidence in a love that did +not express itself. Many of us are too exacting in always wanting +manifestations of our friend's affection. What cries out for these is +not love so much as self-importance which has not had the attention +which it thinks its due. How often there have been breaches of intimacy +which have no better reason than 'He didn't come to see me often +enough'; 'He hasn't written to me for ever so long'; 'He does not pay me +the attention I expect.' It is a poor love which is always needing to be +assured of another's. It is better to err in believing that there is a +store of goodwill in our friends' hearts to us which only needs occasion +to be unfolded. One often hears people say that they were quite +surprised at the proofs of affection which came to them when they were +in trouble. They would have been happier and more nearly right if they +had believed in them when there was no need to show them. + +II. Consciousness of Christ-given independence and of 'content' is +scarcely Paul's whole idea here, though that, no doubt, is included. We +have no word which exactly expresses the meaning. 'Self-sufficient' is a +translation, but then it has acquired a bad meaning as connoting a false +estimate of one's own worth and wisdom. What Paul means is that whatever +be his condition he has in himself enough to meet it. He does not depend +on circumstances, and he does not depend on other people for strength to +face them. Many words are not needed to insist that only the man of whom +these things are true is worth calling a man at all. It is a miserable +thing to be hanging on externals and so to be always exposed to the +possibility of having to say, 'They have taken away my Gods.' It is as +wretched to be hanging on people. 'The good man shall be satisfied for +himself.' The fortress that has a deep well in the yard and plenty of +provisions within, is the only one that can hold out. + +This independence teaches the true use of all changing circumstances. +The consequence of 'learning' therewith to be content is further stated +by the Apostle in terms which perhaps bear some reference to the +mysteries of Greek religion, since the word rendered 'I have learned the +secret' means I have been initiated. He can bear either of the two +extremes of human experience, and can keep a calm and untroubled mind +whichever of them he has to front. He has the same equable spirit when +abased and when abounding. He is like a compensation pendulum which +corrects expansions and contractions and keeps time anywhere. I remember +hearing of a captain in an Arctic expedition who had been recalled from +the Tropics and sent straight away to the North Pole. Sometimes God +gives His children a similar experience. + +It is possible for us not only to bear with equal minds both extremes, +but to get the good out of both. It is a hard lesson and takes much +conning, to learn to bear sorrow or suffering or want. They have great +lessons to teach us all, and a character that has not been schooled by +one of these dwellers in the dark is imperfect as celery is not in +season till frost has touched it. But it is not less difficult to learn +how to bear prosperity and abundance, though we think it a pleasanter +lesson. To carry a full cup without spilling is proverbially difficult, +and one sees instances enough of men who were far better men when they +were poor than they have ever been since they were rich, to give a +terrible significance to the assertion that it is still more difficult +to live a Christian life in prosperity than in sorrow. But while both +threaten, both may minister to our growth. Sorrow will drive, and joy +will draw, us nearer to God. If we are not tempted by abundance to +plunge our desires into it, nor tempted by sorrow to think ourselves +hopelessly harmed by it, both will knit us more closely to our true and +changeless good. The centrifugal and centripetal forces both keep the +earth in its orbit. + +It is only when we are independent of circumstances that we are able to +get the full good of them. When there is a strong hand at the helm, the +wind, though it be almost blowing directly against us, helps us forward, +but otherwise the ship drifts and washes about in the trough. We all +need the exhortation to be their master, for we can do without them and +they serve us. + +Paul here lets us catch a glimpse of the inmost secret of his power +without which all exhortations to independence are but waste words. He +is conscious of a living power flowing through him and making him fit +for anything, and he is not afraid that any one who studies him will +accuse him of exaggeration even when he makes the tremendous claim 'I +can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me.' That great word is even +more emphatic in the original, not only because, as the Revised Version +shows, it literally is _in_ and not _through_, and so suggests again his +familiar thought of a vital union with Jesus, but also because he uses a +compound word which literally means 'strengthening within,' so then the +power communicated is breathed into the man, and in the most literal +sense he is 'strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.' This +inward impartation of strength is the true and only condition of that +self-sufficingness which Paul has just been claiming. Stoicism breaks +down because it tries to make men apart from God sufficient for +themselves, which no man is. To stand alone without Him is to be weak. +Circumstances will always be too strong for me, and sins will be too +strong. A Godless life has a weakness at the heart of its loneliness, +but Christ and I are always in the majority, and in the face of all +foes, be they ever so many and strong, we can confidently say, 'They +that be with us are more than they that be with them.' The old +experience will prove true in our lives, and though 'they compass us +about like bees,' the worst that they can do is only to buzz angrily +round our heads, and their end is in the name of the Lord to be +destroyed. In ourselves we are weak, but if we are 'rooted, grounded, +built' on Jesus, we partake of the security of the rock of ages to which +we are united, and cannot be swept away by the storm, so long as it +stands unmoved. I have seen a thin hair-stemmed flower growing on the +edge of a cataract and resisting the force of its plunge, and of the +wind that always lives in its depths, because its roots are in a cleft +of the cliff. The secret of strength for all men is to hold fast by the +'strong Son of God,' and they only are sufficient in whatsoever state +they are, to whom this loving and quickening voice has spoken the +charter 'My grace is sufficient for thee.' + +III. The renewed thanks for the loving sympathy expressed in the gift. + +We have here again an eager anxiety not to be misunderstood as +undervaluing the Philippians' gift. How beautifully the sublimity of the +previous words lies side by side with the lowliness and gentleness of +these. + +We note here the combination of that grand independence with loving +thankfulness for brotherly help. The self-sufficingness of Stoicism is +essentially inhuman and isolating. It is contrary to God's plan and to +the fellowship which is meant to knit men together. So we have always to +take heed to blend with it a loving welcome to sympathy, and not to +fancy that human help and human kindness is useless. We should be able +to do without it, but that need not make it the less sweet when it +comes. We may be carrying water for the march, but shall not the less +prize a brook by the way. Our firm souls should be like the rocking +stones in Cornwall, poised so truly that tempests cannot shake them, and +yet vibrating at the touch of a little child's soft hand. That lofty +independence needs to be humanised by grateful acceptance of the +refreshment of human sympathy even though we can do without it. + +Paul shows us here what is the true thing in a brother's help for which +to be thankful. The reason why he was glad of their help was because it +spoke to his heart and told him that they were making themselves sharers +with him in his troubles. As he tells us in the beginning of the letter, +their fellowship in his labours had been from the beginning a joy to +him. It was not so much their material help as their true sympathy that +he valued. The high level to which he lifts what was possibly a very +modest contribution, if measured by money standards, carries with it a +great lesson for all receivers and for all givers of such gifts, +teaching the one that they are purely selfish if they are glad of what +they get, and bidding the other remember that they may give so as to +hurt by a gift more than by a blow, that they may give infinitely more +by loving sympathy than by much gold, and that a L5 note does not +discharge all their obligations. We have to give after His pattern who +does not toss us our alms from a height, but Himself comes to bestow +them, and whose gift, though it be the unspeakable gift of eternal life, +is less than the love it speaks, in that He Himself has in wondrous +manner become partaker of our weakness. The pattern of all sympathy, the +giver of all our possessions, is God. Let us hold to Him in faith and +love, and all earthly love will be sweeter and sympathy more precious. +Our own hearts will be refined and purified to a delicacy of +consideration and a tenderness beyond their own. Our souls will be made +lords of all circumstances and strengthened according to our need. He +will say to us 'My grace is sufficient for thee,' and we, as we feel His +strength being made perfect in our weakness, shall be able to say with +humble confidence, 'I can do all things in Christ who strengtheneth me +within.' + + + + +GIFTS GIVEN, SEED SOWN + + 'And ye yourselves also know, ye Philippians, that + in the beginning of the Gospel, when I departed + from Macedonia, no church had fellowship with me + in the matter of giving and receiving, but ye + only; for even in Thessalonica ye sent once and + again unto my need. Not that I seek for the gift; + but I seek for the fruit that increaseth to your + account. But I have all things, and abound: I am + filled, having received from Epaphroditus the + things that came from you, an odour of a sweet + smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing to + God. And my God shall fulfil every need of yours + according to His riches in glory in Christ + Jesus.'--PHIL. iv. 15-19 (R.V.). + + +Paul loved the Philippians too well and was too sure of their love to be +conscious of any embarrassment in expressing his thanks for money help. +His thanks are profuse and long drawn out. Our present text still +strikes the note of grateful acknowledgment. It gives us a little +glimpse into earlier instances of their liberality, and beautifully +suggests that as they had done to him so God would do to them, and that +their liberality was in a fashion a prophecy, because it was in some +measure an imitation, of God's liberality. He had just said 'I am full, +having received the things which were sent from you,' and now he says, +'My God shall fill full all your needs.' The use of the same word in +these two connections is a piece of what one would call the very +ingenuity of graceful courtesy, if it were not something far deeper, +even the utterance of a loving and self-forgetting heart. + +I. We may note here Paul's money relations with the churches. + +We know that he habitually lived by his own labour. He could call to +witness the assembled elders at Ephesus, when he declared that 'these +hands ministered unto my necessities,' and could propose himself as an +illustration of the words of the Lord Jesus, 'It is more blessed to give +than to receive.' He firmly holds the right of Christian teachers to be +supported by the churches, and vehemently insists upon it in the First +Epistle to the Corinthians. But he waives the right in his own case, and +passionately insists that it were better for him rather to die than that +any man should make his glorying void. He will not use to the full his +right in the Gospel 'that he may make a Gospel without charge,' but when +needed he gladly accepted money gifts, as he did from the Philippians. +In our text he points back to an earlier instance of this. The history +of that instance we may briefly recall. After his indignities and +imprisonment in Philippi he went straight to Thessalonica, stayed there +a short time till a riot drove him to take refuge in Berea, whence again +he had to flee, and guided by brethren reached Athens. There he was +left alone, and his guides went back to Macedonia to send on Silas and +Timothy. From Athens he went to Corinth, and there was rejoined by them. +According to our text, 'in the beginning of the Gospel,' that is, of +course, its beginning in Philippi, they relieved him twice in +Thessalonica, and if the words in our text which date the Philippians' +gift may be read 'when I had departed from Macedonia,' we should have +here another reference to the same incident mentioned in 2 Corinthians, +chap. xi. 8-9, where he speaks of being in want there, and having 'the +measure of my want' supplied by the brethren who came from Macedonia. +The coincidence of these two incidental references hid away, as it were, +confirms the historical truthfulness of both Epistles. And if we take +into view the circumstances in which he was placed in Thessalonica and +at the beginning of his stay in Corinth, his needing and receiving such +aid is amply accounted for. Once again, after a long interval, when he +was a prisoner in Rome, and probably unable to work for his maintenance, +their care of him flourished again. + +In the present circumstances of our churches, it seems necessary that +the right which Paul so strongly asserted should, for the most part, not +be waived, but the only true way of giving and receiving as between +minister and people is when it is a matter not of payment but a gift. +When it is an expression of sympathy and affection on both sides, the +relationship is pleasant and may be blessed. When it comes to be a +business transaction, and is to be measured by the rules applicable to +such, it goes far to destroy some of the sweetest bonds, and to endanger +a preacher's best influence. + +II. The lofty view here taken of such service. + +It is 'the fruit that increaseth to your account.' Fruit, which as it +were is put to their credit in the account-book of heaven, but it is +called by Paul by a sacreder name as being an odour of a sweet smell, a +sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to God, in which metaphor all the +sacred ideas of yielding up precious things to God and of the sacred +fire that consumed the offering or brought to bear on the prosaic +material gift. + +The principle which the Apostle here lays down in reference to a money +gift has, of course, a much wider application, and is as true about all +Christian acts. We need not be staggered at the emphasis with which Paul +states the truths of their acceptableness and rewardableness, but in +order fully to understand the ground of his assurance we must remember +that in his view the root of all such fruit increasing to our account, +and of everything which can claim to be an odour of a sweet smell well +pleasing to God, is love to Christ, and the renewal of our nature by the +spirit of God dwelling in us. In us there dwells no good thing. It is +only as we abide in Him and His words abide in us that we bear much +fruit. Separate from Him we can do nothing. If our works are ever to +smell sweet to God, they must be done for Christ, and in a very profound +and real sense, done by Him. + +The essential character of all work which has the right to be called +good, and which is acceptable to God, is sacrifice. The one exhortation +which takes the place and more than fills the place of all other +commandments, and is enforced by the motive which takes the place, and +more than takes the place of all other motives, is, 'I beseech you by +the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice.' It is +works which in the intention of the doer are offered to Him, and in +which therefore there is a surrender of our own wills, or tastes, or +inclinations, or passions, or possessions, that yield to Him an odour of +a sweet smell. The old condition which touched the chivalrous heart of +David has to be repeated by us in regard to any work which we can ever +hope to make well pleasing to God; 'I will not offer burnt offerings +unto the Lord my God which cost me nothing.' + +There is a spurious humility which treats all the works of good men as +filthy rags, but such a false depreciation is contradicted by Christ's +'Well done, good and faithful servant.' It is true that all our deeds +are stained and imperfect, but if they are offered on the altar which He +provides, it will sanctify the giver and the gift. He is the great Aaron +who makes atonement for the iniquity of our holy things. And whilst we +are stricken silent with thankfulness for the wonderful mercy of His +gracious allowance, we may humbly hope that His 'Well done' will be +spoken of us, and may labour, not without a foretaste that we do not +labour in vain, that 'whether present or absent we may be well pleasing +to Him.' + +The fruit is here supposed to be growing, that is, of course, in another +life. We need not insist that the service and sacrifice and work of +earth, if the motive be right, tell in a man's condition after death. It +is not all the same how Christian men live; some gain ten talents, some +five, and some two, and the difference between them is not always as the +parable represents it, a difference in the original endowment. An +entrance may be given into the eternal kingdom, and yet it may not be an +abundant entrance. + +III. The gift that supplies the givers. + +Paul has nothing to bestow, but he serves a great God who will see to it +that no man is the poorer by helping His servants. The king's honour is +concerned in not letting a poor man suffer by lodging and feeding his +retainers. The words here suggest to us the source from which our need +may be filled full, as an empty vessel might be charged to the brim with +some precious liquid, the measure or limit of the fulness, and the +channel by which we receive it. + +Paul was so sure that the Philippians' needs would all be satisfied, +because he knew that his own had been; he is generalising from his own +case, and that, I think, is at all events part of the reason why he says +with much emphasis, '_My_ God. As He has done to me He will do to you,' +but even without the 'my,' the great name contains in itself a promise +and its seal. 'God will supply just because He is God'; that is what His +name means--infinite fulness and infinite self-communicativeness and +delight in giving. But is not so absolutely unlimited a promise as this +convicted of complete unreality when contrasted with the facts of any +life, even of the most truly Christian or the most outwardly happy? Its +contradiction of the grim facts of experience is not to be slurred over +by restricting it to religious needs only. The promise needs the eye of +Faith to interpret the facts of experience, and to let nothing darken +the clear vision that if any seeming need is left by God unfilled, it is +not an indispensable need. If we do not get what we want we may be quite +sure that we do not need it. The axiom of Christian faith is that +whatever we do not obtain we do not require. Very desirable things may +still not be necessary. Let us limit our notions of necessity by the +facts of God's giving, and then we, too, shall have learned, in +whatsoever state we are, therein to be content. When the Apostle says +that God shall fill all our need full up to the brim, was he +contemplating only such necessities as God could supply through outward +gifts? Surely not. God Himself is the filler and the only filler of a +human heart, and it is by this impartation of Himself and by nothing +else that He bestows upon us the supply of our needs. + +Unless we have been initiated into this deepest and yet simplest secret +of life, it will be full of gnawing pain and unfulfilled longings. +Unless we have learned that our needs are like the cracks in the parched +ground, cups to hold the rain from heaven, doors by which God Himself +can come to us, we shall dwell for ever in a dry and thirsty land. God +Himself is the only satisfier of the soul. 'Whom have I in heaven but +Thee, and there is none upon earth that'--if I am not a fool--'I desire +side by side with Thee?' + +But Paul here sets forth in very bold words the measure or limits of the +divine supply of our need. It is 'according to His riches in glory.' +Then, all of God belongs to me, and the whole wealth of His aggregated +perfections is available for stopping the crannies of my heart and +filling its emptiness. My emptiness corresponds with His fulness as some +concavity does with the convexity that fits into it, and the whole that +He is waits to fill and to satisfy me. There is no limit really to what +a man may have of God except the limitless limit of the infinite divine +nature, but on the other hand this great promise is not fulfilled all at +once, and whilst the actual limit is the boundlessness of God, there is +a working limit, so to speak, a variable one, but a very real one. The +whole riches of God's glory are available for us, but only so much of +the boundless store as we desire and are at present capable of taking +in will belong to us now. What is the use of owning half a continent if +the owner lives on an acre of it and grows what he wants there, and has +never seen the broad lands that yet belong to him? Nothing hinders a man +from indefinitely increased possession of a growing measure of God, +except his own arbitrarily narrowed measure of desire and capacity. +Therefore it becomes a solemn question for each of us, Am I day by day +becoming more and more fit to possess more of God, and enjoy more of the +God whom I possess? In Him we have each 'a potentiality of wealth beyond +the dreams of avarice.' Do we growingly realise that boundless +possibility? + +The channel by which that boundless supply is to reach us is distinctly +set forth here. All these riches are stored up 'in Christ Jesus.' A deep +lake may be hidden away in the bosom of the hills that would pour +blessing and fertility over a barren land if it could find a channel +down into the plains, but unless there be a river flowing out of it, its +land-locked waters might as well be dried up. When Paul says 'riches in +glory,' he puts them up high above our reach, but when he adds 'in +Christ Jesus,' he brings them all down amongst us. In Him is 'infinite +riches in a narrow room.' If we are in Him then we are beside our +treasure, and have only to put out our hands and take the wealth that is +lying there. All that we need is 'in Christ,' and if we are in Christ it +is all close at our sides. + +Then the question comes to be, 'Am I thus near my wealth, and can I get +at it whenever I want it, as I want it, and as much as I want of it?' We +can if we will. The path is easy to define, though our slothfulness +find it hard to tread. That man is in Christ who dwells with Him by +faith, whose heart is by love plunged in His love, who daily seeks to +hold communion with Him amid the distractions of life, and who in +practical submission obeys His will. If thus we trust, if thus we love, +if thus we hold fast to Him, and if thus we link Him with all our +activities in the world, need will cease to grow, and will only be an +occasion for God's gift. 'Delight thyself in the Lord,' and then the +heart's desires being set upon Him, 'He will give thee the desire of thy +heart.' + +Paul says to us 'My God shall supply all your need.' Let us answer, 'The +Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.' + + + + +FAREWELL WORDS + + 'Now unto our God and Father be the glory for ever + and ever, Amen. Salute every saint in Christ + Jesus. The brethren which are with me salute you. + All the saints salute you, especially they that + are of Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord + Jesus Christ be with your spirit.'--PHIL. iv. + 20-23 (R.V.). + + +These closing words fall into three unconnected parts, a doxology, +greetings, and a benediction. As in all his letters, the Apostle follows +the natural instinct of making his last words loving words. Even when he +had to administer a bitter draught, the last drops in the cup were +sweetened, and to the Philippians whom he loved so well, and in whose +loyal love he confided so utterly, his parting was tender as an embrace. +Taking together the three elements of this farewell, they present to us +a soul filled with desire for the glory of God and with loving yearning +for all His brethren. We shall best deal with them by simply taking them +in order. + +I. The Doxology. + +It is possibly evoked by the immediately preceding thought of God's +infinite supply of all human need 'according to his riches in _glory_'; +but the glory which is so richly stored in Christ, and is the full +storehouse from which our emptiness is to be filled, is not the same as +the glory here ascribed to Him. The former is the sum of His divine +perfections, the light of His own infinite being: the latter is the +praise rendered to Him when we know Him for what He is, and exalt Him in +our thankful thoughts and adoration. As this doxology is the last word +of this whole letter, we may say that it gathers into one all that +precedes it. Our ascription of glory to God is the highest object of all +His self-manifestation, and should be the end of all our contemplations +of Him and of His acts. The faith that God does 'all for His glory' may +be and often has been so interpreted as to make his character repellent +and hideous, but in reality it is another way of saying that God is +love. He desires that all men should be gladdened and elevated by +knowing Him as He is. His glory is to give. That to which He has +committed the charge of interpreting Him to our dim eyes and disordered +natures is not the attributes of sovereign power, or creative wisdom, or +administrative providence, or any other elements which men lay hold of +in their conceptions of deity. When men make gods they make them in +their own image: when God reveals God, the emphasis is put on an +altogether different aspect of His nature. It is His self-communicating +and paternal love revealed to the heart of a son which will kindle the +highest aspiration of praise, and that fatherhood is not found in the +fact that God has made us, but in the higher fact that He has redeemed +us and has sent the spirit of His Son into our hearts. The doxology of +our text is a distinctively Christian doxology which Paul conceives can +only be uttered by lips which have learned to say 'Abba, Father,' 'and +have received the adoption of sons' through the eternal Son. + +Mark, too, that this glad ascription of glory to God is conceived of as +sounded forth for ever and ever, or literally through 'ages and ages, as +long as successive epochs shall unfold.' It is not as if the revelation +of the divine character were in the past, and the light of it continued +to touch stony lips to music, but it fills in continuous forthcoming +every age, and in every age men receive the fulness of God, and in every +age redeemed hearts bring back their tribute of praise and love to Him. + +II. The Greetings. + +The Apostle's habit of closing all his letters with kindly messages is, +of course, more than a habit. It is the natural instinct to which all +true hearts have a hundred times yielded. It is remarkable that in this +letter there are no individual greetings, but that instead of such there +is the emphatic greeting to every saint in Christ Jesus. He will not +single out any where all are so near His heart, and He will have no +jealousies to be fed by His selection of more favoured persons. It may +be too, that the omission of individual messages is partly occasioned by +some incipient tendencies to alienation and faction of which we see some +traces in His earnest exhortations to stand fast in one spirit, and to +be of the same mind, having the same love, and being of one accord, as +well as in his exhortation to two Philippian women to be of the same +mind in the Lord. The all-embracing word at parting singularly links the +end of the letter with its beginning, where we find a remarkable +sequence of similar allusions to 'all' the Philippian Christians. He +has them all in His heart; they are all partakers with Him of grace; He +longs after them all. + +The designation by which Paul describes the recipients of his greeting +carries in it a summons as well as a promise. They are saints, and they +are so as being 'in Christ.' That name is often used as a clumsy +sarcasm, but it goes to the very root of Christian character. The +central idea contained in it is that of consecration to God, and that +which is often taken to be its whole meaning is but a secondary one, a +result of that consecration. The true basis of all real purity of +conduct lies in devotion of heart and life to God, and for want of +discerning the connection of these two elements the world's ethics fail +in theory and in practice. A 'saint' is not a faultless monster, and the +persistence of failures and inconsistencies, whilst affording only too +sad an occasion for penitence and struggle, afford no occasion for a +man's shrinking from taking to himself the humble claim to be a saint. +Both the elements of consecration to God and of real and progressive, +though never complete perfection of personal character, are realised +only in Christ; in and only in fellowship with Him whose life was +unbroken fellowship with the Father, and whose will was completely +accordant with the Father's, do we rise to the height of belonging to +God. And only in Him who could challenge a world to convict Him of sin +shall we make even a beginning of personal righteousness. If we are in +Christ we should be saints to-day however imperfect our holiness, and +shall be 'as the angels of God' in the day that is coming--nay, rather +as the Lord of the Angels, 'not having spot or blemish or any such +thing.' + +The New Testament has other names for believers, each of which expresses +some great truth in regard to them; for example, the earliest name by +which they knew themselves was the simple one of 'brethren,' which spoke +of their common relation to a Father and pledged them to the sweetness +and blessedness of a family. The sarcastic wits of Antioch called them +Christians as seeing nothing in them other than what they had many a +time seen in the adherents of some founder of a school or a party. They +called themselves disciples or believers, revealing by both names their +humble attitude and their Lord's authority, and by the latter disclosing +to seeing eyes the central bond which bound them to Him. But the name of +Saint declares something more than these in that it speaks of their +relation to God, the fulfilment of the Old Testament ideal, and carries +in it a prophecy of personal character. + +The sharers in Paul's salutation call for some notice. We do not know +who 'the brethren that are with me' were. We might have supposed from +Paul's pathetic words that he had no man like-minded with him, that the +faithful band whom we find named in the other epistles of the captivity +were dispersed. But though there were none 'like-minded who will care +truly for your state,' there were some recognised as brethren who were +closely associated with him, and who, though they had no such warm +interest in the Philippians as he had, still had a real affection for +them, drawn no doubt from him. Distinct from these was the whole body of +the Roman Christians, from the mention of whom we may gather that his +imprisonment did not prevent his intercourse with them. Again, distinct +from these, though a part of them, were the saints of Caesar's +household. He had apparently special opportunities for intercourse with +them, and probably his imprisonment brought him through the praetorian +guards into association with them, as Caesar's household included all the +servants and retainers of Nero. + +May we not see in this union of members of the most alien races a +striking illustration of the new bond which the Gospel had woven among +men? There was a Jew standing in the midst between Macedonian Greeks and +proud Roman citizens, including members of that usually most heartless +and arrogant of all classes, the lackeys of a profligate court, and they +are all clasping one another's hands in true brotherly love. Society was +falling to pieces. We know the tragic spectacle that the empire +presented then. Amidst universal decay of all that held men together, +here was a new uniting principle; everywhere else dissolution was at +work; here was again crystallising. A flower was opening its petals +though it grew on a dunghill. What was it that drew slaves and +patricians, the Pharisee of Tarsus, rude Lycaonians, the 'barbarous' +people of Melita, the Areopagite of Athens, the citizens of Rome into +one loving family? How came Lydia and her slave girl, Onesimus and his +master, the praetorian guard and his prisoner, the courtier in Nero's +golden house and the jailer at Philippi into one great fellowship of +love? They were all one in Christ Jesus. + +And what lessons the saints in Caesar's household may teach us! Think of +the abyss of lust and murder there, of the Emperor by turns a buffoon, a +sensualist, and a murderer. A strange place to find saints in that sty +of filth! Let no man say that it is impossible for a pure life to be +lived in any circumstances, or try to bribe his conscience by insisting +on the difficulties of his environment. It may be our duty to stand at +our post however foul may be our surroundings and however uncongenial +our company, and if we are sure that He has set us there, we may be sure +that He is with us there, and that there we can live the life and +witness to His name. + +III. The Parting Benediction. + +The form of the benediction seems to be more correctly given in the +Revised Version, which reads 'with your spirit' instead of 'with you +all.' That form reappears in Galatians and in Philemon. What Paul +especially desires of his favourite church is that they may possess 'the +grace.' Grace is love exercising itself to inferiors, and to those who +deserve something sadder and darker. The gifts of that one grace are +manifold. They comprise all blessings that man can need or receive. This +angel comes with her hands and her lap full of good. Her name is +shorthand for all that God can bestow or man can ask or think. + +And it needs all the names by which Christ is known among men to +describe the encyclopaediacal Person who can bestow the encyclopaediacal +gift. Here we have them all gathered, as it were, into one great diadem, +set on His head where once the crown of thorns was twined. He is Lord, +the name which implies at least absolute authority, and is most probably +the New Testament translation of the Old Testament name of Jehovah. He +is our Lord as supreme over us, and wonderful as it is, as belonging to +us. He holds the keys of the storehouse of grace. The river of the water +of life flows where He turns it on. He is Jesus--the personal name which +He bore in the days of His flesh, and by which men who knew Him only as +one of themselves called Him. It is the token of His brotherhood and +the guarantee of the sympathy which will ever bestow 'grace for grace.' +He is the Christ, the Messiah, the name which points back to the Old +Testament ideas and declares His office, realising all the rapturous +anticipations of prophets, and the longings of psalmists, and more than +fulfilling them all by giving Himself to men. + +That great gift is to be the companion of every spirit which looks to +that Jesus in the reality of His humanity, in the greatness of His +office, in the loftiness of His divinity, and finds in each of His names +an anchor for its faith and an authoritative claim for its obedience. + +Such a wish as this benediction is the truest expression of human +friendship; it is the highest desire any of us can form for ourselves or +for those dearest to us. Do we keep it clear before us in our +intercourse with them so that the end of that intercourse will naturally +be such a prayer? + +Our human love has its limitations. We can but wish for others the grace +which Christ can give, but neither our wishes nor His giving can make +the grace ours unless for ourselves we take the great gift that is +freely given to us of God. It is no accident that all his letters close +thus. This benediction is the last word of God's revelation to man, the +brightness in the clear west, the last strain of the great oratorio. The +last word or last book of Scripture is 'the grace of our Lord Jesus +Christ be with you all.' Let us take up the solemn Amen in our lips and +in our hearts. + + + + +COLOSSIANS + + + + +SAINTS, BELIEVERS, BRETHREN + + ' . . . The saints and faithful brethren in + Christ.'--COL. i. 2. + + +'The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch,' says the Acts +of the Apostles. It was a name given by outsiders, and like most of the +instances where a sect, or school, or party is labelled with the name of +its founder, it was given in scorn. It hit and yet missed its mark. The +early believers were Christians, that is, Christ's men, but they were +not merely a group of followers of a man, like many other groups of whom +the Empire at that time was full. So they never used that name +themselves. It occurs twice only in Scripture, once when King Agrippa +was immensely amused at the audacity of Paul in thinking that he would +easily make 'a Christian' of him; and once when Peter speaks of +'suffering as a Christian,' where he is evidently quoting, as it were, +the indictment on which the early believers were tried and punished. +What did they call themselves then? + +I have chosen this text not for the purpose of speaking about it only, +but because it gathers together in brief compass the three principal +designations by which the early believers knew themselves. +'Saints'--that tells their relation to God, as well as their character, +for it means 'consecrated,' set apart for Him, and therefore pure; +'faithful'--that means 'full of faith' and is substantially equivalent +to the usual 'believers,' which defines their relation to Jesus Christ +as the Revealer of God; 'brethren'--that defines their relation and +sentiment towards their fellows. These terms go a great deal deeper than +the nickname which the wits of Antioch invented. The members of the +Church were not content with the vague 'Christian,' but they called +themselves 'saints,' 'believers,' 'brethren.' One designation does not +appear here, which we must take into account for completeness: the +earliest of all--disciples. Now, I purpose to bring together these four +names, by which the early believers thought and spoke of themselves, in +order to point the lessons as to our position and our duty, which are +wrapped up in them. And I may just say that, perhaps, it is no sign of +advance that the Church, as years rolled on, accepted the world's name +for itself, and that people found it easier to call themselves +'Christians'--which did not mean very much--than to call themselves +'saints' or 'believers.' + +Now then, to begin with, + +I. They were 'Disciples' first of all. + +The facts as to the use of that name are very plain, and as instructive +as they are plain. It is a standing designation in the Gospels, both in +the mouths of friends and of outsiders; it is sometimes, though very +sparingly, employed by Jesus Christ Himself. It persists on through the +book of the Acts of the Apostles, and then it stops dead, and we never +hear it again. + +Now its existence at first, and its entire abandonment afterwards, both +seem to me to carry very valuable lessons. Let me try to work them out. +Of course, 'disciple' or 'scholar' has for its correlative--as the +logicians call it--'teacher.' And so we find that as the original +adherents of Jesus called themselves 'disciples,' they addressed Him as +'Master,' which is the equivalent of 'Rabbi.' That at once suggests the +thought that to themselves, and to the people who saw the origination of +the little Christian community, the Lord and His handful of followers +seemed just to be like John and his disciples, the Pharisees and their +disciples, and many another Rabbi and his knot of admiring adherents. +Therefore whilst the name was in one view fitting, it was conspicuously +inadequate, and as time went on, and the Church became more conscious of +the uniqueness of the bond that knit it to Jesus Christ, it +instinctively dropped the name 'disciple,' and substituted others more +intimate and worthy. + +But yet it remains permanently true, that Christ's followers are +Christ's scholars, and that He is their Rabbi and Teacher. Only the +peculiarity, the absolute uniqueness, of His attitude and action as a +Teacher lies in two things: one, that His main subject was Himself, as +He said, 'I am the Truth,' and consequently His characteristic demand +from His scholars was not, as with other teachers, 'Accept this, that, +or the other doctrine which I propound,' but 'Believe in Me'; and the +other, that He seldom if ever argues, or draws conclusions from previous +premises, that He never speaks as if He Himself had learnt and fought +His way to what He is saying, or betrays uncertainty, limitation, or +growth in His opinions, and that for all confirmation of His +declarations, He appeals only to the light within and to His own +authority: 'Verily, verily, I say unto you.' No wonder that the common +people were astonished at His teaching, and felt that here was an +authority in which the wearisome citations of what Rabbi So-and-So had +said, altogether lacked. + +That teaching abides still, and, as I believe, opens out into, and is +our source of, all that we know--in distinction and contrast from, +'imagine,' 'hope,' 'fear'--of God, and of ourselves, and of the future. +It casts the clearest light on morals for the individual and on politics +for the community. Whatever men may say about Christianity being effete, +it will not be effete till the world has learnt and absorbed the +teaching of Jesus Christ; and we are a good long way from that yet! + +If He is thus the Teacher, the perpetual Teacher, and the only Teacher, +of mankind in regard to all these high things about God and man and the +relation between them, about life and death and the world, and about the +practice and conduct of the individual and of the community, then we, if +we are His disciples, build houses on the rock, in the degree in which +we not only hear but do the things that He commands. For this Teacher is +no theoretical handler of abstract propositions, but the authoritative +imposer of the law of life, and all His words have a direct bearing upon +conduct. Therefore it is vain for us to say: 'Lord, Lord, Thou hast +taught in our streets and we have accepted Thy teaching.' He looks down +upon us from the Throne, as He looked upon the disciples in that upper +room, and He says to each of us: 'If ye know these things, happy are ye +if ye do them.' + +But the complete disappearance of the name as the development of the +Church advanced, brings with it another lesson, and that is, that +precious and great as are the gifts which Jesus Christ bestows as a +Teacher, and unique as His act and attitude in that respect are, the +name either of teacher or of disciple fails altogether to penetrate to +the essence of the relation which knits us together. It is not enough +for our needs that we shall be taught. The worst man in the world knows +a far nobler morality than the best man practises. And if it were true, +as some people superficially say is the case, that evil-doing is the +result of ignorance, there would be far less evil-doing in the world +than, alas! there is. It is not for the want of knowing, that we go +wrong, as our consciences tell us; but it is for want of something that +can conquer the evil tendencies within, and lift off the burden of a +sinful past which weighs on us. As in the carboniferous strata what was +pliant vegetation has become heavy mineral, our evil deeds lie heavy on +our souls. What we need is not to be told what we ought to be, but to be +enabled to be it. Electricity can light the road, and it can drive the +car along it; and that is what we want, a dynamic as well as an +illuminant, something that will make us able to do and to be what +conscience has told us we ought to be and do. + +Teacher? Yes. But if _only_ teacher, then He is nothing more than one of +a multitude who in all generations have vainly witnessed to sinful men +of the better path. There is no reformation for the individual, and +little hope for humanity, in a Christ whom you degrade to the level of a +Rabbi, or in a Church which has not pressed nearer to Him than to feel +itself His disciples. + +There was a man who came to Jesus by night, and was in the dark about +the Jesus to whom he came, and he said, 'We know that Thou art a Teacher +come from God.' But Jesus did not accept the witness, though a young +teacher fighting for recognition might have been glad to get it from an +authoritative member of the Sanhedrim. But He answered, 'Except a man be +born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.' If we need to be born +again before we see it, it is not teachers of it that will serve our +turn, but One who takes us by the hand, and translates us out of the +tyranny of the darkness into the Kingdom of the Son of God's love. So +much, then, for the first of these names and lessons. + +Now turn to the second-- + +II. The Disciples must be Believers. + +That name begins to appear almost immediately after Pentecost, and +continues throughout. It comes in two forms, one which is in my text, +'the faithful,' meaning thereby not the reliable, but the people that +are full of faith; the other, meaning the same thing, they who believe, +the 'believers.' The Church found that 'disciple' was not enough. It +went deeper; and, with a true instinct, laid hold of the unique bond +which knits men to their Lord and Saviour. That name indicates that +Jesus Christ appears to the man who has faith in a new character. He is +not any longer the Teacher who is to be listened to, but He is the +Object of trust. And that implies the recognition, first, of His +Divinity, which alone is strong enough to bear up the weight of millions +of souls leaning hard upon it; and, second, of what He has done and not +merely of what He has said. We accept the Teacher's word; we trust the +Saviour's Cross. And in the measure in which men learned that the centre +of the work of the Rabbi Jesus was the death of the Incarnate Son of +God, their docility was sublimed into faith. + +That faith is the real bond that knits men to Jesus Christ. We are +united to Him, and become recipient of the gifts that He has to bestow, +by no sacraments, by no externals, by no reverential admiration of His +supreme wisdom and perfect beauty of character, not by assuming the +attitude of the disciple, but by flinging our whole selves upon Him, +because He is our Saviour. That unites us to Jesus Christ; nothing else +does. Faith is the opening of the heart, by which all His power can be +poured into us. It is the grasping of His hand, by which, even though +the cold waters be above our knees and be rising to our hearts, we are +lifted above them and they are made a solid pavement for our feet. Faith +is the door opened by ourselves, and through which will come all the +Glory that dwelt between the cherubim, and will fill the secret place in +our hearts. To be the disciple of a Rabbi is something; to be the +'faithful' dependent on the Saviour is to be His indeed. + +And then there is to be remembered, further, that this bond, which is +the only vital link between a man and Christ, is therefore the basis of +all virtue, of all nobility, of all beauty of conduct, and that +'whatsoever things are lovely and of good report' are its natural +efflorescence and fruit. And so that leads us to the third point-- + +III. The believing Disciple is a 'Saint.' + +That name does not appear in the Gospels, but it begins to show in the +Acts of the Apostles, and it becomes extremely common throughout the +Epistles of Paul. He had no hesitation in calling the very imperfect +disciples in Corinth by this great name. He was going to rebuke them for +some very great offences, not only against Christian elevation of +conduct, but against common pagan morality; but he began by calling them +'saints.' + +What is a saint? First and foremost, a man who has given himself to God, +and is consecrated thereby. Whoever has cast himself on Christ, and has +taken Christ for his, therein and in the same degree as he is exercising +faith, has thus yielded himself to God. If your faith has not led you +to such a consecration of will and heart and self, you had better look +out and see whether it is faith at all. But then, because faith involves +the consecration of a man to God, and consecration necessarily implies +purity, since nothing can be laid on God's altar which is not sanctified +thereby, the name of saint comes to imply purity of character. Sanctity +is the Christian word which means the very flower and fragrant aroma of +what the world calls virtue. + +But sanctity is not emotion, A man may luxuriate in devout feeling, and +sing and praise and pray, and be very far from being a saint; and there +is a great deal of the emotional Christianity of this day which has a +strange affinity for the opposite of saintship. Sanctity is not +aloofness. 'There were saints in Caesar's household'--a very unlikely +place; they were flowers on a dunghill, and perhaps their blossoms were +all the brighter because of what they grew on, and which they could +transmute from corruption into beauty. So sanctity is no blue ribbon of +the Christian profession, to be given to a few select (and mostly +ascetic) specimens of consecration, but it is the designation of each of +us, if we are disciples who are more than disciples, that is, +'believers.' And thus, brethren, we have to see to it that, in our own +cases, our faith leads to surrender, and our self-surrender to purity of +life and conduct. Faith, if real, brings sanctity; sanctity, if real, is +progressive. Sanctity, though imperfect, may be real. + +IV. The believing Saints are 'Brethren.' + +That is the name that predominates over all others in the latter +portions of the New Testament, and it is very natural that it should do +so. It reposes upon and implies the three preceding. Its rapid adoption +and universal use express touchingly the wonder of the early Church at +its own unity. The then world was rent asunder by deep clefts of +misunderstanding, alienation, animosity, racial divisions of Jew and +Greek, Parthian, Scythian; by sexual divisions which flung men and +women, who ought to have been linked hand in hand, and united heart to +heart, to opposite sides of a great gulf; by divisions of culture which +made wise men look down on the unlearned, and the unlearned hate the +wise men; by clefts of social position, and mainly that diabolical one +of slave and free. All these divisive and disintegrating forces were in +active operation. The only thing except Christianity, which produced +even a semblance of union, was the iron ring of the Roman power which +compressed them all into one indeed, but crushed the life out of them in +the process. Into that disintegrating world, full of mutual repulsion, +came One who drew men to Himself and said, 'One is your Master, even +Christ, and all ye are brethren.' And to their own astonishment, male +and female, Greek and Jew, bond and free, philosopher and fool, found +themselves sitting at the same table as members of one family; and they +looked in each other's eyes and said, 'Brother!' There had never been +anything like it in the world. The name is a memorial of the unifying +power of the Christian faith. + +And it is a reminder to us of our own shortcomings. Of course, in the +early days, the little band were driven together, as sheep that stray +over a pasture in the sunshine will huddle into a corner in a storm, or +when the wolves are threatening. There are many reasons to-day which +make less criminal the alienation from one another of Christian +communities and Christian individuals. I am not going to dwell on the +evident signs in this day, for which God be thanked, that Christian men +are beginning, more than they once did, to realise their unity in Jesus +Christ, and to be content to think less of the things that separate than +of the far greater things that unite. But I would lay upon your hearts, +as individual parts of that great whole, this, that whatever may be the +differences in culture, outlook, social position, or the like, between +two Christian men, they each, the rich man and the poor, the educated +man and the unlettered one, the master and the servant, ought to feel +that deep down in their true selves they are nearer one another than +they are to the men who, differing from them in regard to their faith in +Jesus Christ, are like them in all these superficial respects. Regulate +your conduct by that thought. + +That name, too, speaks to us of the source from which Christian +brotherhood has come. We are brethren of each other because we have one +Father, even God, and the Fatherhood which makes us brethren is not that +which communicates the common life of humanity, but that which imparts +the new life of sonship through Jesus Christ. So the name points to the +only way by which the world's dream of a universal brotherhood can ever +be fulfilled. If there is to be fraternity there must be fatherhood, and +the life which, possessed by each, makes a family of all, is the life +which He gives, who is 'the first-born among many brethren,' and who, to +them who believe on Him, gives power to become the sons of God, and the +brethren of all the other sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty. + +So, dear friends, take these names, ponder their significance and the +duties they impose. Let us make sure that they are true of us. Do not be +content with the vague, often unmeaning name of Christian, but fill it +with meaning by being a believer on Christ, a saint devoted to God, and +a brother of all who, 'by like precious faith,' have become Sons of God. + + + + +THE GOSPEL-HOPE + + 'The hope of the Gospel.'--COL. i. 5. + + +'God never sends mouths but He sends meat to feed them,' says the old +proverb. And yet it seems as if that were scarcely true in regard to +that strange faculty called Hope. It may well be a question whether on +the whole it has given us more pleasure than pain. How seldom it has +been a true prophet! How perpetually its pictures have been too highly +coloured! It has cast illusions over the future, colouring the far-off +hills with glorious purple which, reached, are barren rocks and cold +snow. It has held out prizes never won. It has made us toil and struggle +and aspire and fed us on empty husks. Either we have not got what we +expected or have found it to be less good than it appeared from afar. + +If we think of all the lies that hope has told us, of all the vain +expenditure of effort to which it has tempted us, of the little that any +of us have of what we began by thinking we should surely attain, hope +seems a questionable good, and yet how obstinate it is, living on after +all disappointments and drawing the oldest amongst us onwards. Surely +somewhere there must be a reason for this great and in some respects +awful faculty, a vindication of its existence in an adequate object for +its grasp. + +The New Testament has much to say about hope. Christianity lays hold of +it and professes to supply it with its true nourishment and support. Let +us look at the characteristics of Christian hope, or, as our text calls +it, the hope of the Gospel, that is, the hope which the Gospel creates +and feeds in our souls. + +I. What does it hope for? + +The weakness of our earthly hopes is that they are fixed on things which +are contingent and are inadequate to make us blessed. Even when tinted +with the rainbow hues, which it lends them, they are poor and small. How +much more so when seen in the plain colourless light of common day. In +contrast with these the objects of the Christian hope are certain and +sufficient for all blessedness. In the most general terms they may be +stated as 'That blessed hope, even the appearing of the Great God and +our Saviour.' That is the specific Christian hope, precise and definite, +a real historical event, filling the future with a certain steadfast +light. Much is lost in the daily experience of all believers by the +failure to set that great and precise hope in its true place of +prominence. It is often discredited by millenarian dreams, but +altogether apart from these it has solidity and substance enough to bear +the whole weight of a world rested upon it. + +That appearance of God brings with it the fulfilment of our highest +hopes in the 'grace that is to be brought to us at His appearing.' All +our blessedness of every kind is to be the result of the manifestation +of God in His unobscured glory. The mirrors that are set round the +fountain of light flash into hitherto undreamed-of brightness. It is but +a variation in terms when we describe the blessedness which is to be the +result of God's appearing as being the Hope of Salvation in its fullest +sense, or, in still other words, as being the Hope of Eternal Life. +Nothing short of the great word of the Apostle John, that when He shall +appear we shall be like Him, exhausts the greatness of the hope which +the humblest and weakest Christian is not only allowed but commanded to +cherish. And that great future is certainly capable of, and in Scripture +receives, a still more detailed specification. We hear, for example, of +the hope of Resurrection, and it is most natural that the bodily +redemption which Paul calls the adoption of the body should first emerge +into distinct consciousness as the principal object of hope in the +earliest Christian experience, and that the mighty working whereby Jesus +is able to subdue all things unto Himself, should first of all be +discerned to operate in changing the body of our humiliation into the +body of His glory. + +But equally natural was it that no merely corporeal transformation +should suffice to meet the deep longings of Christian souls which had +learned to entertain the wondrous thought of likeness to God as the +certain result of the vision of Him, and so believers 'wait for the hope +of righteousness by faith.' The moral likeness to God, the perfecting of +our nature into His image, will not always be the issue of struggle and +restraint, but in its highest form will follow on sight, even as here +and now it is to be won by faith, and is more surely attained by waiting +than by effort. + +The highest form which the object of our hope takes is, the Hope of the +Glory of God. This goes furthest; there is nothing beyond this. The eyes +that have been wearied by looking at many fading gleams and seen them +die away, may look undazzled into the central brightness, and we may be +sure that even we shall walk there like the men in the furnace, +unconsumed, purging our sight at the fountain of radiance, and being +ourselves glorious with the image of God. This is the crown of glory +which He has promised to them that love Him. Nothing less than this is +what our hope has to entertain, and that not as a possibility, but as a +certainty. The language of Christian hope is not perhaps this may be, +but verily it shall be. To embrace its transcendent certainties with a +tremulous faith broken by much unbelief, is sin. + +II. The grounds on which the hope of the Gospel rests. + +The grounds of our earthly hopes are for the most part possibilities, +or, at the best, probabilities turned by our wishes into certainties. We +moor our ships to floating islands which we resolve to think continents. +So our earthly hopes vary indefinitely in firmness and substance. They +are sometimes but wishes turned confident, and can never rise higher +than their source, or be more certain than it is. At the best they are +building on sand. At the surest there is an element of risk in them. One +singer indeed may take for his theme 'The pleasures of Hope,' but +another answers by singing of 'The fallacies of Hope.' Earth-born hopes +carry no anchor and have always a latent dread looking out of their blue +eyes. + +But it is possible for us to dig down to and build on rock, to have a +future as certain as our past, to escape in our anticipations from the +region of the Contingent, and this we assuredly do when we take the hope +of the Gospel for ours, and listen to Paul proclaiming to us 'Christ +which is our Hope,' or 'Christ in you the Hope of glory.' If our faith +grasps Jesus Christ risen from the dead and for us entered into the +heavenly state as our forerunner, our hope will see in Him the pattern +and the pledge of our manhood, and will begin to experience even here +and now the first real though faint accomplishments of itself. The +Gospel sets forth the facts concerning Christ which fully warrant and +imperatively require our regarding Him as the perfect realised ideal of +manhood as God meant it to be, and as bearing in Himself the power to +make all men even as He is. He has entered into the fellowship of our +humiliation and become bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh that we +might become life of His Life and spirit of His Spirit. As certain as it +is that 'we have borne the image of the earthy,' so certain is it that +'we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.' + +What cruel waste of a divine faculty it is, then, of which we are all +guilty when we allow our hopes to be frittered away and dissipated on +uncertain and transient goods which they may never secure, and which, +even if secured, would be ludicrously or rather tragically insufficient +to make us blessed, instead of withdrawing them from all these and +fixing them on Him who alone is able to satisfy our hungry souls in all +their faculties for ever! + +The hope of the Gospel is firm enough to rest our all upon because in +it, by 'two immutable things in which it is impossible that God should +lie,' His counsel and His oath, He has given strong encouragement to +them who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before them. +Well may the hope for which God's own eternal character is the guarantee +be called 'sure and steadfast.' The hope of the Gospel rests at last on +the Being and Heart of God. It is that which God 'who cannot lie hath +promised before the world was' is working towards whilst the world +lasts, and will accomplish when the world is no more. He has made known +His purpose and has pledged all the energies and tendernesses of His +Being to its realisation. Surely on this rock-foundation we may rest +secure. The hopes that grow on other soils creep along the surface. The +hope of the Gospel strikes its roots deep into the heart of God. + +III. What the hope of the Gospel is and does for us. + +We cannot do better than to lay hold of some of the New Testament +descriptions of it. We recall first that great designation 'A good hope +through grace.' This hope is no illusion; it does not come from fumes of +fancy or the play of imagination. The wish is not father to the thought. +We do not make bricks without straw nor spin ropes of sand on the shore +of the great waste sea that waits to swallow us up. The cup of Tantalus +has had its leaks stopped; the sieve carries the treasure unspilled. The +rock can be rolled to the hill-top. All the disappointments, fallacies, +and torments of hope pass away. It never makes ashamed. We have a solid +certainty as solid as memory. The hope which is through grace is the +full assurance of hope, and that full assurance is just what every other +hope lacks. In that region and in that region only we can either say I +hope or I know. + +Another designation is 'A lively hope.' It is no poor pale ghost +brightening and fading, fading and brightening, through which one can +see the stars shine, and of little power in practical life, but strong +and vigorous and not the least active amongst the many forces that make +up the sum of our lives. + +It is most significantly designated as 'The blessed hope.' All others +quickly pass into sorrows. This alone gives lasting joys, for this +alone is blessed whilst it is only anticipation, and still more blessed +when its blossoms ripen into full fruition. In all earthly hopes there +is an element of unrest, but the hope of the Gospel is so remote, so +certain, and so satisfying, that it works stillness, and they who most +firmly grasp it 'do with patience wait for it.' Earthly hopes have +little moral effect and often loosen the sinews of the soul, and are +distinctly unfavourable to all strenuous effort. But 'every man that +hath this hope in Jesus purifieth himself even as He is pure,' and the +Apostle, whose keen insight most surely discerns the character-building +value of the fundamental facts of Christian experience, was not wrong +when he bid us find in the hope of the Gospel deeply rooted within us +the driving force of the most strenuous efforts after purity like His +whom it is our deepest desire and humble hope to become like. + +Let us remember the double account which Scripture gives of the +discipline by which the hope of the Gospel is won for our very own. On +the one hand, we have 'joy and peace in believing, that we may abound in +hope.' Our faith breeds hope because it grasps the divine facts +concerning Jesus from which hope springs. And faith further breeds hope +because it kindles joy and peace, which are the foretastes and earnests +of the future blessedness. On the other hand, the very opposite +experiences work to the same end, for 'tribulation worketh patience, and +patience experience, and experience hope.' Sorrow rightly borne tests +for us the power of the Gospel and the reality of our faith, and so +gives us a firmer grip of hope and of Him on whom in the last result it +all depends. Out of this collision of flint and steel the spark springs. +The water churned into foam and tortured in the cataract has the fair +bow bending above it. + +But this discipline will not achieve its result, therefore comes the +exhortation to us all, 'Gird up the loins of your mind, be sober, and +hope to the end.' The hope of the Gospel is the one thing that we need. +Without it all else is futile and frail. God alone is worthy to have the +whole weight and burden of a creature's hope fixed on Him, and it is an +everlasting truth that they who are 'without God in the world' also +'have no hope.' Saints of old held fast by an assurance, which they must +often have felt left many questions still to be asked, and because they +were sure that they were continually with Him, were also sure of His +guidance through life and of His afterwards receiving them to glory. But +for us the twilight has broadened into day, and we shall be wise if, +knowing our defencelessness, and forsaking all the lies and illusions of +this vain present, we flee for refuge to lay hold on the hope set before +us in the Gospel. + + + + +'ALL POWER' + + 'Strengthened with all power, according to the + might of His glory, unto all patience and + longsuffering with joy.'--COL. i. 11 (R.V.). + + +There is a wonderful rush and fervour in the prayers of Paul. No parts +of his letters are so lofty, so impassioned, so full of his soul, as +when he rises from speaking of God to men to speaking to God for men. We +have him here setting forth his loving desires for the Colossian +Christians in a prayer of remarkable fulness and sweep. Broadly taken, +it is for their perfecting in religious and moral excellence, and it is +very instructive to note the idea of what a good man is which is put +forth here. + +The main petition is for wisdom and spiritual understanding applied +chiefly, as is to be carefully noted, to the knowledge of God's _will_. +The thought is that what it most imports us to know is the Will of God, +a knowledge not of merely speculative points in the mysteries of the +divine nature, but of that Will which it concerns us to know because it +is our life to do it. The next element in Paul's desires, as set forth +in the ideal here, is a worthy walk, a practical life, or course of +conduct which is worthy of Jesus Christ, and in every respect pleases +Him. The highest purpose of knowledge is a good life. The surest +foundation for a good life is a full and clear knowledge of the Will of +God. + +Then follow a series of clauses which seem to expand the idea of the +worthy walk and to be co-ordinate or perhaps slightly causal, and to +express the continuous condition of the soul which is walking worthily. +Let us endeavour to gather from these words some hints as to what it is +God's purpose that we should become. + +I. The many-sided strength which may be ours. + +The form of the word 'strengthened' here would be more fully represented +by 'being strengthened,' and suggests an unintermitted process of +bestowal and reception of God's might rendered necessary by our +continuous human weakness, and by the tear and wear of life. As in the +physical life there must be constant renewal because there is constant +waste, and as every bodily action involves destruction of tissue so that +living is a continual dying, so is it in the mental and still more in +the spiritual life. Just as there must be a perpetual oxygenation of +blood in the lungs, so there must be an uninterrupted renewal of +spiritual strength for the highest life. It is demanded by the +conditions of our human weakness. It is no less rendered necessary by +the nature of the divine strength imparted, which is ever communicating +itself, and like the ocean cannot but pour so much of its fulness as can +be received into every creek and crack on its shore. + +The Apostle not merely emphasises the continuousness of this +communicated strength, but its many-sided variety, by designating it +'all power.' In this whole context that word 'all' seems to have a charm +for him. We read in this prayer of '_all_ spiritual wisdom,' of 'walking +worthily of the Lord unto _all_ pleasing,' of 'fruit in _every_ good +work,' and now of '_all_ power,' and lastly of '_all_ patience and +longsuffering.' These are not instances of being obsessed with a word, +but each of them has its own appropriate force, and here the +comprehensive completeness of the strength available for our many-sided +weakness is marvellously revealed. There is 'infinite riches in a narrow +room.' All power means every kind of power, be it bodily or mental, for +all variety of circumstances, and, Protean, to take the shape of all +exigencies. Most of us are strong only at points, and weak in others. In +all human experience there is a vulnerable spot on the heel. The most +glorious image, though it has a head of gold, ends in feet, 'part of +iron and part of clay.' + +And if this ideal of many-sided power stands in contrast with the +limitations of human strength, how does it rebuke and condemn the very +partial manifestations of a very narrow and one-sided power which we who +profess to have received it set forth! We have access to a source which +can fill our whole nature, can flower into all gracious forms, can cope +with all our exigencies, and make us all-round men, complete in Jesus +Christ, and, having this, what do we make of it, what do we show for it? +Does not God say to us, 'Ye are not straitened in me, ye are straitened +in yourselves; I beseech you be ye enlarged.' + +The conditions on our part requisite for possessing 'all might' are +plain enough. The earlier portion of the prayer plainly points to them. +The knowledge of God's Will and the 'walk worthy of the Lord' are the +means whereby the power which is ever eager to make its dwelling in us, +can reach its end. If _we_ keep the channel unchoked, no doubt 'the +river of the water of life which proceedeth from the throne of God and +the Lamb' will rejoice to fill it to the brim with its flashing waters. +If we do not wrench away ourselves from contact with Him, He will +'strengthen us with all might.' If we keep near Him we may have calm +confidence that power will be ours that shall equal our need and +outstrip our desires. + +II. The measure of the strength. + +It is 'according to the power of His glory.' The Authorised Version but +poorly represents the fulness of the Apostle's thought, which is more +adequately and accurately expressed in the Revised Version. 'His glory' +is the flashing brightness of the divine self-manifestation, and in that +Light resides the strength which is the standard or measure of the gift +to us. The tremendous force of the sunbeam which still falls so gently +on a sleeper's face as not to disturb the closed eyes is but a parable +of the strength which characterises the divine glory. And wonderful and +condemnatory as the thought is, that power is the unlimited limit of the +possibilities of our possession. His gifts are proportioned to His +resources. While He is rich, can I be poor? The only real limit to His +bestowal is His own fulness. Of course, at each moment, our capacity of +receiving is for the time being the practical limit of our possession, +but that capacity varies indefinitely, and may be, and should be, +indefinitely and continuously increasing. It is an elastic boundary, and +hence we may go on making our own as much as we will, and progressively +more and more, of God's strength. He gives it all, but there is a +tragical difference between the full cup put into our hands and the few +drops carried to our lips. The key of the treasure-chamber is in our +possession, and on each of us His gracious face smiles the permission +which His gracious lips utter in words, 'Be it unto thee even as thou +wilt.' If we are conscious of defect, if our weakness is beaten by the +assaults of temptation, or crushed by sorrows that ride it down in a +fierce attack, the fault is our own. We have, if we choose to make it +our own and to use it as ours, more than enough to make us 'more than +conquerors' over all sins and all sorrows. + +But when we contrast what we have by God's gift and what we have in our +personal experience and use in our daily life, the contrast may well +bring shame, even though the contrast brings to us hope to lighten the +shame. The average experience of present-day Christians reminds one of +the great tanks that may be seen in India, that have been suffered to go +to ruin, and so an elaborate system of irrigation comes to nothing, and +the great river that should have been drawn off into them runs past +them, all but unused. Repair them and keep the sluices open, and all +will blossom again. + +III. The great purpose of this strength. + +'Patience and longsuffering with joyfulness' seems at first but a poor +result of such a force, but it comes from a heart that was under no +illusions as to the facts of human life, and it finds a response in us +all. It may be difficult to discriminate 'patience' from +'longsuffering,' but the general notion here is that one of the highest +uses for which divine strength is given to us, is to make us able to +meet the antagonism of evil without its shaking our souls. He who +patiently endures without despondency or the desire to 'recompense evil +for evil,' and to whom by faith even 'the night is light about him,' is +far on the way to perfection. God is always near us, but never nearer +than when our hearts are heavy and our way rough and dark. Our sorrows +make rents through which His strength flows. We can see more of heaven +when the leaves are off the trees. It is a law of the Divine dealings +that His strength is 'made perfect in weakness.' God leads us in to a +darkened room to show us His wonders. + +That strength is to be manifested by us in 'patience and longsuffering,' +both of which are to have blended with them a real though apparently +antagonistic joy. True and profound grief is not opposed to such +patience, but the excess of it, the hopeless and hysterical outbursts +certainly are. We are all like the figures in some old Greek temples +which stand upright with their burdens on their heads. God's strength is +given that we may bear ours calmly, and upright like these fair forms +that hold up the heavy architecture as if it were a feather, or like +women with water-jars on their heads, which only make their carriage +more graceful and their step more firm. + +How different the patience which God gives by His own imparted strength, +from the sullen submission or hysterical abandonment to sorrow, or the +angry rebellion characterising Godless grief! Many of us think that we +can get on very well in prosperity and fine weather without Him. We had +better ask ourselves what we are going to do when the storm comes, which +comes to all some time or other. + +The word here rendered 'patience' is more properly 'perseverance.' It is +not merely a passive but an active virtue. We do not receive that great +gift of divine strength to bear only, but also to work, and such work is +one of the best ways of bearing and one of the best helps to doing so. +So in our sorrows and trials let us feel that God's strength is not all +given us to be expended in our own consolation, but also to be used in +our plain duties. These remain as imperative though our hearts are +beating like hammers, and there is no more unwise and cowardly surrender +to trouble than to fling away our tools and fold our hands idly on our +laps. + +But Paul lays a harder duty on us even in promising a great gift to us, +when he puts before us an ideal of joy mingling with patience and +longsuffering. The command would be an impossible one if there were not +the assurance that we should be 'strengthened with all might.' We +plainly need an infusion of diviner strength than our own, if that +strange marriage of joy and sorrow should take place, and they should at +once occupy our hearts. Yet if His strength be ours we shall be strong +to submit and acquiesce, strong to look deep enough to see His will as +the foundation of all and as ever busy for our good, strong to hope, +strong to discern the love at work, strong to trust the Father even when +He chastens. And all this will make it possible to have the paradox +practically realised in our own experience, 'As sorrowful yet always +rejoicing.' One has seen potassium burning underwater. Our joy may burn +under waves of sorrow. Let us bring our weakness to Jesus Christ and +grasp Him as did the sinking Peter. He will breathe His own grace into +us, and speak to our feeble and perchance sorrowful hearts, as He had +done long before Paul's words to the Colossians, 'My grace is sufficient +for thee, and my strength is made perfect in weakness.' + + + + +THANKFUL FOR INHERITANCE + + 'Giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet + to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints + in light.'--COL. i. 12 (R.V.) + + +It is interesting to notice how much the thought of inheritance seems to +have been filling the Apostle's mind during his writing of Ephesians and +Colossians. Its recurrence is one of the points of contact between them. +For example, in Ephesians, we read, 'In whom also were made a heritage' +(i. 11); 'An earnest of our inheritance' (i. 14); 'His inheritance in +the saints' (i. 18); 'Inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ' (v. 5). We +notice too that in the address to the Elders of the Church at Ephesus, +we read of 'the inheritance among all them that are sanctified' (Acts +20-32). + +In the text the climax of the Apostle's prayer is presented as +thankfulness, the perpetual recognition of the Divine hand in all that +befalls us, the perpetual confidence that all which befalls us is good, +and the perpetual gushing out towards Him of love and praise. The +highest diligence, the most strenuous fruit-bearing, and the most +submissive patience and longsuffering would be incomplete without the +consecration of a grateful heart, and the noblest beauty of a Christian +character would lack its rarest lustre. This crown of Christian +perfectness the Apostle regards as being called into action mainly by +the contemplation of that great act and continuous work of God's +Fatherly love by which he makes us fit for our portion of the +inheritance which the same love has prepared for us. That inheritance is +the great cause for Christian thankfulness; the more immediate cause is +His preparation of us for it. So we have three points here to consider; +the inheritance; God's Fatherly preparation of His children for it; the +continual temper of thankfulness which these should evoke. + +I. The Inheritance. + +The frequent recurrence of this idea in the Old Testament supplies Paul +with a thought which he uses to set forth the most characteristic +blessings of the New. The promised land belonged to Israel, and each +member of each tribe had his own little holding in the tribal territory. +Christians have in common the higher spiritual blessings which Christ +brings, and Himself is, and each individual has his own portion of, the +general good. + +We must begin by dismissing from our minds the common idea, which a +shallow experience tends to find confirmed by the associations +ordinarily attached to the word 'inheritance,' that it is entered upon +by death. No doubt, that great change does effect an unspeakable change +in our fitness for, and consequently in our possession of, the gifts +which we receive from Christ's pierced hands, and, as the Apostle has +told us, the highest of these possessed on earth is but the 'earnest of +the inheritance'; but we must ever bear in mind that the distinction +between a Christian life on earth and one in heaven is by no means so +sharply drawn in Scripture as it generally is by us, and that death has +by no means so great importance as we faithlessly attribute to it. The +life here and hereafter is like a road which passes the frontiers of two +kingdoms divided by a bridged river, but runs on in the same direction +on both sides of the stream. The flood had to be forded until Jesus +bridged it. The elements of the future and the present are the same, as +the apostolic metaphor of the 'earnest of the inheritance' teaches us. +The handful of soil which constitutes the 'arles' is part of the broad +acres made over by it. + +We should be saved from many unworthy conceptions of the future life, if +we held more steadfastly to the great truth that God Himself is the +portion of the inheritance. The human spirit is too great and too +exacting to be satisfied with anything less than Him, and the possession +of Him opens out into every blessedness, and includes all the minor joys +and privileges that can gladden and enrich the soul. We degrade the +future if we think of it only, or even chiefly, as a state in which +faculties are enlarged, and sorrows and sins are for ever ended. Neither +such negatives as 'no night there,' 'neither sorrow nor crime,' 'no more +pain,' nor such metaphors as 'white robes' and 'golden crowns' and +'seats on thrones' are enough. We are 'heirs of God,' and only as we +possess Him, and know that we are His, and He is ours, are we 'rich to +all intents of bliss.' That inheritance is here set forth as being 'in +light' and as belonging to saints. Light is the element and atmosphere +of God. He is in light. He is the fountain of all light. He is light; +perfect in wisdom, perfect in purity. The sun has its spots, but in Him +is no darkness at all. Moons wax and wane, shadows of eclipse fall, +stars have their time to set, but 'He is the Father of lights with whom +can be no variation, neither shadow that is cast by turning.' All that +light is focussed in Jesus the Light of the world. That Light fills the +earth, but here it shineth in darkness that obstructs its rays. But +there must be a place and a time where the manifestation of God +corresponds with the reality of God, where His beams pour out and there +is nothing hid from the heat thereof, nothing which they do not bless, +nothing which does not flash them back rejoicing. There is a land +whereof the Lord God is the Light. In it is the inheritance of the +'saints,' and in its light live the nations of the saved, and have God +for their companion. All darkness of ignorance, of sorrow, and of sin +will fade away as the night flees and ceases to be, before the rising +sun. + +The phrase 'to be partakers' is accurately rendered 'for the portion,' +and carries a distinct allusion to the partition of the promised land to +Israel by which each man had his lot or share in the common inheritance. +So the one word inheritance brings with it blessed thoughts of a common +possession of a happy society in which no man's gain is another's loss, +and all envyings, rivalries, and jealousies have ceased to be, and the +other word, 'the portion,' suggests the individual possession by each of +his own vision and experience. Each man's 'portion' is capable of +growth; each has as much of God as he can hold. The measure of his +desire is the measure of his capacity. There are infinite differences in +the 'portions' of the saints on earth, and heaven is robbed of one of +its chief charms unless we recognise that there are infinite differences +among the saints there. For both states the charter by which the +portion is held is 'Be it unto thee even as thou wilt,' and in both the +law holds 'To him that hath shall be given.' + +II. The Fatherly preparation for the Inheritance. + +It is obvious from all which we have been saying that without holiness +no man shall see the Lord. The inheritance being what it is, the +possession, the enjoyment of communion with a Holy God, it is absolutely +incapable of being entered upon by any who are unholy. That is true +about both the partial possession of the earnest of it here and of its +fulness hereafter. In the present life all tolerated sin bars us out +from enjoying God, and in the future nothing can enter that defileth nor +whatsoever worketh or maketh a lie. There are many people who think that +they would like 'to go to heaven,' but who would find it difficult to +answer such questions as these: Do you like to think of God? Do you find +any joy in holy thoughts? What do you feel about prayer? Does the name +of Christ make your heart leap? Is righteousness your passion? If you +have to answer these questions with a silence which is the saddest +negative, what do you think you would do in heaven? I remember that the +Greenlanders told the Moravian missionaries who were trying to move them +by conventional pictures of its delights, that the heaven which these +pious souls had painted would not do for them, for there were no seals +there. There are thousands of us who, if we spoke the truth, would say +the same thing, with the necessary variations arising from our +environment. There is not a spinning-mill in it all. How would some of +us like that? There is not a ledger, nor a theatre, no novels, no +amusements. Would it not be intolerable ennui to be put down in such an +order of things? You would be like the Israelites, loathing 'this light +bread' and hungering for the strong-smelling and savoury-tasting leeks +and garlic, even if in order to taste them you had to be slaves again. + +Heaven would be no heaven to you if you could go there and be thus +minded. But you could not. God Himself cannot carry men thither but by +fitting them for it. It is not a place so much as a state, and the +mighty hand that works on one side of the thick curtain preparing the +inheritance in light for the saints, is equally busy on this side making +the saints meet for the inheritance. + +I do not wish to enter here on grammatical niceties, but I must point +out that the form of the word which the Apostle employs to express it +points to an act in the past which still runs on. + +The Revised Version's rendering, 'made us meet,' is preferable to the +Authorised Version's, because of its omission of the 'hath' which +relegates the whole process of preparation to the past. And it is of +importance to recognise that the difference between these two +representations of the divine preparation is not a piece of pedantry, +for that preparation has indeed its beginnings in the past of every +Christian soul, but is continuous throughout its whole earthly +experience. There is the great act of forgiveness and justifying which +is cotemporaneous with the earliest and most imperfect faith, and there +is the being born again, the implanting of a new life which is the life +of Christ Himself, and has no spot nor wrinkle nor any such thing. That +new life is infantile, but it is there, the real man, and it will grow +and conquer. Take an extreme case and suppose a man who has just +received forgiveness for his past and the endowment of a new nature. +Though he were to die at that moment he would still in the basis of his +being and real self be meet for the inheritance. He who truly trusts in +Jesus is passed from death unto life, though the habits of sins which +are forgiven still cling to him, and his new life has not yet exercised +a controlling power or begun to build up character. So Christians ought +not to think that, because they are conscious of much unholiness, they +are not ready for the inheritance. The wild brigand through whose +glazing eyeballs faith looked out to his fellow-sufferer on the central +cross was adjudged meet to be with him in Paradise, and if all his deeds +of violence and wild outrages on the laws of God and man did not make +him unmeet, who amongst us need write bitter things against himself? The +preparation is further effected through all the future earthly life. The +only true way to regard everything that befalls us here is to see in it +the Fatherly discipline preparing us for a fuller possession of a richer +inheritance. Gains and losses, joys and sorrows, and all the endless +variety of experiences through which we all have to pass, are an +unintelligible mystery unless we apply to them this solution, 'He for +our profit that we might be partakers of His holiness.' It is not a +blind Fate or a still blinder Chance that hurtles sorrows and changes at +us, but a loving Father; and we do not grasp the meaning of our lives +unless we feel, even about their darkest moments, that the end of them +all is to make us more capable of possessing more of Himself. + +III. The thankfulness which these thoughts should evoke. + +Thankfulness ought to be a sweet duty. It is a joy to cherish gratitude. +Generous hearts do not need to be told to be thankful, and they who are +only thankful to order are not thankful at all. In nothing is the +ordinary experience of the ordinary Christian more defective, and +significant of the deficiencies of their faith, than in the tepidness +and interruptedness of their gratitude. The blessings bestowed are +continuous and unspeakable. The thanks returned are grudging and scanty. +The river that flows from God is 'full of water' and pours out +unceasingly, and all that we return is a tiny trickle, often choked and +sometimes lost in the sands. + +Our thankfulness ought to be constant. The fire on the altar should +never be quenched. The odour of the sweet-smelling incense should ever +ascend. Why is it that we have so little of this grace which the Apostle +in our text regards as the precious stone that binds all Christian +graces together, the sparkling crest of the wave of a Christian life? +Mainly because we have so little of the habit of regarding all things as +God's Fatherly discipline and meditating on that for which they are +making us meet. We need a far more habitual contemplation of our +inheritance, of our experience as lovingly given by God to fit us for it +and of the darkest hours which would otherwise try our faith and silence +our praise as necessary parts of that preparation. If this be our +habitual attitude of mind, and these be ever present to us, our song +will be always of His mercy and our whole lives a thank-offering. + +The text is a prophecy describing the inheritance in its perfect form. +Earthly life must be ended before it is fully understood. Down in the +valleys we praised God, but tears and mysteries sometimes saddened our +songs; but now on the summit surveying all behind, and knowing by a +blessed eternity of experience to what it has led, even an inheritance +incorruptible and undefiled and that fadeth not away, we shall praise +Him with a new song for ever. + +Thankfulness is the one element of worship common to earth and heaven, +to angels and to us. Whilst they sing, 'Bless the Lord all ye His +hosts,' redeemed men have still better reason to join in the chorus and +answer, 'Bless the Lord, O my soul.' + + + + +CHRISTIAN ENDEAVOUR + + 'I also labour, striving according to His working, + which worketh in me mightily.'--COL. i. 29. + + +I have chosen this text principally because it brings together the two +subjects which are naturally before us to-day. All 'Western +Christendom,' as it is called, is to-day commemorating the Pentecostal +gift. My text speaks about that power that 'worketh in us mightily.' +True, the Apostle is speaking in reference to the fiery energy and +persistent toil which characterised him in proclaiming Christ, that he +might present men perfect before Him. But the same energy which he +expended on his apostolic office he expended on his individual +personality. And he would not have discharged the one unless he had +first laboured on the other. And although in a letter contemporary with +this one from which my text is taken he speaks of himself as no longer +young, but 'such an one as Paul the aged, and likewise, also a prisoner +of Jesus Christ,' the young spirit was in him, and the continual +pressing forward to unattained heights. And that is the spirit, not only +of a section of the Church divided from the rest by youth and by special +effort, but of the whole Church if it is worth calling a Church, and +unless it is thus instinct, it is a mere dead organisation. + +So I hope that what few things I have to say may apply to, and be felt +to be suitable by all of us, whether we are nominally Christian +Endeavourers or not. If we are Christian people, we are such. If we are +not endeavouring, shall I venture to say we are not Christians? At any +rate, we are very poor ones. + +Now here, then, are two plain things, a great universal Christian duty +and a sufficient universal Christian endowment. 'I work striving'; that +is the description of every true Christian. 'I work striving, according +to His working, who worketh in me mightily': there is the great gift +which makes the work and the striving possible. Let me briefly deal, +then, with these two. + +I. The solemn universal Christian obligation. + +Now the two words which the Apostle employs here are both of them very +emphatic. 'His words were half battles,' was said about Luther. It may +be as truly said about Paul. And that word 'work' which he employs, +means, not work with one hand, or with a delicate forefinger, but it +means toil up to the verge of weariness. The notion of fatigue is +almost, I might say, uppermost in the word as it is used in the New +Testament. Some people like to 'labour' so as never to turn a hair, or +bring a sweat-drop on to their foreheads. That is not Christian +Endeavour. Work that does not 'take it out of you' is not worth doing. +The other word 'striving' brings up the picture of the arena with the +combatants' strain of muscle, their set teeth, their quick, short +breathing, their deadly struggle. That is Paul's notion of Endeavour. +Now 'Endeavour,' like a great many other words, has a baser and a nobler +side to it. Some people, when they say, 'I will endeavour,' mean that +they are going to try in a half-hearted way, with no prospect of +succeeding. That is not Christian Endeavour. The meaning of the +word--for the expression in my text might just as well be rendered +'endeavouring' as 'striving'--is that of a buoyant confident effort of +all the concentrated powers, with the certainty of success. That is the +endeavour that we have to cultivate as Christian men. And there is only +one field of human effort in which that absolute confidence that it +shall not be in vain is anything but presumptuous arrogance; namely, in +the effort after making ourselves what God means us to be, what Jesus +Christ longs for us to be, what the Spirit of God is given to us in +order that we should be. 'We shall _not_ fail,' ought to be the word of +every man and woman when they set themselves to the great task of +working out, in their own characters and personalities, the Divine +intention which is made a Divine possibility by the sacrifice of Jesus +Christ and the gift of the Divine Spirit. + +So then what we come to is just this, dear brethren, if we are +Christians at all, we have to make a business of our religion; to go +about it as if we meant work. Ah! what a contrast there is between the +languid way in which Christian men pursue what the Bible designates +their 'calling' and that in which men with far paltrier aims pursue +theirs! And what a still sadder contrast there is between the way in +which we Christians go about our daily business, and the way in which we +go about our Christian life! Why, a man will take more pains to learn +some ornamental art, or some game, than he will ever take to make +himself a better Christian. The one is work. What is the other? To a +very large extent dawdling and make-believe. + +You remember the old story,--it may raise a smile, but there should be a +deep thought below the smile,--of the little child that said as to his +father that 'he was a Christian, but he had not been working much at it +lately.' Do not laugh. It is a great deal too true of--I will not +venture to say what percentage of--the professing Christians of this +day. Work at your religion. That is the great lesson of my text. +Endeavour with confidence of success. The Book of Proverbs says: 'He +that is slothful in his work is brother to him that is a great waster,' +and that is true. A man that does 'the work of the Lord negligently' is +scarcely to be credited with doing it at all. Dear friends, young or +old, if you name the name of Christ, be in earnest, and make earnest +work of your Christian character. + +And now may I venture two or three very plain exhortations? First, I +would say--if you mean to make your Christian life a piece of genuine +work and striving, the first thing that you have to do is to endeavour +in the direction of keeping its aim very clear before you. There are +many ways in which we may state the goal of the Christian life, but let +us put it now into the all-comprehensive form of likeness to Jesus +Christ, by entire conformity to His Example and full interpretation of +His life. I do not say 'Heaven'; I say 'Christ.' + +That is our aim, the loftiest idea of development that any human spirit +can grasp, and rising high above a great many others which are noble but +incomplete. The Christian ideal is the greatest in the universe. There +is no other system of thought that paints man as he is, so darkly; there +is none that paints man as he is meant to be, in such radiant colours. +The blacks upon the palette of Christianity are blacker, and the whites +are whiter, and the golden is more radiant, than any other painter has +ever mixed. And so just because the aim which lies before the least and +lowest of us, possessing the most imperfect and rudimentary +Christianity, is so transcendent and lofty, it is hard to keep it clear +before our eyes, especially when all the shabby little necessities of +daily life come in to clutter up the foreground, and hide the great +distance. Men may live up at Darjeeling there on the heights for weeks, +and never see the Himalayas towering opposite. The lower hills are +clear; the peaks are wreathed in cloud. So the little aims, the nearer +purposes, stand out distinct and obtrusive, and force themselves, as it +were, upon our eyeballs, and the solemn white Throne of the Eternal away +across the marshy levels, is often hid, and it needs an effort for us to +keep it clear before us. One of the main reasons for much that is +unsatisfactory in the spiritual condition of the average Christian of +this day is precisely that he has not burning ever before him there, the +great aim to which he ought to be tending. So he gets loose and +diffused, and vague and uncertain. That is what Paul tells you when he +proposes himself as an example: 'So run I, not as uncertainly,' The man +who knows where he is running makes a bee-line for the goal. If he is +not sure of his destination, of course he zigzags. 'So fight I, not as +one that beateth the air'--if I see my antagonist I can hit him. If I do +not see him clearly I strike like a swordsman in the dark, at random, +and my sword comes back unstained. If you want to make the harbour, keep +the harbour lights always clear before you, or you will go yawing about, +and washing here and there, in the trough of the wave, and the tempest +will be your master. If you do not know where you are going you will +have to say, like the men in the old story in the Old Book, 'Thy servant +went no whither.' If you are going to endeavour, endeavour first to keep +the goal clear before you. + +And endeavour next to keep up communion with Jesus Christ, which is the +secret of all peaceful and of all noble living. And endeavour next after +concentration. And what does that mean? It means that you have to detach +yourself from hindrances. It means that you have to prosecute the +Christian aim all through the common things of Christian life. If it +were not possible to be pursuing the great aim of likeness to Jesus +Christ, in the veriest secularities of the most insignificant and +trivial occupations, then it would be no use talking about that being +our aim. If we are not making ourselves more like Jesus Christ by the +way in which we handle our books, or our pen, or our loom, or our +scalpel, or our kitchen utensils, then there is little chance of our +ever making ourselves like Jesus Christ. For it is these trifles that +make life, and to concentrate ourselves on the pursuit of the Christian +aim is, in other words, to carry that Christian aim into every +triviality of our daily lives. + +There are three Scripture passages which set forth various aspects of +the aim that we have before us, and from each of these aspects deduce +the one same lesson. The Apostle says 'giving all diligence, add to your +faith virtue,' etc., 'for if ye do these things ye shall never fail.' He +also exhorts: 'Give diligence to make your calling and election sure.' +And finally he says: 'Be diligent, that ye may be found of Him in peace, +without spot, blameless.' _There_ are three aspects of the Christian +course, and the Christian aim, the addition to our faith of all the +clustering graces and virtues and powers that can be hung upon it, like +jewels on the neck of a queen; the making our calling and election sure, +and the being found at last tranquil, spotless, stainless, and being +found so by Him. These great aims are incumbent on all Christians, they +require diligence, and ennoble the diligence which they require. + +So, brethren, we have all to be Endeavourers if we are Christians, and +that to the very end of our lives. For our path is the only path on +which men tread that has for its goal an object so far off that it never +can be attained, so near that it can ever be approached. This infinite +goal of the Christian Endeavour means inspiration for youth, and +freshness for old age, and that man is happy who can say: 'Not as though +I had already attained' at the end of a long life, and can say it, not +because he has failed, but because in a measure he has succeeded. Other +courses of life are like the voyages of the old mariners which were +confined within the narrow limits of the Mediterranean, and steered from +headland to headland. But the Christian passes through the jaws of the +straits, and comes out on a boundless sunlit ocean where, though he sees +no land ahead, he knows there is a peaceful shore, beyond the western +waves. 'I work striving.' + +Now one word as to the other thought that is here, and that is + +II. The all-sufficient Christian gift. + +'According to His working, which worketh in me mightily.' I need not +discuss whether 'His' in my text refers to God or to Christ. The thing +meant is the operation upon the Christian spirit, of that Divine Spirit +whose descent the Church to-day commemorates. At this stage of my sermon +I can only remind you in a word, first of all, that the Apostle here is +arrogating to himself no special or peculiar gift, is not egotistically +setting forth something which he possessed and other Christian people +did not--that power which, 'working in him mightily,' worked in all his +brethren as well. It was his conviction and his teaching--would that it +were more operatively and vitally the conviction of all professing +Christians to-day, and would that it were more conspicuously, and in due +proportion to the rest of Christian truth, the teaching of all Christian +teachers to-day!--that that Divine power is in the very act of faith +received and implanted in every believing soul. 'Know ye not,' the +Apostle could say to his hearers, 'that ye have the Spirit of God, +except ye be reprobates.' I doubt whether the affirmative response would +spring to the lips of all professing or real Christians to-day as +swiftly as it would have done then. And I cannot help feeling, and +feeling with increasing gravity of pressure as the days go on, that the +thing that our churches, and we as individuals, perhaps need most +to-day, is the replacing of that great truth--I do not call it a +'doctrine,' that is cold, it is experience--in its proper place. They +who believe on Him do receive a new life, a supernatural communication +of the new Spirit, to be the very power that rules in their lives. + +It is an inward gift. It is not like the help that men can render us, +given from without and apprehended and incorporated with ourselves +through the medium of the understanding or of the heart. There is an old +story in the history of Israel about a young king that was bid by the +prophet to bend his bow against the enemies of Israel, as a symbol; and +the old prophet put his withered, skinny brown hand on the young man's +fleshy one, and then said to him, 'Shoot.' But this Divine Spirit comes +to strengthen us in a more intimate and blessed fashion than that, for +it glides into our hearts and dwells in our spirits, and our work, as +my text says, is His working. This 'working within' is stated in the +original of my text most emphatically, for it is literally 'the +inworking which inworketh in me mightily.' + +So, dear brethren, the first direct aim of all our endeavour ought to be +to receive and to keep and to increase our gift of that Divine Spirit. +The work and the striving of which my text speaks would be sheer slavery +unless we had that help. It would be impossible of accomplishment unless +we had it. + + 'If any power we have, it is to ill, + And all the power is Thine, to do and eke to will.' + +Let us, then, begin our endeavour, not by working, but by receiving. Is +not that the very meaning of the doctrine that we are always talking +about, that men are saved, not by works but by faith? Does not that mean +that the first step is reception, and the first requisite is +receptiveness, and that then, and after that, second and not first, come +working and striving? To keep our hearts open by desire, to keep them +open by purity, are the essentials. The dove will not come into a fouled +nest. It is said that they forsake polluted places. But also we have to +use the power which is inwrought. Use is the way to increase all gifts, +from the muscle in your arm to the Christian life in your spirit. Use +it, and it grows. Neglect it, and it vanishes, and like the old Jewish +heroes, a man may go forth to exercise himself as of old time, and know +not that the Spirit of God hath departed from him. Dear friends, do not +bind yourselves to the slavery of Endeavour, until you come into the +liberty and wealth of receiving. He gives first, and then says to you, +'Now go to work, and keep that good thing which is committed unto +thee.' + +There is but one thought more in this last part of my text, which I must +not leave untouched, and that is that this sufficient and universal gift +is not only the means by which the great universal duty can be +discharged, but it ought to be the measure in which it is discharged. 'I +work according to the working in me.' That is, all the force that came +into Paul by that Divine Spirit, came out of Paul in his Christian +conduct, and the gift was not only the source, but also the measure, of +this man's Christian Endeavour. Is that true about us? They say that the +steam-engine is a most wasteful application of power, that a great deal +of the energy which is generated goes without ever doing any work. They +tell us that one of the great difficulties in the way of economic +application of electricity is the loss which comes through using +accumulators. Is not that like a great many of us? So much power poured +into us; so little coming out from us and translated into actual work! +Such a 'rushing mighty wind,' and the air about us so heavy and stagnant +and corrupt! Such a blaze of fire, and we so cold! Such a cataract of +the river of the water of life, and our lips parched and our crops +seared and worthless! Ah, brethren! when we look at ourselves, and when +we think of the condition of so many of the churches to which we belong, +the old rebuke of the prophet comes back to us in this generation, 'Thou +that art named the House of Israel, is the Spirit of the Lord +straitened? Are these His doings?' We have an all-sufficient power. May +our working and striving be according to it, and may we work mightily, +being 'strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might!' + + + + +CHRISTIAN PROGRESS + + 'As therefore ye received Christ Jesus the Lord, + so walk in Him, rooted and builded up in + Him.'--COL. ii. 6, 7 (R.V.). + + +It is characteristic of Paul that he should here use three figures +incongruous with each other to express the same idea, the figures of +walking, being rooted, and built up. They, however, have in common that +they all suggest an initial act by which we are brought into connection +with Christ, and a subsequent process flowing from and following on it. +Receiving Christ, being rooted in Him, being founded on Him, stand for +the first; walking in Him, growing up from the root in Him, being built +up on Him as foundation, stand for the second. Fully expressed then, the +text would run, 'As ye have received Christ, so walk in Him; as ye have +been rooted in Him, so grow up in Him; as ye have been founded on Him, +so be builded up.' These three clauses present the one idea in slightly +different forms. The first expresses Christian progress as the +manifestation before the world of an inward possession, the exhibition +in the outward life of a treasure hid in the heart. The second expresses +the same progress as the development by its own vital energy of the life +of Christ in the soul. The third expresses the progress as the addition, +by conscious efforts, of portion after portion to the character, which +is manifestly incomplete until the headstone crowns the structure. We +may then take the passage before us as exhibiting the principles of +Christian progress. + +I. The origin of all, or how Christian progress begins. + +These three figures, receiving, rooted, founded, all express a great +deal more than merely accepting certain truths about Him. The acceptance +of truths is the means by which we come to what is more than any belief +of truths. We possess Christ when we believe with a true faith in Him. +We are rooted in Him. His life flows into us. We draw nourishment from +that soil. We are built on Him, and in our compact union find a real +support to a life which is otherwise baseless and blown about like +thistledown by every breath. The union which all these metaphors +presupposes is a vital connection; the possession which is the first +step in the Christian life is a real possession. + +There is no progress without that initial step. Our own experience tells +us but too plainly and loudly that we need the impartation of a new +life, and to be set on a new foundation, if we are ever to be anything +else than failures and blots. + +There is sure to be progress if the initial step has been taken. If +Christ has been received, the life possessed will certainly manifest +itself. It will go on to perfection. The union effected will work on +through the whole character and nature. It is the beginning of all; it +is only the beginning. + +II. The manner of Christian progress or in what it consists. + +It consists in a more complete possession of Him, in a more constant +approximation to Him, and a more entire appropriation of Him. Christian +progress is not a growing up from Christ as starting-point, but into +Christ as goal. All is contained in the first act by which He is first +received; the remainder is but the working out of that. All our growth +in knowledge and wisdom consists in our knowing what we have when we +receive Christ. We grow in proportion as we learn to see in Him the +centre of all truth, as the Revealer of God, as the Teacher of man, as +the Interpreter of nature, as the meaning and end of history, as the +Lord of life and death. Morals, politics, and philosophy flow from Him. +His lips and His life and death proclaim all truth, human and divine. + +As in wisdom so in character, all progress consists in coming closer to +Jesus and receiving more and more of His many-sided grace. He is the +pattern of all excellence, the living ideal of whatsoever things are +pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good +report, virtue incarnate, praise embodied. He is the power by which we +become gradually and growingly moulded into His likeness. Every part of +our nature finds its best stimulus in Jesus for individuals and for +societies. Christ and growth into Him is progress, and the only way by +which men can be presented perfect, is that they shall be presented +'perfect in Christ,' whereunto every man must labour who would that his +labour should not be in vain. That progress must follow the threefold +direction in the text. There must first be the progressive manifestation +in act and life of the Christ already possessed, 'As ye received Christ +Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him.' There must also be the completer growth +in the soul of the new life already received. As the leaf grows green +and broad, so a Christlike character must grow not altogether by effort. +And there must be a continual being builded up in Him by constant +additions to the fabric of graces set on that foundation. + +III. The means, or how it is accomplished. + +The first words of our text tell us that 'Ye have received Christ Jesus +as Lord,' and all depends on keeping the channels of communication open +so that the reception may be continuous and progressive. We must live +near and ever nearer to the Lord, and seek that our communion with Him +may be strengthened. On the other hand, it is not only by the +spontaneous development of the implanted life, but by conscious and +continuous efforts which sometimes involve vigorous repression of the +old self that progress is realised. The two metaphors of our text have +to be united in our experience. Neither the effortless growth of the +tree nor the toilsome work of the builder suffice to represent the whole +truth. The two sides of deep and still communion, and of strenuous +effort based on that communion, must be found in the experience of every +Christian who has received Christ, and is advancing through the +imperfect manifestations of earth to the perfect union with, and perfect +assimilation to, the Lord. + +To all men who are ready to despair of themselves, here is the way to +realise the grandest hopes. Nothing is too great to be attained by one +who, having received Christ Jesus as Lord, walks in Him, rooted and +builded up in Him, 'a holy temple to the Lord.' + + + + +RISEN WITH CHRIST + + 'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those + things which are above, where Christ sitteth on + the right hand of God. 2. Set your affection on + things above, not on things on the earth. 3. For + ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in + God. 4. When Christ, who is our life, shall + appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in + glory. 5. Mortify therefore your members which are + upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, + inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and + covetousness, which is idolatry: 6. For which + things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the + children of disobedience. 7. In the which ye also + walked sometime, when ye lived in them. 8. But now + ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, + blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. + 9. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put + off the old man with his deeds; 10. And have put + on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge + after the image of Him that created him: 11. Where + there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor + uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor + free: but Christ is all, and in all. 12. Put on + therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, + bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, + meekness, longsuffering; 13. Forbearing one + another, and forgiving one another, if any man + have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave + you, so also do ye. 14. And above all these things + put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. + 15. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, + to the which also ye are called in one body; and + be ye thankful.'--COL. iii. 1-15. + + +The resurrection is regarded in Scripture in three aspects--as a fact +establishing our Lord's Messiahship, as a prophecy of our rising from +the dead, and as a symbol of the Christian life even now. The last is +the aspect under which Paul deals with it here. + +I. Verses 1-4 set forth the wonderful but most real union of the +believer with the risen Christ. We have said that the Lord's +resurrection is regarded as a symbol, but that is an incomplete +representation of the truth here taught, for Paul believed that the +Christian is so joined to Jesus as that he has, not in symbol only, but +in truth, risen with him. Mark the emphasis and depth of the expressions +setting forth the believer's unity with his Lord: 'Ye were raised +together with Christ'; 'Ye died, and your life is hid with Christ.' And +these wonderful statements do not go to the bottom of the fact, for Paul +goes beyond even them, and does not scruple to say that Christ '_is_ our +life.' + +The ground of these great declarations is found in the fact that faith +joins us in most real and close union to Jesus Christ, so that in His +death we die to sin and the world, and that, even while we live the +bodily life of men here, we have in us another life, derived from Jesus. +Unless our Christianity has grasped that great truth, it has not risen +to the height of New Testament teaching and Christian privilege. We +cannot make too much of 'Christ our sacrifice,' but some of us make too +little of 'Christ our life,' and thereby fail to understand in all its +fulness that other truth on which they fasten so exclusively. Union with +Christ in the possession of His life in us, and the consequent rooting +of our lives in Him, is a truth which much of the evangelical +Christianity of this day needs to see more clearly. + +The life is 'hid,' as being united with Jesus, and consequently +withdrawn from the world, which neither comprehends nor sustains it. A +Christian man is bound to manifest to the utmost of his power what is +the motive and aim of his life; but the devout life is, like the divine +life, a mystery, unrevealed after all revelation. + +The practical conclusion from this blessed union with Jesus is that we +are, as Christians, bound to be true in our conduct to the facts of our +spiritual life, and to turn away from the world, which is now not our +home, and set our mind (not only our 'affections') on things above. +Surely the Christ, 'seated on the right hand of God,' will be as a +magnet to draw our conscious being upwards to Himself. Surely union with +Him in His death will lead us to die to the world which is alien to us, +and to live in aspiration, thought, desire, love, and obedience with Him +in His calm abode, whence He rules and blesses the souls whom, through +their faith, He has made to live the new life of heaven on earth. + +II. The first consequence of the risen life is negative, the death or +'putting off' of the old nature, the life which belongs to and is ruled +by earth. Verses 5-9 solemnly lay on the Christian the obligation to put +this to death. The 'therefore' in verse 5 teaches a great lesson, for it +implies that the union with Jesus by faith must precede all self-denial +which is true to the spirit of the Gospel. Asceticism of any sort which +is not built on the evangelical foundation is thereby condemned, +whether it is practised by Buddhist, or monk, or Protestant. First be +partaker of the new life, and then put off the old man with his deeds. +The withered fronds of last year are pushed off the fern by the new ones +as they uncurl. That doctrine of life in Christ is set down as mystical; +but it is mysticism of the wholesome sort, which is intensely practical, +and comes down to the level of the lowest duties,--for observe what +homely virtues are enjoined, and how the things prohibited are no +fantastic classifications of vices, but the things which all the world +owns to be ugly and wrong. + +We cannot here enlarge on Paul's grim catalogue, but only point out that +it is in two parts, the former (verses 5, 6) being principally sins of +impurity and unregulated passion, to which is added 'covetousness,' as +the other great vice to which the old nature is exposed. Lust and greed +between them are the occasions of most of the sins of men. Stop these +fountains, and the streams of evil would shrink to very small trickles. +These twin vices attract the lightning of God's wrath, which 'cometh' on +their perpetrators, not only in some final future judgment, but here and +now. If we were not blind, we should see that thundercloud steadily +drawing nearer, and ready to launch its terrors on impure and greedy +men. They have set it in motion, and they are right in the path of the +avalanche which they have loosened. + +The possessors of the risen life are exhorted to put off these things, +not only because of the coming wrath, but because continuance in them is +inconsistent with their present standing and life (v. 7). They do not +now 'live in them,' but in the heavenly places with the risen Lord, +therefore to walk in them is a contradiction. Our conduct should +correspond to our real affinities, and the surface of our lives should +be true to their depths and roots. + +The second class of vices are those which mar our intercourse with our +fellows,--the more passionate anger and wrath and the more cold-blooded +and deadly malice, with the many sins of speech. + +III. In verse 9 Paul appends the great reason for all the preceding +injunctions; namely, the fact, already enlarged on in verses 1-4, of the +Christian's death and new life by union with Jesus. He need only have +stated the one-half of the fact here, but he never can touch one member +of the antithesis without catching fire, as it were, and so he goes on +to dwell on the new life in Christ, and thus to prepare for the +transition to the exhortation to 'put on' its characteristic +excellences. We note how true to fact, though apparently illogical, his +representation is. He bases the command to put off the old man on the +fact that Christians have put it off. They are to be what they are, to +work out in daily acts what they did in its full ideal completeness when +by faith they died to self and were made alive in and to Christ. A +strong motive for a continuous Christian life is the recollection of the +initial Christian act. + +But Paul's fervent spirit blazes up as he thinks of that new nature +which union with Jesus has brought, and he turns aside from his +exhortations to gaze on that great sight. He condenses volumes into a +sentence. That new man is not only new, but is perpetually being renewed +with a renovation penetrating more and more deeply, and extending more +and more widely, in the Christian's nature. It is continually advancing +in knowledge, and tending towards perfect knowledge of Christ. It is +being fashioned, by a better creation than that of Adam, into a more +perfect likeness of God than our first father bore in his sinless +freshness. The possession of it gathers all Christians into a unity in +which all distinctions of nationality, religious privilege, culture, or +social condition, are lost. Paul the Pharisee and the Colossian +brethren, Onesimus the slave and Philemon his master, are one in Jesus. +The new life is one in all its recipients, and makes them one. The +phenomena of the lowest forms of life are almost repeated in the +highest, and, just as in a coral reef the myriads of workers are not +individuals so much as parts of one living whole, 'so also is Christ.' +The union is the closest possible without destruction of our +individuality. + +IV. The final, positive consequence of the risen life follows in verses +12-15. Again the Apostle reminds Christians of what they are, as the +great motive for putting on the new man. The contemplation of privileges +may tend to proud isolation and neglect of duty to our fellows, but the +true effect of knowing that we are 'God's elect, holy and beloved,' is +to soften our hearts, and to lead us to walk among men as mirrors and +embodiments of God's mercy to us. The only virtues touched on here are +the various manifestations of love, such as quick susceptibility to +others' sorrows; readiness to help by act as well as to pity in word; +lowliness in estimating one's own claims, which will lead to bearing +evils without resentment or recompensing the like; and patient +forgiveness, after the pattern and measure of the forgiveness we have +received. All these graces, which would make earth an Eden, and our +hearts temples, and our lives calm, are outcomes of love, and must +never be divorced from it. Paul uses a striking image to express this +thought of their dependence on it. He likens them to the various +articles of dress, and bids us hold them all in place with love as a +girdle, which keeps together all the various graces that make up +'perfectness.' + +Thus living in love, we shall be free from the tumult of spirit which +ever attends a selfish life; for nothing is more certain to stuff a +man's pillow with thorns, and to wreck his tranquillity, than to live in +hate and suspicion, or self-absorbed. 'The peace of Christ' is ours in +the measure in which we live the risen life and put on the new man, and +that peace in our hearts will rule, that is, will sit there as umpire; +for it will instinctively draw itself into itself, as it were, like the +leaves of a sensitive plant, at the approach of evil, and, if we will +give heed to its warnings, and have nothing to do with what disturbs it, +we shall be saved from falling into many a sin. That peace gathers all +the possessors of the new life into blessed harmony. It is peace with +God, with ourselves, and with all our brethren; and the fact that all +Christians are, by their common life, members of the one body, lays on +them all the obligation to keep the unity in the bond of peace. And for +all these great blessings, especially for that union with Jesus which +gives us a share in his risen life, thankfulness should ever fill our +hearts and make all our days and deeds the sacrifice of praise unto him +continually. + + + + +RISEN WITH CHRIST + + 'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those + things which are above, where Christ sitteth on + the right hand of God. Set your affection on + things above, not on things on the earth.'--COL. + iii. 1, 2. + + +There are three aspects in which the New Testament treats the +Resurrection, and these three seem to have successively come into the +consciousness of the Church. First, as is natural, it was considered +mainly in its bearing on the person and work of our Lord. We may point +for illustration to the way in which the Resurrection is treated in the +earliest of the apostolic discourses, as recorded in the Acts of the +Apostles. Then it came, with further reflection and experience, to be +discerned that it had a bearing on the hope of the immortality of man. +And last of all, as the Christian life deepened, it came to be discerned +that the Resurrection was the pattern of the life of the Christian +disciples. It was regarded first as a witness, then as a prophecy, then +as a symbol. Three fragments of Scripture express these three phases: +for the first, 'Declared to be the Son of God with power by the +Resurrection from the dead'; for the second, 'Now is Christ risen from +the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept'; for the +third, 'God hath raised us up together with Him, and made us sit +together in the heavenly places.' I have considered incidentally the two +former aspects in the course of previous sermons; I wish to turn at +present to that final third one. + +One more observation I must make by way of introduction, and that is, +that the way in which the Apostle here glides from 'being risen with +Christ' to where 'Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God,' +confirms what I have pointed out in former discourses, that the +Ascension of Jesus Christ is always considered in Scripture as being +nothing more than the necessary outcome and issue of the process which +began in the Resurrection. They are not separate facts, but they are two +ends of one process. And so with these thoughts, that Resurrection +develops into Ascension, and that in both Jesus Christ is the pattern +for His followers, let us turn to the words before us. + +Then we have here + +I. The Christian life considered as a risen life. + +Now, we are all familiar with the great evangelical point of view from +which the death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ are usually +contemplated. To many of us Christ's sacrifice is nothing more or less +than the means by which the world is reconciled to God, and Christ's +Resurrection nothing more than the seal which was set by Divinity upon +that work. 'Crucified for our offences, and raised again for our +justification,' as Paul has it--that is the point of view from which +most evangelical or orthodox Christian people are contented to regard +the solemn fact of the Death and the radiant fact of the Resurrection. +You cannot be too emphatic about these truths, but you may be too +exclusive in your contemplation of them. You do well when you say that +they are the Gospel; you do not well when you say, as some of you do, +that they are the whole Gospel. For there is another stream of teaching +in the New Testament, of which my text is an example, and a multitude of +other passages that I cannot refer to now are equally conspicuous +instances, in which that death and that Resurrection are regarded, not +so much in respect to the power which they exercise in the +reconciliation of the world to God, as in their aspect as the type of +all noble and true Christian life. You remember how, when our Lord +Himself touched upon the fruitful issues of His death, and said: 'Except +a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone; but if +it die it bringeth forth much fruit,' He at once went on to say that a +man that loved his life would lose it; and that a man that lost his life +would find it, and proceeded to point, even then, and in that +connection, to His Cross as our pattern, declaring: 'If any man serve +Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be.' + + 'Made like Him, like Him we rise; + Ours the cross, the grave, the skies.' + +So, then, a risen life is the type of all noble life, and before there +can be a risen life there must have been a death. True, we may say that +the spiritual facts in a man's experience, which are represented by +these two great symbols of a death and a rising, are but like the +segment of a circle which, seen from the one side is convex and from the +other is concave. But however loosely we may feel that the metaphors +represent the facts, this is plain, that unless a man dies to flesh, to +self-will, to the world, he never will live a life that is worth calling +life. The condition of all nobleness and all growth upwards is that we +shall die daily, and live a life that has sprung victorious from the +death of self. All lofty ethics teach that; and Christianity teaches it, +with redoubled emphasis, because it says to us, that the Cross and the +Resurrection are not merely imaginative emblems of the noble and the +Christian life, but are a great deal more than that. For, brethren, do +not forget--if you do, you will be hopelessly at sea as to large tracts +of blessed Christian truth--that by faith in Jesus Christ we are brought +into such a true deep union with Him as that, in no mere metaphorical or +analogous sense, but in most blessed reality, there comes into the +believing heart a spark of the life that is Christ's own, so that with +Him we do live, and from Him we do live a life cognate with His, who, +having risen from the dead, dieth no more, and over whom death hath no +dominion. So it is not a metaphor only, but a spiritual truth, when we +speak of being risen with Christ, seeing that our faith, in the measure +of its genuineness, its depth and its operative power upon our +characters, will be the gate through which there shall pass into our +deadness the life that truly is, the life that has nought to do with +death or sin. And this unity with Jesus, brought about by faith, brings +about that the depths of the Christian life are hid with Christ in God, +and that we, risen with Him, do even now sit 'at the right hand in +heavenly places,' whilst our feet, dusty and sometimes blood-stained, +are journeying along the paths of life. This is the great teaching of my +text, and of a multitude of other places; and this is the teaching which +modern Christianity, in its exclusive, or all but exclusive, +contemplation of the Cross as the sacrifice for sin, has far too much +forgotten. 'Ye are risen with Christ.' + +Let me remind you that this veritable death and rising again, which +marks the Christian life, is set forth before us in the initial rite of +the Christian Church. Some of you do not agree with me in my view, +either of what is the mode or of who are the subjects of that ordinance, +but if you know anything about the question, you know that everybody +that has a right to give a judgment agrees with us Baptists in +saying--although they may not think that it carries anything obligatory +upon the practice of to-day--that the primitive Church baptized by +immersion. Now, the meaning of baptism is to symbolise these two +inseparable moments, dying to sin, to self, to the world, to the old +past, and rising again to newness of life. Our sacramentarian friends +say that, in my text, it was in baptism that these Colossian Christians +rose again with Christ. I, for my part, do not believe that, but that +baptism was the speaking sign of what lies at the gate of a true +Christian life I have no manner of doubt. + +So the first thought of our text is not only taught us in words, but it +stands manifest in the ritual of the Church as it was from the +beginning. We die, and we rise again, through faith and by union through +faith, with Christ 'that died, yea, rather that is risen again, who is +even at the right hand of God.' + +Let me turn, secondly, to + +II. The consequent aims of the Christian life. + +'If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above.' +'To seek' implies the direction of the external life toward certain +objects. It is not to seek as if perhaps we might not find; it is not +even to seek in the sense of searching for, but it is to seek in the +sense of aiming at. And now do you not think that if we had burning in +our hearts, and conscious to our experiences, the sense of union with +Jesus Christ the risen Saviour, that would shape the direction and +dictate the aims of our earthly life? As surely as the elevation of the +rocket tube determines the flight of the projectile that comes from it, +so surely would the inward consciousness, if it were vivid as it ought +to be in all Christian people, of that risen life throbbing within the +heart, shape all the external conduct. It would give us wings and make +us soar. It would make us buoyant, and lift us above the creeping aims +that constitute the objects of life for so many men. + +But you say, 'Things above: that is an indefinite phrase. What do you +mean by it?' I will tell you what the Bible means by it. It means Jesus +Christ. All the nebulous splendours of that firmament are gathered +together into one blazing sun. It is a vague direction to tell a man to +shoot up, into an empty heaven. It is not a vague direction to tell him +to seek the 'things above'; for they are all gathered into a person. +'Where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God,'--that is the +meaning of 'things above,' which are to be the continual aim of the man +who is conscious of a risen life. And of course they will be, for if we +feel, as we ought to feel habitually, though with varying clearness, +that we do carry within us a spark, if I might use that phrase, of the +very life of Jesus Christ, so surely as fire will spring upwards, so +surely as water will rise to the height of its source, so surely will +our outward lives be directed towards Him, who is the life of our inward +lives, and the goal therefore of our outward actions? + +Jesus Christ is the summing up of 'the things that are above'; therefore +there stands out clear this one great truth, that the only aim for a +Christian soul, consistent with the facts of its Christian life, is to +be like Christ, to be with Christ, to please Christ. + +Now, how does that aim--'whether present or absent we labour that we may +be well pleasing to Him'--how does that aim bear upon the multitude of +inferior and nearer aims which men pursue, and which Christians have to +pursue along with other men? How does it bear upon them?--Why thus--as +the culminating peak of a mountain-chain bears on the lower hills that +for miles and miles buttress it, and hold it up, and aspire towards it, +and find their perfection in its calm summit that touches the skies. The +more we have in view, as our aim in life, Christ who is 'at the right +hand of God,' and assimilation, communion with Him, approbation from +Him, the more will all immediate aims be ennobled and delivered from the +evils that else cleave to them. They are more when they are second than +when they are first. 'Seek ye first the Kingdom of God,' and all your +other aims--as students, as thinkers, as scientists, as men of business, +as parents, as lovers, or anything else--will be greatened by being +subordinated to the conscious aim of pleasing Him. That aim should +persist, like a strain of melody, one long, holden-down, diapason note, +through all our lives. Perfume can be diffused into the air, and +dislodge no atom of that which it makes fragrant. This supreme aim can +be pursued through, and by means of, all nearer ones, and is +inconsistent with nothing but sin. 'Seek the things that are above.' + +Lastly, we have here-- + +III. The discipline which is needed to secure the right direction of the +life. + +The Apostle does not content himself with pointing out the aims. He adds +practical advice as to how these aims can be made dominant in our +individual cases, when he says, 'Set your affections on things above.' +Now, many of you will know that 'affections' is not the full sense of +the word that is here employed, and that the Revised Version gives a +more adequate rendering when it says, 'Set your _minds_ on the things +that are above.' A man cannot do with his love according to his will. He +cannot say: '_Resolved_, that I love So-and-So'; and then set himself to +do it. But though you cannot act on the emotions directly by the will, +you _can_ act directly on your understandings, on your thoughts, and +your thoughts will act on your affections. If a man wants to love Jesus +Christ he must think about Him. That is plain English. It is vain for a +man to try to coerce his wandering affections by any other course than +by concentrating his thoughts. Set your minds on the things that are +above, and that will consolidate and direct the emotions; and the +thoughts and the emotions together will shape the outward efforts. +Seeking the things that are above will come, and will only come, when +mind and heart and inward life are occupied with Him. There is no other +way by which the externals can be made right than by setting a watch on +the door of our hearts and minds, and this inward discipline must be put +in force before there will be any continuity or sureness in the outward +aim. We want, for that direction of the life of which I have been +speaking, a clear perception and a concentrated purpose, and we shall +not get either of these unless we fall back, by thought and meditation, +upon the truths which will provide them both. + +Brethren, there is another aspect of the connection between these two +parts of our text, which I can only touch. Not only is the setting of +our thoughts on the things above, the way by which we can make these the +aim of our lives. They are not only aims to be reached at some future +stage of our progress, but they are possessions to be enjoyed at the +present. We may have a present Christ and a present Heaven. The +Christian life is not all aspiration; it is fruition as well. We have to +seek, but even whilst we seek, we should be conscious that we possess +what we are seeking, even whilst we seek it. Do you know anything of +that double experience of having the things that are above, here and +now, as well as reaching out towards them? + +I am afraid that the Christian life of this generation suffers at a +thousand points, because it is more concerned with the ordering of the +outward life, and the manifold activities which this busy generation has +struck out for itself, than it is with the quiet setting of the mind, in +silent sunken depths of contemplation, on the things that are above. Oh, +if we would think more about them we should aim more at them; and if we +were sure that we possessed them to-day we should be more eager for a +larger possession to-morrow. + +Dear brethren, we may all have the risen life for ours, if we will knit +ourselves, in humble dependence and utter self-surrender, to the Christ +who died for us that we might be dead to sin, and rose again that we +might rise to righteousness. And if we have Him, in any deep and real +sense, as the life of our lives, then we shall be blessed, amid all the +divergent and sometimes conflicting nearer aims, which we have to +pursue, by seeing clear above them that to which they all may tend, the +one aim which corresponds to a man's nature, which meets his condition, +which satisfies his needs, which can always be attained if it is +followed, and which, when secured, never disappoints. God help us all to +say, 'This one thing I do, and all else I count but dung, that I may +know Him, and the power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His +sufferings, being made conformable unto His death, if by any means I may +attain unto the Resurrection from the dead!' + + + + +WITHOUT AND WITHIN + + 'Them that are without.'--COL. iv. 5. + + +That is, of course, an expression for the non-Christian world; the +outsiders who are beyond the pale of the Church. There was a very broad +line of distinction between it and the surrounding world in the early +Christian days, and the handful of Christians in a heathen country felt +a great gulf between them and the society in which they lived. That +distinction varies in form, and varies somewhat in apparent magnitude +according as Christianity has been rooted in a country for a longer or a +shorter time, but it remains, and is as real to-day as it ever was, and +there is neither wisdom nor kindness in ignoring the distinction. + +The phrase of our text may sound harsh, and might be used, as it was by +the Jews, from whom it was borrowed, in a very narrow and bitter spirit. +Close corporations of any sort are apt to generate, not only a wholesome +_esprit de corps_, but a hostile contempt for outsiders, and +Christianity has too often been misrepresented by its professors, who +have looked down upon those that are without with supercilious and +unchristian self-complacency. + +There is nothing of that sort in the words themselves; the very opposite +is in them. They sound to me like the expression of a man conscious of +the security and comfort and blessedness of the home where he sat, and +with his heart yearning for all the houseless wanderers that were +abiding the pelting of the pitiless storm out in the darkness there. The +spirit and attitude of Christianity to such is one of yearning pity and +urgent entreaty to come in and share in the blessings. There is deep +pathos in the words, as well as solemn earnestness, and in such a spirit +I wish to dwell upon them now for a short time. + +I. I begin with the question: Who are they that are outside? And what is +it of which they are outside? + +As I have already remarked, the phrase was apparently borrowed from +Judaism, where it meant, 'outside the Jewish congregation,' and its +primary application, as used here, is no doubt to those who are outside +the Christian Church. But do not let us suppose that that explanation +gets to the bottom of the meaning of the words. It may stand as a +partial answer, but only as partial. The evil tendency which attends all +externalising of truth in the concrete form of institutions works in +full force on the Church, and ever tempts us to substitute outward +connection with the institution for real possession of the truth of +which the institution is the outgrowth. Therefore I urge upon you very +emphatically--and all the more earnestly because of the superstitious +overestimate of outward connection with the outward institution of the +Church which is eagerly proclaimed all around us to-day--that connection +with any organised body of believing men is not 'being within,' and that +isolation from all these is not necessarily 'being without.' Many a man +who is within the organisation is not 'in the truth,' and, blessed be +God, a man may be outside all churches, and yet be one of God's hidden +ones, and may dwell safe and instructed in the very innermost shrine of +the secret place of the Most High. We hear from priestly lips, both +Roman Catholic and Anglican, that there is 'no safety outside the +Church.' The saying is true when rightly understood. If by the Church be +meant the whole company of those who are trusting to Jesus Christ, of +course there is no safety outside, because to trust in Jesus is the one +condition of safety, and unless we belong to those who so trust we shall +not possess the blessing. So understood, the phrase may pass, and is +only objectionable as a round-about and easily misunderstood way of +saying what is much better expressed by 'Whosoever shall call on the +name of the Lord shall be saved.' + +But that is not the meaning of the phrase in the mouths of those who use +it most frequently. To them the Church is a visible corporation, and not +only so, but as one of the many organisations into which believers are +moulded, it is distinguished from the others by certain offices and +rites, bishops, priests, and sacraments, through whom and which certain +grace is supposed to flow, no drop of which can reach a community +otherwise shaped and officered! + +Nor is it only Roman Catholics and Anglicans who are in danger of +externalising personal Christianity into a connection with a church. The +tendency has its roots deep in human nature, and may be found +flourishing quite as rankly in the least sacerdotal of the 'sects' as in +the Vatican itself. There is very special need at present for those who +understand that Christianity is an immensely deeper thing than +connection with any organised body of Christians, to speak out the truth +that is in them, and to protest against the vulgar and fleshly notion +which is forcing itself into prominence in this day when societies of +all sorts are gaining such undue power, and religion, like much else, is +being smothered under forms, as was the maiden in the old story, under +the weight of her ornaments. External relationships and rites cannot +determine spiritual conditions. It does not follow because you have +passed through certain forms, and stand in visible connection with any +visible community, that you are therefore within the pale and safe. +Churches are appointed by Christ. Men who believe and love naturally +draw together. The life of Christ is in them. Many spiritual blessings +are received through believing association with His people. Illumination +and stimulus, succour and sympathy pass from one to another, each in +turn experiencing the blessedness of receiving, and the greater +blessedness of giving. No wise man who has learned of Christ will +undervalue the blessings which come through union with the outward body +which is a consequence of union with the unseen Head. But men may be in +the Church and out of Christ. Not connection with it, but connection +with Him, brings us 'within.' 'Those that are without' may be either in +or out of the pale of any church. + +We may put the answer to this question in another form, and going deeper +than the idea of being within a visible church, we may say, 'those that +are without' are they who are outside the Kingdom of Christ. + +The Kingdom of Christ is not a visible external community. The Kingdom +of Christ, or of God, or of Heaven, is found wherever human wills obey +the Law of Christ, which is the will of God, the decrees of Heaven; as +Christ himself put it, in profound words--profound in all their +simplicity--when He said, 'Not every man that saith unto Me Lord! Lord! +shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of My +Father, which is in Heaven.' 'Them that are without' are they whose +wills are not bent in loving obedience to the Lord of their spirit. + +But we must go deeper than that. In the Church? Yes! In the Kingdom? +Yes! But I venture to take another Scripture phrase as being the one +satisfactory fundamental answer to the question: What is it that these +people are outside of? and I say Christ, Christ. If you will take your +New Testament as your guide, you will find that the one question upon +which all is suspended is the, Am I, or Am I not, in Jesus Christ? Am I +in Him, or Am I outside of Him? And the answer to that question is the +answer to this other: Who are they that are without? + +They that are outside are not the 'non-Christian world' who are not +church members; they that are inside are not the 'Christian world' who +make an outward profession of being in the Kingdom. It is not going down +to the foundation to explain the antithesis so; but 'those that are +within' are those who have simple trust upon Jesus Christ as the sole +and all-sufficient Saviour of their sinful spirits and the life of their +life, and having entered into that great love, have plunged themselves, +as it were, into the very heart of Jesus; have found in Him +righteousness and peace, forgiveness and love, joy and salvation. Are +you in Christ because you love Him and trust your soul to Him? If not, +if not, you are amongst those 'that are without,' though you be ever so +much joined to the visible Church of the living God. + +And then there is one more remark that I must drop in here before I go +on, namely, that whilst I thankfully admit, and joyfully preach, that +the most imperfect, rudimentary faith knits a man to Jesus Christ, even +if in this life it may be found covered over with a great deal that is +contradictory and inconsistent; on the other hand there are some people +who stand like the angel in the Apocalypse, with one foot on the solid +land and one upon the restless sea, half in and half out, undecided, +halting--that is, 'limping'--between two opinions. Some people of that +sort are listening to me now, who have been like that for years. Now I +want them to remember this plain piece of common-sense--half in is +altogether out! So that is my answer to the first question: Who are they +that are outside, and what is it that they are outside of? + +I cannot carry round these principles and lay them upon the conscience +of each hearer, but I pray you to listen to your own inmost voice +speaking, and I am mistaken if many will not hear it saying: 'Thou art +the man!' Do not stop your ears to that voice! + +II. Notice next the force of this phrase as implying the woeful +condition of those without. + +I have said that it is full of pathos. It is the language of a man whose +heart yearns as, in the midst of his own security, he thinks of the +houseless wanderers in the dark and the storm. He thinks pityingly of +what they lose, and of that to which they are exposed. + +There are two or three ways in which I may illustrate that condition, +but perhaps the most graphic and impressive may be just to recall for a +moment three or four of the Scripture metaphors that fit into this +representation: 'Those that are without'; and thus to gain some +different pictures of what the inside and the outside means in these +varying figures. + +First, then, there is a figure drawn from the Old Testament which is +often applied, and correctly applied, to this subject--Noah's Ark. + +Think of that safe abode floating across the waters, whilst all without +it was a dreary waste. Without were death and despair, but those that +were within sat warm and dry and safe and fed and living. The men that +were without, high as they might climb upon rocks and hills, strong as +they might be--when the dreary rainstorm wept itself dry, 'they were all +dead corpses.' To be in was life, to be out was death. + +That is the first metaphor. Take another. That singular institution of +the old Mosaic system, in which the man who inadvertently, and therefore +without any guilt or crime of his own, had been the cause of death to +his brother, had provided for him, half on one side Jordan and half on +the other, and dotted over the land, so that it should not be too far to +run to one of them, Cities of Refuge. And when the wild vendetta of +those days stirred up the next of kin to pursue at his heels, if he +could get inside the nearest of these he was secure. They that were +within could stand at the city gates and look out upon the plain, and +see the pursuer with his hate glaring from his eyes, and almost feel his +hot breath on their cheeks, and know that though but a yard from him, +his arm durst not touch them. To be inside was to be safe, to be outside +was certain bloody death. + +That is the second figure; take a third; one which our Lord Himself has +given us. Here is the picture--a palace, a table abundantly spread, +lights and music, delight and banqueting, gladness and fulness, society +and sustenance. The guests sit close and all partake. To be within means +food, shelter, warmth, festivity, society; to be without, like Lear on +the moor, is to stand the pelting of the storm, weary, stumbling in the +dark, starving, solitary, and sad. Within is brightness and good cheer; +without is darkness, hunger, death. + +That is the third figure. Take a fourth, another of our Master's. +Picture a little rude, stone-built enclosure with the rough walls piled +high, and a narrow aperture at one point, big enough for one creature to +pass through at a time. Within, huddled together, are the innocent +sheep; without, the lion and the bear. Above, the vault of night with +all its stars, and watching all, the shepherd, with unslumbering eye. In +the fold is rest for the weary limbs that have been plodding through +valleys of the shadow of death, and dusty ways; peace for the panting +hearts that are trembling at every danger, real and imaginary. Inside +the fold is tranquillity, repose for the wearied frame, safety, and the +companionship of the Shepherd; and without, ravening foes and a dreary +wilderness, and flinty paths and sparse herbage and muddy pools. Inside +is life; without is death. That is the fourth figure. + +In the Ark no Deluge can touch; in the City of Refuge no avenger can +smite; in the banqueting-hall no thirst nor hunger but can be satisfied; +in the fold no enemy can come and no terror can live. + +Brethren! are you amongst 'them that are without,' or are you within? + +III. Lastly--why is anybody outside? Why? It is no one's fault but their +own. It is not God's. He can appeal with clean hands and ask us to judge +what more could have been done for His vineyard that He has not done for +it. The great parable which represents Him as sending out His summons to +the feast in His palace puts the wonderful words in the mouth of the +master of the house, after his call by his servants had been refused. +'Go out into the highways and hedges,' beneath which the beggars squat, +'and compel them to come in, that my house may be full.' 'Nature abhors +a vacuum,' the old natural philosophers used to say. So does grace; so +does God's love. It hates to have His house empty and His provisions +unconsumed. And so He has done all that He could do to bring you and me +inside. He has sent His Son, He beckons us, He draws us by countless +mercies day by day. He appeals to our hearts, and would have us gathered +into the fold. And if we are outside it is not because He has neglected +to do anything which He can do in order to bring us in. + +But why is it that any of us resist such drawing, and make the wretched +choice of perishing without, rather than find safety within? The deepest +reason is an alienated heart, a rebellious will. But the reason for +alienation and rebellion lie among the inscrutable mysteries of our +awful being. All sin is irrational. The fact is plain, the temptations +are obvious; excuses there are in plenty, but reasons there are none. +Still we may touch for a moment on some of the causes which operate with +many hearers of God's merciful call to enter in, and keep them without. + +Many remain outside because they do not really believe in the danger. No +doubt there was a great deal of brilliant sarcasm launched at Noah for +his folly in thinking that there was anything coming that needed an ark. +It seemed, no doubt, food for much laughter, and altogether impossible +to think of gravely, that this flood which he talked about should ever +come. So they had their laughter out as they saw him working away at his +ludicrous task 'until the day when the flood came and swept them all +away,' and the laughter ended in gurgling sobs of despair. + +If a manslayer does not believe that the next of kin is on his track, he +will not flee to the City of Refuge. If the sheep has no fear of wolves, +it will choose to be outside the fold among the succulent herbage. Did +you ever see how, in a Welsh slate-quarry, before a blast, a horn is +blown, and at its sound all along the face of the quarry the miners run +to their shelters, where they stay until the explosion is over? What do +you suppose would become of one of them who stood there after the horn +had blown, and said: 'Nonsense! There is nothing coming! I will take my +chance where I am!' Very likely a bit of slate would end him before he +had finished his speech. At any rate, do not you, dear friend, trifle +with the warning that says: 'Flee for refuge to Christ and shelter +yourself in Him.' + +There are some people, too, who stop outside because they do not much +care for the entertainment that they will get within. It does not strike +them as being very desirable. They have no appetite for it. We preachers +seek to draw hearts to Jesus by many motives--and among others by +setting forth the blessings which he bestows. But if a man does not care +about pardon, does not fear judgment, does not want to be good, has no +taste for righteousness, is not attracted by the pure and calm pleasures +which Christ offers, the invitation falls flat upon his ear. Wisdom +cries aloud and invites the sons of men to her feast, but the fare she +provides is not coarse and high spiced enough, and her table is left +unfilled, while the crowd runs to the strong-flavoured meats and foaming +drinks which her rival, Folly, offers. Many of us say, like the +Israelites 'Our souls loathe this light bread,' this manna, white and +sweet, and Heaven-descended, and angels' food though it be, and we +hanker after the reeking garlic and leeks and onions of Egypt. + +Some of us again, would like well enough to be inside, if that would +keep us from dangers which we believe to be real, but we do not like the +doorway. You may see in some remote parts of the country strange, +half-subterranean structures which are supposed to have been the houses +of a vanished race. They have a long, narrow, low passage, through which +a man has to creep with his face very near the ground. He has to go low +and take to his knees to get through; and at the end the passage opens +out into ampler, loftier space, where the dwellers could sit safe from +wild weather and wilder beasts and wildest men. That is like the way +into the fortress home which we have in Jesus Christ. We must stoop very +low to enter there. And some of us do not like that. We do not like to +fall on our knees and say, I am a sinful man, O Lord. We do not like to +bow ourselves in penitence. And the passage is narrow as well as low. It +is broad enough for you, but not for what some of you would fain carry +in on your back. The pack which you bear, of earthly vanities and loves, +and sinful habits, will be brushed off your shoulders in that narrow +entrance, like the hay off a cart in a country lane bordered by high +hedges. And some of us do not like that. So, because the way is narrow, +and we have to stoop, our pride kicks at the idea of having to confess +ourselves sinners, and of having to owe all our hope and salvation to +God's undeserved mercy, therefore we stay outside. And because the way +is narrow, and we have to put off some of our treasures, our +earthward-looking desires shrink from laying these aside, and therefore +we stop outside. There was room in the boat for the last man who stood +on the deck, but he could not make up his mind to leave a bag of gold. +There was no room for that. Therefore he would not leap, and went down +with the ship. + +The door is open. The Master calls. The feast is spread. Dangers +threaten. The flood comes. The avenger of blood makes haste. 'Why +standest thou without?' Enter in, before the door is shut. And if you +ask, How shall I pass within?--the answer is plain: 'They could not +enter in because of unbelief. We which have believed do enter into +rest.' + + + + +I. THESSALONIANS + + + + +FAITH, LOVE, HOPE, AND THEIR FRUITS + + 'Your work of faith, and labour of love, and + patience of hope.'--1 THESS. i. 3. + + +This Epistle, as I suppose we all know, is Paul's first letter. He had +been hunted out of Thessalonica by the mob, made the best of his way to +Athens, stayed there for a very short time, then betook himself to +Corinth, and at some point of his somewhat protracted residence there, +this letter was written. So that we have in it his first attempt, so far +as we know, to preach the Gospel by the pen. It is interesting to notice +how, whatever changes and developments there may have been in him +thereafter, all the substantial elements of his latest faith beam out in +this earliest letter, and how even in regard to trifles we see the germs +of much that came afterwards. This same triad, you remember, 'faith, +hope, charity,' recurs in the First Epistle to the Corinthians, though +with a very significant difference in the order, which I shall have to +dwell upon presently. + +The letter is interesting on another account. Remembering that it was +only a very short time since these Thessalonians had turned from idols +to serve the living God, there is something very beautiful in the +overflowing generosity of commendation, which never goes beyond +veracity, with which he salutes them. Their Christian character, like +seeds sown in some favoured tropical land, had sprung up swiftly; yet +not with the dangerous kind of swiftness which presages decay of the +growth. It was only a few days since they had been grovelling before +idols, but now he can speak of 'your work of faith, and labour of love, +and patience of hope' . . . and declare that the Gospel 'sounded out' from +them--the word which he employs is that which is technically used for +the blast of a trumpet--'so that we need not to speak anything.' Rapid +growth is possible for us all, and is not always superficial. + +I desire now to consider that pair of triads--the three +foundation-stones, and the three views of the fair building that is +reared upon them. + +I. The three foundation-stones. + +That is a natural metaphor to use, but it is not quite correct, for +these three--faith, love, hope--are not to be conceived of as lying side +by side. Rather than three foundations we have three courses of the +building here; the lowest one, faith; the next one, love; and the top +one, hope. The order in 1 Corinthians is different, 'faith, hope, +charity,' and the alteration in the sequence is suggested by the +difference of purpose. The Apostle intended in 1 Corinthians to dwell at +some length thereafter on 'charity,' or 'love.' So he puts it last to +make the link of connection with what he is going to say. But here he is +dealing with the order of production, the natural order in which these +three evolve themselves. And his thought is that they are like the +shoots that successive springs bring upon the bough of a tree, where +each year has its own growth, and the summit of last year's becomes the +basis of next. Thus we have, first, faith; then, shooting from that, +love; and then, sustained by both, hope. Now let us look at that order. + +It is a well-worn commonplace, which you may think it not needful for me +to dwell upon here, that in the Christian theory, both of salvation and +of morals, the basis of everything is trust. And that is no arbitrary +theological arrangement, but it is the only means by which the life that +is the basis both of salvation and of righteousness can be implanted in +men. There is no other way by which Jesus Christ can come into our +hearts than by what the New Testament calls 'trust,' which we have +turned into the hard, theological concept which too often glides over +people's minds without leaving any dint at all--'faith.' Distrust is +united with trust. There is no trust without, complementary to it, +self-distrust. Just as the sprouting seed sends one little radicle +downwards, and that becomes the root, and at the same time sends up +another one, white till it reaches the light, and it becomes the stem, +so the underside of faith is self-distrust, and you must empty +yourselves before you can open your hearts to be filled by Jesus. That +being so, this self-distrustful trust is the beginning of everything. +That is the _alpha_ of the whole alphabet, however glorious and manifold +may be the words into which its letters are afterwards combined. Faith +is the hand that grasps. It is the means of communication, it is the +channel through which the grace which is the life, or, rather, I should +say, the life which is the grace, comes to us. It is the open door by +which the angel of God comes in with his gifts. It is like the petals of +the flowers, opening when the sunshine kisses them, and, by opening, +laying bare the depths of their calyxes to be illuminated and coloured, +and made to grow by the sunshine which itself has opened them, and +without the presence of which, within the cup, there would have been +neither life nor beauty. So faith is the basis of everything; the first +shoot from which all the others ascend. Brethren, have you that initial +grace? I leave the question with you. If you have not that, you have +nothing else. + +Then again, out of faith rises love. No man can love God unless he +believes that God loves him. I, for my part, am old-fashioned and narrow +enough not to believe that there is any deep, soul-cleansing or +soul-satisfying love of God which is not the answer to the love that +died on the Cross. But you must believe that, and more than believe it; +you must have trusted and cast yourselves on it, in the utter +abandonment of self-distrust and Christ-confidence, before there will +well up in your heart the answering love to God. First faith, then love. +My love is the reverberation of the primeval voice, the echo of God's. +The angle at which the light falls on the mirror is the same as the +angle at which it is reflected from it. And though my love at its +highest is low, at its strongest is weak: yet, like the echo that is +faint and far, feeble though it be, it is pitched on the same key, and +is the prolongation of the same note as the mother-sound. So my love +answers God's love, and it will never answer it unless faith has brought +me within the auditorium, the circle wherein the voice that proclaims 'I +love thee, my child,' can be heard. + +Now, we do not need to ask ourselves whether Paul is here speaking of +love to God or love to man. He is speaking of both, because the New +Testament deals with the latter as being a part of the former, and sure +to accompany it. But there is one lesson that I wish to draw. If it be +true that love in us is thus the result of faith in the love of God, let +us learn how we grow in love. You cannot say, 'Now I will make an effort +to love.' The circulation of the blood, the pulsations of the heart, are +not within the power of the will. But you can say, 'Now I will make an +effort to trust.' For faith is in the power of the will, and when the +Master said, 'Ye will not come unto me,' He taught us that unbelief is +not a mere intellectual deficiency or perversity, but that it is the +result, in the majority of cases--I might almost say in all-of an +alienated will. Therefore, if you wish to love, do not try to work +yourself into a hysteria of affection, but take into your hearts and +minds the Christian facts, and mainly the fact of the Cross, which will +set free the frozen and imprisoned fountains of your affections, and +cause them to flow out abundantly in sweet water. First faith, then +love; and get at love through faith. That is a piece of practical wisdom +that it will do us all good to keep in mind. + +Then the third of the three, the topmost shoot, is hope. Hope is faith +directed to the future. So it is clear enough that, unless I have that +trust of which I have been speaking, I have none of the hope which the +Apostle regards as flowing from it. But love has to do with hope quite +as much, though in a different way, as faith has to do with it. For in +the direct proportion in which we are taking into our hearts Christ and +His truth, and letting our hearts go out in love towards Him and +communion with Him, will the glories beyond brighten and consolidate and +magnify themselves in our eyes. The hope of the Christian man is but the +inference from his present faith, and the joy and sweetness of his +present love. For surely when we rise to the heights which are possible +to us all, and on which I suppose most Christian people have been +sometimes, though for far too brief seasons; when we rise to the heights +of communion with God, anything seems more possible to us than that +death, or anything that lies in the future, should have power over a tie +so sweet, so strong, so independent of externals, and so all-sufficing +in its sweetness. Thus we shall be sure that God is our portion for +ever, in the precise degree in which, by faith and love, we feel that +'He is the strength of our hearts,' to-day and now. So, then, we have +the three foundation-stones. + +And now a word or two, in the second place, about + +II. The fair building which rises on them. + +I have already half apologised for using the metaphor of a foundation +and a building. I must repeat the confession that the symbol is an +inadequate one. For the Apostle does not conceive of the work and labour +and patience which are respectively allocated to these three graces as +being superimposed upon them, as it were, by effort, so much as he +thinks of them as growing out of them by their inherent nature. The work +is 'the work of faith,' that which characterises faith, that which +issues from it, that which is its garment, visible to the world, and the +token of its reality and its presence. Faith works. It is the foundation +of all true work; even in the lowest sense of the word we might almost +say that. But in the Christian scheme it is eminently the underlying +requisite for all work which God does not consider as busy idleness. I +might here make a general remark, which, however, I need not dwell upon, +that we have here the broad thought which Christian people in all +generations need to have drummed into their heads over and over again, +and that is that inward experiences and emotions, and states of mind and +heart, however good and precious, are so mainly as being the necessary +foundations of conduct. What is the good of praying and feeling +comfortable within, and having 'a blessed assurance,' a 'happy +experience,' 'sweet communion,' and so on? What is the good of it all, +if these things do not make us 'live soberly, righteously, and godly in +this present world'? What is the good of the sails of a windmill going +whirling round, if the machinery has been thrown out of gear, and the +great stones which it ought to actuate are not revolving? What is the +good of the screw of a steamer revolving, when she pitches, clean above +the waves? It does nothing then to drive the vessel onwards, but will +only damage the machinery. And Christian emotions and experiences which +do not drive conduct are of as little use, often as perilous, and as +injurious. If you want to keep your 'faith, love, hope,' sound and +beneficial, set them to work. And do not be too sure that you have them, +if they do not crave for work, whether you set them to it or not. + +'Your work of faith.' There is the whole of the thorny subject of the +relation of faith and works packed into a nutshell. It is exactly what +James said and it is exactly what a better than James said. When the +Jews came to Him with their externalism, and thought that God was to be +pleased by a whole rabble of separate good actions, and so said, 'What +shall we do that we might work the works of God?' Jesus said, 'Never +mind about _works_. This is _the work_ of God, that ye believe on Him +whom He hath sent,' and out of that will come all the rest. That is the +mother-tincture; everything will flow from that. So Paul says, 'Your +work of faith.' + +Does your faith work? Perhaps I should ask other people rather than you. +Do men see that your faith works; that its output is different from the +output of men who are not possessors of a 'like precious faith'? Ask +yourselves the question, and God help you to answer it. + +Love labours. Labour is more than work, for it includes the notion of +toil, fatigue, difficulty, persistence, antagonism. Ah! the work of +faith will never be done unless it is the toil of love. You remember how +Milton talks about the immortal garland that is to be run for, 'not +without dust and sweat.' The Christian life is not a leisurely +promenade. The limit of our duty is not ease of work. There must be +toil. And love is the only principle that will carry us through the +fatigues, and the difficulties, and the oppositions which rise against +us from ourselves and from without. Love delights to have a hard task +set it by the beloved, and the harder the task the more poignant the +satisfaction. Loss is gain when it brings us nearer the beloved. And +whether our love be love to God, or its consequence, love to man, it is +the only foundation on which toil for either God or man will ever +permanently be rested. Do not believe in philanthropy which has not a +bottom of faith, and do not believe in work for Christ which does not +involve in toil. And be sure that you will do neither, unless you have +both these things: the faith and the love. + +And then comes the last. Faith works, love toils, hope is patient. Is +that all that 'hope' is? Not if you take the word in the narrow meaning +which it has in modern English; but that was not what Paul meant. He +meant something a great deal more than passive endurance, great as that +is. It is something to be able to say, in the pelting of a pitiless +storm, 'Pour on! I will endure.' But it is a great deal more to be able, +in spite of all, not to bate one jot of heart or hope, but 'still bear +up and steer right onward'; and that is involved in the true meaning of +the word inadequately rendered 'patience' in the New Testament. For it +is no passive virtue only, but it is a virtue which, in the face of the +storm, holds its course; brave persistence, active perseverance, as well +as meek endurance and submission. + +'Hope' helps us both to bear and to do. They tell us nowadays that it is +selfish for a Christian man to animate himself, either for endurance or +for activity, by the contemplation of those great glories that lie +yonder. If that is selfishness, God grant we may all become a great deal +more selfish than we are! No man labours in the Christian life, or +submits to Christian difficulty, for the sake of going to heaven. At +least, if he does, he has got on the wrong tack altogether. But if the +motive for both endurance and activity be faith and love, then hope has +a perfect right to come in as a subsidiary motive, and to give strength +to the faith and rapture to the love. We cannot afford to throw away +that hope, as so many of us do--not perhaps, intellectually, though I am +afraid there is a very considerable dimming of the clearness, and a +narrowing of the place in our thoughts, of the hope of a future +blessedness, in the average Christian of this day--but practically we +are all apt to lose sight of the recompense of the reward. And if we do, +the faith and love, and the work and toil, and the patience will suffer. +Faith will relax its grasp, love will cool down its fervour; and there +will come a film over Hope's blue eye, and she will not see the land +that is very far off. So, dear brethren, remember the sequence, 'faith, +love, hope,' and remember the issues, 'work, toil, patience.' + + + + +GOD'S TRUMPET + + 'From you sounded out the word of God.'--1 THESS. + i. 8. + + +This is Paul's first letter. It was written very shortly after his first +preaching of the Gospel in the great commercial city of Thessalonica. +But though the period since the formation of the Thessalonian Church was +so brief, their conversion had already become a matter of common +notoriety; and the consistency of their lives, and the marvellous change +that had taken place upon them, made them conspicuous in the midst of +the corrupt heathen community in which they dwelt. And so says Paul, in +the text, by reason of their work of faith and labour of love and +patience of hope, they had become ensamples to all that believe, and +loud proclaimers and witnesses of the Gospel which had produced this +change. + +The Apostle employs a word never used anywhere else in the New Testament +to describe the conspicuous and widespread nature of this testimony of +theirs. He says, 'The word of the Lord _sounded out_' from them. That +phrase is one most naturally employed to describe the blast of a +trumpet. So clear and ringing, so loud, penetrating, melodious, rousing, +and full was their proclamation, by the silent eloquence of their lives, +of the Gospel which impelled and enabled them to lead such lives. A +grand ideal of a community of believers! If our churches to-day were +nearer its realisation there would be less unbelief, and more attraction +of wandering prodigals to the Father's house. Would that this saying +were true of every body of professing believers! Would that from each +there sounded out one clear accordant witness to Christ, in the purity +and unworldliness of their Christlike lives! + +I. This metaphor suggests the great purpose of the Church. + +It is God's trumpet, His means of making His voice heard through all the +uproar of the world. As the captain upon the deck in the gale will use +his speaking-trumpet, so God's voice needs your voice. The Gospel needs +to be passed through human lips in order that it may reach deaf ears. +The purpose for which we have been apprehended of Christ is not merely +our own personal salvation, whether we understand that in a narrow and +more outward, or in a broader and more spiritual sense. No man is an end +in himself, but every man, though he be partially and temporarily an +end, is also a means. And just as, according to the other metaphor, the +Kingdom of Heaven is like leaven, each particle of the dead dough, as +soon as it is leavened and vitalised, becoming the medium for +transmitting the strange, transforming, and living influence to the +particle beyond, so all of us, if we are Christian people, have received +that grace into our hearts, for our own sakes indeed, but also that +through us might be manifested to the darkened eyes beyond, and through +us might drop persuasively on the dull, cold ears that are further away +from the Divine Voice, the great message of God's mercy. The Church is +God's trumpet, and the purpose that He has in view in setting it in the +world is to make all men know the fellowship of the mystery, and that +through it there may ring out, as by some artificial means a poor human +voice will be flung to a greater distance than it would otherwise reach, +the gentle entreaties, and the glorious proclamation, and the solemn +threatenings of the Word, the Incarnate as well as the written Word, of +God. + +Of course all this is true, not only about communities, but it is true +of a community, just because it is true of each individual member of it. +The Church is worse than as 'sounding brass,' it is as _silent_ brass +and an _untinkling_ cymbal, unless the individuals that belong to it +recognise God's meaning in making them His children, and do their best +to fulfil it. 'Ye are my witnesses,' saith the Lord. You are put into +the witness-box; see that you speak out when you are there. + +II. Another point that this figure may suggest is, the _sort_ of sound +that should come from the trumpet. + +A trumpet note is, first of all, clear. There should be no hesitation in +our witness; nothing uncertain in the sound that we give. There are +plenty of so-called Christian people whose lives, if they bear any +witness for the Master at all, are like the notes that some bungling +learner will bring out of a musical instrument: hesitating, uncertain, +so that you do not know exactly what note he wants to produce. How many +of us, calling ourselves Christian people, testify on both sides; +sometimes bearing witness for Christ; and alas! alas! oftener bearing +witness against Him. Will the trumpet, the instrument of clear, ringing, +unmistakable sounds, be the emblem of your Christian testimony? Would +not some poor scrannel-pipe, ill-blown, be nearer the mark? The note +should be clear. + +The note should be penetrating. There is no instrument, I suppose, that +carries further than the ringing clarion that is often heard on the +field of battle, above all the strife; and this little church at +Thessalonica, a mere handful of people, just converted, in the very +centre of a strong, compact, organised, self-confident, supercilious +heathenism, insisted upon being heard, and got itself made audible, +simply by the purity and the consistency of the lives of its members. So +that Paul, a few weeks, or at most a few months, after the formation of +the church, could say, 'From you sounded out the word of the Lord, not +only in Macedonia and Achaia,' your own province and the one next door +to it, 'but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad.' +No man knows how far his influence will go. No man can tell how far his +example may penetrate. Thessalonica was a great commercial city. So is +Manchester. Hosts of people of all sorts came into it as they come here. +There were many different circles which would be intersected by the +lives of this Christian church, and wherever its units went they carried +along with them the conviction that they had turned from idols to serve +the living God, and to wait for His Son from heaven. + +And so, dear brethren, if our witness is to be worth anything it must +have this penetrating quality. There is a difference in sounds as there +is a difference in instruments. Some of them carry further than others. +A clear voice will fling words to a distance that a thick, mumbling one +never can attain. One note will travel much further than another. Do you +see to it that your notes are of the penetrating sort. + +And then, again, the note should be a musical one. There is nothing to +be done for God by harshness; nothing to be done by discords and +gangling; nothing to be done by scolding and rebuke. The ordered +sequence of melodious sound will travel a great deal further than +unmusical, plain speech. You can hear a song at a distance at which a +saying would be inaudible. Which thing is an allegory, and this is its +lesson,--Music goes further than discord; and the witness that a +Christian man bears will travel in direct proportion as it is +harmonious, and gracious and gentle and beautiful. + +And then, again, the note should be rousing. You do not play on a +trumpet when you want to send people to sleep; dulcimers and the like +are the things for that purpose. The trumpet means strung-up intensity, +means a call to arms, or to rejoicing; means at any rate, vigour, and is +intended to rouse. Let your witness have, for its utmost signification, +'Awake! thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead; and Christ shall +give thee light.' + +III. Then, still further, take another thought that may be suggested +from this metaphor, the silence of the loudest note. + +If you look at the context, you will see that all the ways in which the +word of the Lord is represented as sounding out from the Thessalonian +Church were deeds, not words. The context supplies a number of them. +Such as the following are specified in it: their work; their toil, which +is more than work; their patience; their assurance; their reception of +the word, in much affliction with joy in the Holy Ghost; their faith to +Godward; their turning to God from idols, to serve and to wait. + +That is all. So far as the context goes there might not have been a man +amongst them who ever opened his mouth for Jesus Christ. We know not, of +course, how far they were a congregation of silent witnesses, but this +we know, that what Paul meant when he said, 'The whole world is ringing +with the voice of the word of God sounding from you,' was not their +going up and down the world shouting about their Christianity, but their +quiet living like Jesus Christ. That is a louder voice than any other. + +Ah! dear friends! it is with God's Church as it is with God's heavens; +the 'stars in Christ's right hand' sparkle in the same fashion as the +stars that He has set in the firmament. Of them we read: 'There is +neither voice nor language, their speech is not heard'; and yet, as man +stands with bared head and hushed heart beneath the violet abysses of +the heavens, 'their line' (or chord, the metaphor being that of a +stringed instrument) 'is gone out through all the earth, and their words +to the end of the world.' Silent as they shine, they declare the glory +of God, and proclaim His handiwork. And so you may speak of Him without +speaking, and though you have no gift of tongues the night may be filled +with music, and your lives be eloquent of Christ. + +I do not mean to say that Christian men and women are at liberty to lock +their lips from verbal proclamation of the Saviour they have found, but +I do mean to say that if there was less talk and more living, the +witness of God's Church would be louder and not lower; 'and men would +take knowledge of us, that we had been with Jesus'; and of Jesus, that +He had made us like Himself. + +IV. And so, lastly, let me draw one other thought from this metaphor, +which I hope you will not think fanciful playing with a figure; and that +is the breath that makes the music. + +If the Church is the trumpet, who blows it? God! It is by His Divine +Spirit dwelling within us, and breathing through us, that the harsh +discords of our natural lives become changed into melody of praise and +the music of witness for Him. Keep near Christ, live in communion with +God, let Him breathe through you, and when His Spirit passes through +your spirits their silence will become harmonious speech; and from you +'will sound out the word of the Lord.' + +In a tropical country, when the sun goes behind a cloud, all the insect +life that was cheerily chirping is hushed. In the Christian life, when +the Son of Righteousness is obscured by the clouds born of our own +carelessness and sin, all the music in our spirit ceases, and no more +can we witness for Him. A scentless substance lying in a drawer, with a +bit of musk, will become perfumed by contact, and will bring the +fragrance wherever it is carried. Live near God, and let Him speak to +you and in you; and then He will speak through you. And if He be the +breath of your spiritual lives, and the soul of your souls, then, and +only then, will your lives be music, the music witness, and the witness +conviction. And only then will there be fulfilled what I pray there may +be more and more fulfilled in us as a Christian community, this great +word of our text, 'from you sounded out,' clear, rousing, penetrating, +melodious, 'the word of the Lord,' so that we, with our poor preaching, +need not to speak anything. + + + + +WALKING WORTHILY + + 'Walk worthy of God.'--1 THESS. ii. 12. + + +Here we have the whole law of Christian conduct in a nutshell. There may +be many detailed commandments, but they can all be deduced from this +one. We are lifted up above the region of petty prescriptions, and +breathe a bracing mountain air. Instead of regulations, very many and +very dry, we have a principle which needs thought and sympathy in order +to apply it, and is to be carried out by the free action of our own +judgments. + +Now it is to be noticed that there are a good many other passages in the +New Testament in which, in similar fashion, the whole sum of Christian +conduct is reduced to a 'walking worthy' of some certain thing or other, +and I have thought that it might aid in appreciating the many-sidedness +and all-sufficiency of the great principles into which Christianity +crystallises the law of our life, if we just gather these together and +set them before you consecutively. + +They are these: we are told in our text to 'walk worthy of God.' Then +again, we are enjoined, in other places, to 'walk worthy of the Lord,' +who is Christ. Or again, 'of the Gospel of Christ.' Or again, 'of the +calling wherewith we were called.' Or again, of the name of 'saints.' +And if you put all these together, you will get many sides of one +thought, the rule of Christian life as gathered into a single +expression--correspondence with, and conformity to, a certain standard. + +I. And first of all, we have this passage of my text, and the other one +to which I have referred, 'Walking worthy of the Lord,' by whom we are +to understand Christ. We may put these together and say that the whole +sum of Christian duty lies in conformity to the character of a Divine +Person with whom we have loving relations. + +The Old Testament says: 'Be ye holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.' +The New Testament says: 'Be ye imitators of God, and walk in love.' So +then, whatever of flashing brightness and infinite profundity in that +divine nature is far beyond our apprehension and grasp, there are in +that divine nature elements--and those the best and divinest in +it--which it is perfectly within the power of every man to copy. + +Is there anything in God that is more Godlike than righteousness and +love? And is there any difference in essence between a man's +righteousness and God's;--between a man's love and God's? The same gases +make combustion in the sun and on the earth, and the spectroscope tells +you that it is so. The same radiant brightness that flames burning in +the love, and flashes white in the purity of God, even that may be +reproduced in man. + +Love is one thing, all the universe over. Other elements of the bond +that unites us to God are rather correspondent in us to what we find in +Him. Our concavity, so to speak, answers to His convexity; our +hollowness to His fulness; our emptiness to His all-sufficiency. So our +faith, for instance, lays hold upon His faithfulness, and our obedience +grasps, and bows before, His commanding will. But the love with which I +lay hold of Him is like the love with which He lays hold on me; and +righteousness and purity, howsoever different may be their +accompaniments in an Infinite and uncreated Nature from what they have +in our limited and bounded and progressive being, in essence are one. +So, 'Be ye holy, for I am holy'; 'Walk in the light as He is in the +light,' is the law available for all conduct; and the highest divine +perfections, if I may speak of pre-eminence among them, are the imitable +ones, whereby He becomes our Example and our Pattern. + +Let no man say that such an injunction is vague or hopeless. You must +have a perfect ideal if you are to live at all by an ideal. There cannot +be any flaws in your pattern if the pattern is to be of any use. You aim +at the stars, and if you do not hit them you may progressively approach +them. We need absolute perfection to strain after, and one day--blessed +be His name--we shall attain it. Try to walk worthy of God and you will +find out how tight that precept grips, and how close it fits. + +The love and the righteousness which are to become the law of our lives, +are revealed to us in Jesus Christ. Whatever may sound impracticable in +the injunction to imitate God assumes a more homely and possible shape +when it becomes an injunction to follow Jesus. And just as that form of +the precept tends to make the law of conformity to the divine nature +more blessed and less hopelessly above us, so it makes the law of +conformity to the ideal of goodness less cold and unsympathetic. It +makes all the difference to our joyfulness and freedom whether we are +trying to obey a law of duty, seen only too clearly to be binding, but +also above our reach, or whether we have the law in a living Person whom +we have learned to love. In the one case there stands upon a pedestal +above us a cold perfection, white, complete, marble; in the other case +there stands beside us a living law in pattern, a Brother, bone of our +bone and flesh of our flesh; whose hand we can grasp; whose heart we can +trust, and of whose help we can be sure. To say to me: 'Follow the ideal +of perfect righteousness,' is to relegate me to a dreary, endless +struggling; to say to me, 'Follow your Brother, and be like your +Father,' is to bring warmth and hope and liberty into all my effort. +The word that says, 'Walk worthy of God,' is a royal law, the perfect +law of perfect freedom. + +Again, when we say, 'Walk worthy of God,' we mean two things--one, 'Do +after His example,' and the other, 'Render back to Him what He deserves +for what He has done to you.' And so this law bids us measure, by the +side of that great love that died on the Cross for us all, our poor +imperfect returns of gratitude and of service. He has lavished all His +treasure on you; what have you brought him back? He has given you the +whole wealth of His tender pity, of His forgiving mercy, of His infinite +goodness. Do you adequately repay such lavish love? Has He not 'sown +much and reaped little' in all our hearts? Has He not poured out the +fulness of His affection, and have we not answered Him with a few +grudging drops squeezed from our hearts? Oh! brethren! 'Walk worthy of +the Lord,' and neither dishonour Him by your conduct as professing +children of His, nor affront Him by the wretched refuse and remnants of +your devotion and service that you bring back to Him in response to His +love to you. + +II. Now a word about the next form of this all-embracing precept. The +whole law of our Christian life may be gathered up in another +correspondence, 'Walk worthy of the Gospel' (Phil. i. 27), in a manner +conformed to that great message of God's love to us. + +That covers substantially the same ground as we have already been going +over, but it presents the same ideas in a different light. It presents +the Gospel as a rule of conduct. Now people have always been apt to +think of it more as a message of deliverance than as a practical guide, +as we all need to make an effort to prevent our natural indolence and +selfishness from making us forget that the Gospel is quite as much a +rule of conduct as a message of pardon. + +It is both by the same act. In the very facts on which our redemption +depends lies the law of our lives. + +What was Paul's Gospel? According to Paul's own definition of it, it was +this: 'How that Jesus Christ died for our sins, according to the +Scriptures.' And the message that I desire now to bring to all you +professing Christians is this: Do not always be looking at Christ's +Cross only as your means of acceptance. Do not only be thinking of +Christ's Passion as that which has barred for you the gates of +punishment, and has opened for you the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven. +It has done all that; but if you are going to stop there you have only +got hold of a very maimed and imperfect edition of the Gospel. The Cross +is your _pattern_, as well as the anchor of your hope and the ground of +your salvation, if it is anything at all to you. And it is not the +ground of your salvation and the anchor of your hope unless it is your +pattern. It is the one in exactly the same degree in which it is the +other. + +So all self-pleasing, all harsh insistence on your own claims, all +neglect of suffering and sorrow and sin around you, comes under the lash +of this condemnation: 'They are not worthy of the Gospel.' And all +unforgivingness of spirit and of temper in individuals and in nations, +in public and in private matters, that, too, is in flagrant +contradiction to the principles that are taught on the Cross to which +you say you look for your salvation. Have you got forgiveness, and are +you going out from the presence-chamber of the King to take your brother +by the throat for the beggarly coppers that he owes you, and say: 'Pay +me what thou owest!' when the Master has forgiven you all that great +mountain of indebtedness which you owe Him? Oh, my brother! if Christian +men and women would only learn to take away the scales from their eyes +and souls; not looking at Christ's Cross with less absolute +trustfulness, as that by which all their salvation comes, but also +learning to look at it as closely and habitually as yielding the pattern +to which their lives should be conformed, and would let the +heart-melting thankfulness which it evokes when gazed at as the ground +of our hope prove itself true by its leading them to an effort at +imitating that great love, and so walking worthy of the Gospel, how +their lives would be transformed! It is far easier to fetter your life +with yards of red-tape prescriptions--do this, do not do that--far +easier to out-pharisee the Pharisees in punctilious scrupulosities, than +it is honestly, and for one hour, to take the Cross of Christ as the +pattern of your lives, and to shape yourselves by that. + +One looks round upon a lethargic, a luxurious, a self-indulgent, a +self-seeking, a world-besotted professing Church, and asks: 'Are these +the people on whose hearts a cross is stamped?' Do these men--or rather +let us say, do _we_ live as becometh the Gospel which proclaims the +divinity of self-sacrifice, and that the law of a perfect human life is +perfect self-forgetfulness, even as the secret of the divine nature is +perfect love? 'Walk worthy of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.' + +III. Then again, there is another form of this same general prescription +which suggests to us a kindred and yet somewhat different standard. We +are also bidden to bring our lives into conformity to, and +correspondence with, or, as the Bible has it, 'to walk worthy of the +calling wherewith we are called' (Eph. iv. 1). + +God summons or invites us, and summons us to what? The words which +follow our text answer, 'Who calleth you into His own kingdom and +glory.' All you Christian people have been invited, and if you are +Christians you have accepted the invitation; and all you men and women, +whether you are Christians or not, have been and are being invited and +summoned into a state and a world (for the reference is to the future +life), in which God's will is supreme, and all wills are moulded into +conformity with that, and into a state and a world in which all +shall--because they submit to His will--partake of His glory, the +fulness of His uncreated light. + +That being the aim of the summons, that being the destiny that is held +out before us all, ought not that destiny and the prospect of what we +may be in the future, to fling some beams of guiding brightness on to +the present? + +Men that are called to high functions prepare themselves therefor. If +you knew that you were going away to Australia in six months, would you +not be beginning to get your outfit ready? You Christian men profess to +believe that you have been called to a condition in which you will +absolutely obey God's will, and be the loyal subjects of His kingdom, +and in which you will partake of God's glory. Well then, obey His will +here, and let some scattered sparklets of that uncreated light that is +one day going to flood your soul lie upon your face to-day. Do not go +and cut your lives into two halves, one of them all contradictory to +that which you expect in the other, but bring a harmony between the +present, in all its weakness and sinfulness, and that great hope and +certain destiny that blazes on the horizon of your hope, as the joyful +state to which you have been invited. 'Walk worthy of the calling to +which you are called.' + +And again, that same thought of the destiny should feed our hope, and +make us live under its continual inspiration. A walk worthy of such a +calling and such a caller should know no despondency, nor any weary, +heartless lingering, as with tired feet on a hard road. Brave good +cheer, undimmed energy, a noble contempt of obstacles, a confidence in +our final attainment of that purity and glory which is not depressed by +consciousness of present failure--these are plainly the characteristics +which ought to mark the advance of the men in whose ears such a summons +from such lips rings as their marching orders. + +And a walk worthy of our calling will turn away from earthly things. If +you believe that God has summoned you to His kingdom and glory, surely, +surely, that should deaden in your heart the love and the care for the +trifles that lie by the wayside. Surely, surely, if that great voice is +inviting, and that merciful hand is beckoning you into the light, and +showing you what you may possess there, it is not walking according to +that summons if you go with your eyes fixed upon the trifles at your +feet, and your whole heart absorbed in this present fleeting world. +Unworldliness, in its best and purest fashion--by which I mean not only +a contempt for material wealth and all that it brings, but the sitting +loose by everything that is beneath the stars--unworldliness is the only +walk that is 'worthy of the calling wherewith ye are called.' + +And if you hear that voice ringing like a trumpet call, or a commander's +shout on the battlefield, into your ears, ever to stimulate you, to +rebuke your lagging indifference; if you are ever conscious in your +inmost hearts of the summons to His kingdom and glory, then, no doubt, +by a walk worthy of it, you will make your calling sure; and there shall +'an entrance be ministered unto you abundantly into the everlasting +kingdom.' + +IV. And the last of the phases of this prescription which I have to deal +with is this. The whole Christian duty is further crystallised into the +one command, to walk in a manner conformed to, and corresponding with, +the character which is impressed upon us. + +In the last chapter of the Epistle to the Romans (verse 2), we read +about a very small matter, that it is to be done 'worthily of the +saints.' It is only about the receiving of a good woman who was +travelling from Corinth to Rome, and extending hospitality to her in +such a manner as became professing Christians; but the very minuteness +of the details to which the great principle is applied points a lesson. +The biggest principle is not too big to be brought down to the narrowest +details, and that is the beauty of principles as distinguished from +regulations. Regulations try to be minute, and, however minute you make +them, some case always starts up that is not exactly provided for in +them, and so the regulations come to nothing. A principle does not try +to be minute, but it casts its net wide and it gathers various cases +into its meshes. Like the fabled tent in the old legend that could +contract so as to have room for but one man, or expand wide enough to +hold an army, so this great principle of Christian conduct can be +brought down to giving 'Phoebe our sister, who is a servant of the +church at Cenchrea,' good food and a comfortable lodging, and any other +little kindnesses, when she comes to Rome. And the same principle may be +widened out to embrace and direct us in the largest tasks and most +difficult circumstances. + +'Worthily of saints'--the name is an omen, and carries in it rules of +conduct. The root idea of 'saint' is 'one separated to God,' and the +secondary idea which flows from that is 'one who is pure.' + +All Christians are 'saints.' They are consecrated and set apart for +God's service, and in the degree in which they are conscious of and live +out that consecration, they are pure. + +So their name, or rather the great fact which their name implies, should +be ever before them, a stimulus and a law. We are bound to remember that +we are consecrated, separated as God's possession, and that therefore +purity is indispensable. The continual consciousness of this relation +and its resulting obligations would make us recoil from impurity as +instinctively as the sensitive plant shuts up its little green fingers +when anything touches it; or as the wearer of a white robe will draw it +up high above the mud on a filthy pavement. Walk 'worthily of saints' is +another way of saying, Be true to your own best selves. Work up to the +highest ideal of your character. That is far more wholesome than to be +always looking at our faults and failures, which depress and tempt us to +think that the actual is the measure of the possible, and the past or +present of the future. There is no fear of self-conceit or of a mistaken +estimate of ourselves. The more clearly we keep our best and deepest +self before our consciousness, the more shall we learn a rigid judgment +of the miserable contradictions to it in our daily outward life, and +even in our thoughts and desires. It is a wholesome exhortation, when it +follows these others of which we have been speaking (and not else), +which bids Christians remember that they are saints and live up to their +name. + +A Christian's inward and deepest self is better than his outward life. +We have all convictions in our inmost hearts which we do not work out, +and beliefs that do not influence us as we know they ought to do, and +sometimes wish that they did. By our own fault our lives but imperfectly +show their real inmost principle. Friction always wastes power before +motion is produced. + +So then, we may well gather together all our duties in this final form +of the all-comprehensive law, and say to ourselves, 'Walk worthily of +saints.' Be true to your name, to your best selves, to your deepest +selves. Be true to your separation for God's service, and to the purity +which comes from it. Be true to the life which God has implanted in you. +That life may be very feeble and covered by a great deal of rubbish, but +it is divine. Let it work, let it out. Do not disgrace your name. + +These are the phases of the law of Christian conduct. They reach far, +they fit close, they penetrate deeper than the needle points of minute +regulations. If you will live in a manner corresponding to the +character, and worthy of the love of God, as revealed in Christ, and in +conformity with the principles that are enthroned upon His Cross, and in +obedience to the destiny held forth in your high calling, and in +faithfulness to the name that He Himself has impressed upon you, then +your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the painful and +punctilious pharisaical obedience to outward commands, and all things +lovely and of good report will spring to life in your hearts and bear +fruit in your lives. + +One last word--all these exhortations go on the understanding that you +are a Christian, that you have taken Christ for your Saviour, and are +resting upon Him, and recognising in Him the revelation of God, and in +His Cross the foundation of your hope; that you have listened to, and +yielded to, the divine summons, and that you have a right to be called a +saint. Is that presumption true about you, my friend? If it is not, +Christianity thinks that it is of no use wasting time talking to you +about conduct. + +It has another word to speak to you first, and after you have heard and +accepted it, there will be time enough to talk to you about rules for +living. The first message which Christ sends to you by my lips is, Trust +your sinful selves to Him as your only all-sufficient Saviour. When you +have accepted Him, and are leaning on Him with all your weight of sin +and suffering, and loving Him with your ransomed heart, then, and not +till then, will you be in a position to hear His law for your life, and +to obey it. Then, and not till then, will you appreciate the divine +simplicity and breadth of the great command to walk worthy of God, and +the divine tenderness and power of the motive which enforces it, and +prints it on yielding and obedient hearts, even the dying love and Cross +of His Son. Then, and not till then, will you know how the voice from +heaven that calls you to His kingdom stirs the heart like the sound of a +trumpet, and how the name which you bear is a perpetual spur to heroic +service and priestly purity. Till then, the word which we would plead +with you to listen to and accept is that great answer of our Lord's to +those who came to Him for a rule of conduct, instead of for the gift of +life: 'This is the work of God, that ye should believe on Him whom He +hath sent.' + + + + +SMALL DUTIES AND THE GREAT HOPE + + 'But as touching brotherly love, ye need not that + I write unto you; for ye yourselves are taught of + God to love one another. 10. And indeed ye do it + toward all the brethren which are in all + Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye + increase more and more; 11. And that ye study to + be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work + with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12. That + ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, + and that ye may have lack of nothing. 13. But I + would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, + concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow + not, even as others which have no hope. 14. For if + we believe that Jesus died, and rose again, even + so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring + with Him. 15. For this we say unto you by the word + of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain + unto the coming of the Lord, shall not prevent + them which are asleep. 16. For the Lord Himself + shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the + voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: + and the dead in Christ shall rise first; 17. Then + we which are alive and remain shall be caught up + together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord + in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. + 18. Wherefore comfort one another with these + words.'--1 THESS. iv. 9-18. + + 'But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye + have no need that I write unto you. 2. For + yourselves know perfectly, that the day of the + Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.'--1 THESS. + v. 1-2. + + +This letter was written immediately on the arrival of Silas and Timothy +in Corinth (1 Thess. iii. 6, 'even now'), and is all flushed with the +gladness of relieved anxiety, and throbs with love. It gains in pathetic +interest when we remember that, while writing it, the Apostle was in the +thick of his conflict with the Corinthian synagogue. The thought of his +Thessalonian converts came to him like a waft of pure, cool air to a +heated brow. + +The apparent want of connection in the counsels of the two last chapters +is probably accounted for by supposing that he takes up, as they +occurred to him, the points reported by the two messengers. But we may +note that the plain, prosaic duties enjoined in verses 7-12 lead on to +the lofty revelations of the rest of the context without any sense of a +gap, just because to Paul the greatest truths had a bearing on the +smallest duties, and the vision of future glory was meant to shape the +homely details of present work. + +I. We need to make an effort to realise the startling novelty of 'love +of the brethren' when this letter was written. The ancient world was +honeycombed with rents and schisms, scarcely masked by political union. +In the midst of a world of selfishness this new faith started up, and by +some magic knit warring nationalities and hostile classes and wide +diversities of culture and position into a strange whole, transcending +all limits of race and language. The conception of brotherhood was new, +and the realisation of it in Christian love was still more astonishing. +The world wondered; but to the Christians the new affection was, we +might almost say, instinctive, so naturally and spontaneously did it +fill their hearts. + +Paul's graceful way of enjoining it here is no mere pretty compliment. +The Thessalonians did not need to be bidden to love the brethren, for +such love was a part of their new life, and breathed into their hearts +by God Himself. They were drawn together by common relation to Jesus, +and driven together by common alienation from the world. Occasions of +divergence had not yet risen. The world had not yet taken on a varnish +of Christianity. The new bond was still strong in its newness. So, short +as had been the time since Paul landed at Neapolis, the golden chain of +love bound all the Macedonian Christians together, and all that Paul had +to exhort was the strengthening of its links and their tightening. + +That fair picture faded soon, but it still remains true that the deeper +our love to Jesus, the warmer will be our love to all His lovers. The +morning glow may not come back to the prosaic noonday, but love to the +brethren remains as an indispensable token of the Christian life. Let us +try ourselves thereby. + +II. What have exhortations to steady work to do with exhortations to +increasing love? Not much, apparently; but may not the link be, 'Do not +suppose that your Christianity is to show itself only in emotions, +however sweet; the plain humdrum tasks of a working man's life are quite +as noble a field as the exalted heights of brotherly love.' A loving +heart is good, but a pair of diligent hands are as good. The +juxtaposition of these two commands preaches a lesson which we need +quite as much as the Thessalonians did. Possibly, too, as we see more +fully in the second Epistle, the new truths, which had cut them from +their old anchorage, had set some of them afloat on a sea of unquiet +expectation. So much of their old selves had been swept away, that it +would be hard for some to settle down to the old routine. That is a +common enough experience in all 'revivals,' and at Thessalonica it was +intensified by speculations about Christ's coming. + +The 'quiet' which Paul would have us cultivate is not only external, but +the inward tranquillity of a spirit calm because fixed on God and filled +with love. The secret place of the Most High is ever still, and, if we +dwell there, our hearts will not be disturbed by any tumults without. To +'do our own business' is quite a different thing from selfish 'looking +on our own things,' for a great part of our business is to care for +others, and nothing dries up sympathy and practical help more surely +than a gossiping temper, which is perpetually buzzing about other +people's concerns, and knows everybody's circumstances and duties +better than its own. This restless generation, whose mental food is so +largely the newspaper, with its floods of small-talk about people, be +they politicians, ministers, or murderers, sorely needs these precepts. +We are all so busy that we have no time for quiet meditation, and so +much occupied with trivialities about others that we are strangers to +ourselves. Therefore religious life is low in many hearts. + +The dignity of manual labour was a new doctrine to preach to Greeks, but +Paul lays stress on it repeatedly in his letters to Thessalonica. +Apparently most of the converts there were of the labouring class, and +some of them needed the lesson of Paul's example as well as his precept. +A Christian workman wielding chisel or trowel for Christ's sake will +impress 'them that are without.' Dignity depends, not on the nature, but +on the motive, of our work. 'A servant with this clause makes drudgery +divine.' It is permissible to take the opinion of those who are not +Christians into account, and to try to show them what good workmen +Christ can turn out. It is right, too, to cultivate a spirit of +independence, and to prefer a little earned to abundance given as a gift +or alms. Perhaps some of the Thessalonians were trying to turn brotherly +love to profit, and to live on their richer brethren. Such people infest +the Church at all times. + +III. With what ease, like a soaring song-bird, the letter rises to the +lofty height of the next verses, and how the note becomes more musical, +and the style richer, more sonorous and majestic, with the changed +subject! From the workshop to the descending Lord and the voice of the +trumpet and the rising saints, what a leap, and yet how easily it is +made! Happy we if we keep the future glory and the present duty thus +side by side, and pass without jar from the one to the other! + +The special point which Paul has in view must be kept well in mind. Some +of the Thessalonians seem to have been troubled, not by questions about +the Resurrection, as the Corinthians afterwards were, but by a curious +difficulty, namely, whether the dead saints would not be worse off at +Christ's coming than the living, and to that one point Paul addresses +himself. These verses are not a general revelation of the course of +events at that coming, or of the final condition of the glorified +saints, but an answer to the question, What is the relation between the +two halves of the Church, the dead and the living, in regard to their +participation in Christ's glory when He comes again? The question is +answered negatively in verse 15, positively in verses 16 and 17. + +But, before considering them, note some other precious lessons taught +here. That sweet and consoling designation for the dead, 'them who sleep +in Jesus,' is Christ's gift to sorrowing hearts. No doubt, the idea is +found in pagan thinkers, but always with the sad addition, 'an eternal +sleep.' Men called death by that name in despair. The Christian calls it +so because he knows that sleep implies continuous existence, repose, +consciousness, and awaking. The sleepers are not dead, they will be +roused to refreshed activity one day. + +We note how emphatically verse 14 brings out the thought that Jesus +died, since He suffered all the bitterness of death, not only in +physical torments, but in that awful sense of separation from God which +is the true death in death, and that, because He did, the ugly thing +wears a softened aspect to believers, and is but sleep. He died that we +might never know what the worst sting of death is. + +We note further that, in order to bring out the truth of the gracious +change which has passed on death physical for His servants, the +remarkable expression is used, in verse 14, 'fallen asleep through +Jesus'; His mediatorial work being the reason for their death becoming +sleep. Similarly, it is only in verse 16 that the bare word 'dead' is +used about them, and there it is needed for emphasis and clearness. When +we are thinking of Resurrection we can afford to look death in the face. + +We note that Paul here claims to be giving a new revelation made to him +directly by Christ. 'By (or, "in") the word of the Lord' cannot mean +less than that. The question arises, in regard to verse 15, whether Paul +expected that the advent would come in his lifetime. It need not startle +any if he were proved to have cherished such a mistaken expectation; for +Christ Himself taught the disciples that the time of His second coming +was a truth reserved, and not included in His gifts to them. But two +things may be noted. First, that in the second Epistle, written very +soon after this, Paul sets himself to damp down the expectation of the +nearness of the advent, and points to a long course of historical +development of incipient tendencies which must precede it; and, second, +that his language here does not compel the conclusion that he expected +to be alive at the second coming. For he is distinguishing between the +two classes of the living and the dead, and he naturally puts himself in +the class to which, at that time, he and his hearers belonged, without +thereby necessarily deciding, or even thinking about, the question +whether he and they would or would not belong to that class at the +actual time of the advent. + +The revelation here reveals much, and leaves much unrevealed. It is +perfectly clear on the main point. Negatively, it declares that the +sleeping saints lose nothing, and are not anticipated or hindered in any +blessedness by the living. Positively, it declares that they precede the +living, inasmuch as they 'rise first'; that is, before the living +saints, who do not sleep, but are changed (1 Cor. xv. 51), are thus +transfigured. Then the two great companies shall unitedly rise to meet +the descending Lord; and their unity in Him, and, therefore, their +fellowship with one another, shall be eternal. + +That great hope helps us to bridge the dark gorge of present separation. +It leaves unanswered a host of questions which our lonely hearts would +fain have cleared up; but it is enough for hope to hold by, and for +sorrow to be changed into submission and anticipation. As to the many +obscurities that still cling to the future, the meaning and the nature +of the accompaniments, the shout, the trumpet, and the like, the way of +harmonising the thought that the departed saints attend the descending +Lord, with whom they dwell now, with the declaration here that they rise +from the earth to meet Him, the question whether these who are thus +caught up from earth to meet the Lord in the air come back again with +Him to earth,--all these points of curious speculation we may leave. We +know enough for comfort, for assurance of the perfect reunion of the +saints who sleep in Jesus and of the living, and of the perfect +blessedness of both wings of the great army. We may be content with what +is clearly revealed, and be sure that, if what is unrevealed would have +been helpful to us, He would have told us. We are to use the revelation +for comfort and for stimulus, and we are to remember that 'times and +seasons' are not told us, nor would the knowledge of them profit us. + +Paul took for granted that the Thessalonians remembered the Lord's word, +which he had, no doubt, told them, that He would come 'as a thief in the +night.' So he discourages a profitless curiosity, and exhorts to a +continual vigilance. When He comes, it will be suddenly, and will wake +some who live from a sinful sleep with a shock of terror, and the dead +from a sweet sleep in Him with a rush of gladness, as in body and spirit +they are filled with His life, and raised to share in His triumph. + + + + +SLEEPING THROUGH JESUS + + ' . . . Them also which sleep in Jesus . . .'--1 + THESS. iv. 14. + + +That expression is not unusual, in various forms, in the Apostle's +writings. It suggests a very tender and wonderful thought of closeness +and union between our Lord and the living dead, so close as that He is, +as it were, the atmosphere in which they move, or the house in which +they dwell. But, tender and wonderful as the thought is, it is not +exactly the Apostle's idea here. For, accurately rendered--and accuracy +in regard to Scripture language is not pedantry--the words run, 'Them +which sleep _through_ Jesus.' + +Now, that is a strange phrase, and, I suppose, its strangeness is the +reason why our translators have softened it down to the more familiar +and obvious 'in Jesus.' We can understand living through Christ, on +being sacred through Christ, but what can _sleeping_ through Christ +mean? I shall hope to answer the question presently, but, in the +meantime, I only wish to point out what the Apostle does say, and to +plead for letting him say it, strange though it sounds. For the strange +and the difficult phrases of Scripture are like the hard quartz reefs in +which gold is, and if we slur them over we are likely to loose the +treasure. Let us try if we can find what the gold here may be. + +Now, there are only two thoughts that I wish to dwell upon as suggested +by these words. One is the softened aspect of death, and of the state of +the Christian dead; and the other is the ground or cause of that +softened aspect. + +I. First, then, the softened aspect of death, and of the state of the +Christian dead. + +It is to Jesus primarily that the New Testament writers owe their use of +this gracious emblem of sleep. For, as you remember, the word was twice +upon our Lord's lips; once when, over the twelve-years-old maid from +whom life had barely ebbed away, He said, 'She is not dead, but +sleepeth'; and once when in regard of the man Lazarus, from whom life +had removed further, He said, 'Our friend sleepeth, but I go that I may +awake him out of sleep.' But Jesus was not the originator of the +expression. You find it in the Old Testament, where the prophet Daniel, +speaking of the end of the days and the bodily Resurrection, designates +those who share in it as 'them that sleep in the dust of the earth.' And +the Old Testament was not the sole origin of the phrase. For it is too +natural, too much in accordance with the visibilities of death, not to +have suggested itself to many hearts, and been shrined in many +languages. Many an inscription of Greek and Roman date speaks of death +under this figure; but almost always it is with the added, deepened note +of despair, that it is a sleep which knows no waking, but lasts through +eternal night. + +Now, the Christian thought associated with this emblem is the precise +opposite of the pagan one. The pagan heart shrank from naming the ugly +thing because it was so ugly. So dark and deep a dread coiled round the +man, as he contemplated it, that he sought to drape the dreadfulness in +some kind of thin, transparent veil, and to put the buffer of a word +between him and its hideousness. But the Christian's motive for the use +of the word is the precise opposite. He uses the gentler expression +because the thing has become gentler. + +It is profoundly significant that throughout the whole of the New +Testament the plain, naked word 'death' is usually applied, not to the +physical fact which we ordinarily designate by the name, but to the grim +thing of which that physical fact is only the emblem and the parable, +viz., the true death which lies in the separation of the soul from God; +whilst predominately the New Testament usage calls the physical fact by +some other gentler form of expression, because, as I say, the gentleness +has enfolded the thing to be designated. + +For instance, you find one class of representations which speak of death +as being a departing and a being with Christ; or which call it, as one +of the apostles does, an 'exodus,' where it is softened down to be +merely a change of environment, a change of locality. Then another class +of representations speak of it as 'putting off this my tabernacle,' or, +the dissolution of the 'earthly house'--where there is a broad, firm +line of demarcation drawn between the inhabitant and the habitation, and +the thing is softened down to be a mere change of dwelling. Again, +another class of expressions speak of it as being an 'offering,' where +the main idea is that of a voluntary surrender, a sacrifice or libation +of myself, and my life poured out upon the altar of God. But sweetest, +deepest, most appealing to all our hearts, is that emblem of my text, +'them that sleep.' It is used, if I count rightly, some fourteen times +in the New Testament, and it carries with it large and plain lessons, on +which I touch but for a moment. What, then, does this metaphor say to +us? + +Well, it speaks first of rest. That is not altogether an attractive +conception to some of us. If it be taken exclusively it is by no means +wholesome. I suppose that the young, and the strong, and the eager, and +the ambitious, and the prosperous rather shrink from the notion of their +activities being stiffened into slumber. But, dear friends, there are +some of us like tired children in a fair, who would fain have done with +the weariness, who have made experience of the distractions and +bewildering changes, whose backs are stiffened with toil, whose hearts +are heavy with loss. And to all of us, in some moods, the prospect of +shuffling off this weary coil of responsibilities and duties and tasks +and sorrows, and of passing into indisturbance and repose, appeals. I +believe, for my part, that, after all, the deepest longing of +men--though they search for it through toil and effort--is for repose. +As the poet has taught us, 'there is no joy but calm.' Every heart is +weary enough, and heavy laden, and labouring enough, to feel the +sweetness of a promise of rest:-- + + 'Sleep, full of rest from head to foot, + Lie still, dry dust, secure of change.' + +Yes! but the rest of which our emblem speaks is, as I believe, only +applicable to the bodily frame. The word 'sleep' is a transcript of what +sense enlightened by faith sees in that still form, with the folded +hands and the quiet face and the closed eyes. But let us remember that +this repose, deep and blessed as it is, is not, as some would say, the +repose of unconsciousness. I do not believe, and I would have you not +believe, that this emblem refers to the vigorous, spiritual life, or +that the passage from out of the toil and moil of earth into the calm of +the darkness beyond has any power in limiting or suspending the vital +force of the man. + +Why, the very metaphor itself tells us that the sleeper is not +unconscious. He is parted from the outer world, he is unaware of +externals. When Stephen knelt below the old wall, and was surrounded by +howling fanatics that slew him, one moment he was gashed with stones and +tortured, and the next 'he fell on sleep.' They might howl, and the +stones fly as they would, and he was all unaware of it. Like Jonah +sleeping in the hold, what mattered the roaring of the storm to him? But +separation from externals does not mean suspense of life or of +consciousness, and the slumberer often dreams, and is aware of himself +persistently throughout his slumber. Nay! some of his faculties are set +at liberty to work more energetically, because his connection with the +outer world is for the time suspended. + +And so I say that what on the hither side is sleep, on the further side +is awaking, and that the complex whole of the condition of the sainted +dead may be described with equal truth by either metaphor; 'they sleep +in Jesus'; or, 'when I awake I shall be satisfied with Thy likeness.' + +Scripture, as it seems to me, distinctly carries this limitation of the +emblem. For what does it mean when the Apostle says that to depart and +to be with Christ is far better? Surely he who thus spoke conceived that +these two things were contemporaneous, the departing and the being with +Him. And surely he who thus spoke could not have conceived that a +millennium-long parenthesis of slumberous unconsciousness was to +intervene between the moment of his decease and the moment of his +fellowship with Jesus. How could a man prefer that dormant state to the +state here, of working for and living with the Lord? Surely, being with +Him must mean that we know where we are, and who is our companion. + +And what does that text mean: 'Ye are come unto the spirits of just men +made perfect,' unless it means that of these two classes of persons who +are thus regarded as brought into living fellowship, each is aware of +the other? Does perfecting of the spirit mean the smiting of the spirit +into unconsciousness? Surely not, and surely in view of such words as +these, we must recognise the fact that, however limited and imperfect +may be the present connection of the disembodied dead, who sleep in +Christ, with external things, they know themselves, they know their home +and their companion, and they know the blessedness in which they are +lapped. + +But another thought which is suggested by this emblem is, as I have +already said, most certainly the idea of awaking. The pagans said, as +indeed one of their poets has it, 'Suns can sink and return, but for us, +when our brief light sinks, there is but one perpetual night of +slumber.' The Christian idea of death is, that it is transitory as a +sleep in the morning, and sure to end. As St. Augustine says somewhere, +'Wherefore are they called sleepers, but because in the day of the Lord +they will be reawakened?' + +And so these are the thoughts, very imperfectly spoken, I know, which +spring like flowers from this gracious metaphor 'them that sleep'--rest +and awaking; rest and consciousness. + +II. Note the ground of this softened aspect. + +They 'sleep through Him.' It is by reason of Christ and His work, and by +reason of that alone, that death's darkness is made beautiful, and +death's grimness is softened down to this. Now, in order to grasp the +full meaning of such words as these of the Apostle, we must draw a broad +distinction between the physical fact of the ending of corporeal life +and the mental condition which is associated with it by us. What we call +death, if I may so say, is a complex thing--a bodily phenomenon _plus_ +conscience, the sense of sin, the certainty of retribution in the dim +beyond. And you have to take these elements apart. The former remains, +but if the others are removed, the whole has changed its character and +is become another thing, and a very little thing. + +The mere physical fact is a trifle. Look at it as you see it in the +animals; look at it as you see it in men when they actually come to it. +In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred it is painless and easy, and men +sink into slumber. Strange, is it not, that so small a reality should +have power to cast over human life so immense and obscuring a shadow! +Why? Because, as the Apostle says, 'the sting of death is sin,' and if +you can take the sting out of it, then there is very little to fear, and +it comes down to be an insignificant and transient element in our +experience. + +Now, the death of Jesus Christ takes away, if I may so say, the _nimbus_ +of apprehension and dread arising from conscience and sin, and the +forecast of retribution. There is nothing left for us to face except the +physical fact, and any rough soldier, with a coarse, red coat upon him, +will face that for eighteenpence a day, and think himself well paid. +Jesus Christ has abolished death, leaving the mere shell, but taking all +the substance out of it. It has become a different thing to men, because +in that death of His He has exhausted the bitterness, and has made it +possible that we should pass into the shadow, and not fear either +conscience or sin or judgment. + +In this connection I cannot but notice with what a profound meaning the +Apostle, in this very verse, uses the bare, naked word in reference to +Him, and the softened one in reference to us. 'If we believe that Jesus +Christ _died_ and rose again, even so them also which sleep.' Ah! yes! +He died indeed, bearing all that terror with which men's consciences +have invested death. He died indeed, bearing on Himself the sins of the +world. He died that no man henceforward need ever die in that same +fashion. His death makes our deaths sleep, and His Resurrection makes +our sleep calmly certain of a waking. + +So, dear 'brethren, I would not have you ignorant concerning them which +are asleep, that ye sorrow not even as others which have no hope.' And I +would have you to remember that, whilst Christ by His work has made it +possible that the terror may pass away, and death may be softened and +minimised into slumber, it will not be so with you--unless you are +joined to Him, and by trust in the power of His death and the +overflowing might of His Resurrection, have made sure that what He has +passed through, you will pass through, and where He is, and what He is, +you will be also. + +Two men die by one railway accident, sitting side by side upon one seat, +smashed in one collision. But though the outward fact is the same about +each, the reality of their deaths is infinitely different. The one falls +asleep through Jesus, in Jesus; the other dies indeed, and the death of +his body is only a feeble shadow of the death of his spirit. Do you knit +yourself to the Life, which is Christ, and then 'he that believeth on Me +shall never die.' + + + + +THE WORK AND ARMOUR OF THE CHILDREN OF THE DAY + + 'Let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on + the breastplate of faith and love; and for a + helmet the hope of salvation.'--1 THESS. v. 8. + + +This letter to the Thessalonians is the oldest book of the New +Testament. It was probably written within something like twenty years of +the Crucifixion; long, therefore, before any of the Gospels were in +existence. It is, therefore, exceedingly interesting and instructive to +notice how this whole context is saturated with allusions to our Lord's +teaching, as it is preserved in these Gospels; and how it takes for +granted that the Thessalonian Christians were familiar with the very +words. + +For instance: 'Yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so +cometh as a thief in the night' (ver. 2). How did these people in +Thessalonica know that? They had been Christians for a year or so only; +they had been taught by Paul for a few weeks only, or a month or two at +the most. How did they know it? Because they had been told what the +Master had said: 'If the goodman of the house had known at what hour the +thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his +house to be broken up.' + +And there are other allusions in the context almost as obvious: 'The +children of the light.' Who said that? Christ, in His words: 'The +children of this world are wiser than the children of light.' 'They that +sleep, sleep in the night, and if they be drunken, are drunken in the +night.' Where does that metaphor come from? 'Take heed lest at any time +ye be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and the cares of this +life, and so that day come upon you unawares.' 'Watch, lest coming +suddenly He find you sleeping!' + +So you see all the context reposes upon, and presupposes the very words, +which you find in our present existing Gospels, as the words of the Lord +Jesus. And this is all but contemporaneous, and quite independent, +evidence of the existence in the Church, from the beginning, of a +traditional teaching which is now preserved for us in that fourfold +record of His life. + +Take that remark for what it is worth; and now turn to the text itself +with which I have to deal in this sermon. The whole of the context may +be said to be a little dissertation upon the moral and religious uses of +the doctrine of our Lord's second coming. In my text these are summed +up in one central injunction which has preceding it a motive that +enforces it, and following it a method that ensures it. 'Let us be +sober'; that is the centre thought; and it is buttressed upon either +side by a motive and a means. 'Let us who are of the day,' or 'since we +are of the day,--be sober.' And let us _be_ it by 'putting on the +breastplate and helmet of faith, love, and hope.' These, then, are the +three points which we have to consider. + +I. First, this central injunction, into which all the moral teaching +drawn from the second coming of Christ is gathered--'Let us be sober.' +Now, I do not suppose we are altogether to omit any reference to the +literal meaning of this word. The context seems to show that, by its +reference to night as the season for drunken orgies. Temperance is +moderation in regard not only to the evil and swinish sin of +drunkenness, which is so manifestly contrary to all Christian integrity +and nobility of character, but in regard to the far more subtle +temptation of another form of sensual indulgence--gluttony. The +Christian Church needed to be warned of that, and if these people in +Thessalonica needed the warning I am quite sure that we need it. There +is not a nation on earth which needs it more than Englishmen. I am no +ascetic, I do not want to glorify any outward observance, but any doctor +in England will tell you that the average Englishman eats and drinks a +great deal more than is good for him. It is melancholy to think how many +professing Christians have the edge and keenness of their intellectual +and spiritual life blunted by the luxurious and senseless +table-abundance in which they habitually indulge. I am quite sure that +water from the spring and barley-bread would be a great deal better for +their souls, and for their bodies too, in the case of many people who +call themselves Christians. Suffer a word of exhortation, and do not let +it be neglected because it is brief and general. Sparta, after all, is +the best place for a man to live in, next to Jerusalem. + +But, passing from that, let us turn to the higher subject with which the +Apostle is here evidently mainly concerned. What is the meaning of the +exhortation 'Be sober'? Well, first let me tell you what I think is not +the meaning of it. It does not mean an unemotional absence of fervour in +your Christian character. + +There is a kind of religious teachers who are always preaching down +enthusiasm, and preaching up what they call a 'sober standard of +feeling' in matters of religion. By which, in nine cases out of ten, +they mean precisely such a tepid condition as is described in much less +polite language, when the voice from heaven says, 'Because thou art +neither cold nor hot I will spue thee out of My mouth.' That is the real +meaning of the 'sobriety' that some people are always desiring you to +cultivate. I should have thought that the last piece of furniture which +any Christian Church in the twentieth century needed was a refrigerator! +A poker and a pair of bellows would be very much more needful for them. +For, dear brethren, the truths that you and I profess to believe are of +such a nature, so tremendous either in their joyfulness and beauty, or +in their solemnity and awfulness, that one would think that if they once +got into a man's head and heart, nothing but the most fervid and +continuous glow of a radiant enthusiasm would correspond to their +majesty and overwhelming importance. I venture to say that the only +consistent Christian is the enthusiastic Christian; and that the only +man who will ever do anything in this world for God or man worth doing +is the man who is not _sober_, according to that cold-blooded definition +which I have been speaking about, but who is all ablaze with an +enkindled earnestness that knows no diminution and no cessation. + +Paul, the very man that is exhorting here to sobriety, was the very type +of an enthusiast all his life. So Festus thought him mad, and even in +the Church at Corinth there were some to whom in his fervour, he seemed +to be 'beside himself' (2 Cor. v. 13). + +Oh! for more of that insanity! You may make up your minds to this; that +any men or women that are in thorough earnest, either about Christianity +or about any other great, noble, lofty, self-forgetting purpose, will +have to be content to have the old Pentecostal charge flung at +them:--'These men are full of new wine!' Well for the Church, and well +for the men who deserve the taunt; for it means that they have learned +something of the emotion that corresponds to such magnificent and awful +verities as Christian faith converses with. + +I did not intend to say so much about that; I turn now for a moment to +the consideration of what this exhortation really means. It means, as I +take it, mainly this: the prime Christian duty of self-restraint in the +use and the love of all earthly treasures and pleasures. + +I need not do more than remind you how, in the very make of a man's +soul, it is clear that unless there be exercised rigid self-control he +will go all to pieces. The make of human nature, if I may say so, shows +that it is not meant for a democracy but a monarchy. + +Here are within us many passions, tastes, desires, most of them rooted +in the flesh, which are as blind as hunger and thirst are. If a man is +hungry, the bread will satisfy him all the same whether he steals it or +not; and it will not necessarily be distasteful even if it be poisoned. +And there are other blind impulses and appetites in our nature which ask +nothing except this:--'Give me my appropriate gratification, though all +the laws of God and man be broken in order to get it!' + +And so there has to be something like an eye given to these blind +beasts, and something like a directing hand laid upon these instinctive +impulses. The true temple of the human spirit must be built in stages, +the broad base laid in these animal instincts; above them, and +controlling them, the directing and restraining will; above it the +understanding which enlightens it and them; and supreme over all the +conscience with nothing between it and heaven. Where that is not the +order of the inner man you get wild work. You have set 'beggars on +horseback,' and we all know where they go! The man who lets passion and +inclination guide is like a steam-boat with all the furnaces banked up, +with the engines going full speed, and nobody at the wheel. It will +drive on to the rocks, or wherever the bow happens to point, no matter +though death and destruction lie beyond the next turn of the screw. That +is what you will come to unless you live in the habitual exercise of +rigid self-control. + +And that self-control is to be exercised mainly, or at least as one very +important form of it, in regard to our use and estimate of the pleasures +of this present life. Yes! it is not only from the study of a man's make +that the necessity for a very rigid self-government appears, but the +observation of the conditions and circumstances in which he is placed +points the same lesson. All round about him are hands reaching out to +him drugged cups. The world with all its fading sweet comes tempting +him, and the old fable fulfils itself--Whoever takes that Circe's cup +and puts it to his lips and quaffs deep, turns into a swine, and sits +there imprisoned at the feet of the sorceress for evermore! + +There is only one thing that will deliver you from that fate, my +brother. 'Be sober,' and in regard to the world and all that it offers +to us--all joy, possession, gratification--'set a knife to thy throat if +thou be a man given to appetite.' There is no noble life possible on any +other terms--not to say there is no Christian life possible on any other +terms--but suppression and mortification of the desires of the flesh and +of the spirit. You cannot look upwards and downwards at the same moment. +Your heart is only a tiny room after all, and if you cram it full of the +world, you relegate your Master to the stable outside. 'Ye cannot serve +God and Mammon.' 'Be sober,' says Paul, then, and cultivate the habit of +rigid self-control in regard to this present. Oh! what a melancholy, +solemn thought it is that hundreds of professing Christians in England, +like vultures after a full meal, have so gorged themselves with the +garbage of this present life that they cannot fly, and have to be +content with moving along the ground, heavy and languid. Christian men +and women, are you keeping yourselves in spiritual health by a very +sparing use of the dainties and delights of earth? Answer the question +to your own souls and to your Judge. + +II. And now let me turn to the other thoughts that lie here. There is, +secondly, a motive which backs up and buttresses this exhortation. 'Let +us who are of the day'--or as the Revised Version has it a little more +emphatically and correctly, 'Let us, since we are of the day, be sober.' +'The day'; what day? The temptation is to answer the question by +saying--'of course the specific day which was spoken about in the +beginning of the section, "the day of the Lord," that coming judgment by +the coming Christ.' But I think that although, perhaps, there may be +some allusion here to that specific day, still, if you will look at the +verses which immediately precede my text, you will see that in them the +Apostle has passed from the thought of 'the day of the Lord' to that of +day in general. That is obvious, I think, from the contrast he draws +between the 'day' and the 'night,' the darkness and the light. If so, +then, when he says 'the children of the day' he does not so much +mean--though that is quite true--that we are, as it were, akin to that +day of judgment, and may therefore look forward to it without fear, and +in quiet confidence, lifting up our heads because our redemption draws +nigh; but rather he means that Christians are the children of that which +expresses knowledge, and joy, and activity. Of these things the day is +the emblem, in every language and in every poetry. The day is the time +when men see and hear, the symbol of gladness and cheer all the world +over. + +And so, says Paul, you Christian men and women belong to a joyous realm, +a realm of light and knowledge, a realm of purity and righteousness. You +are children of the light; a glad condition which involves many glad and +noble issues. Children of the light should be brave, children of the +light should not be afraid of the light, children of the light should be +cheerful, children of the light should be buoyant, children of the +light should be transparent, children of the light should be hopeful, +children of the light should be pure, and children of the light should +walk in this darkened world, bearing their radiance with them; and +making things, else unseen, visible to many a dim eye. + +But while these emblems of cheerfulness, hope, purity, and illumination +are gathered together in that grand name--'Ye are the children of the +day,' there is one direction especially in which the Apostle thinks that +that consideration ought to tell, and that is the direction of +self-restraint. '_Noblesse oblige!_'--the aristocracy are bound to do +nothing low or dishonourable. The children of the light are not to stain +their hands with anything foul. Chambering and wantonness, slumber and +drunkenness, the indulgence in the appetites of the flesh,--all that may +be fitting for the night, it is clean incongruous with the day. + +Well, if you want that turned into pedestrian prose--which is no more +clear, but a little less emotional--it is just this: You Christian men +and women belong--if you are Christians--to another state of things from +that which is lying round about you; and, therefore, you ought to live +in rigid abstinence from these things that are round about you. + +That is plain enough surely, nor do I suppose that I need to dwell on +that thought at any length. We belong to another order of things, says +Paul; we carry a day with us in the midst of the night. What follows +from that? Do not let us pursue the wandering lights and treacherous +will-o'-the-wisps that lure men into bottomless bogs where they are +lost. If we have light in our dwellings whilst Egypt lies in darkness, +let it teach us to eat our meat with our loins girded, and our staves +in our hands, not without bitter herbs, and ready to go forth into the +wilderness. You do not belong to the world in which you live, if you are +Christian men and women; you are only camped here. Your purposes, +thoughts, hopes, aspirations, treasures, desires, delights, go up +higher. And so, if you are children of the day, be self-restrained in +your dealings with the darkness. + +III. And, last of all, my text points out for us a method by which this +great precept may be fulfilled:--'Putting on the breastplate of faith +and love, and for an helmet the hope of salvation.' + +That, of course, is the first rough draft occurring in Paul's earliest +Epistle, of an image which recurs at intervals, and in more or less +expanded form in other of his letters, and is so splendidly worked out +in detail in the grand picture of the Christian armour in the Epistle to +the Ephesians. + +I need not do more than just remind you of the difference between that +finished picture and this outline sketch. Here we have only defensive +and not offensive armour, here the Christian graces are somewhat +differently allocated to the different parts of the armour. Here we have +only the great triad of Christian graces, so familiar on our +lips--faith, hope, charity. Here we have faith and love in the closest +possible juxtaposition, and hope somewhat more apart. The breastplate, +like some of the ancient hauberks, made of steel and gold, is framed and +forged out of faith and love blended together, and faith and love are +more closely identified in fact than faith and hope, or than love and +hope. For faith and love have the same object--and are all but +contemporaneous. Wherever a man lays hold of Jesus Christ by faith, +there cannot but spring up in his heart love to Christ; and there is no +love without faith. So that we may almost say that faith and love are +but the two throws of the shuttle, the one in the one direction and the +other in the other; whereas hope comes somewhat later in a somewhat +remoter connection with faith, and has a somewhat different object from +these other two. Therefore it is here slightly separated from its sister +graces. Faith, love, hope--these three form the defensive armour that +guard the soul; and these three make self-control possible. Like a diver +in his dress, who is let down to the bottom of the wild, far-weltering +ocean, a man whose heart is girt by faith and charity, and whose head is +covered with the helmet of hope, may be dropped down into the wildest +sea of temptation and of worldliness, and yet will walk dry and unharmed +through the midst of its depths, and breathe air that comes from a world +above the restless surges. + +And in like manner the cultivation of faith, charity, and hope is the +best means for securing the exercise of sober self-control. + +It is an easy thing to say to a man, 'Govern yourself!' It is a very +hard thing with the powers that any man has at his disposal to do it. As +somebody said about an army joining the rebels, 'It's a bad job when the +extinguisher catches fire!' And that is exactly the condition of things +in regard to our power of self-government. The powers that should +control are largely gone over to the enemy, and become traitors. + +'Who shall keep the very keepers?' is the old question, and here is the +answer:--You cannot execute the gymnastic feat of 'erecting yourself +above yourself' any more than a man can take himself by his own coat +collar and lift himself up from the ground with his own arms. But you +can cultivate faith, hope, and charity, and these three, well cultivated +and brought to bear upon your daily life, will do the governing for you. +Faith will bring you into communication with all the power of God. Love +will lead you into a region where all the temptations round you will be +touched as by an Ithuriel spear, and will show their foulness. And hope +will turn away your eyes from looking at the tempting splendours around, +and fix them upon the glories that are above. + +And so the reins will come into your hands in an altogether new manner, +and you will be able to be king over your own nature in a fashion that +you did not dream of before, if only you will trust in Christ, and love +Him, and fix your desires on the things above. + +Then you will be able to govern yourself when you let Christ govern you. +The glories that are to be done away, that gleam round you like foul, +flaring tallow-candles, will lose all their fascination and brightness, +by reason of the glory that excelleth, the pure starlike splendour of +the white inextinguishable lights of heaven. + +And when by faith, charity, and hope you have drunk of the new wine of +the kingdom, the drugged and opiate cup which a sorceress world +presents, jewelled though it be, will lose its charms, and it will not +be hard to turn from it and dash it to the ground. + +God help you, brother, to be 'sober,' for unless you are 'you cannot see +the kingdom of God!' + + + + +WAKING AND SLEEPING + + 'Jesus Christ, who died for us, that, whether we + wake or sleep, we should live together with + Him.'--1 THESS. v. 10. + + +In these words the Apostle concludes a section of this, his earliest +letter, in which he has been dealing with the aspect of death in +reference to the Christian. There are two very significant usages of +language in the context which serve to elucidate the meaning of the +words of our text, and to which I refer for a moment by way of +introduction. + +The one is that throughout this portion of his letter the Apostle +emphatically reserves the word 'died' for Jesus Christ, and applies to +Christ's followers only the word 'sleep.' Christ's death makes the +deaths of those who trust Him a quiet slumber. The other is that the +antithesis of waking and sleep is employed in two different directions +in this section, being first used to express, by the one term, simply +physical life, and by the other, physical death; and secondly, to +designate respectively the moral attitude of Christian watchfulness and +that of worldly apathy to things unseen and drowsy engrossment with the +present. + +So in the words immediately preceding my text, we read, 'let us not +sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober.' The use of the +antithesis in our text is chiefly the former, but there cannot be +discharged from one of the expressions, 'wake,' the ideas which have +just been associated with it, especially as the word which is translated +'wake' is the same as that just translated in the sixth verse, 'let us +watch.' So that here there is meant by it, not merely the condition of +life but that of Christian life--sober-minded vigilance and +wide-awakeness to the realities of being. With this explanation of the +meanings of the words before us, we may now proceed to consider them a +little more minutely. + +I. Note the death which is the foundation of life. + +Recalling what I have said as to the precision and carefulness with +which the Apostle varies his expressions in this context; speaking of +Christ's death only by that grim name, and of the death of His servants +as being merely a slumber, we have for the first thought suggested in +reference to Christ's death, that it exhausted all the bitterness of +death. Physically, the sufferings of our Lord were not greater, they +were even less, than that of many a man. His voluntary acceptance of +them was peculiar to Himself. But His death stands alone in this, that +on His head was concentrated the whole awfulness of the thing. So far as +the mere external facts go, there is nothing special about it. But I +know not how the shrinking of Jesus Christ from the Cross can be +explained without impugning His character, unless we see in His death +something far more terrible than is the common lot of men. To me +Gethsemane is altogether mysterious, and that scene beneath the olives +shatters to pieces the perfectness of His character, unless we recognise +that there it was the burden of the world's sin, beneath which, though +His will never faltered, His human power tottered. Except we understand +that, it seems to me that many who derived from Jesus Christ all their +courage, bore their martyrdom better than He did; and that the servant +has many a time been greater than his Lord. But if we take the Scripture +point of view, and say, 'The Lord has made to meet upon Him the iniquity +of us all,' then we can understand the agony beneath the olives, and +the cry from the Cross, 'Why hast Thou forsaken Me?' + +Further, I would notice that this death is by the Apostle set forth as +being the main factor in man's redemption. This is the first of Paul's +letters, dating long before the others with which we are familiar. +Whatever may have been the spiritual development of St. Paul in certain +directions after his conversion--and I do not for a moment deny that +there was such--it is very important to notice that the fundamentals of +his Christology and doctrine of salvation were the same from the +beginning to the end, and that in this, his first utterance, he lays +down, as emphatically and clearly as ever afterwards he did, the great +truth that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who died on the Cross, thereby +secured man's redemption. Here he isolates the death from the rest of +the history of Christ, and concentrates the whole light of his thought +upon the Cross, and says, There! that is the power by which men have +been redeemed. I beseech you to ask yourselves whether these +representations of Christian truth adhere to the perspective of +Scripture, which do not in like manner set forth in the foreground of +the whole the atoning death of Jesus Christ our Lord. + +Then note, further, that this death, the fountain of life, is a death +for us. Now I know, of course, that the language here does not +necessarily involve the idea of one dying instead of, but only of one +dying on behalf of, another. But then I come to this question, In what +conceivable sense, except the sense of bearing the world's sins, and, +therefore, mine, is the death of Jesus Christ of advantage to me? Take +the Scripture narratives. He died by the condemnation of the Jewish +courts as a blasphemer; by the condemnation of the supercilious Roman +court--cowardly in the midst of its superciliousness--as a possible +rebel, though the sentencer did not believe in the reality of the +charges. I want to know what good that is to me? He died, say some +people, as the victim of a clearer insight and a more loving heart than +the men around Him could understand. What advantage is that to me? + +Oh, brethren! there is no meaning in the words 'He died for us' unless +we understand that the benefit of His death lies in the fact that it was +the sacrifice and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world; and +that, therefore, He died for us. + +But then remember, too, that in this expression is set forth, not only +the objective fact of Christ's death for us, but much in reference to +the subjective emotions and purposes of Him who died. Paul was writing +to these Thessalonians, of whom none, I suppose, except possibly a few +Jews who might be amongst them, had ever seen Jesus Christ in the flesh, +or known anything about Him. And yet he says to them, 'Away across the +ocean there, Jesus Christ died for you men, not one of whom had ever +appealed to His heart through His eyes.' + +The principle involved is capable of the widest possible expansion. When +Christ went to the Cross there was in His heart, in His purposes, in His +desires, a separate place for every soul of man whom He embraced, not +with the dim vision of some philanthropist, who looks upon the masses of +unborn generations as possibly beneficially affected by some of his +far-reaching plans, but with the individualising and separating +knowledge of a divine eye, and the love of a divine heart. Jesus Christ +bore the sins of the world because He bore in His sympathies and His +purposes the sins of each single soul. Yours and mine and all our +fellows' were there. Guilt and fear and loneliness, and all the other +evils that beset men because they have departed from the living God, are +floated away + + 'By the water and the blood + From Thy wounded side which flowed'; + +and as the context teaches us, it is because He died for us that He is +our Lord, and because He died for every man that He is every man's +Master and King. + +II. Note, secondly, the transformation of our lives and deaths affected +thereby. + +You may remember that, in my introductory remarks, I pointed out the +double application of that antithesis of waking or sleeping in the +context as referring in one case to the fact of physical life or death, +and in the other to the fact of moral engrossment with the slumbering +influences of the present, or of Christian vigilance. I carry some +allusion to both of these ideas in the remarks that I have to make. + +Through Jesus Christ life may be quickened into watchfulness. It is not +enough to take waking as meaning living, for you may turn the metaphor +round and say about a great many men that living means dreamy sleeping. +Paul speaks in the preceding verses of 'others' than Christians as being +asleep, and their lives as one long debauch and slumber in the night. +Whilst, in contrast with physical death, physical life may be called +'waking'; the condition of thousands of men, in regard to all the higher +faculties, activities, and realities of being, is that of +somnambulists--they are walking indeed, but they are walking in their +sleep. Just as a man fast asleep knows nothing of the realities round +him; just as he is swallowed up in his own dreams, so many walk in a +vain show. Their highest faculties are dormant; the only real things do +not touch them, and their eyes are closed to these. They live in a +region of illusions which will pass away at cock-crowing, and leave them +desolate. For some of us here living is only a distempered sleep, +troubled by dreams which, whether they be pleasant or bitter, equally +lack roots in the permanent realities to which we shall wake some day. +But if we hold by Jesus Christ, who died for us, and let His love +constrain us, His Cross quicken us, and the might of His great sacrifice +touch us, and the blood of sprinkling be applied to our eyeballs as an +eye-salve, that we may see, we shall wake from our opiate sleep--though +it may be as deep as if the sky rained soporifics upon us--and be +conscious of the things that are, and have our dormant faculties roused, +and be quickened into intense vigilance against our enemies, and brace +ourselves for our tasks, and be ever looking forward to that joyful +hope, to that coming which shall bring the fulness of waking and of +life. So, you professing Christians, do you take the lessons of this +text? A sleeping Christian is on the high road to cease to be a +Christian at all. If there be one thing more comprehensively imperative +upon us than another, it is this, that, belonging, as we do by our very +profession, to the day, and being the children of the light, we shall +neither sleep nor be drunken, but be sober, watching as they who expect +their Lord. You walk amidst realities that will hide themselves unless +you gaze for them; therefore, watch. You walk amidst enemies that will +steal subtly upon you, like some gliding serpent through the grass, or +some painted savage in the forest; therefore, watch. You expect a Lord +to come from heaven with a relieving army that is to raise the siege +and free the hard-beset garrison from its fears and its toilsome work; +therefore, watch. 'They that sleep, sleep in the night.' They who are +Christ's should be like the living creatures in the Revelation, all eyes +round about, and every eye gazing on things unseen and looking for the +Master when He comes. + +On the other hand, the death of Christ will soften our deaths into +slumber. The Apostle will not call what the senses call death, by that +dread name, which was warranted when applied to the facts of Christ's +death. The physical fact remaining the same, all that is included under +the complex whole called death which makes its terrors, goes, for a man +who keeps fast hold of Christ who died and lives. For what makes the +sting of death? Two or three things. It is like some poisonous insect's +sting, it is a complex weapon. One side of it is the fear of +retribution. Another side of it is the shrinking from loneliness. +Another side of it is the dread of the dim darkness of an unknown +future. And all these are taken clean away. Is it guilt, dread of +retribution? 'Thou shalt answer, Lord, for me.' Is it loneliness? In the +valley of darkness 'I will be with thee. My rod and My staff will +comfort thee.' Is it a shrinking from the dim unknown and all the +familiar habitudes and occupations of the warm corner where we have +lived? 'Jesus Christ has brought immortality to light by the Gospel.' We +do _not_, according to the sad words of one of the victims of modern +advanced thought, pass by the common road into the great darkness, but +by the Christ-made living Way into the everlasting light. And so it is a +misnomer to apply the same term to the physical fact plus the +accompaniment of dread and shrinking and fear of retribution and +solitude and darkness, and to the physical fact invested with the direct +and bright opposites of all these. + +Sleep is rest; sleep is consciousness; sleep is the prophecy of waking. +We know not what the condition of those who sleep in Jesus may be, but +we know that the child on its mother's breast, and conscious somehow, in +its slumber, of the warm place where its head rests, is full of repose. +And they that sleep in Jesus will be _so_. Then, whether we wake or +sleep does not seem to matter so very much. + +III. The united life of all who live with Christ. + +Christ's gift to men is the gift of life in all senses of that word, +from the lowest to the highest. That life, as our text tells us, is +altogether unaffected by death. We cannot see round the sharp angle +where the valley turns, but we know that the path runs straight on +through the gorge up to the throat of the pass--and so on to the +'shining table-lands whereof our God Himself is Sun and Moon.' There are +some rivers that run through stagnant lakes, keeping the tinge of their +waters, and holding together the body of their stream undiverted from +its course, and issuing undiminished and untarnished from the lower end +of the lake. And so the stream of our lives may run through the Dead +Sea, and come out below none the worse for the black waters through +which it has forced its way. The life that Christ gives is unaffected by +death. Our creed is a risen Saviour, and the corollary of that creed is, +that death touches the circumference, but never gets near the man. It is +hard to believe, in the face of the foolish senses; it is hard to +believe, in the face of aching sorrow. It is hard to-day to believe, in +the face of passionate and ingenious denial, but it is true all the +same. Death is sleep, and sleep is life. + +And so, further, my text tells us that this life is life with Christ. We +know not details, we need not know them. Here we have the presence of +Jesus Christ, if we love Him, as really as when He walked the earth. Ay! +more really, for Jesus Christ is nearer to us who, having not seen Him, +love Him, and somewhat know His divinity and His sacrifice, than He was +to the men who companied with Him all the time that He went in and out +amongst them, whilst they were ignorant of who dwelt with them, and +entertained the Lord of angels and men unawares. He is with us, and it +is the power and the privilege and the joy of our lives to realise His +presence. That Lord who, whilst He was on earth, was the Son of Man +which is in heaven, now that He is in heaven in His corporeal humanity +is the Son of God who dwells with us. And as He dwells with us, if we +love Him and trust Him, so, but in fashion incapable of being revealed +to us, now does He dwell with those of whose condition this is the only +and all-sufficing positive knowledge which we have, that they are +'absent from the body; present with the Lord.' + +Further, that united life is a social life. The whole force of my text +is often missed by English readers, who run into one idea the two words +'together with.' But if you would put a comma after 'together,' you +would understand better what Paul meant. He refers to two forms of +union. Whether we wake or sleep we shall live all aggregated together, +and all aggregated 'together' because each is 'with Him.' That is to +say, union with Jesus Christ makes all who partake of that union, +whether they belong to the one side of the river or the other, into a +mighty whole. They are together because they are with the Lord. + +Suppose a great city, and a stream flowing through its centre. The +palace and all pertaining to the court are on one side of the water; +there is an outlying suburb on the other, of meaner houses, inhabited by +poor and humble people. But yet it is one city. 'Ye are come unto the +heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, and to the spirits of +just men made perfect.' We are knit together by one life, one love, one +thought; and the more we fix our hearts on the things which those above +live among and by, the more truly are we knit to them. As a quaint old +English writer says, 'They are gone but into another pew in the same +church.' + +We are one in Him, and so there will be a perfecting of union in +reunion; and the inference so craved for by our hearts seems to be +warranted to our understandings, that that society above, which is the +perfection of society, shall not be lacking in the elements of mutual +recognition and companionship, without which we cannot conceive of +society at all. 'And so we shall ever be with the Lord.' + +Dear friends, I beseech you to trust your sinful souls to that dear Lord +who bore you in His heart and mind when He bore His cross to Calvary and +completed the work of your redemption. If you will accept Him as your +sacrifice and Saviour, when He cried 'It is finished,' united to Him +your lives will be quickened into intense activity and joyful vigilance +and expectation, and death will be smoothed into a quiet falling asleep. +'The shadow feared of man,' that strikes threateningly across every +path, will change as we approach it, if our hearts are anchored on Him +who died for us, into the Angel of Light to whom God has given charge +concerning us to bear up our feet upon His hands, and land us in the +presence of the Lord and in the perfect society of those who love Him. +And so shall we live together, and all together, with Him. + + + + +EDIFICATION + + 'Edify one another.'--1 THESS. v. 11. + + +I do not intend to preach about that clause only, but I take it as +containing, in the simplest form, one of the Apostle's favourite +metaphors which runs through all his letters, and the significance of +which, I think, is very little grasped by ordinary readers. + +'Edify one another.' All metaphorical words tend to lose their light and +colour, and the figure to get faint, in popular understanding. We all +know that 'edifice' means a building; we do not all realise that 'edify' +means _to build up_. And it is a great misfortune that our Authorised +Version, in accordance with the somewhat doubtful principle on which its +translators proceeded, varies the rendering of the one Greek word so as +to hide the frequent recurrence of it in the apostolic teaching. The +metaphor that underlies it is the notion of building up a structure. The +Christian idea of the structure to be built up is that it is a temple. I +wish in this sermon to try to bring out some of the manifold lessons and +truths that lie in this great figure, as applied to the Christian life. + +Now, glancing over the various uses of the phrase in the New Testament, +I find that the figure of 'building,' as the great duty of the Christian +life, is set forth under three aspects; self-edification, united +edification, and divine edification. And I purpose to look at these in +order. + +I. First, self-edification. + +According to the ideal of the Christian life that runs through the New +Testament, each Christian man is a dwelling-place of God's, and his work +is to build himself up into a temple worthy of the divine indwelling. +Now, I suppose that the metaphor is such a natural and simple one that +we do not need to look for any Scriptural basis of it. But if we did, I +should be disposed to find it in the solemn antithesis with which the +Sermon on the Mount is closed, where there are the two houses pictured, +the one built upon the rock and standing firm, and the other built upon +the sand. But that is perhaps unnecessary. + +We are all builders; building up--what? Character, ourselves. But what +sort of a thing is it that we are building? Some of us pigsties, in +which gross, swinish lusts wallow in filth; some of us shops; some of us +laboratories, studies, museums; some of us amorphous structures that +cannot be described. But the Christian man is to be building himself up +into a temple of God. The aim which should ever burn clear before us, +and preside over even our smallest actions, is that which lies in this +misused old word, 'edify' yourselves. + +The first thing about a structure is the foundation. And Paul was narrow +enough to believe that the one foundation upon which a human spirit +could be built up into a hallowed character is Jesus Christ. He is the +basis of all our certitude. He is the anchor for all our hopes. To Him +should be referred all our actions; for Him and by Him our lives should +be lived. On Him should rest, solid and inexpugnable, standing +four-square to all the winds that blow, the fabric of our characters. +Jesus Christ is the pattern, the motive which impels, and the power +which enables, me to rear myself into a habitation of God through the +Spirit. Whilst I gladly acknowledge that very lovely structures may be +reared upon another foundation than Him, I would beseech you all to lay +this on your hearts and consciences, that for the loftiest, serenest +beauty of character there is but one basis upon which it can be rested. +'Other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus +Christ.' + +Then there is another aspect of this same metaphor, not in Paul's +writings but in another part of the New Testament, where we read: 'Ye, +beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith.' So that, in a +subordinate sense, a man's faith is the basis upon which he can build +such a structure of character; or, to put it into other words--in regard +to the man himself, the first requisite to the rearing of such a fabric +as God will dwell in is that he, by his own personal act of faith, +should have allied himself to Jesus Christ, who is the foundation; and +should be in a position to draw from Him all the power, and to feel +raying out from Him all the impulses, and lovingly to discern in Him all +the characteristics, which make Him a pattern for all men in their +building. + +The first course of stone that we lay is Faith; and that course is, as +it were, mortised into the foundation, the living Rock. He that builds +on Christ cannot build but by faith. The two representations are +complementary to one another, the one, which represents Jesus Christ as +the foundation, stating the ultimate fact, and the other, which +represents faith as the foundation, stating the condition on which we +come into vital contact with Christ Himself. + +Then, further, in this great thought of the Christian life being +substantially a building up of oneself on Jesus is implied the need for +continuous labour. You cannot build up a house in half an hour. You +cannot do it, as the old fable told us that Orpheus did, by music, or by +wishing. There must be dogged, hard, continuous, life-long effort if +there is to be this building up. No man becomes a saint _per saltum_. No +man makes a character at a flash. The stones are actions; the mortar is +that mystical, awful thing, habit; and deeds cemented together by custom +rise into that stately dwelling-place in which God abides. So, there is +to be a life-long work in character, gradually rearing it into His +likeness. + +The metaphor also carries with it the idea of orderly progression. There +are a number of other New Testament emblems which set forth this notion +of the true Christian ideal as being continual growth. For instance, +'first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear,' +represents it as resembling vegetable growth, while elsewhere it is +likened to the growth of the human body. Both of these are beautiful +images, in that they suggest that such progressive advancement is the +natural consequence of life; and is in one aspect effortless and +instinctive. + +But then you have to supplement that emblem with others, and there comes +in sharp contrast to it the metaphor which represents the Christian +progress as being warfare. There the element of resistance is +emphasised, and the thought is brought out that progress is to be made +in spite of strong antagonisms, partly to be found in external +circumstances, and partly to be found in our own treacherous selves. The +growth of the corn or of the body does not cover the whole facts of the +case, but there must be warfare in order to growth. + +There is also the other metaphor by which this Christian progress, which +is indispensable to the Christian life, and is to be carried on, +whatever may oppose it, is regarded as a race. There the idea of the +great, attractive, but far-off future reward comes into view, as well as +the strained muscles and the screwed-up energy with which the runner +presses towards the mark. But we have not only to fling the result +forward into the future, and to think of the Christian life as all +tending towards an end, which end is not realised here; but we have to +think of it, in accordance with this metaphor of my text, as being +continuously progressive, so as that, though unfinished, the building is +there; and much is done, though all is not accomplished, and the courses +rise slowly, surely, partially realising the divine Architect's ideal, +long before the headstone is brought out with shoutings and tumult of +acclaim. A continuous progress and approximation towards the perfect +ideal of the temple completed, consecrated, and inhabited by God, lies +in this metaphor. + +Is that _you_, Christian man and woman? Is the notion of progress a part +of _your_ working belief? Are _you_ growing, fighting, running, building +up yourselves more and more in your holy faith? Alas! I cannot but +believe that the very notion of progress has died out from a great many +professing Christians. + +There is one more idea in this metaphor of self-edification, viz., that +our characters should be being modelled by us on a definite plan, and +into a harmonious whole. I wonder how many of us in this chapel this +morning have ever spent a quiet hour in trying to set clearly before +ourselves what we want to make of ourselves, and how we mean to go +about it. Most of us live by haphazard very largely, even in regard to +outward things, and still more entirely in regard to our characters. +Most of us have not consciously before us, as you put a pattern-line +before a child learning to write, any ideal of ourselves to which we are +really seeking to approximate. Have you? And could you put it into +words? And are you making any kind of intelligent and habitual effort to +get at it? I am afraid a great many of us, if we were honest, would have +to say, No! If a man goes to work as his own architect, and has a very +hazy idea of what it is that he means to build, he will not build +anything worth the trouble. If your way of building up yourselves is, as +Aaron said his way of making the calf was, putting all into the fire, +and letting chance settle what comes out, nothing will come out better +than a calf. Brother! if you are going to build, have a plan, and let +the plan be the likeness of Jesus Christ. And then, with continuous +work, and the exercise of continuous faith, which knits you to the +foundation, 'build up yourselves for an habitation of God.' + +II. We have to consider united edification. + +There are two streams of representation about this matter in the Pauline +Epistles, the one with which I have already been dealing, which does not +so often appear, and the other which is the habitual form of the +representation, according to which the Christian community, as a whole, +is a temple, and building up is a work to be done reciprocally and in +common. We have that representation with special frequency and detail in +the Epistle to the Ephesians, where perhaps we may not be fanciful in +supposing that the great prominence given to it, and to the idea of the +Church as the temple of God, may have been in some degree due to the +existence, in that city, of one of the seven wonders of the world, the +Temple of Diana of the Ephesians. + +But, be that as it may, what I want to point out is that united building +is inseparable from the individual building up of which I have been +speaking. + +Now, it is often very hard for good, conscientious people to determine +how much of their efforts ought to be given to the perfecting of their +own characters in any department, and how much ought to be given to +trying to benefit and help other people. I wish you to notice that one +of the most powerful ways of building up myself is to do my very best to +build up others. Some, like men in my position, for instance, and others +whose office requires them to spend a great deal of time and energy in +the service of their fellows, are tempted to devote themselves too much +to building up character in other people, and to neglect their own. It +is a temptation that we need to fight against, and which can only be +overcome by much solitary meditation. Some of us, on the other hand, may +be tempted, for the sake of our own perfecting, intellectual +cultivation, or improvement in other ways, to minimise the extent to +which we are responsible for helping and blessing other people. But let +us remember that the two things cannot be separated; and that there is +nothing that will make a man more like Christ, which is the end of all +our building, than casting himself into the service of his fellows with +self-oblivion. + +Peter said, 'Master! let us make here three tabernacles.' Ay! But there +was a demoniac boy down below, and the disciples could not cast out the +demon. The Apostle did not know what he said when he preferred building +up himself, by communion with God and His glorified servants, to +hurrying down into the valley, where there were devils to fight and +broken hearts to heal. Build up yourselves, by all means; if you do you +will have to build up your brethren. 'The edifying of the body of +Christ' is a plain duty which no Christian man can neglect without +leaving a tremendous gap in the structure which he ought to rear. + +The building resulting from united edification is represented in +Scripture, not as the agglomeration of a number of little shrines, the +individuals, but as one great temple. That temple grows in two respects, +both of which carry with them imperative duties to us Christian people. +It grows by the addition of new stones. And so every Christian is bound +to seek to gather into the fold those that are wandering far away, and +to lay some stone upon that sure foundation. It grows, also, by the +closer approximation of all the members one to another, and the +individual increase of each in Christlike characteristics. And we are +bound to help one another therein, and to labour earnestly for the +advancement of our brethren, and for the unity of God's Church. Apart +from such efforts our individual edifying of ourselves will become +isolated, the results one-sided, and we ourselves shall lose much of +what is essential to the rearing in ourselves of a holy character. 'What +God hath joined together let not man put asunder.' Neither seek to build +up yourselves apart from the community, nor seek to build up the +community apart from yourselves. + +III. Lastly, the Apostle, in his writings, sets forth another aspect of +this general thought, viz., divine edification. + +When he spoke to the elders of the church of Ephesus he said that Christ +was able 'to build them up.' When he wrote to the Corinthians he said, +'Ye are _God's_ building.' To the Ephesians he wrote, 'Ye are built for +an habitation of God _through the Spirit_.' And so high above all our +individual and all our united effort he carries up our thoughts to the +divine Master-builder, by whose work alone a Paul, when he lays the +foundation, and an Apollos, when he builds thereupon, are of any use at +all. + +Thus, dear brethren, we have to base all our efforts on this deeper +truth, that it is God who builds us into a temple meet for Himself, and +then comes to dwell in the temple that He has built. + +So let us keep our hearts and minds expectant of, and open for, that +Spirit's influences. Let us be sure that we are using all the power that +God does give us. His work does not supersede mine. My work is to avail +myself of His. The two thoughts are not contradictory. They correspond +to, and fill out, each other, though warring schools of one-eyed +theologians and teachers have set them in antagonism. 'Work _out_ . . . +for it is God that worketh _in_.' That is the true reconciliation. 'Ye +are God's building; build up yourselves in your most holy faith.' + +If God is the builder, then boundless, indomitable hope should be ours. +No man can look at his own character, after all his efforts to mend it, +without being smitten by a sense of despair, if he has only his own +resources to fall back upon. Our experience is like that of the monkish +builders, according to many an old legend, who found every morning that +yesterday's work had been pulled down in the darkness by demon hands. +There is no man whose character is anything more than a torso, an +incomplete attempt to build up the structure that was in his mind--like +the ruins of half-finished palaces and temples which travellers came +across sometimes in lands now desolate, reared by a forgotten race who +were swept away by some unknown calamity, and have left the stones +half-lifted to their courses, half-hewed in their quarries, and the +building gaunt and incomplete. But men will never have to say about any +of God's architecture, He 'began to build and was not able to finish.' +As the old prophecy has it, 'His hands have laid the foundation of the +house, His hands shall also finish it.' Therefore, we are entitled to +cherish endless hope and quiet confidence that we, even we, shall be +reared up into an habitation of God through the Spirit. + +What are you building? 'Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone.' +Let every man take heed _what_ and _how_ and _that_ he buildeth thereon. + + + + +CONTINUAL PRAYER AND ITS EFFECTS + + 'Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In + everything give thanks.'--1 THESS. v. 16-18. + + +The peculiarity and the stringency of these three precepts is the +unbroken continuity which they require. To rejoice, to pray, to give +thanks, are easy when circumstances favour, as a taper burns steadily in +a windless night; but to do these things always is as difficult as for +the taper's flame to keep upright when all the winds are eddying round +it. 'Evermore'--'without ceasing'--'in everything'--these qualifying +words give the injunctions of this text their grip and urgency. The +Apostle meets the objections which he anticipates would spring to the +lips of the Thessalonians, to the effect that he was requiring +impossibilities, by adding that, hard and impracticable as they might +think such a constant attitude of mind and heart, 'This is the will of +God in Christ Jesus concerning you.' So, then, a Christian life may be +lived continuously on the high level; and more than that, it is our duty +to try to live ours thus. + +We need not fight with other Christian people about whether absolute +obedience to these precepts is possible. It will be soon enough for us +to discuss whether a completely unbroken uniformity of Christian +experience is attainable in this life, when we have come a good deal +nearer to the attainable than we have yet reached. Let us mend our +breaches of continuity a good deal more, and then we may begin to +discuss the question whether an absolute absence of any cessation of the +continuity is consistent with the conditions of Christian life here. + +Now it seems to me that these three exhortations hold together in a very +striking way, and that Paul knew what he was about when he put in the +middle, like the strong central pole that holds up a tent, that +exhortation, 'Pray without ceasing.' For it is the primary precept, and +on its being obeyed the possibility of the fulfilment of the other two +depends. If we pray without ceasing, we shall rejoice evermore and in +everything give thanks. So, then, the duty of continual prayer, and the +promise, as well as the precept, that its results are to be continual +joy and continual thanksgiving, are suggested by these words. + +I. The duty of continual prayer. + +Roman Catholics, with their fatal habit of turning the spiritual into +material, think that they obey that commandment when they set a priest +or a nun on the steps of the altar to repeat _Ave Marias_ day and night. +That is a way of praying without ceasing which we can all see to be +mechanical and unworthy. But have we ever realised what this commandment +necessarily reveals to us, as to what real prayer is? For if we are told +to do a thing uninterruptedly, it must be something that can run +unbroken through all the varieties of our legitimate duties and +necessary occupations and absorptions with the things seen and temporal. +Is that your notion of prayer? Or do you fancy that it simply means +dropping down on your knees, and asking God to give you some things that +you very much want? Petition is an element in prayer, and that it shall +be crystallised into words is necessary sometimes; but there are prayers +that never get themselves uttered, and I suppose that the deepest and +truest communion with God is voiceless and wordless. 'Things which it +was not possible for a man to utter,' was Paul's description of what he +saw and felt, when he was most completely absorbed in, and saturated +with, the divine glory. The more we understand what prayer is, the less +we shall feel that it depends upon utterance. For the essence of it is +to have heart and mind filled with the consciousness of God's presence, +and to have the habit of referring everything to Him, in the moment when +we are doing it, or when it meets us. That, as I take it, is prayer. The +old mystics had a phrase, quaint, and in some sense unfortunate, but +very striking, when they spoke about 'the practice of the presence of +God.' God is here always, you will say; yes, He is, and to open the +shutters, and to let the light always in, into every corner of my heart, +and every detail of my life--that is what Paul means by 'Praying +without ceasing.' Petitions? Yes; but something higher than +petitions--the consciousness of being in touch with the Father, feeling +that He is all round us. It was said about one mystical thinker that he +was a 'God-intoxicated man.' It is an ugly word, but it expresses a very +deep thing; but let us rather say a _God-filled_ man. He who is such +'prays always.' + +But how may we maintain that state of continual devotion, even amidst +the various and necessary occupations of our daily lives? As I said, we +need not trouble ourselves about the possibility of complete attainment +of that ideal. We know that we can each of us pray a great deal more +than we do, and if there are regions in our lives into which we feel +that God will not come, habits that we have dropped into which we feel +to be a film between us and Him, the sooner we get rid of them the +better. But into all our daily duties, dear friends, however absorbing, +however secular, however small, however irritating they may be, however +monotonous, into all our daily duties it is possible to bring Him. + + 'A servant with this clause + Makes drudgery divine, + Who sweeps a room, as by Thy laws, + Makes that and the calling fine.' + +But if that is our aim, our conscious aim, our honest aim, we shall +recognise that a help to it is _words of_ prayer. I do not believe in +silent adoration, if there is nothing but silent; and I do not believe +in a man going through life with the conscious presence of God with him, +unless, often, in the midst of the stress of daily life, he shoots +little arrows of two-worded prayers up into the heavens, 'Lord! be with +me.' 'Lord! help me.' 'Lord! stand by me now'; and the like. 'They +cried unto God in the battle,' when some people would have thought they +would have been better occupied in trying to keep their heads with their +swords. It was not a time for very elaborate supplications when the +foemen's arrows were whizzing round them, but 'they cried unto the Lord, +and He was entreated of them.' 'Pray without ceasing.' + +Further, if we honestly try to obey this precept we shall more and more +find out, the more earnestly we do so, that set seasons of prayer are +indispensable to realising it. I said that I do not believe in silent +adoration unless it sometimes finds its tongue, nor do I believe in a +diffused worship that does not flow from seasons of prayer. There must +be, away up amongst the hills, a dam cast across the valley that the +water may be gathered behind it, if the great city is to be supplied +with the pure fluid. What would become of Manchester if it were not for +the reservoirs at Woodhead away among the hills? Your pipes would be +empty. And that is what will become of you Christian professors in +regard to your habitual consciousness of God's presence, if you do not +take care to have your hours of devotion sacred, never to be interfered +with, be they long or short, as may have to be determined by family +circumstances, domestic duties, daily avocations, and a thousand other +causes. But, unless we pray at set seasons, there is little likelihood +of our praying without ceasing. + +II. The duty of continual rejoicing. + +If we begin with the central duty of continual prayer, then these other +two which, as it were, flow from it on either side, will be possible to +us; and of these two the Apostle sets first, 'Rejoice evermore.' This +precept was given to the Thessalonians, in Paul's first letter, when +things were comparatively bright with him, and he was young and buoyant; +and in one of his later letters, when he was a prisoner, and things were +anything but rosy coloured, he struck the same note again, and in spite +of his 'bonds in Christ' bade the Philippians 'Rejoice in the Lord +always, and again I say, Rejoice.' Indeed, that whole prison-letter +might be called the Epistle of Joy, so suffused with sunshine of +Christian gladness is it. Now, no doubt, joy is largely a matter of +temperament. Some of us are constitutionally more buoyant and cheerful +than others. And it is also very largely a matter of circumstances. + +I admit all that, and yet I come back to Paul's command: 'Rejoice +evermore.' For if we are Christian people, and have cultivated what I +have called 'the practice of the presence of God' in our lives, then +that will change the look of things, and events that otherwise would be +'at enmity with joy' will cease to have a hostile influence over it. +There are two sources from which a man's gladness may come, the one his +circumstances of a pleasant and gladdening character; the other his +communion with God. It is like some river that is composed of two +affluents, one of which rises away up in the mountains, and is fed by +the eternal snows; the other springs on the plain somewhere, and is but +the drainage of the surface-water, and when hot weather comes, and +drought is over all the land, the one affluent is dry, and only a chaos +of ghastly white stones litters the bed where the flashing water used to +be. What then? Is the stream gone because one of its affluents is dried +up, and has perished or been lost in the sands? The gushing fountains +away up among the peaks near the stars are bubbling up all the same, +and the heat that dried the surface stream has only loosened the +treasures of the snows, and poured them more abundantly into the other's +bed. So 'Rejoice in the Lord always'; and if earth grows dark, lift your +eyes to the sky, that is light. To one walking in the woods at nightfall +'all the paths are dim,' but the strip of heaven above the trees is the +brighter for the green gloom around. The organist's one hand may be +keeping up one sustained note, while the other is wandering over the +keys; and one part of a man's nature may be steadfastly rejoicing in the +Lord, whilst the other is feeling the weight of sorrows that come from +earth. The paradox of the Christian life may be realised as a blessed +experience of every one of us: a surface troubled, a central calm; an +ocean tossed with storm, and yet the crest of every wave flashing in the +sunshine. 'Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Rejoice.' + +III. Lastly, the duty of continual thankfulness. + +That, too, is possible only on condition of continual communion with +God. As I said in reference to joy, so I say in reference to +thankfulness; the look of things in this world depends very largely on +the colour of the spectacles through which you behold them. + + 'There's nothing either good or bad + But thinking makes it so.' + +And if a man in communion with God looks at the events of his life as he +might put on a pair of coloured glasses to look at a landscape, it will +be tinted with a glory and a glow as he looks. The obligation to +gratitude, often neglected by us, is singularly, earnestly, and +frequently enjoined in the New Testament. I am afraid that the average +Christian man does not recognise its importance as an element in his +Christian experience. As directed to the past it means that we do not +forget, but that, as we look back, we see the meaning of these old days, +and their possible blessings, and the loving purposes which sent them, a +great deal more clearly than we did whilst we were passing through them. +The mountains that, when you are close to them, are barren rock and cold +snow, glow in the distance with royal purples. And so if we, from our +standing point in God, will look back on our lives, losses will disclose +themselves as gains, sorrows as harbingers of joy, conflict as a means +of peace, the crooked things will be straight, and the rough places +plain; and we may for every thing in the past give thanks, if only we +'pray without ceasing.' The exhortation as applied to the present means +that we bow our wills, that we believe that all things are working +together for our good, and that, like Job in his best moments, we shall +say, 'The Lord gave, the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the Name of +the Lord.' Ah, that is hard. It is possible, but it is only possible if +we 'pray without ceasing,' and dwell beside God all the days of our +lives, and all the hours of every day. Then, and only then, shall we be +able to thank Him for all the way by which He hath led us these many +years in the wilderness, that has been brightened by the pillar of cloud +by day, and the fire by night. + + + + +PAUL'S EARLIEST TEACHING + + 'I charge you, by the Lord, that this epistle be + read unto all the holy brethren,'--1 THESS. v. 27. + + +If the books of the New Testament were arranged according to the dates +of their composition, this epistle would stand first. It was written +somewhere about twenty years after the Crucifixion, and long before any +of the existing Gospels. It is, therefore, of peculiar interest, as +being the most venerable extant Christian document, and as being a +witness to Christian truth quite independent of the Gospel narratives. + +The little community at Thessalonica had been gathered together as the +result of a very brief period of ministration by Paul. He had spoken for +three successive Sabbaths in the synagogue, and had drawn together a +Christian society, mostly consisting of heathens, though with a +sprinkling of Jews amongst them. Driven from the city by a riot, he had +left it for Athens, with many anxious thoughts, of course, as to whether +the infant community would be able to stand alone after so few weeks of +his presence and instruction. Therefore he sent back one of his +travelling companions, Timothy by name, to watch over the young plant +for a little while. When Timothy returned with the intelligence of their +steadfastness, it was good news indeed, and with a sense of relieved +anxiety, he sits down to write this letter, which, all through, throbs +with thankfulness, and reveals the strain which the news had taken off +his spirit. + +There are no such definite doctrinal statements in it as in the most of +Paul's longer letters; it is simply an outburst of confidence and love +and tenderness, and a series of practical instructions. It has been +called the least doctrinal of the Pauline Epistles. And in one sense, +and under certain limitations, that is perfectly true. But the very fact +that it is so makes its indications and hints and allusions the more +significant; and if this letter, not written for the purpose of +enforcing any special doctrinal truth, be so saturated as it is with the +facts and principles of the Gospel, the stronger is the attestation +which it gives to the importance of these. I have, therefore, thought it +might be worth our while now, and might, perhaps, set threadbare truth +in something of a new light, if we put this--the most ancient Christian +writing extant, which is quite independent of the four Gospels--into the +witness-box, and see what it has to say about the great truths and +principles which we call the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This is my simple +design, and I gather the phenomena into three or four divisions for the +sake of accuracy and order. + +I. First of all, then, let us hear its witness to the divine Christ. + +Look how the letter begins. 'Paul, and Silvanus, and Timotheus, unto the +church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father, and in the Lord +Jesus Christ.' What is the meaning of that collocation, putting these +two names side by side, unless it means that the Lord Jesus Christ sits +on the Father's throne, and is divine? + +Then there is another fact that I would have you notice, and that is +that more than twenty times in this short letter that great name is +applied to Jesus, 'the Lord.' Now mark that that is something more than +a mere title of human authority. It is in reality the New Testament +equivalent of the Old Testament Jehovah, and is the transference to Him +of that incommunicable name. + +And then there is another fact which I would have you weigh, viz., that +in this letter direct prayer is offered to our Lord Himself. In one +place we read the petition, 'May our God and Father Himself and our Lord +Jesus direct our way unto you,' where the petition is presented to both, +and where both are supposed to be operative in the answer. And more than +that, the word 'direct,' following upon this _plural_ subject, is itself +a _singular_ verb. Could language more completely express than that +grammatical solecism does, the deep truth of the true and proper +divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ? There is nothing in any +part of Scripture more emphatic and more lofty in its unfaltering +proclamation of that fundamental truth of the Gospel than this +altogether undoctrinal Epistle. + +The Apostle does not conceive himself to be telling these men, though +they were such raw and recent Christians, anything new when he +presupposes the truth that to Him desires and prayers may go. Thus the +very loftiest apex of revealed religion had been imparted to that +handful of heathens in the few weeks of the Apostle's stay amongst them. +And nowhere upon the inspired pages of the fourth Evangelist, nor in +that great Epistle to the Colossians, which is the very citadel and +central fort of that doctrine in Scripture, is there more emphatically +stated this truth than here, in these incidental allusions. + +This witness, at any rate, declares, apart altogether from any other +part of Scripture, that so early in the development of the Church's +history, and to people so recently dragged from idolatry, and having +received but such necessarily partial instruction in revealed truth, +this had not been omitted, that the Christ in whom they trusted was the +Everlasting Son of the Father. And it takes it for granted that, so +deeply was that truth embedded in their new consciousness that an +allusion to it was all that was needed for their understanding and their +faith. That is the first part of the testimony. + +II. Now, secondly, let us ask what this witness has to say about the +dying Christ. + +There is no doctrinal theology in the Epistle to the Thessalonians, they +tell us. Granted that there is no articulate argumentative setting forth +of great doctrinal truths. But these are implied and involved in almost +every word of it; and are definitely stated thus incidentally in more +places than one. Let us hear the witness about the dying Christ. + +First, as to the fact, 'The Jews killed the Lord Jesus.' The historical +fact is here set forth distinctly. And then, beyond the fact, there is +as distinctly, though in the same incidental fashion, set forth the +meaning of that fact--'God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain +salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ who died for us.' + +Here are at least two things--one, the allusion, as to a well-known and +received truth, proclaimed before now to them, that Jesus Christ in His +death had died for them; and the other, that Jesus Christ was the medium +through whom the Father had appointed that men should obtain all the +blessings which are wrapped up in that sovereign word 'salvation.' I +need but mention in this connection another verse, from another part of +the letter, which speaks of Jesus as 'He that delivereth us from the +wrath to come.' Remark that there our Authorised Version fails to give +the whole significance of the words, because it translates _delivered_, +instead of, as the Revised Version correctly does, _delivereth_. It is a +continuous deliverance, running all through the life of the Christian +man, and not merely to be realised away yonder at the far end; because +by the mighty providence of God, and by the automatic working of the +consequences of every transgression and disobedience, that 'wrath' is +ever coming, coming, coming towards men, and lighting on them, and a +continual Deliverer, who delivers us by His death, is what the human +heart needs. This witness is distinct that the death of Christ is a +sacrifice, that the death of Christ is man's deliverance from wrath, +that the death of Christ is a present deliverance from the consequences +of transgression. + +And was that Paul's peculiar doctrine? Is it conceivable that, in a +letter in which he refers--once, at all events--to the churches in Judea +as their 'brethren,' he was proclaiming any individual or schismatic +reading of the facts of the life of Jesus Christ? I believe that there +has been a great deal too much made of the supposed divergencies of +types of doctrine in the New Testament. There are such types, within +certain limits. Nobody would mistake a word of John's calm, mystical, +contemplative spirit for a word of Paul's fiery, dialectic spirit. And +nobody would mistake either the one or the other for Peter's impulsive, +warm-hearted exhortations. But whilst there are diversities in the way +of apprehending, there are no diversities in the declaration of what is +the central truth to be apprehended. These varyings of the types of +doctrine in the New Testament are one in this, that all point to the +Cross as the world's salvation, and declare that the death there was the +death for all mankind. + +Paul comes to it with his reasoning; John comes to it with his adoring +contemplation; Peter comes to it with his mind saturated with Old +Testament allusions. Paul declares that the 'Christ died for us'; John +declares that He is 'the Lamb of God'; Peter declares that 'Christ bare +our sins in His own body on the tree.' But all make one unbroken phalanx +of witness in their proclamation, that the Cross, because it is a cross +of sacrifice, is a cross of reconciliation and peace and hope. And this +is the Gospel that they all proclaim, 'how that Jesus Christ died for +our sins according to the Scriptures,' and Paul could venture to say, +'Whether it were they or I, so we preach, and so ye believed.' + +That was the Gospel that took these heathens, wallowing in the mire of +sensuous idolatry, and lifted them up to the elevation and the +blessedness of children of God. + +And if you will read this letter, and think that there had been only a +few weeks of acquaintance with the Gospel on the part of its readers, +and then mark how the early and imperfect glimpse of it had transformed +them, you will see where the power lies in the proclamation of the +Gospel. A short time before they had been heathens; and now says Paul, +'From you sounded out the word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and +Achaia, but also in every place your faith to Godward is spread abroad; +so that we need not to speak anything.' We do not need to talk to you +about 'love of the brethren,' for 'yourselves are taught of God to love +one another, and my heart is full of thankfulness when I think of your +work of faith and labour of love and patience of hope.' The men had been +transformed. What transformed them? The message of a divine and dying +Christ, who had offered up Himself without spot unto God, and who was +their peace and their righteousness and their power. + +III. Thirdly, notice what this witness has to say about the risen and +ascended Christ. Here is what it has to say: 'Ye turned unto God . . . to +wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead.' And again: +'The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout.' The risen +Christ, then, is in the heavens, and Paul assumes that these people, +just brought out of heathenism, have received that truth into their +hearts in the love of it, and know it so thoroughly that he can take for +granted their entire acquiescence in and acceptance of it. + +Remember, we have nothing to do with the four Gospels here. Remember, +not a line of them had yet been written. Remember, that we are dealing +here with an entirely independent witness. And then tell us what +importance is to be attached to this evidence of the Resurrection of +Jesus Christ. Twenty years after His death here is this man speaking +about that Resurrection as being not only something that he had to +proclaim, and believed, but as being the recognised and notorious fact +which all the churches accepted, and which underlay all their faith. + +I would have you remember that if, twenty years after this event, this +witness was borne, that necessarily carries us back a great deal nearer +to the event than the hour of its utterance, for there is no mark of +its being new testimony at that instant, but every mark of its being the +habitual and continuous witness that had been borne from the instant of +the alleged Resurrection to the present time. It at least takes us back +a good many years nearer the empty sepulchre than the twenty which mark +its date. It at least takes us back to the conversion of the Apostle +Paul; and that necessarily involves, as it seems to me, that if that +man, believing in the Resurrection, went into the Church, there would +have been an end of his association with them, unless he had found there +the same faith. The fact of the matter is, there is not a place where +you can stick a pin in, between the Resurrection of Jesus Christ and the +date of this letter, wide enough to admit of the rise of the faith in a +Resurrection. We are necessarily forced by the very fact of the +existence of the Church to the admission that the belief in the +Resurrection was contemporaneous with the alleged Resurrection itself. + +And so we are shut up--in spite of the wriggling of people that do not +accept that great truth--we are shut up to the old alternative, as it +seems to me, that either Jesus Christ rose from the dead, or the noblest +lives that the world has ever seen, and the loftiest system of morality +that has ever been proclaimed, were built upon a lie. And we are called +to believe that at the bidding of a mere unsupported, bare, dogmatic +assertion that miracles are impossible. Believe it who will, I decline +to be coerced into believing a blank, staring psychological +contradiction and impossibility, in order to be saved the necessity of +admitting the existence of the supernatural. I would rather believe in +the supernatural than the ridiculous. And to me it is unspeakably +ridiculous to suppose that anything but the fact of the Resurrection +accounts for the existence of the Church, and for the faith of this +witness that we have before us. + +And so, dear friends, we come back to this, the Christianity that flings +away the risen Christ is a mere mass of tatters with nothing in it to +cover a man's nakedness, an illusion with no vitality in it to quicken, +to comfort, to ennoble, to raise, to teach aspiration or hope or effort. +The human heart needs the 'Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen +again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh +intercession for us.' And this independent witness confirms the Gospel +story: 'Now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits +of them that slept.' + +IV. Lastly, let us hear what this witness has to say about the returning +Christ. + +That is the characteristic doctrinal subject of the letter. We all know +that wonderful passage of unsurpassed tenderness and majesty, which has +soothed so many hearts and been like a gentle hand laid upon so many +aching spirits, about the returning Jesus 'coming in the clouds,' with +the dear ones that are asleep along with Him, and the reunion of them +that sleep and them that are alive and remain, in one indissoluble +concord and concourse, when we shall ever be with the Lord, and 'clasp +inseparable hands with joy and bliss in over-measure for ever.' The +coming of the Master does not appear here with emphasis on its judicial +aspect. It is rather intended to bring hope to the mourners, and the +certainty that bands broken here may be re-knit in holier fashion +hereafter. But the judicial aspect is not, as it could not be, left out, +and the Apostle further tells us that 'that day cometh as a thief in the +night.' That is a quotation of the Master's own words, which we find in +the Gospels; and so again a confirmation, so far as it goes, from an +independent witness, of the Gospel story. And then he goes on, in +terrible language, to speak of 'sudden destruction, as of travail upon a +woman with child; and they shall not escape.' + +These, then, are the points of this witness's testimony as to the +returning Lord--a personal coming, a reunion of all believers in Him, in +order to eternal felicity and mutual gladness, and the destruction that +shall fall by His coming upon those who turn away from Him. + +What a revelation that would be to men who had known what it was to +grope in the darkness of heathendom, and to have new light upon the +future! + +I remember once walking in the long galleries of the Vatican, on the one +side of which there are Christian inscriptions from the catacombs, and +on the other heathen inscriptions from the tombs. One side is all dreamy +and hopeless; one long sigh echoing along the line of white +marbles--'Vale! vale! in aeternum vale!' (Farewell, farewell, for ever +farewell.) On the other side--'In Christo, in pace, in spe.' (In Christ, +in peace, in hope.) That is the witness that we have to lay to our +hearts. And so death becomes a passage, and we let go the dear hands, +believing that we shall clasp them again. + +My brother! this witness is to a gospel that is the gospel for +Manchester as well as for Thessalonica. You and I want just the same as +these old heathens there wanted. We, too, need the divine Christ, the +dying Christ, the risen Christ, the ascended Christ, the returning +Christ. And I beseech you to take Him for _your_ Christ, in all the +fulness of His offices, the manifoldness of His power, and the sweetness +of His love, so that of you it may be said, as this Apostle says about +these Thessalonians, 'Ye received it not as the word of man, but, as it +is in truth, as the word of God.' + + + + +II. THESSALONIANS + + + + +CHRIST GLORIFIED IN GLORIFIED MEN + + 'He shall come to be glorified in His saints; and + to be admired in all them that believe.'--2 THESS. + i. 10. + + +The two Epistles to the Thessalonians, which are the Apostle's earliest +letters, both give very great prominence to the thought of the second +coming of our Lord to judgment. In the immediate context we have that +coming described, with circumstances of majesty and of terror. He 'shall +be revealed . . . with the angels of His power.' 'Flaming fire' shall +herald His coming; vengeance shall be in His hands, punishment shall +follow His sentence; everlasting destruction shall be the issue of evil +confronted with 'the face of the Lord'--for so the words in the previous +verse rendered 'the presence of the Lord' might more accurately be +translated. + +And all these facts and images are, as it were, piled up in one half of +the Apostle's sky, as in thunderous lurid masses; and on the other side +there is the pure blue and the peaceful sunshine. For all this terror +and destruction, and flashing fire, and punitive vengeance come to pass +in the day when 'He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be +wondered at in all them that believe.' + +There be the two halves--the aspect of that day to those to whom it is +the revelation of a stranger, and the aspect of that day to those to +whom it is the glorifying of Him who is their life. + +I. The remarkable words which I have taken for my text suggest to us, +first of all, some thoughts about that striking expression that Christ +is glorified in the men who are glorified in Christ. + +If you look on a couple of verses you will find that the Apostle returns +to this thought, and expresses in the clearest fashion the reciprocal +character of that 'glorifying' of which he has been speaking. 'The name +of our Lord Jesus Christ,' says he, 'may be glorified in you, and ye in +Him.' + +So, then, glorifying has a double meaning. There is a double process +involved. It means either 'to make glorious' or 'to manifest as being +glorious.' And men are glorified in the former sense in Christ, that +Christ in them may, in the latter sense, be glorified. He makes them +glorious by imparting to them of the lustrous light and flashing beauty +of His own perfect character, in order that that light, received into +their natures, and streaming out at last conspicuously manifest from +their redeemed perfectness, may redound to the praise and the honour, +before a whole universe, of Him who has thus endued their weakness with +His own strength, and transmuted their corruptibility into His own +immortality. We are glorified in Christ in some partial, and, alas! +sinfully fragmentary, manner here; we shall be so perfectly in that day. +And when we are thus glorified in Him, then--wondrous thought!--even we +shall be able to manifest Him as glorious before some gazing eyes, which +without us would have seen Him as less fair. Dim, and therefore great +and blessed thoughts about what men may become are involved in such +words. The highest end, the great purpose of the Gospel and of all +God's dealings with us in Christ Jesus is to make us like our Lord. As +we have borne the image of the earthly we shall also bear the image of +the heavenly. 'We, beholding the glory, are changed into the glory.' + +And that glorifying of men in Christ, which is the goal and highest end +of Christ's Cross and passion and of all God's dealings, is accomplished +only because Christ dwells in the men whom He glorifies. We read words +applying to His relation to His Father which need but to be transferred +to our relation to Him, in order to teach us high and blessed things +about this glorifying. The Father dwelt in Christ, therefore Christ was +glorified by the indwelling divinity, in the sense that His humanity was +made partaker of the divine glory, and thereby He glorified the divinity +that dwelt in Him, in the sense that He conspicuously displayed it +before the world as worthy of all admiration and love. + +And, in like manner, as is the Son with the Father, participant of +mutual and reciprocal glorification, so is the Christian with Christ, +glorified in Him and therefore glorifying Him. + +What may be involved therein of perfect moral purity, of enlarged +faculties and powers, of a bodily frame capable of manifesting all the +finest issues of a perfect spirit, it is not for us to say. These things +are great, being hidden; and are hidden because they are great. But +whatever may be the lofty heights of Christlikeness to which we shall +attain, all shall come from the indwelling Lord who fills us with His +own Spirit. + +And, then, according to the great teaching here, this glorified +humanity, perfected and separated from all imperfection, and helped into +all symmetrical unfolding of dormant possibilities, shall be the +highest glory of Christ even in that day when He comes in His glory and +sits upon the throne of His glory with His holy angels with Him. One +would have thought that, if the Apostle wanted to speak of the +glorifying of Jesus Christ, he would have pointed to the great white +throne, His majestic divinity, the solemnities of His judicial office; +but he passes by all these, and says, 'Nay! the highest glory of the +Christ lies here, in the men whom He has made to share His own nature.' + +The artist is known by his work. You stand in front of some great +picture, or you listen to some great symphony, or you read some great +book, and you say, 'This is the glory of Raphael, Beethoven, +Shakespeare.' Christ points to His saints, and He says, 'Behold My +handiwork! Ye are my witnesses. This is what I can do.' + +But the relation between Christ and His saints is far deeper and more +intimate than simply the relation between the artist and his work, for +all the flashing light of moral beauty, of intellectual perfectness +which Christian men can hope to receive in the future is but the light +of the Christ that dwells in them, 'and of whose fulness all they have +received.' Like some poor vapour, in itself white and colourless, which +lies in the eastern sky there, and as the sun rises is flushed up into a +miracle of rosy beauty, because it has caught the light amongst its +flaming threads and vaporous substance, so we, in ourselves pale, +ghostly, colourless as the mountains when the Alpine snow passes off +them, being recipient of an indwelling Christ, shall blush and flame in +beauty. 'Then shall the righteous blaze forth like the sun in my +Father's kingdom.' Or, rather they are not suns shining by their own +light, but moons reflecting the light of Christ, who is their light. + +And perchance some eyes, incapable of beholding the sun, may be able to +look undazzled upon the sunshine in the cloud, and some eyes that could +not discern the glory of Christ as it shines in His face as the sun +shineth in its strength, may not be too weak to behold and delight in +the light as it is reflected from the face of His servants. At all +events, He shall come to be glorified in the saints whom He has made +glorious. + +II. And now, notice again, out of these full and pregnant words the +other thought, that this transformation of men is the great miracle and +marvel of Christ's power. + +'He shall come to be admired'--which word is employed in its old English +signification, 'to be wondered at'--'in all them that believe.' So fair +and lovely is He that He needs but to be recognised for what He is in +order to be glorified. So great and stupendous are His operations in +redeeming love that they need but to be beheld to be the object of +wonder. 'His name shall be called Wonderful,' and wonderfully the energy +of His redeeming and sanctifying grace shall then have wrought itself +out to its legitimate end. There you get the crowning marvel of marvels, +and the highest of miracles. He did wonderful works upon earth which we +rightly call miraculous,--things to be wondered at--but the highest of +all His wonders is the wonder that takes such material as you and me, +and by such a process, and on such conditions, simply because we trust +Him, evolves such marvellous forms of beauty and perfectness from us. +'He is to be wondered at in all them that believe.' + +Such results from such material! Chemists tell us that the black bit of +coal in your grate and the diamond on your finger are varying forms of +the one substance. What about a power that shall take all the black +coals in the world and transmute them into flashing diamonds, prismatic +with the reflected light that comes from His face, and made gems on His +strong right hand? The universe will wonder at such results from such +material. + +And it will wonder, too, at the process by which they were accomplished, +wondering at the depth of His pity revealed all the more pathetically +now from the great white throne which casts such a light on the Cross of +Calvary; wondering at the long, weary path which He who is now declared +to be the Judge humbled Himself to travel in the quest of these poor +sinful souls whom He has redeemed and glorified. The miracle of miracles +is redeeming love; and the high-water mark of Christ's wonders is +touched in this fact, that out of men He makes saints; and out of saints +He makes perfect likenesses of Himself. + +III. And now a word about what is _not_ expressed, but is necessarily +implied in this verse, viz., the spectators of this glory. + +The Apostle does not tell us what eyes they are before which Christ is +thus to be glorified. He does not summon the spectators to look upon +this wonderful exhibition of divine judgment and divine glory; but we +may dwell for a moment on the thought that to whomsoever in the whole +universe Christ at that great day shall be manifested, to them, whoever +they be, will His glory, in His glorified saints, be a revelation beyond +what they have known before. 'Every eye shall see Him.' And whatsoever +eyes look upon Him, then on His throne, they shall behold the attendant +courtiers and the assessors of His judgment, and see in them the +manifestation of His own lustrous light. + +We read that 'unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places +shall be made known' in future days, 'by the Church, the manifold wisdom +of God.' We hear that, after the burst of praise which comes from +redeemed men standing around the throne, every creature in the earth and +in the heavens, and in the sea and all that are therein were heard +saying, 'Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto Him that +sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.' + +We need not speculate, it is better not to enter into details, but this, +at least, is clear, that that solemn winding up of the long, mysterious, +sad, blood and tear-stained history of man upon the earth is to be an +object of interest and a higher revelation of God to other creatures +than those that dwell upon the earth; and we may well believe that for +that moment, at all events, the centre of the universe, which draws the +thoughts of all thinking, and the eyes of all seeing, creatures to it, +shall be that valley of judgment wherein sits the Man Christ and judges +men, and round Him the flashing reflectors of His glory in the person of +His saints. + +IV. And lastly, look at men's path to this glorifying. + +'He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be wondered at in +all them that _believed_'; as that word ought to be rendered. That is to +say, they who on earth were His, consecrated and devoted to Him, and in +some humble measure partaking even here of His reflected beauty and +imparted righteousness--these are they in whom He shall be glorified. +They who 'believed'; poor, trembling, struggling, fainting souls, that +here on earth, in the midst of many doubts and temptations, clasped His +hand; and howsoever tremulously, yet truly put their trust in Him, these +are they in whom He shall 'be wondered at.' + +The simple act of faith knits us to the Lord. If we trust Him He comes +into our hearts here, and begins to purify us, and to make us like +Himself; and, if that be so, and we keep hold of Him, we shall finally +share in His glory. + +What a hope, what an encouragement, what a stimulus and exhortation to +humble and timorous souls there is in that great word, 'In _all_ them +that believed'! Howsoever imperfect, still they shall be kept by the +power of God unto that final salvation. And when He comes in His glory, +not one shall be wanting that put their trust in Him. + +It will take them all, each in his several way reflecting it, to set +forth adequately the glory. As many diamonds round a central light, +which from each facet give off a several ray and a definite colour; so +all that circle round Christ and partaking of His glory, will each +receive it, transmit it, and so manifest it in a different fashion. And +it needs the innumerable company of the redeemed, each a several +perfectness, to set forth all the fulness of the Christ that dwells in +us. + +So, dear brethren, beginning with simple faith in Him, partially +receiving the beauty of His transforming spirit, seeking here on earth +by assimilation to the Master in some humble measure to adorn the +doctrine and to glorify the Christ, we may hope that each blackness will +be changed into brightness, our limitations done away with, our weakness +lifted into rejoicing strength; and that we shall be like Him, seeing +Him as He is, and glorified in Him, shall glorify Him before the +universe. + +You and I will be there. Choose which of the two halves of that sky that +I was speaking about in my introductory remarks will be your sky; +whether He shall be revealed, and the light of His face be to you like a +sword whose flashing edge means destruction, or whether the light of His +face shall fall upon your heart because you love Him and trust Him, like +the sunshine on the Alpine snow, lifting it to a more lustrous +whiteness, and tingeing it with an ethereal hue of more than earthly +beauty, which no other power but an indwelling Christ can give. He shall +come with 'everlasting destruction from the face'; and 'He shall come to +be glorified in His saints, and to be wondered at in all them that +believed.' Do you choose which of the two shall be your portion in that +day. + + + + +WORTHY OF YOUR CALLING + + 'We pray always for you, that our God would count + you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the + good pleasure of His goodness, and the work of + faith with power; 12. That the name of our Lord + Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in + Him.'--2 THESS. i. 11, 12. + + +In the former letter to the Church of Thessalonica, the Apostle had +dwelt, in ever-memorable words--which sound like a prelude of the trump +of God--on the coming of Christ at the end to judge the world, and to +gather His servants into His rest. That great thought seems to have +excited some of the hotter heads in Thessalonica, and to have led to a +general feverishness of unwholesome expectancy of the near approach or +actual dawn of the day. This letter is intended as a supplement to the +former Epistle, and to damp down the fire which had been kindled. It, +therefore, dwells with emphasis on the necessary preliminaries to the +dawning of that day of the Lord, and throughout seeks to lead the +excited spirits to patience and persistent work, and to calm their +feverish expectations. This purpose colours the whole letter. + +Another striking characteristic of it is the frequent gushes of short +prayer for the Thessalonians with which the writer turns aside from the +main current of his thoughts. In its brief compass there are four of +these prayers, which, taken together, present many aspects of the +Christian life, and hold out much for our hopes and much for our +efforts. The prayer which I have read for our text is the first of +these. The others, the consideration of which will follow on subsequent +occasions, are these:--'Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even our +Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation +and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and stablish you in +every good word and work.' And, again, 'The Lord direct your hearts into +the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.' And, finally, +summing up all, 'The Lord of peace Himself give you peace always, by all +means.' So full, so tender, so directed to the highest blessings, and to +those only, are the wishes of a true Christian teacher, and of a true +Christian friend, for those to whom He ministers and whom He loves. It +is a poor love that cannot express itself in prayer. It is an earthly +love which desires for its objects anything less than the highest of +blessings. + +I. Notice, first, here, the divine test for Christian lives: 'We pray +for you, that God would count you worthy of your calling.' + +Now, it is to be observed that this 'counting worthy' refers mainly to a +future estimate to be made by God of the completed career and permanent +character brought out of earth into another state by Christian souls. +That is obvious from the whole strain of the letter, which I have +already pointed out as mainly being concerned with the future coming to +judgment of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is also, I think, made probable by +the fact that the same expression, 'counting worthy,' occurs in an +earlier verse of this chapter, where the reference is exclusively to the +future judgment. + +So, then, we are brought face to face with this thought of an actual, +stringent judgment which God will apply in the future to the lives and +characters of professing Christians. Now, that is a great deal too much +forgotten in our popular Christian teaching and in our average Christian +faith. It is perfectly true that he who trusts in Jesus Christ will 'not +come into condemnation, but has passed from death unto life.' But it is +just as true that 'judgment shall begin at the house of God,' and that, +'the Lord will judge His people.' And therefore, it becomes us to lay to +heart this truth, that we, just because, if we are Christians, we stand +nearest to God, are surest to be searched through and through by the +light that streams from Him, and to have every flaw and corrupt speck +and black spot brought out into startling prominence. Let no Christian +man fancy that he shall escape the righteous judgment of God. The great +doctrine of forgiveness does not mean that He suffers our sin to remain +upon us unjudged, ay! or unavenged. But just as, day by day, there is an +actual estimate in the divine mind, according to truth, of what we +really are, so, at the last, God's servants will be gathered before His +throne. 'They that have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice' shall be +assembled there--as the Psalm has it--'that the Lord may judge His +people.' + +Then, if the actual passing of a divine judgment day by day, and a +future solemn act of judgment after we have done with earth, and our +characters are completed, and our careers rounded into a whole, is to be +looked for by Christians, what is the standard by which their worthiness +is to be judged? + +'Your calling.' The 'this' of my text in the Authorised Version is a +supplement, and a better supplement is that of the Revised Version, +'your calling.' Now _calling_ does not mean 'avocation' or 'employment,' +as I perhaps need scarcely explain, but the divine fact of our having +been summoned by Him to be His. Consider who calls. God Himself. +Consider how He calls. By the Gospel, by Jesus Christ, or, as another +apostle has it, 'by His own glory and virtue' manifested in the world. +That great voice which is in Jesus Christ, so tender, so searching, so +heart-melting, so vibrating with the invitation of love and the yearning +of a longing heart, summons or calls us. Consider, also, what this +calling is to. 'God hath not called us to uncleanness, but to holiness,' +or, as this letter has it, in another part, 'unto salvation through +sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth.' By all the +subduing and animating and restraining and impelling tones in the +sacrifice and life of Jesus Christ we are summoned to a life of +self-crucifixion, of subjection of the flesh, of aspiration after God, +of holy living according to the pattern that was showed us in Him. We +are summoned here and now to a life of purity and righteousness and +self-sacrifice. But also 'He hath called us to His everlasting kingdom +and glory.' That voice sounds from above now. From the Cross it said to +us, 'I die that ye may live'; from the throne it says to us, 'Live +because I live, and come to live where I live.' The same invitation, +which calls us to a life of righteousness and self-suppression and +purity, also calls us, with the sweet promise that is firm as the throne +of God, to the everlasting felicities of that perfect kingdom in which, +because the obedience is entire, the glory shall be untremulous and +unstained. Therefore, considering who summons, by what He summons, and +to what He calls us, do there not lie in the fact of that divine call to +which we Christians say that we have yielded, the solemnest motives, the +loftiest standard, the most stringent obligations for life? What sort of +a life will that be which is worthy of that voice? Is yours? Is mine? +Are there not the most flagrant examples of professing Christians, whose +lives are in the most outrageous discordance with the lofty obligations +and mighty motives of the summons which they profess to have obeyed? +'Worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called!' Have I made my own the +things which I am invited to possess? Have I yielded to the obligations +which are enwrapped in that invitation? Does my life correspond to the +divine purpose in calling me to be His? Can I say, 'Lord, Thou art mine, +and I am Thine, and here my life witnesses to it, because self is +banished from it, and I am full of God, and the life which I live in +the flesh I live not to myself, but to Him that died for me?' + +An absolute correspondence, a complete worthiness or perfect desert, is +impossible for us all, but a worthiness which His merciful judgment who +makes allowance for us all may accept, as not too flagrantly +contradictory of what He meant us to be, is possible even for our poor +attainments and our stained lives. If it were Paul's supreme prayer, +should it not be our supreme aim, that we may be worthy of Him that hath +called us, and 'walk worthy of the vocation wherewith we are called'? + +II. Note, here, the divine help to meet the test. + +If it were a matter of our own effort alone, who of us could pretend to +reach to the height of conformity with the great design of the loving +Father in summoning us, or with the mighty powers that are set in motion +by the summons for the purifying of men's lives? But here is the great +characteristic and blessing of God's Gospel, that it not only summons us +to holiness and to heaven, but reaches out a hand to help us thither. +Therein it contrasts with all other voices--and many of them are noble +and pathetic in their insistence and vehemence--which call men to lofty +lives. Whether it be the voice of conscience, or of human ethics, or of +the great ones, the elect of the race, who, in every age, have been as +voices crying in the wilderness, 'Prepare ye the way of the Lord'--all +these call us, but reach no hand out to draw us. They are all as voices +from the heights and are of God, but they are voices only; they summon +us to noble deeds, and leave us floundering in the mire. + +But we have not a God who tells us to be good, and then watches to see +if we will obey, but we have a God who, with all His summonses, brings +to us the help to keep His commandments. Our God has more than a voice +to enjoin, He has a hand to lift, 'Give what Thou commandest, and +command what Thou wilt,' said Augustine. There is the blessing and glory +of the Gospel, that its summons has in it an impelling power which makes +men able to be what it enjoins them to become. My text, therefore, +follows the prayer 'that God would count you worthy,' which contemplates +God simply as judging men's correspondence with the ideal revealed in +their calling, and is the cry of faith to the giving God, who works in +us, if we will let Him, that which He enjoins on us. There are two +directions of that divine working specified in the text. Paul asks that +God would fulfil 'every desire of goodness and every work of faith,' as +the Revised Version renders the words. Two things, then, we may hope +that God will do for us--He will fulfil every yearning after +righteousness and purity in our hearts, and will perfect the active +energy which faith puts forth in our lives. + +Paul says, in effect, first, that God will fulfil every desire that +longs for goodness. He is scarcely deserving of being called good who +does not desire to be better. Aspiration must always be ahead of +performance in a growing life, such as every Christian life ought to be. +To long for any righteousness and beauty of goodness is, in some +imperfect and incipient measure, to possess the good for which we long. +This is the very signature of a Christian life--yearning after +unaccomplished perfection. If you know nothing of that desire that +stings and impels you onwards; if you do not know what it is to say, +'Oh! wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this +death?' if you do not know what it is to follow the fair ideal realised +in Jesus Christ with infinite longing, what right have you to call +yourself a Christian? The very essence of the Christian life is yearning +for completeness, and restlessness as long as sin has any power over us. +We live not only by admiration, faith, and love, but we live by hope; +and he who does not hunger and thirst after righteousness has yet to +learn what are the first principles of the Gospel of Christ. + +If there be not the desire after goodness, the restlessness and +dissatisfaction with every present good, the brave ambition that says, +'Forgetting the things that are behind, I reach forth unto the things +that are before,' there is nothing in a man to which God's grace can +attach itself. God cannot make you better if you do not wish to be +better. There is no point upon which His hallowing and ennobling grace +can lay hold in your hearts without such desire. 'Open thy mouth wide +and I will fill it.' If, as is too often the case with hosts of +professing Christians, you shut your mouths tight and lock your teeth, +how can God put any food between your lips? There must, first of all, be +the aspiration, and then there will be the satisfaction. + +I look out upon my congregation, or, better still, I look into my own +heart, and I say, If I, if you, dear brethren, are not worthy of the +vocation wherewith we are called, we have not because we ask not. If +there be no desire after goodness in our hearts, God cannot make us +good. Our wishes are the mould into which the molten metal from the +great furnace of His love will run. If we bring but a little vessel we +cannot get a large supply. The manna lies round our tents; it is for us +to determine how much we will gather. + +And in like manner, says Paul, God will fulfil every work of faith. Our +faith in Jesus Christ will naturally tend to influence our lives, and to +manifest itself as a driving power which will set all the wheels of +conduct in motion. Paul is quite sure that if we trust ourselves to God, +all the beneficent and holy work that flows from such confidence will by +Him be fully perfected. + +God's fulfilment is to be done _with power_. That is to say, He will fit +us to be worthy of our calling, He will answer our desires, He will give +energy to our faith, and complete in number and in quality its +operations in our lives, by reason of His dwelling with us and in us by +that spirit of power and of love and of a sound mind which works all +righteousness in believing hearts, and sheds divine beauty and goodness +over character and life. + +III. Lastly, note the divine glory of the worthy. + +This fulfilment of every desire of goodness and work of faith is in +order 'that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you +and ye in Him.' + +Here, again, as in the first clause of our text, I take, in accordance +with the prevailing tone of this letter, the reference to be mainly, +though perhaps not exclusively, to a future transcendent glorifying of +the name of Christ in perfected saints, and glorifying of perfected +saints in Jesus Christ. + +We have, then, set forth, first, as the result of the fulfilling of +Christian men's desires after goodness, and the work of their faith, the +glory that accrues to Christ from perfected saints. They are His +workmanship. You remember the old story of the artist who went into a +fellow-artist's studio and left upon the easel one complete circle, +swept with one master-whirl of the brush. Jesus Christ presents +perfected men to an admiring universe as specimens of what He can do. +His highest work is the redeeming of poor creatures like you and me, and +the making of us perfect in goodness and worthy of our calling. We are +His _chefs-d'oeuvre_, the master work of the great divine artist. + +Think, then, brethren, how, here and now, Christ's reputation is in our +hands. Men judge of Him by us. The name of the Lord Jesus is glorified +in you if you live 'worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,' and +people will think better of the Master if His disciples are faithful. +Depend upon it, if we of this church, for instance, and the Christian +people within these walls now, lived the lives that they ought to do, +and manifested the power of the Gospel as they might, there would be +many who would say, 'They have been with Jesus, and the Jesus that has +made them what they are must be mighty and great.' The best evidence of +the power of the Gospel is your consistent lives. + +Think, too, of that strange dignity that in the future, in manners and +in regions all undiscernible by us, Christians, who have been made out +of stones into children of God, will make known 'unto principalities and +powers in heavenly places' the wisdom and the love and the energy of the +redeeming God. Who knows to what regions the commission of the perfected +saints to make Christ known may carry them? Light travels far, and we +cannot tell into what remote corners of the universe this may penetrate. +This only we know, that they who shall be counted worthy to attain that +life and the Resurrection from the dead shall bear the image of the +heavenly, and perhaps to creations yet uncreated, and still to be +evolved through the ages of eternity, it may be their part to carry the +lustre of the light of the glory of God who redeemed and purified them. + +On the other hand, there is glory accruing to perfected saints in +Christ. 'And ye in Him.' There will be a union so close as that nothing +closer is possible, personality being preserved, between Christ and the +saints above, who trust Him and love Him and serve Him there. And that +union will lead to a participation in His glory which shall exalt their +limited, stained, and fragmentary humanity into 'the measure of the +stature of the fulness of Christ.' Astronomers tell us that dead, cold +matter falls from all corners of the system into the sun, drawn by its +magic magnetism from farthest space, and, plunging into that great +reservoir of fire, the deadest and coldest matter glows with fervid heat +and dazzling light. So you and I, dead, cold, dull, opaque, heavy +fragments, drawn into mysterious oneness with Christ, the Sun of our +souls, shall be transformed into His own image, and like Him be light +and heat which shall radiate through the universe. + +Brethren, meditate on your calling, the fact, its method, its aim, its +obligations, and its powers. Cherish hopes and desires after goodness, +the only hopes and desires that are certain to be fulfilled. Cultivate +the life of faith working by love, and let us all live in the light of +that solemn expectation that the Lord will judge His people. Then we may +hope that the voice which summoned us will welcome us, and proclaim even +of us, stained and undeserving as we rightly feel ourselves to be: +'They have not defiled their garments, therefore they shall walk with Me +in white, for they are worthy.' + + + + +EVERLASTING CONSOLATION AND GOOD HOPE + + 'Now our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and God, even + our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us + everlasting consolation, and good hope through + grace. 17. Comfort your hearts, and stablish you + in every good word and work.'--2 THESS. ii. 16, + 17. + + +This is the second of the four brief prayers which, as I pointed out in +my last sermon, break the current of Paul's teaching in this letter, and +witness to the depth of his affection to his Thessalonian converts. We +do not know the special circumstances under which these then were, but +there are many allusions, both in the first and second epistles, which +seem to indicate that they specially needed the gift of consolation. + +They were a young Church, just delivered from paganism. Like lambs in +the midst of wolves, they stood amongst bitter enemies, their teacher +had left them alone, and their raw convictions needed to be consolidated +and matured in the face of much opposition. No wonder then that over and +over again, in both letters, we have references to the persecutions and +tribulations which they endured, and to the consolations which would +much more abound. + +But whatever may have been their specific circumstances, the prayer +which puts special emphasis on comfort is as much needed by each of us +as it could ever have been by any of them. For there are no eyes that +have not wept, or will not weep; no breath that has not been, or will +not be, drawn in sighs; and no hearts that have not bled, or will not +bleed. So, dear friends, the prayer that went up for these long since +comforted brothers, in their forgotten obscure sorrows, is as needful +for each of us--that the God who has given everlasting consolation may +apply the consolations which He has supplied, and 'comfort our hearts +and stablish them in every good word and work.' + +The prayer naturally falls, as all true prayer will, into three +sections--the contemplation of Him to whom it is addressed, the grasping +of the great act on which it is based, and the specification of the +desires which it includes. These three thoughts may guide us for a few +moments now. + +I. First of all, then, note the divine hearers of the prayer. + +The first striking thing about this prayer is its emphatic recognition +of the divinity of Jesus Christ as a truth familiar to these +Thessalonian converts. Note the solemn accumulation of His august +titles, 'Our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.' Note, further, that +extraordinary association of His name with the Father's. Note, still +further, the most remarkable order in which these two names occur--Jesus +first, God second. If we were not so familiar with the words, and with +their order, which reappears in Paul's well-known and frequently-used +Benediction, we should be startled to find that Jesus Christ was put +before God in such a solemn address. The association and the order of +mention of the names are equally outrageous, profane, and inexplicable, +except upon one hypothesis, and that is that Jesus Christ is divine. + +The reason for the order may be found partly in the context, which has +just been naming Christ, but still more in the fact that whilst he +writes, the Apostle is realising the mediation of Christ, and that the +order of mention is the order of our approach. The Father comes to us in +the Son; we come to the Father by the Son; and, therefore, it is no +intercepting of our reverence, nor blasphemously lifting the creature to +undue elevation, when in one act the Apostle appeals to 'our Lord Jesus +Christ Himself, and God our Father.' + +Note, still further, the distinct address to Christ as the Hearer of +Prayer. And, note, last of all, about this matter, the singular +grammatical irregularity in my text, which is something much more than a +mere blunder or slip of the pen. The words which follow, viz., 'comfort' +and 'stablish,' are in the singular, whilst these two mighty and august +names are their nominatives, and would therefore, by all regularity, +require a plural to follow them. That this peculiarity is no mere +accident, but intentional and deliberate, is made probable by the two +instances in our text, and is made certain, as it seems to me, by the +fact that the same anomalous and eloquent construction occurs in the +previous epistle to the same church, where we have in exact parallelism +with our text, 'God Himself, our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ,' +with the singular verb, 'direct our way unto you.' The phraseology is +the expression, in grammatical form, of the great truth, 'Whatsoever +things the Father doeth, these also doth the Son likewise.' And from it +there gleam out unmistakably the great principles of the unity of action +and the distinction of person between Father and Son, in the depths of +that infinite and mysterious Godhead. + +Now all this, which seems to me to be irrefragable, is made the more +remarkable and the stronger as a witness of the truth, from the fact +that it occurs in this perfectly incidental fashion, and without a word +of explanation or apology, as taking for granted that there was a +background of teaching in the Thessalonian Church which had prepared the +way for it, and rendered it intelligible, as well as a background of +conviction which had previously accepted it. + +And, remember, these two letters, thus full-toned in their declaration, +and taking for granted the previous acceptance of the great doctrine of +the divinity of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, are the earliest +portions of the New Testament, and are often spoken about as being +singularly undogmatic. So they are, and therefore all the more eloquent +and all the more conclusive is such a testimony as this to the sort of +teaching which from the beginning the Apostle addressed to his converts. + +Now is that your notion of Jesus Christ? Do you regard Him as the sharer +in the divine attributes and in the divine throne? It was a living +Christ that Paul was thinking about when he wrote these words, who could +hear him praying in Corinth, and could reach a helping hand down to +these poor men in Thessalonica. It was a divine Christ that Paul was +thinking about when he dared to say, 'Our Lord Jesus Christ, and God our +Father.' And I beseech you to ask yourself the question whether your +faith accepts that great teaching, and whether to you He is far more +than 'the Man Christ Jesus'; and just because He is _the_ man, is +therefore the Son of God. Brethren! either Jesus lies in an unknown +grave, ignorant of all that is going on here, and the notion that He can +help is a delusion and a dream, or else He is the ever-living because He +is the divine Christ, to whom we poor men can speak with the certainty +that He hears us, and who wields the energies of Deity, and works the +same works as the Father, for the help and blessing of the souls that +trust Him. + +II. Secondly, note the great fact on which this prayer builds itself. + +The form of words in the original, 'loved' and 'given,' all but +necessarily requires us to suppose that their reference is to some one +definite historical act in which the love was manifested, and, as love +always does, found voice in giving. Love is the infinite desire to +bestow, and its language is always a gift. Then, according to the +Apostle's thought, there is some one act in which all the fulness of the +divine love manifests itself; some one act in which all the treasures +which God can bestow upon men are conveyed and handed over to a world. + +The statement that there is such renders almost unnecessary the question +what such an act is. For there can be but one in all the sweep of the +magnificent and beneficent divine deeds, so correspondent to His love, +and so inclusive of all His giving, as that it shall be the ground of +our confidence and the warrant for our prayers. The gift of Jesus Christ +is that in which everlasting consolation and good hope are bestowed upon +men. When our desires are widened out to the widest they must be based +upon the great sacrifice of Jesus Christ; and when we would think most +confidently and most desiringly of the benefits that we seek, for +ourselves or for our fellows, we must turn to the Cross. My prayer is +then acceptable and prevalent when it foots itself on the past divine +act, and looking to the life and death of Jesus Christ, is widened out +to long for, ask for, and in the very longing and asking for to begin +to possess, the fulness of the gifts which then were brought to men in +Him. + +'Everlasting consolation and good hope.' I suppose the Apostle's +emphasis is to be placed quite as much on the adjectives as on the +nouns; for there are consolations enough in the world, only none of them +are permanent; and there are hopes enough that amuse and draw men, but +one of them only is 'good.' The gift of Christ, thinks Paul, is the gift +of a comfort which will never fail amidst all the vicissitudes and +accumulated and repeated and prolonged sorrows to which flesh is heir, +and is likewise the gift of a hope which, in its basis and in its +objects, is equally noble and good. + +Look at these two things briefly. Paul thinks that in Jesus Christ you +and I, and all the world, if it will have it, has received the gift of +an everlasting comfort. Ah! sorrow is more persistent than consolation. +The bandaged wounds bleed again; the fire damped down for a moment +smoulders, even when damped, and bursts out again. But there is one +source of comfort which, because it comes from an unchangeable Christ, +and because it communicates unfailing gifts of patience and insight, and +because it leads forward to everlasting blessedness and recompenses, may +well be called 'eternal consolation.' Of course, consolation is not +needed when sorrow has ceased; and when the wiping away of all tears +from off all faces, and the plunging of grief into the nethermost fires, +there to be consumed, have come about, there is no more need for +comfort. Yet that which made the comfort while sorrow lasts, makes the +triumph and the rapture when sorrow is dead, and is everlasting, though +its office of consolation determines with earth. + +'Good hope through grace.' This is the weakness of all the hopes which +dance like fireflies in the dark before men, and are often like +will-o'-the-wisps in the night tempting men into deep mire, where there +is no standing--that they are uncertain in their basis and inadequate in +their range. The prostitution of the great faculty of hope is one of the +saddest characteristics of our feeble and fallen manhood; for the bulk +of our hopes are doubtful and akin to fears, and are mean and low, and +disproportioned to the possibilities, and therefore the obligations, of +our spirits. But in that Cross which teaches us the meaning of sorrows, +and in that Christ whose presence is light in darkness, and the very +embodied consolation of all hearts, there lie at once the foundation and +the object of a hope which, in consideration both of object and +foundation, stands unique in its excellence and sufficient in its +firmness. 'A good hope'; good because well founded; and good because +grasping worthy objects; eternal consolation outlasting all +sorrows--these things were given once for all, to the whole world when +Jesus Christ came and lived and died. The materials for a comfort that +shall never fail me, and for the foundation and the object of a hope +that shall never be ashamed, are supplied in Jesus Christ our Lord. And +so these gifts, already passed under the great seal of heaven, and +confirmed to us all, if we choose to take them for ours, are the ground +upon which the largest prayers may be rested, and the most ardent +desires may be unblamably cherished, in the full confidence that no +petitions of ours can reach to the greatness of the divine purpose, and +that the widest and otherwise wildest of our hopes and wishes are sober +under-estimates of what God has already given to us. For if He has +given the material, He will apply what He has supplied. And if He has +thus in the past bestowed the possibilities of comfort and hope upon the +world, He will not slack His hand, if we desire the possibility to be in +our hearts turned into the actuality. + +God has given, therefore God will give. That in heaven's logic, but it +does not do for men. It presupposes inexhaustible resources, +unchangeable purposes of kindness, patience that is not disgusted and +cannot be turned away by our sin. These things being presupposed it is +true; and the prayer of my text, that God would comfort, can have no +firmer foundation than the confidence of my text, that God has given +'everlasting consolation and good hope through grace.' 'Thou hast helped +us; leave us not, neither forsake us, O God of our salvation.' + +III. The last thing here is the petitions based upon the contemplation +of the divine hearers of the prayer, and of the gift already bestowed by +God. + +May He 'comfort your hearts, and stablish you in every good word and +work.' I have already said all that perhaps is necessary in regard to +the connection between the past gift of everlasting consolation and the +present and future comforting of hearts which is here desired. It seems +to me that the Apostle has in his mind the distinction between the great +work of Christ, in which are supplied for us the materials for comfort +and hope, and the present and continuous work of that Divine Spirit, by +which God dwelling in our hearts in Jesus Christ makes real for each of +us the universal gift of consolation and of hope. God has bestowed the +materials for comfort; God will give the comfort for which He has +supplied the materials. It were a poor thing if all that we could +expect from our loving Father in the heavens were that He should +contribute to us what might make us peaceful and glad and calm in +sorrow, if we chose to use it. Men comfort from without; God steals into +the heart, and there diffuses the aroma of His presence. Christ comes +into the ship before He says, 'Peace! be still!' It is not enough for +our poor troubled heart that there should be calmness and consolation +twining round the Cross if we choose to pluck the fruit. We need, and +therefore we have, an indwelling God who, by that Spirit which is the +Comforter, will make for each of us the everlasting consolation which He +has bestowed upon the world our individual possession. God's husbandry +is not merely broadcast sowing of the seed, but the planting in each +individual heart of the precious germ. And the God who has given +everlasting consolation to a whole world will comfort _thy_ heart. + +Then, again, the comforted heart will be a stable heart. Our fixedness +and stability are not natural immobility, but communicated +steadfastness. There must be, first, the consolation of Christ before +there can be the calmness of a settled heart. We all know how +vacillating, how driven to and fro by gusts of passion and winds of +doctrine and forces of earth our resolutions and spirits are. But +thistledown glued to a firm surface will be firm, and any light thing +lashed to a solid one will be solid; and reeds shaken with the wind may +be turned into brazen pillars that cannot be moved. If we have Christ in +our hearts, He will be our consolation first and our stability next. Why +should it be that we are spasmodic and fluctuating, and the slaves of +ups and downs, like some barometer in stormy weather; now at 'set +fair,' and then away down where 'much rain' is written? There is no need +for it. Get Christ into your heart, and your mercury will always stand +at one height. Why should it be that at one hour the flashing waters +fill the harbour, and that six hours afterwards there is a waste of ooze +and filth? It need not be. Our hearts may be like some landlocked lake +that knows no tide. 'His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.' + +The comforted and stable heart will be a fruitful heart. 'In _every_ +good word and work.' Ah! how fragmentary is our goodness, like the +broken torsos of the statues of fair gods dug up in some classic land. +There is no reason why each of us should not appropriate and make our +own the forms of goodness to which we are least naturally inclined, and +cultivate and possess a symmetrical, fully-developed, all-round +goodness, in some humble measure after the pattern of Jesus Christ our +Lord. Practical righteousness, 'in every good word and work,' is the +outcome of all the sacred and secret consolations and blessings that +Jesus Christ imparts. There are many Christian people who are like those +swallow-holes, as they call them, characteristic of limestone countries, +where a great river plunges into a cave and is no more heard of. You do +not get your comforts and your blessing for that, brother, but in order +that all the joy and peace, all the calmness and the communion, which +you realise in the secret place of the Most High, may be translated into +goodness and manifest righteousness in the market-place and the street. +We get our goodness where we get our consolation, from Jesus Christ and +His Cross. + +And so, dear friends, all your comforts will die, and your sorrows will +live, unless you have Christ for your own. The former will be like some +application that is put on a poisoned bite, which will soothe it for a +moment, but as soon as the anodyne dries off the skin, the poison will +tingle and burn again, and will be working in the blood, whilst the +remedy only touched the surface of the flesh. All your hopes will be +like a child's castles on the sand, which the next tide will smooth out +and obliterate, unless your hope is fixed on Him. You may have +everlasting consolation, you may have a hope which will enable you to +look serenely on the ills of life, and on the darkness of death, and on +what darkly looms beyond death. You may have a calmed and steadied +heart; you may have an all-round, stable, comprehensive goodness. But +there is only one way to get these blessings, and that is to grasp and +make our own, by simple faith and constant clinging, that great gift, +given once for all in Jesus Christ, the gift of comfort that never dies, +and of hope that never deceives, and then to apply that gift day by day, +through God's good Spirit, to sorrows and trials and duties as they +emerge. + + + + +THE HEART'S HOME AND GUIDE + + 'The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, + and into the patient waiting for Christ.'--2 + THESS. iii. 5. + + +A word or two of explanation of terms may preface our remarks on this, +the third of the Apostle's prayers for the Thessalonians in this letter. +The first point to be noticed is that by 'the Lord' here is meant, as +usually in the New Testament, Jesus Christ. So that here again we have +the distinct recognition of His divinity, and the direct address of +prayer to Him. + +The next thing to notice is that by 'the love of God' is here meant, not +God's to us, but ours to Him; and that the petition, therefore, respects +the emotions and sentiments of the Thessalonians towards the Father in +heaven. + +And the last point is that the rendering of the Authorised Version, +'patient waiting for Christ,' is better exchanged for that of the +Revised Version, 'the patience of Christ,' meaning thereby the same +patience as He exhibited in His earthly life, and which He is ready to +bestow upon us. + +It is not usual in the New Testament to find Jesus Christ set forth as +the great Example of patient endurance; but still there are one or two +instances in which the same expression is applied to Him. For example, +in two contiguous verses in the Epistle to the Hebrews, we read of His +'enduring contradiction of sinners against Himself,' and 'enduring the +Cross, despising the shame,' in both of which cases we have the verb +employed of which the noun is here used. Then in the Apocalypse we have +such expressions as 'the patience of Christ,' of which John says that he +and his brethren whom he is addressing are 'participators,' and, again, +'thou hast kept the word of my patience.' + +So, though unusual, the thought of our text as presented in the amended +version is by no means singular. These things, then, being premised, we +may now look at this petition as a whole. + +I. The first thought that it suggests to me is, the home of the heart. + +'The Lord direct you _into_ the love of God and the patience of Christ.' +The prayers in this letter with which we have been occupied for some +Sundays present to us Christian perfection under various aspects. But +this we may, perhaps, say is the most comprehensive and condensed of +them all. The Apostle gathers up the whole sum of his desires for his +friends, and presents to us the whole aim of our efforts for ourselves, +in these two things, a steadfast love to God, and a calm endurance of +evil and persistence in duty, unaffected by suffering or by pain. If we +have these two we shall not be far from being what God wishes to see us. + +Now the Apostle's thought here, of 'leading us into' these two seems to +suggest the metaphor of a great home with two chambers in it, of which +the inner was entered from the outer. The first room is 'the love of +God,' and the second is 'the patience of Christ.' It comes to the same +thing whether we speak of the heart as dwelling in love, or of love as +dwelling in the heart. The metaphor varies, the substance of the thought +is the same, and that thought is that the heart should be the sphere and +subject of a steadfast, habitual, all-pleasing love, which issues in +unbroken calmness of endurance and persistence of service, in the face +of evil. + +Let us look, then, for a moment at these two points. I need not dwell +upon the bare idea of love to God as being the characteristic of the +Christian attitude towards Him, or remind you of how strange and +unexampled a thing it is that all religion should be reduced to this one +fruitful germ, love to the Father in heaven. But it is more to the +purpose for me to point to the constancy, the unbrokenness, the depth, +which the Apostle here desires should be the characteristics of +Christian love to God. We sometimes cherish such emotion; but, alas, how +rare it is for us to dwell in that calm home all the days of our lives! +We visit that serene sanctuary at intervals, and then for the rest of +our days we are hurried to and fro between contending affections, and +wander homeless amidst inadequate loves. But what Paul asked, and what +should be the conscious aim of the Christian life, is, that we should +'dwell all our days in the house of the Lord, to behold the beauty of +the Lord and to enquire in His temple.' + +Alas, when we think of our own experiences, how fair and far seems that +other, contemplated as a possibility in my text, that our hearts should +'abide in the love of God'! + +Let me remind you, too, that steadfastness of habitual love all round +our hearts, as it were, is the source and germ of all perfectness of +life and conduct. 'Love and do as Thou wilt,' is a bold saying, but not +too bold. For the very essence of love is the smelting of the will of +the lover into the will of the beloved. And there is nothing so certain +as that, in regard to all human relations, and in regard to the +relations to God which in many respects follow, and are moulded after +the pattern of, our earthly relations of love, to have the heart fixed +in pure affection is to have the whole life subordinated in glad +obedience. Nothing is so sweet as to do the beloved's will. The germ of +all righteousness, as well as the characteristic spirit of every +righteous deed, lies in love to God. This is the mother tincture which, +variously coloured and with various additions, makes all the different +precious liquids which we can pour as libations on His altar. The one +saving salt of all deeds in reference to Him is that they are the +outcome and expression of a loving heart. He who loves is righteous, +and doeth righteousness. So, 'love is the fulfilling of the law.' + +That the heart should be fixed in its abode in love to God is the secret +of all blessedness, as it is the source of all righteousness. Love is +always joy in itself; it is the one deliverance from self-bondage to +which self is the one curse and misery of man. The emancipation from +care and sorrow and unrest lies in that going out of ourselves which we +call by the name of love. There be things masquerading about the world, +and profaning the sacred name of love by taking it to themselves, which +are only selfishness under a disguise. But true love is the +annihilation, and therefore the apotheosis and glorifying, of self; and +in that annihilation lies the secret charm which brings all blessedness +into a life. + +But, then, though love in itself be always bliss, yet, by reason of the +imperfections of its objects, it sometimes leads to sorrow. For +limitations and disappointments and inadequacies of all sorts haunt our +earthly loves whilst they last; and we have all to see them fade, or to +fade away from them. The thing you love may change, the thing you love +must die; and therefore love, which in itself is blessedness, hath +often, like the little book that the prophet swallowed, a bitter taste +remaining when the sweetness is gone. But if we set our hearts on God, +we set our hearts on that which knows no variableness, neither the +shadow of turning. _There_ are no inadequate responses, no changes that +we need fear. On that love the scythe of death, which mows down all +other products of the human heart, hath no power; and its stem stands +untouched by the keen edge that levels all the rest of the herbage. Love +God, and thou lovest eternity; and therefore the joy of the love is +eternal as its object. So he who loves God is building upon a rock, and +whosoever has this for his treasure carries his wealth with him +whithersoever he goes. Well may the Apostle gather into one potent word, +and one mighty wish, the whole fulness of his desires for his friends. +And wise shall we be if we make this the chiefest of our aims, that our +hearts may have their home in the love of God. + +Still further, there is another chamber in this house of the soul. The +outer room, where the heart inhabits that loves God, leads into another +compartment, 'the patience of Christ.' + +Now, I suppose I need not remind many of you that this great New +Testament word 'patience' has a far wider area of meaning than that +which is ordinarily covered by that expression. For _patience_, as we +use it, is simply a passive virtue. But the thing that is meant by the +New Testament word which is generally so rendered has an active as well +as a passive side. On the passive side it is the calm, unmurmuring, +unreluctant submission of the will to whatsoever evil may come upon us, +either directly from God's hand, or through the ministration and +mediation of men who are His sword. On the active side it is the +steadfast persistence in the path of duty, in spite of all that may +array itself against us. So there are the two halves of the virtue which +is here put before us--unmurmuring submission and bold continuance in +well-doing, whatsoever storms may hurtle in our faces. + +Now, in both of these aspects, the life of Jesus Christ is the great +pattern. As for the passive side, need I remind you how, 'as a sheep +before her shearers is dumb, so He opened not His mouth'? 'When He was +reviled He reviled not again, but committed Himself unto Him that +judgeth uprightly.' No anger ever flushed His cheek or contracted His +brow. He never repaid scorn with scorn, nor hate with hate. All men's +malice fell upon Him, like sparks upon wet timber, and kindled no +conflagration. + +As for the active side, I need not remind you how 'He set His face to go +to Jerusalem'--how the great solemn '_must_' which ruled His life bore +Him on, steadfast and without deflection in His course, through all +obstacles. There never was such heroic force as the quiet force of the +meek and gentle Christ, which wasted no strength in displaying or +boasting of itself, but simply, silently, unconquerably, like the +secular motions of the stars, dominated all opposition, and carried Him, +unhasting and unresting, on His path. That life, with all its surface of +weakness, had an iron tenacity of purpose beneath, which may well stand +for our example. Like some pure glacier from an Alpine peak, it comes +silently, slowly down into the valley; and though to the eye it seems +not to move, it presses on with a force sublime in its silence and +gigantic in its gentleness, and buries beneath it the rocks that stand +in its way. The patience of Christ is the very sublimity of persistence +in well-doing. It is our example, and more than our example--it is His +gift to us. + +Such passive and active patience is the direct fruit of love to God. The +one chamber opens into the other. For they whose hearts dwell in the +sweet sanctities of the love of God will ever be those who say, with a +calm smile, as they put out their hand to the bitterest draught, 'the +cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?' + +Love, and evil dwindles; love, and duty becomes supreme; and in the +submission of the will, which is the true issue of love, lies the +foundation of indomitable and inexhaustible endurance and perseverance. + +Nor need I remind you, I suppose, that in this resolve to do the will of +God, in spite of all antagonism and opposition, lies a condition at once +of moral perfection and of blessedness. So, dear friends, if we would +have a home for our hearts, let us pass into that sweet, calm, +inexpugnable fortress provided for us in the love of God and the +patience of Christ. + +II. Now notice, secondly, the Guide of the heart to its home. + +'The Lord direct you.' I have already explained that we have here a +distinct address to Jesus Christ as divine, and the hearer of prayer. +The Apostle evidently expects a present, personal influence from Christ +to be exerted upon men's hearts. And this is the point to which I desire +to draw your attention in a word or two. We are far too oblivious of the +present influence of Jesus Christ, by His Spirit, upon the hearts of men +that trust Him. We have very imperfectly apprehended our privileges as +Christians if our faith do not expect, and if our experience have not +realised, the inward guidance of Christ moment by moment in our daily +lives. I believe that much of the present feebleness of the Christian +life amongst its professors is to be traced to the fact that their +thoughts about Jesus Christ are predominantly thoughts of what He did +nineteen centuries ago, and that the proportion of faith is not observed +in their perspective of His work, and that they do not sufficiently +realise that to-day, here, in you and me, if we have faith in Him, He +is verily and really putting forth His power. + +Paul's prayer is but an echo of Christ's promise. The Master said, 'He +shall guide you into all truth.' The servant prays, 'The Lord direct +your hearts into the love of God.' And if we rightly know the whole +blessedness that is ours in the gift of Jesus Christ, we shall recognise +His present guidance as a reality in our lives. + +That guidance is given to us mainly by the Divine Spirit laying upon our +hearts the great facts which evoke our answering love to God. 'We love +Him because He first loved us'; and the way by which Jesus directs our +hearts into the love of God is mainly by shedding abroad God's love to +us in our spirits by the Holy Spirit which is given to us. + +But, besides that, all these movements in our hearts so often neglected, +so often resisted, by which we are impelled to a holier life, to a +deeper love, to a more unworldly consecration--all these, rightly +understood, are Christ's directions. He leads us, though often we know +not the hand that guides; and every Christian may be sure of this--and +he is sinful if he does not live up to the height of his +privileges--that the ancient promises are more than fulfilled in his +experience, and that he has a present Christ, an indwelling Christ, who +will be his Shepherd, and lead him by green pastures and still waters +sometimes and through valleys of darkness and rough defiles sometimes, +but always with the purpose of bringing him nearer and nearer to the +full possession of the love of God and the patience of Christ. + +The vision which shone before the eyes of the father of the forerunner, +was that 'the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to guide our feet +into the way of peace.' It is fulfilled in Jesus who directs our hearts +into love and patience, which are the way of peace. + +We are not to look for impressions and impulses distinguishable from the +operations of our own inward man. We are not to fall into the error of +supposing that a conviction of duty or a conception of truth is of +divine origin because it is strong. But the true test of their divine +origin is their correspondence with the written word, the standard of +truth and life. Jesus guides us to a fuller apprehension of the great +facts of the infinite love of God in the Cross. Shedding abroad a +Saviour's love does kindle ours. + +III. Lastly, notice the heart's yielding to its guide. + +If this was Paul's prayer for his converts, it should be our aim for +ourselves. Christ is ready to direct our hearts, if we will let Him. All +depends on our yielding to that sweet direction, loving as that of a +mother's hand on her child's shoulder. + +What is our duty and wisdom in view of these truths? The answer may be +thrown into the shape of one or two brief counsels. + +First, desire it. Do you Christian people want to be led to love God +more? Are you ready to love the world less, which you will have to do if +you love God more? Do you wish Christ to lay His hand upon you, and +withdraw you from much, that He may draw you into the sanctities and +sublimities of His own experienced love? I do not think the lives of +some of us look very like as if we should welcome that direction. And it +is a sharp test, and a hard commandment to say to a Christian professor, +'Desire to be led into the love of God.' + +Again, expect it. Do not dismiss all that I have been saying about a +present Christ leading men by their own impulses, which are His +monitions, as fanatical and mystical and far away from daily experience. +Ah! it is not only the boy Samuel whose infancy was an excuse for his +ignorance, who takes God's voice to be only white-bearded Eli's. There +are many of us who, when Christ speaks, think it is only a human voice. +Perhaps His deep and gentle tones are thrilling through my harsh and +feeble voice; and He is now, even by the poor reed through which He +breathes His breath, saying to some of you, 'Come near to Me.' Expect +the guidance. + +Still your own wills that you may hear His voice. How can you be led if +you never look at the Guide? How can you hear that still small voice +amidst the clattering of spindles, and the roar of wagons, and the +noises in your own heart? Be still, and He will speak. + +Follow the guidance, and at once, for delay is fatal. Like a man walking +behind a guide across some morass, set your feet in the print of the +Master's and keep close at His heels, and then you will be safe. And so, +dear friends, if we want to have anchorage for our love, let us set our +love on God, who alone is worthy of it, and who alone of all its objects +will neither fail us nor change. If we would have the temper which lifts +us above the ills of life and enables us to keep our course unaffected +by them all, as the gentle moon moves with the same silent, equable pace +through piled masses of cloud and clear stretches of sky, we must attain +submission through love, and gain unreluctant endurance and steadfast +wills from the example and source of both, the gentle and strong +Christ. If we would have our hearts calm, we must let Him guide them, +sway them, curb their vagrancies, stimulate their desires, and satisfy +the desires which He has stimulated. We must abandon self, and say, +'Lord, I cannot guide myself. Do Thou direct my wandering feet.' The +prayer will not be in vain. He will guide us with His eye, and that +directing of our hearts will issue in experiences of love and patience, +whose 'very sweetness yieldeth proof that they were born for +immortality.' The Guide and the road foreshadow the goal. The only +natural end to which such a path can lead and such guidance point is a +heaven of perfect love, where patience has done its perfect work, and is +called for no more. The experience of present direction strengthens the +hope of future perfection. So we may take for our own the triumphant +confidence of the Psalmist, and embrace the nearest and the remotest +future in one calm vision of faith that 'Thou wilt guide me with Thy +counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory.' + + + + +THE LORD OF PEACE AND THE PEACE OF THE LORD + + 'Now the Lord of Peace Himself give you peace + always, by all means. The Lord be with you + all.'--2 THESS. iii. 16. + + +We have reached here the last of the brief outbursts of prayer which +characterise this letter, and bear witness to the Apostle's affection +for his Thessalonian converts. It is the deepening of the ordinary +Jewish formula of meeting and parting. We find that, in most of his +letters, the Apostle begins with wishing 'grace and peace,' and closes +with an echo of the wish. 'Peace be unto you' was often a form which +meant nothing. But true religion turns conventional insincerities into +real, heartfelt desires. It was often a wish destined to remain +unfulfilled. But loving wishes are potent when they are changed into +petitions. + +The relation between the two clauses of my text seems to be that the +second, 'The Lord be with you all,' is not so much a separate, +additional supplication as rather the fuller statement, in the form of +prayer, of the means by which the former supplication is to be +accomplished. 'The Lord of Peace' gives peace by giving His own +presence. This, then, is the supreme desire of the Apostle, that Christ +may be with them all, and in His presence they may find the secret of +tranquillity. + +I. The deepest longing of every human soul is for peace. + +There are many ways in which the supreme good may be represented, but +perhaps none of them is so lovely, and exercises such universal +fascination of attraction, as that which presents it in the form of +rest. It is an eloquent testimony to the unrest which tortures every +heart that the promise of peace should to all seem so fair. It may be +presented and aimed at in very ignoble and selfish ways. It may be +sought for in cowardly shirking of duty, in sluggish avoidance of +effort, in selfish absorption, apart from all the miseries of mankind. +It may be sought for in the ignoble paths of mere pleasure, amidst the +sanctities of human love, amidst the nobilities of intellectual effort +and pursuit. But all men in their workings are aiming at rest of spirit, +and only in such rest does blessedness lie. 'There is no joy but calm.' +It is better than all the excitements of conflict, and better than the +flush of victory. Best which is not apathy, rest which is not +indolence, rest which is contemporaneous with, and the consequence of, +the full wholesome activity of the whole nature in its legitimate +directions, that is the good that we are all longing for. The sea is not +stagnant, though it be calm. There will be the slow heave of the calm +billow, and the wavelets may sparkle in the sunlight, though they be +still from all the winds that rave. Deep in every human heart, in yours +and mine, brother, is this cry for rest and peace. Let us see to it that +we do not mistranslate the meaning of the longing, or fancy that it can +be found in the ignoble, the selfish, the worldly ways to which I have +referred. We want, most of all, peace in our inmost hearts. + +II. Then the second thing to be suggested here is that the Lord of Peace +Himself is the only giver of peace. + +I suppose I may take for granted, on the part at least of the members of +my own congregation, some remembrance of a former discourse upon another +of these petitions, in which I pointed out how, in phraseology analogous +to that of my text, there were the distinct reference to the divinity of +Jesus Christ, the distinct presentation of prayer to Him, the +implication of His present activity upon Christian hearts. + +And here again we have the august and majestic 'Himself.' Here again we +have the distinct reference of the title 'Lord' to Jesus. And here again +we have plainly prayer to Him. + +But the title by which He is addressed is profoundly significant, 'The +Lord of Peace.' Now we find, in another of Paul's letters, in immediate +conjunction with His teaching, that casting all our care upon God is +the sure way to bring the peace of God into our hearts, the title 'the +God of Peace'; and he employs the same phraseology in another of his +letters, when he prays that the 'God of Peace' would fill the Roman +Christians 'with all joy and peace in believing.' + +So, then, here is a title which is all but distinctively divine. 'The +_Lord_ of Peace' is brought into parallelism and equality with 'the God +of Peace'; which were blasphemy unless the underlying implication was +that Jesus Christ Himself was divine. + +He is the 'Lord of Peace' because that tranquillity of heart and spirit, +that unruffled calm which we all see from afar, and long to possess, was +verily His, in His manhood, during all the calamities and changes and +activities of His earthly life. I have said that 'peace' is not apathy, +that it is not indifference, that it is not self-absorption. Look at the +life of the 'Lord of Peace.' In Him there were wholesome human emotions. +He sorrowed, He wept, He wondered, He was angry, He pitied, He loved. +And yet all these were perfectly consistent with the unruffled calm +which marked His whole career. So peace is not stolid indifference, nor +is it to be found in the avoidance of difficult duties, or the cowardly +shirking of sacrifices and pains and struggles; but rather it is 'peace +subsisting at the heart of endless agitation,' of which the great +example stands in Him who was 'the Man of Sorrows and acquainted with +grief,' and who yet, in it all, was 'the Lord of Peace.' + +Why was Christ's manhood so perfectly tranquil? The secret lies here. It +was a manhood in unbroken communion with the Father. And what was the +secret of that unbroken communion with the Father? It lies here, in the +perfect submission of His will. Resignation is peace. The surrender of +self-will is peace. Obedience is peace. Trust is peace, and fellowship +with the divine is peace. So Christ has taught us in His life--'The +Father hath not left Me alone, because I do always the things that +please Him.' And therein He has marked out for us the path of +righteousness and communion, which is ever the path of peace. 'Thou wilt +keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he +trusteth in Thee.' That is the secret of the tranquillity of the +ever-calm Christ. + +Being thus the Lord of Peace, inasmuch as it was His own constant and +unbroken possession, He is the sole giver of it to others. + +Ah! brethren, our hearts want far more, for their stable restfulness, +than we can find in any hand, or in any heart, except those of Jesus +Christ Himself. For what do we need? We need, in order that we should +know the sweetness of repose, an adequate object for every part of our +nature. If we find something that is good and sweet and satisfying for +some portion of this complex being of ours, all its other hungry desires +are apt to be left unappeased. So we are shuttle-cocked from one wish to +another, and bandied about from one partial satisfaction to another, and +in them all it is but segments of our being that are satisfied, whilst +all the rest of the circumference remains disquieted. We need that, in +one attainable and single object, there shall be at once that which will +subjugate the will, that which will illuminate and appease the +conscience, that which will satisfy the seeking intellect, and hold +forth the promise of endless progress in insight and knowledge, that +which will meet all the desires of our ravenous clamant nature, and +that which will fill every creek and cranny of our empty hearts as with +the flashing brightness of an inflowing tide. + +And where shall we find all these, but in one dear heart, and where +shall we discern the one object, whom, possessing, we have enough; and +without whom, possessing all beside, we are mendicants and starving? +Where, but in that dear Lord, who Himself will supply all our needs, and +will minister to us peace, because for will and conscience and intellect +and affections and desires He supplies the pabulum that they require, +and gives more than enough for their satisfaction? + +We want, if we are to be at rest, that there shall be some absolute +control over our passions, lusts, desires, which torture us for ever, as +long as they are ungoverned. There is only one hand which will take the +wild beasts of our nature, bind them in the silken leash of His love, +and lead them along, tamed and obedient. + +We want, for our peace, that all our relations with circumstances and +men around us shall be rectified. And who is there that can bring about +such harmony between us and our surroundings that calamities shall not +press upon us with their heaviest weight, nor opposing circumstances +kindle angry resistance, but only patient perseverance and thankful +persistence in the path of duty? It is only Christ that can regulate our +relations to the things and the men around us, and make all things work +together to our consciousness for our good. + +Further, if we are to be at rest, and possess any true, fundamental, and +stable tranquillity, we want that our relations with God shall +consciously be rectified and made blessed. And I, for my part, do not +believe that any man comes into the full sweetness of an assured +friendship with God, unless he comes to it by the road of faith in that +Saviour in whom God draws near to us with tenderness in His heart, and +blessings dropping from His open Hands. To be at peace with God is the +beginning of all true tranquillity, and that can be secured only by +faith in Jesus Christ. + +So, because He brings the reconciliation between man and God, because He +brings the rectification of our relation to circumstances and men, +because He brings the control of desires and passions and inclinations, +and because He satisfies all the capacities of our natures, in Him, and +in Him only, is there peace for us. + +III. So note, thirdly, that the peace of the Lord of Peace is perfect. + +'Give you peace always,' that points to perpetual, unbroken duration in +time, and through all changing circumstances which might threaten a less +stable and deeply-rooted tranquillity. And then, 'by all means,' as our +Authorised Version has it, or, better, 'in all ways,' as the Revised +Version reads, the reference being, not so much to the various manners +in which the divine peace is to be bestowed, as to the various aspects +which that peace is capable of assuming. Christ's peace, then, is +perpetual and multiform, unbroken, and presenting itself in all the +aspects in which tranquillity is possible for a human spirit. + +It is possible, then, thinks Paul, that there shall be in our hearts a +deep tranquillity, over which disasters, calamities, sorrows, losses, +need have no power. There is no necessity why, when my outward life is +troubled, my inward life should be perturbed. There may be light in the +dwellings of Goshen, while darkness lies over all the land of Egypt. The +peace which Christ gives is no exemption from warfare, but is realised +in the midst of warfare. It is no immunity from sorrows, but is then +most felt when the storm of sorrow beating upon us is patiently +accepted. The rainbow steadfastly stands spanning the tortured waters of +the cataract. The fire may burn, like that old Greek fire, beneath the +water. The surface may be agitated, but the centre may be calm. It is +not calamity that breaks our peace, but it is the resistance of our +wills to calamity which troubles us. When we can bow and submit and say, +'Thy will be done,' 'it seemeth good to Thee, do as Thou wilt,' then +nothing can break the peace of God in our hearts. We seek in the wrong +quarter for peace when we seek it in the disposition of outward things +according to our wills. We seek in the right way when we seek it in the +disposition of our wills according to the will of the Father manifest in +our circumstances. There may be peace always, even whilst the storms, +efforts, and calamities of life are in full operation around us and on +us. That peace may be uninterrupted and uniform, extended on one high +level, as it were through all our lives. It is not so with us, dear +brethren; there are ups and downs which are our own fault. The peace of +God may be permanent, but, in order that it should be, there must be +permanent communion and permanent obedience. + +Further, says the Apostle, Christ's peace will not manifest itself in +one form only, but in all the shapes in which peace is possible. There +are many enemies that beset this calmness of spirit; for them all there +is the appropriate armour and defence in the peace of God, I have +already enumerated in part some of the requirements for true and +permanent tranquillity of soul. All these are met in the peace of +Christ. Whatever it is that disturbs men, He has His anodyne that will +soothe. If circumstances threaten, if men array themselves against us, +if our own evil hearts rise up in rebellion, if our passions disturb us, +if our consciences accuse: for all these Christ brings tranquillity and +calm. In every way in which men can be disturbed, and in every way, +therefore, in which peace can be manifest, Christ's gift avails. 'Come +unto Me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you +rest.' + +IV. Lastly, 'the Lord of Peace' gives it by giving His own presence. + +The Thessalonians, as they listened to Paul's first prayer, might think +to themselves, 'Always, by all means.' That is a large petition! Can it +be fufilled? And so the Apostle adds, 'The Lord be with you all.' You +cannot separate Christ's gifts from Christ. The only way to get anything +that He gives is to get Him. It is His presence that does everything. If +He is with me, the world's annoyances will seem very small. If I hold +His hand I shall not be much troubled. If I can only nestle close to His +side, and come under His cloak, He will shield me from the cold blast, +from whatever side it blows. If my heart is twined around Him it will +partake of the stability and calm of the great heart on which it rests. + +The secret of tranquillity is the presence of Christ. When He is in the +vessel the waves calm themselves. So, Christian men and women, if you +and I are conscious of breaches of our restfulness, interruptions of +our tranquillity by reason of surging, impatient passions, and hot +desires within ourselves, or by reason of the pressure of outward +circumstances, or by reason of our having fallen beneath our +consciences, and done wrong things, let us understand that the breaches +of our peace are not owing to Him, but only to our having let go His +hand. It is our own faults if we are ever troubled; if we kept close to +Him we should not be. It is our own faults if the world ever agitates us +beyond the measure that is compatible with central calm. Sorrow should +not have the power to touch the citadel of our lives. Effort should not +have the power to withdraw us from our trustful repose in Him. And +nothing here would have the power, if we did not let our hand slip out +of His, and break our communion with Him. + +So, dear brethren, 'in the world ye shall have tribulation, in Me ye +shall have peace.' Keep inside the fortress and nothing will disturb. +'He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under +the shadow of the Almighty.' The only place where that hungry, +passion-ridden heart of yours, conscious of alienation from God, can +find rest, is close by Jesus Christ. 'The Lord be with us all,' and then +the peace of that Lord shall clothe and fill our hearts in Christ +Jesus. + + + + +I. TIMOTHY + + + + +THE END OF THE COMMANDMENT + + 'Now, the end of the commandment is love, out of a + pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith + unfeigned.'--1 TIM. 1. 6. + + +The Apostle has just said that he left Timothy in Ephesus, in order to +check some tendencies there which were giving anxiety. Certain teachers +had appeared, the effect of whose activity was to create parties, to +foster useless speculations, and to turn the minds of the Ephesian +Christians away from the practical and moral side of Christianity. In +opposition to these, the Apostle here lays down the broad principle that +God has spoken, not in order to make acute theologians, or to provide +materials for controversy, but in order to help us to love. The whole of +these latest letters of the Apostle breathe the mellow wisdom of old +age, which has learned to rate brilliant intellectualism, agility, +incontroversial fence and the like, far lower than homely goodness. And +so, says Paul, 'the end of the commandment is love.' + +Now he here states, not only the purpose of the divine revelation, but +gives us a summary, but yet sufficient, outline of the method by which +God works towards that purpose. The commandment is the beginning, love +is the end or aim. And between these two there are inserted three +things, a 'pure heart,' a 'good conscience,' 'faith unfeigned.' Now of +these three the two former are closely connected, and the third is the +cause, or condition, of both of them. It is, therefore, properly named +last as being first in order, and therefore last reached in analysis. +When you track a stream from its mouth to its source, the fountain-head +is the last thing that you come to. And here we have, as in these great +lakes in Central Africa--out of which finally the Nile issues--the +stages of the flow. There are the twin lakes, a 'good conscience' and a +'pure heart.' These come from 'unfeigned faith,' which lies higher up in +the hills of God; and they run down into the love which is the 'end of +the commandment.' The faith lays hold on the commandment, and so the +process is complete. Or, if you begin at the top, instead of at the +bottom, God gives the word; faith grasps the word, and thereby nourishes +a 'pure heart' and a 'good conscience,' and thereby produces a universal +love. So, then, we have three steps to look at here. + +I. First of all, what God speaks to us for. + +'The end of the commandment is love.' + +Now, I take it that the word 'commandment' here means, not this or that +specific precept, but the whole body of Christian revelation, considered +as containing laws for life. And to begin with, and only to mention, it +is something to get that point of view, that all which God says, be it +promise, be it self-manifestation, be it threatening, or be it anything +else, has a preceptive bearing, and is meant to influence life and +conduct. I shall have a word or two more to say about that presently, +but note, just as we go on, how remarkable it is, and how full of +lessons, if we will ponder it, that one name for the Gospel on the lips +of the man who had most to say about the contrast between Gospel and +Law is 'commandment.' Try to feel the stringency of that aspect of +evangelical truth and of Christian revelation. + +Then I need not remind you how here the indefinite expression 'love' +must be taken, as I think is generally the case in the New Testament, +when the object on which the love rests is not defined, as including +both of the twin commandments, of which the second, our Master says, is +like unto the first, love to God and love to man. In the Christian idea +these two are one. They are shoots from the one root. The only +difference is that the one climbs and the other grows along the levels +of earth. There is no gulf set in the New Testament teaching, and there +ought to be none in the practice and life of a Christian man, between +the love of God and the love of man. They are two aspects of one thing. + +Then, if so, mark how, according to the Apostle's teaching here, in this +one thought of a dual-sided love, one turned upwards, one turned +earthwards, there lies the whole perfection of a human soul. You want +nothing more if you are 'rooted and grounded in love.' That will secure +all goodness, all morality, all religion, everything that is beautiful, +and everything that is noble. And all this is meant to be the result of +God's speech to us. + +So, then, two very plain practical principles may be deduced and +enforced from this first thought. First, the purpose of all revelation +and the test of all religion is--character and conduct. + +It is all very well to know about God, to have our minds filled with +true thoughts about Him, His nature, and dealings with us. Orthodoxy is +good, but orthodoxy is a means to an end. There should be nothing in a +man's creed which does not act upon his life. Or, if I may put it into +technical words, all a man's _credenda_ should be his _agenda_; and +whatsoever he believes should come straight into his life to influence +it, and to shape character. Here, then, is the warning against a mere +notional orthodoxy, and against regarding Christian truth as being +intended mainly to illuminate the understanding, or to be a subject of +speculation and discussion. There are people in all generations, and +there are plenty of them to-day, who seem to think that the great +verities of the Gospel are mainly meant to provide material for +controversy-- + + 'As if religion were intended + For nothing else but to be mended'; + +and that they have done all that can be expected when they have tried to +apprehend the true bearing of this revelation, and to contend against +misinterpretations. This is the curse of religious controversy, that it +blinds men to the practical importance of the truths for which they are +fighting. It is as if one were to take some fertile wheat-land, and sand +it all over, and roll it down, and make it smooth for a gymnasium, where +nothing would grow. So the temper which finds in Christian truth simply +a 'ministration of questions,' as my text says, mars its purpose, and +robs itself of all the power and nourishment that it might find there. + +No less to be guarded against is the other misconception which the clear +grasp of our text would dismiss at once, that the great purpose for +which God speaks to us men, in the revelation of Jesus Christ, is that +we may, as we say, be 'forgiven,' and escape any of the temporal or +eternal consequences of our wrongdoing. That _is_ a purpose, no doubt, +and men will never rise to the apprehension of the loftiest purposes, +nor penetrate to a sympathetic perception of the inmost sweetness of the +Gospel, unless they begin with its redemptive aspect, even in the +narrowest sense of that word. But there are a miserable number of +so-called and of real Christians in this world, and in our churches +to-day, who have little conception that God has spoken to them for +anything else than to deliver them from the fear of death, and from the +incidence on them of future condemnation. He _has_ spoken for this +purpose, but the ultimate end of all is that we may be helped to love +Him, and so to be like Him. The aim of the commandment is love, and if +you ever are tempted to rest in intellectual apprehensions, or to +pervert the truth of God into a mere arena on which you can display your +skill of fence and your intellectual agility, or if ever you are tempted +to think that all is done when the sweet message of forgiveness is +sealed upon a man's heart, remember the solemn and plain words of my +text--the final purpose of all is that we may love God and man. + +But then, on the other side, note that no less distinctly is the sole +foundation of this love laid in God's speech. My text, in its elevation +of sentiment and character and conduct above doctrine, falls in with the +prevailing tendencies of this day; but it provides the safeguards which +these tendencies neglect. Notice that this favourite saying of the most +advanced school of broad thinkers, who are always talking about the +decay of dogma, and the unimportance of doctrine as compared with love, +is here uttered by a man who was no sentimentalist, but to whom the +Christian system was a most distinct and definite thing, bristling all +over with the obnoxious doctrines which are by some of us so summarily +dismissed as of no importance. My very text protests against the modern +attempt to wrench away the sentiments and emotions produced in men, by +the reception of Christian truth, from the truth which it recognises as +the only basis on which they can be produced. It declares that the +'commandment' must come first, before love can follow; and the rest of +the letter, although, as I say, it decisively places the end of +revelation as being the moral and religious perfecting of men into +assimilation with the divine love, no less decisively demands that for +such a perfecting there shall be laid the foundation of the truth as it +is revealed in Jesus Christ. + +And that is what we want to-day in order to make breadth wholesome, and +if only we will carry with us the two thoughts, the commandment and +love, we shall not go far wrong. But what would you think of a man that +said, 'I do not want any foundations. I want a house to live in'? And +pray how are you going to get your house without the foundations? Or +would he be a wise man who said, 'Oh, never mind about putting grapes +into the vine vat, and producing fermentation; give me the wine!' Yes! +But you must have the fermentation first. The process is not the result, +of course, but there is no result without the process. And according to +New Testament teaching, which, I am bold to say, is verified by +experience, there is no deep, all-swaying, sovereign, heart-uniting love +to God which is not drawn from the acceptance of the truth as it is in +Jesus Christ. + +II. And so I come, secondly, to note the purifying which is needed prior +to such love. + +Our text, as I said, divides the process into stages; or, if I may go +back to a former illustration, into levels. And on the level +immediately above the love, down into which the waters of the twin lakes +glide, are a pure heart and a good conscience. These are the requisites +for all real and operative love. Now they are closely connected, as it +seems to me, more closely so than with either the stage which precedes +or that which follows. They are, in fact, two twin thoughts, very +closely identified, though not quite identical. + +A pure heart is one that has been defecated and cleansed from the +impurities which naturally attach to human affections. A 'good +conscience' is one which is void of offence towards God and man, and +registers the emotions of a pure heart. It is like a sheet of sensitive +paper that, with a broken line, indicates how many hours of sunshine in +the day there have been. We need not discuss the question as to which of +these two great gifts and blessings which sweeten a whole life come +first. In the initial stages of the Christian life I suppose the good +conscience precedes the pure heart. For forgiveness which calms the +conscience and purges it of the perilous stuff which has been injected +into it by our corruptions--forgiveness comes before cleansing, and the +conscience is calm before the heart is purified. But in the later stages +of the Christian life the order seems to be reversed, and there cannot +be in a man a conscience that is good unless there is a heart that is +pure. + +But however that may be--and it does not affect the general question +before us--mark how distinctly Paul lays down here the principle that +you will get no real love of God or man out of men whose hearts are +foul, and whose consciences are either torpid or stinging them. I need +not dwell upon that, for it is plain to anybody that will think for a +moment that all sin separates between a man and God; and that from a +heart all seething and bubbling, like the crater of a volcano, with foul +liquids, and giving forth foul odours, there can come no love worth +calling so to God, nor any benevolence worth calling so to man. Wherever +there is sin, unrecognised, unconfessed, unpardoned, there there is a +black barrier built up between a man's heart and the yearning heart of +God on the other side. And until that barrier is swept away, until the +whole nature receives a new set, until it is delivered from the love of +evil, and from its self-centred absorption, and until conscience has +taken into grateful hands, if I might so say, the greatest of all gifts, +the assurance of the divine forgiveness, I, for one, do not believe that +deep, vital, and life-transforming love to God is possible. I know that +it is very unfashionable, I know it is exceedingly narrow teaching, but +it seems to me that it is Scriptural teaching; and it seems to me that +if we will strip it of the exaggerations with which it has often been +surrounded, and recognise that there may be a kind of instinctive and +occasional recognition of a divine love, there may be a yearning after a +clear light, and fuller knowledge of it, and yet all the while no real +love to God, rooted in and lording over and moulding the life, we shall +not find much in the history of the world, or in the experience of +ourselves or of others, to contradict the affirmation that you need the +cleansing of forgiveness, and the recognition of God's love in Jesus +Christ, before you can get love worth calling so in return to Him in +men's hearts. + +Brethren, there is much to-day to shame Christian men in the singular +fact which is becoming more obvious daily, of a divorce between human +benevolence and godliness. It is a scandal that there should be so many +men in the world who make no pretensions to any sympathy with your +Christianity, and who set you an example of benevolence, self-sacrifice, +enthusiasm for humanity, as it is called. I believe that the one basis +upon which there can be solidly built benevolence to men is devotion to +God, because of God's great love to us in Jesus Christ. But I want to +stir, if I might not say sting, you and myself into a recognition of our +obligations to mankind, more stringent and compelling than we have ever +felt it, by this phenomenon of modern life, that a divorce has been +proclaimed between philanthropy and religion. The end of the commandment +is love, out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience. + +III. Lastly, notice the condition of such purifying. + +To recur to my former illustration, we have to go up country to a still +higher level. What feeds the two reservoirs that feed the love? What +makes the heart pure and the conscience good? Paul answers, 'faith +unfeigned'; not mere intellectual apprehension, not mere superficial or +professed, but deep, genuine, and complete faith which has in it the +element of reliance as well as the element of credence. Belief is not +all that goes to make faith. Trust is not all that goes to make faith. +Belief and trust are indissolubly wedded in the conception of it. Such a +faith, which knows what it lays hold of--for it lays hold upon definite +truth, and lays hold on what it knows, for it trusts in Him whom the +truth reveals--such a faith makes the heart pure and the conscience +good. + +And how does it do so? By nothing in itself. There is no power in my +faith to make me one bit better than I am. There is no power in it to +still one accusation of conscience. It is only the condition on which +the one power that purges and that calms enters into my heart and works +there. The power of faith is the power of that which faith admits to +operate in my life. If we open our hearts the fire will come in, and it +will thaw the ice, and melt out the foulness from my heart. It is +important for practice that we should clearly understand that the great +things which the Bible says of faith it says of it only because it is +the channel, the medium, the condition, by and on which the real power, +which is Jesus Christ Himself, acts upon us. It is not the window, but +the sunshine, that floods this building with light. It is not the opened +hand, but the gift laid in it, that enriches the pauper. It is not the +poor leaden pipe, but the water that flows through it, that fills the +cistern, and cleanses it, whilst it fills. It is not your faith, but the +Christ whom your faith brings into your heart and conscience, that +purges the one, and makes the other void of offence towards God and man. + +So, brethren, let us learn the secret of all nobility, of all power, of +all righteousness of character and conduct. Put your foot on the lowest +round of the ladder, and then aspire and climb, and you will reach the +summit. Take the first step, and be true to it after you have taken it, +and the last will surely come. He that can say, 'We have known and +believed the love that God hath to us,' will also be able to say, 'We +love Him because He first loved us.' 'And this commandment have we of +God, that he who loves God loves his brother also.' + + + + +'THE GOSPEL OF THE GLORY OF THE HAPPY GOD' + + 'The glorious gospel of the blessed God.'--1 TIM. + i. 11. + + +Two remarks of an expository character will prepare the way for our +consideration of this text. The first is, that the proper rendering is +that which is given in the Revised Version--'the gospel of the glory,' +not the 'glorious gospel.' The Apostle is not telling us what kind of +thing the Gospel is, but what it is about. He is dealing not with its +quality, but with its contents. It is a Gospel which reveals, has to do +with, is the manifestation of, the glory of God. + +Then the other remark is with reference to the meaning of the word +'blessed.' There are two Greek words which are both translated 'blessed' +in the New Testament. One of them, the more common, literally means +'well spoken of,' and points to the action of praise or benediction; +describes what a man is when men speak well of him, or what God is when +men praise and magnify His name. But the other word, which is used here, +and is only applied to God once more in Scripture, has no reference to +the human attribution of blessing and praise to Him, but describes Him +altogether apart from what men say of Him, as what He is in Himself, the +'blessed,' or, as we might almost say, the 'happy' God. If the word +happy seems too trivial, suggesting ideas of levity, of turbulence, of +possible change, then I do not know that we can find any better word +than that which is already employed in my text, if only we remember that +it means the solemn, calm, restful, perpetual gladness that fills the +heart of God. + +So much, then, being premised, there are three points that seem to me to +come out of this remarkable expression of my text. First, the revelation +of God in Christ, of which the Gospel is the record, is the glory of +God. Second, that revelation is, in a very profound sense, an element in +the blessedness of God. And, lastly, that revelation is the good news +for men. Let us look at these three points, then, in succession. + +I. Take, first, that striking thought that the revelation of God in +Jesus Christ is the glory of God. + +The theme, or contents, or purpose of the whole Gospel, is to set forth +and make manifest to men the glory of God. + +Now what do we mean by 'the glory'? I think, perhaps, that question may +be most simply answered by remembering the definite meaning of the word +in the Old Testament. There it designates, usually, that supernatural +and lustrous light which dwelt between the Cherubim, the symbol of the +presence and of the self-manifestation of God. So that we may say, in +brief, that the glory of God is the sum-total of the light that streams +from His self-revelation, considered as being the object of adoration +and praise by a world that gazes upon Him. + +And if this be the notion of the glory of God, is it not a startling +contrast which is suggested between the apparent contents and the real +substance of that Gospel? Suppose a man, for instance, who had no +previous knowledge of Christianity, being told that in it he would find +the highest revelation of the glory of God. He comes to the book, and +finds that the very heart of it is not about God, but about a man; that +this revelation of the glory of God is the biography of a man; and more +than that, that the larger portion of that biography is the story of +the humiliations, and the sufferings, and the death of the man. Would it +not strike him as a strange paradox that the history of a _man's_ life +was the shining apex of all revelations of the glory of _God_? And yet +so it is, and the Apostle, just because to him the Gospel was the story +of the Christ who lived and died, declares that in this story of a human +life, patient, meek, limited, despised, rejected, and at last crucified, +lies, brighter than all other flashings of the divine light, the very +heart of the lustre and palpitating centre and fontal source of all the +radiance with which God has flooded the world. The history of Jesus +Christ is the glory of God. And that involves two or three +considerations on which I dwell briefly. + +One of them is this: Christ, then, is the self-revelation of God. If, +when we deal with the story of His life and death, we are dealing simply +with the biography of a man, however pure, lofty, inspired he may be, +then I ask what sort of connection there is between that biography which +the four Gospels gives us, and what my text says is the substance of the +Gospel? What force of logic is there in the Apostle's words: 'God +commendeth _His_ love toward us in that whilst we were yet sinners +_Christ_ died for us,' unless there is some altogether different +connection between the God who commends His love and the Christ who dies +to commend it, than exists between a mere man and God? Brethren! to +deliver my text, and a hundred other passages of Scripture, from the +charge of being extravagant nonsense, and clear, illogical _non +sequiturs_, you must believe that in that man Christ Jesus 'we behold +His glory--the glory of the only begotten of the Father'; and that when +we look--haply not without some touch of tenderness and awed admiration +in our hearts--upon His gentleness, we have to say, 'the patient God'; +when we look upon His tears we have to say, 'the pitying God'; when we +look upon His Cross we have to say, 'the redeeming God'; and gazing upon +the Man, to see in Him the manifest divinity. Oh! listen to that voice, +'He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father,' and bow before the story of +the human life as being the revelation of the indwelling God. + +And then, still further, my text suggests that this self-revelation of +God in Jesus Christ is the very climax and highest point of all God's +revelations to men. I believe that the loftiest exhibition and +conception of the divine character which is possible to us must be made +to us in the form of a man. I believe that the law of humanity, for +ever, in heaven as on earth, is this, that the Son is the revealer of +God; and that no loftier--yea, at bottom, no other--communication of the +divine nature can be made to man than is made in Jesus Christ. + +But be that as it may, let me urge upon you this thought, that in that +wondrous story of the life and death of our Lord Jesus Christ the very +high-water mark of divine self-communication has been touched and +reached. All the energies of the divine nature are embodied there. The +'riches, both of the _wisdom_ and of the _knowledge_ of God,' are in the +Cross and Passion of our Saviour. 'To declare at this time His +_righteousness_' Jesus Christ came to die. The Cross is 'the _power_ of +God unto salvation.' Or, to put it into other words, and avail oneself +of an illustration, we know the old story of the queen who, for the love +of an unworthy human heart, dissolved pearls in the cup and gave them to +him to drink. We may say that God comes to us, and for the love of us, +reprobate and unworthy, has melted all the jewels of His nature into +that cup of blessing which He offers to us, saying: 'Drink ye all of +it.' The whole Godhead, so to speak, is smelted down to make that +rushing river of molten love which flows from the Cross of Christ into +the hearts of men. Here is the highest point of God's revelation of +Himself. + +And my text implies, still further, that the true living, flashing +centre of the glory of God is the love of God. Christendom is more than +half heathen yet, and it betrays its heathenism not least in its vulgar +conceptions of the divine nature and its glory. The majestic attributes +which separate God from man, and make Him unlike His creatures, are the +ones which people too often fancy belong to the glorious side of His +character. They draw distinctions between 'grace' and 'glory,' and think +that the latter applies mainly to what I might call the physical and the +metaphysical, and less to the moral, attributes of the divine nature. We +adore power, and when it is expanded to infinity we think that it is the +glory of God. But my text delivers us from all such misconceptions. If +we rightly understand it, then we learn this, that the true heart of the +glory is tenderness and love. Of power that weak man hanging on the +Cross is a strange embodiment; but if we learn that there is something +more godlike in God than power, then we can say, as we look upon Jesus +Christ: 'Lo! this is our God. We have waited for Him, and He will save +us.' Not in the wisdom that knows no growth, not in the knowledge which +has no border-land of ignorance ringing it round about, not in the +unwearied might of His arm, not in the exhaustless energy of His being, +not in the unslumbering watchfulness of His all-seeing eye, not in that +awful presence wheresoever creatures are; not in any or in all of these +lies the glory of God, but in His love. These are the fringes of the +brightness; this is the central blaze. The Gospel is the Gospel of the +glory of God, because it is all summed up in the one word--'God so loved +the world that He gave His only begotten Son.' + +II. Now, in the next place, the revelation of God in Christ is an +element in the blessedness of God. + +We are come here into places where we see but very dimly, and it becomes +us to speak very cautiously. Only as we are led by the divine teaching +may we affirm at all. But it cannot be unwise to accept in simple +literality utterances of Scripture, however they may seem to strike us +as strange. And so I would say--the philosopher's God may be +all-sufficient and unemotional, the Bible's God 'delighteth in mercy,' +rejoiceth in His gifts, and is glad when men accept them. It is +something, surely, amid all the griefs and sorrows of this +sorrow-haunted and devil-hunted world, to rise to this lofty region and +to feel that there is a living personal joy at the heart of the +universe. If we went no further, to me there is infinite beauty and +mighty consolation and strength in that one thought--the happy God. He +is not, as some ways of representing Him figure Him to be, what the +older astronomers thought the sun was, a great cold orb, black and +frigid at the heart, though the source and centre of light and warmth to +the system. But He Himself is joy, or if we dare not venture on that +word, which brings with it earthly associations, and suggests the +possibility of alteration--He is the blessed God. And the Psalmist saw +deeply into the divine nature, who, not contented with hymning His +praise as the possessor of the fountain of life, and the light whereby +we see light, exclaimed in an ecstasy of anticipation, 'Thou makest us +to drink of the rivers of Thy pleasures.' + +But there is a great deal more than that here, if not in the word +itself, at least in its connection, which connection seems to suggest +that, howsoever the divine nature must be supposed to be blessed in its +own absolute and boundless perfectness, an element in the blessedness of +God Himself arises from His self-communication through the Gospel to the +world. All love delights in imparting. Why should not God's? On the +lower level of human affection we know that it is so, and on the highest +level we may with all reverence venture to say, The quality of that +mercy . . . 'is twice blest,' and that divine love 'blesseth Him that +gives and them that take.' + +He created a universe because He delights in His works, and in having +creatures on whom He can lavish Himself. He 'rests in His love, and +rejoices over us with singing' when we open our hearts to the reception +of His light, and learn to know Him as He has declared Himself in His +Christ. The blessed God is blessed because He is God. But He is blessed +too because He is the loving and, therefore, the giving God. + +What a rock-firmness such a thought as this gives to the mercy and the +love that He pours out upon us! If they were evoked by our worthiness we +might well tremble, but when we know, according to the grand words +familiar to many of us, that it is His nature and property to be +merciful, and that He is far gladder in giving than we can be in +receiving, then we may be sure that His mercy endureth for ever, and +that it is the very necessity of His being--and He cannot turn His back +upon Himself--to love, to pity, to succour, and to bless. + +III. And so, lastly, the revelation of God in Christ is good news for us +all. + +'The Gospel of the glory of the blessed God.' How that word 'Gospel' has +got tarnished and enfeebled by constant use and unreflective use, so +that it slips glibly off my tongue and falls without producing any +effect upon your hearts! It needs to be freshened up by considering what +really it means. It means this: here are we like men shut up in a +beleaguered city, hopeless, helpless, with no power to break out or to +raise the siege; provisions failing, death certain. Some of you older +men and women remember how that was the case in that awful siege of +Paris, in the Franco-German War, and what expedients were adopted in +order to get some communication from without. And here to us, prisoned, +comes, as it did to them, a despatch borne under a dove's wing, and the +message is this:--God is love; and that you may know that He is, He has +sent you His Son who died on the Cross, the sacrifice for a world's sin. +Believe it, and trust it, and all your transgressions will pass away. + +My brother, is not that good news? Is it not _the_ good news that you +need--the news of a Father, of pardon, of hope, of love, of strength, of +purity, of heaven? Does it not meet our fears, our forebodings, our +wants at every point? It comes to you. What do you do with it? Do you +welcome it eagerly, do you clutch it to your hearts, do you say, 'This +is _my_ Gospel'? Oh! let me beseech you, welcome the message; do not +turn away from the word from heaven, which will bring life and +blessedness to all your hearts! Some of you have turned away long +enough, some of you, perhaps, are fighting with the temptation to do so +again even now. Let me press that ancient Gospel upon your acceptance, +that Christ the Son of God has died for you, and lives to bless and help +you. Take it and live! So shall you find that, 'as cold water to a +thirsty soul,' so is this best of all news from the far country. + + + + +THE GOSPEL IN SMALL + + 'This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all + acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world + to save sinners.'--1 TIM. i. 15. + + +Condensation is a difficult art. There are few things drier and more +unsatisfactory than small books on great subjects, abbreviated +statements of large systems. Error lurks in summaries, and yet here the +whole fulness of God's communication to men is gathered into a sentence; +tiny as a diamond, and flashing like it. My text is the one precious +drop of essence, distilled from gardens full of fragrant flowers. There +is an old legend of a magic tent, which could be expanded to shelter an +army, and contracted to cover a single man. That great Gospel which +fills the Bible and overflows on the shelves of crowded libraries is +here, without harm to its power, folded up into one saying, which the +simplest can understand sufficiently to partake of the salvation which +it offers. + +There are five of these 'faithful sayings' in the letters of Paul, +usually called 'the pastoral epistles.' It seems to have been a manner +with him, at that time of his life, to underscore anything which he felt +to be especially important by attaching to it this label. They are all, +with one exception, references to the largest truths of the Gospel. I +turn to this one, the first of them now, for the sake of gathering some +lessons from it. + +I. Note, then, first, here the Gospel in a nutshell. + +'Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.' Now, every word +there is weighty, and might be, not beaten out, but opened out into +volumes. Mark who it is that comes--the solemn double name of that great +Lord, 'Christ Jesus.' The former tells of His divine appointment and +preparation, inasmuch as the Spirit of the Lord God is upon Him, +anointing Him to proclaim good tidings to the poor, and to open the +prison doors to all the captives, and asserts that it is He to whom +prophets and ritual witnessed, and for whose coming prophets and kings +looked wearily through the ages, and died rejoicing even to see afar off +the glimmer of His day. The name of Jesus tells of the child born in +Bethlehem, who knows the experience of our lives by His own, and not +only bends over our griefs with the pity and omniscience of a God, but +with the experience and sympathy of a man. + +'Christ Jesus came.' Then He _was_ before He came. His own will impelled +His feet, and brought Him to earth. + +'Christ Jesus came to save.' Then there is disease, for saving is +healing; and there is danger, for saving is making secure. + +'Christ Jesus came to save sinners'--the universal condition, +co-extensive with the 'world' into which, and for which, He came. And so +the essence of the Gospel, as it lay in Paul's mind, and had been +verified in his experience, was this--that a divine person had left a +life of glory, and in wonderful fashion had taken upon Himself manhood +in order to deliver men from the universal danger and disease. That is +the Gospel which Paul believed, and which he commends to us as 'a +faithful saying.' + +Well, then, if that be so, there are two or three things very important +for us to lay to heart. The first is the universality of sin. That is +the thing in which we are all alike, dear friends. That is the one thing +about which any man is safe in his estimate of another. We differ +profoundly. The members of this congregation, gathered accidentally +together, and perhaps never to be all together again, may be at the +antipodes of culture, of condition, of circumstances, of modes of life; +but, just as really below all the diversities there lies the common +possession of the one human heart, so really and universally below all +diversities there lies the black drop in the heart, and 'we all have +sinned and come short of the glory of God.' It is that truth which I +want to lay on your hearts as the first condition to understanding +anything about the power, the meaning, the blessedness of the Gospel +which we say we believe. + +And what does Paul mean by this universal indictment? If you take the +vivid autobiographical sketch in the midst of which it is embedded, you +will understand. He goes on to say, 'of whom I am chief.' It was the +same man that said, without supposing that he was contradicting this +utterance at all, 'touching the righteousness which is in the law' I was +'blameless.' And yet, 'I am chief.' So all true men who have ever shown +us their heart, in telling their Christian faith, have repeated Paul's +statement; from Augustine in his wonderful _Confessions_, to John Bunyan +in his _Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners_. And then prosaic men +have said, 'What profligates they must have been, or what exaggerators +they are now!' No. Sewer gas of the worst sort has no smell; and the +most poisonous exhalations are only perceptible by their effects. What +made Paul think himself the chief of sinners was not that he had broken +the commandments, for he might have said, and in effect did say, 'All +these have I kept from my youth up,' but that, through all the +respectability and morality of his early life there ran this streak--an +alienation of heart, in the pride of self-confidence, from God, and an +ignorance of his own wretchedness and need. Ah! brethren, I do not need +to exaggerate, nor to talk about 'splendid vices,' in the untrue +language of one of the old saints, but this I seek to press on you: that +the deep, universal sin does not lie in the indulgence of passions, or +the breach of moralities, but it lies here--'thou hast left Me, the +fountain of living water.' That is what I charge on myself, and on every +one of you, and I beseech you to recognise the existence of this +sinfulness beneath all the surface of reputable and pure lives. +Beautiful they may be; God forbid that I should deny it: beautiful with +many a strenuous effort after goodness, and charming in many respects, +but yet vitiated by this, 'The God in whose hand thy breath is, and +whose are all thy ways, thou hast not glorified.' That is enough to make +a man brush away all the respectabilities and proprieties and graces, +and look at the black reality beneath, and wail out 'of whom I am +chief.' + +But, further, Paul's condensed summary of the Gospel implies the fatal +character of this universal sin. 'He comes to save,' says he. Now what +answers to 'save' is either disease or danger. The word is employed in +the original in antithesis to both conditions. To save is to heal and to +make safe. And I need not remind you, I suppose, of how truly the +alienation from God, and the substitution for Him of self or of +creature, is the sickness of the whole man. But the end of sickness +uncured is death. We 'have no healing medicine,' and the 'wound is +incurable' by the skill of any earthly chirurgeon. The notion of +sickness passes, therefore, at once into that of danger: for unhealed +sickness can only end in death. Oh! that my words could have the waking +power that would startle some of my complacent hearers into the +recognition of the bare facts of their lives and character, and of the +position in which they stand on a slippery inclined plane that goes +straight down into darkness! + +You do not hear much about the danger of sin from some modern pulpits. +God forbid that it should be the staple of any; but God forbid that it +should be excluded from any! Whilst fear is a low motive, +self-preservation is not a low one; and it is to that that I now appeal. +Brethren, the danger of every sin is, first, its rapid growth; second, +its power of separating from God; third, the certainty of a future--ay! +and _present_--retribution. + +To me, the proof of the fatal effect of sin is what God had to do in +order to stop it. Do you think that it would be a small, superficial cut +which could be stanched by nothing else but the pierced hand of Jesus +Christ? Measure the intensity of danger by the cost of deliverance, and +judge how grave are the wounds for the healing of which stripes had to +be laid on Him. Ah! if you and I had not been in danger of death, Jesus +Christ would not have died. And if it be true that the Son of God laid +aside His glory, and came into the world and died on the Cross for men, +out of the very greatness of the gift, and the marvellousness of the +mercy, there comes solemn teaching as to the intensity of the misery and +the reality and awfulness of the retribution from which we were +delivered by such a death. Sin, the universal condition, brings with it +no slight disease and no small danger. + +Further, we may gather from this condensed summary where the true heart +and essence of the Christian revelation is. You will never understand it +until you are contented to take the point of view which the New +Testament takes, and give all weight and gravity to the fact of man's +transgression and the consequences thereof. We shall never know what the +power and the glory of the revelation of God in Jesus Christ is until we +recognise that, first and foremost, it is the mighty means by which +man's ruin is repaired, man's downrush is stopped, sin is forgiven and +capable of being cleansed. Only when we think of the Gospel of Jesus +Christ as being, first and foremost, the redemption of the world by the +great act of incarnation and sacrifice, do we come to be in a position +in any measure to estimate its superlative worth. + +And, for my part, I believe that almost all the mistakes and errors and +evaporations of Christianity into a mere dead nothing which have +characterised the various ages of the Church come mainly from this, that +men fail to see how deep and how fatal are the wounds of sin, and so +fail to apprehend the Gospel as being mainly and primarily a system of +redemption. There are many other most beautiful aspects about it, much +else in it, that is lovely and of good report, and fitted to draw men's +hearts and admiration; but all is rooted in this, the life and death of +Jesus Christ, the sacrifice by whom we are forgiven, and in whom we are +healed. And if you strike that out, you have a dead nothing left--an +eviscerated Gospel. + +I believe that we all need to be reminded of that to-day, as we always +do, but mainly to-day, when we hear from so many lips estimates, +favourable or unfavourable to Christianity and its mission in the world, +which leave out of sight, or minimise into undue insignificance, or +shove into a backward place, its essential characteristic, that it is +the power of God through Christ, His Son Incarnate, dying and rising +again for the salvation of individual souls from the penalty, the guilt, +the habit, and the love of their sins, and only secondarily is it a +morality, a philosophy, a social lever. I take for mine the quaint +saying of one of the old Puritans, 'When so many brethren are preaching +to the times, it may be allowed one poor brother to preach for +eternity.' + +'This is a faithful saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to +save sinners.' + +II. Now, secondly, note the reliableness of this condensed Gospel. + +When a man in the middle of some slight plank, thrown across a stream, +tests it with a stamp of his foot, and calls to his comrades, 'It is +quite firm,' there is reason for their venturing upon it too. That is +exactly what Paul is doing here. How does he know that it is 'a faithful +saying'? Because he has proved it in his own experience, and found that +in his case the salvation which Jesus Christ was said to effect has been +effected. Now there are many other grounds of certitude besides this, +but, after all, it is worth men's while to consider how many millions +there have been from the beginning who would be ready to join chorus +with the Apostle here, and to say, 'One thing I know, that whereas I +was blind, now I see.' My experience cannot be your certitude; but if +you and I are suffering from precisely the same disease, and I have +tested a cure, my experiences should have some weight with you. And so, +brethren, I point you to all the thousands who are ready to say, 'This +poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him.' Are there any +who give counter-evidence; that say, 'We have tried it. It is all a sham +and imagination. We have asked this Christ of yours to forgive us, and +He has not. We have asked Him to cleanse us, and He has not. We have +tried Him, and He is an impostor, and we will have no more to do with +Him.' There are people, alas! who have gone back to their wallowing in +the mire, but it was not because Christ had failed in His promises, but +because they did not care to have them fulfilled any more. Jesus Christ +does not promise that His salvation shall work against the will of men +who submit themselves to it. + +But it is not only because of that consentient chorus of many +voices--the testimony of which wise men will not reject--that the word +is 'a faithful saying.' This is no place or time to enter upon anything +like a condensation of the Christian evidence; but, in lieu of +everything else, I point to one proof. There is no fact in the history +of the world better attested, and the unbelief of which is more +unreasonable, than the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. And if Christ rose +from the dead--and you cannot understand the history of the world unless +He did, nor the existence of the Church either--if Jesus Christ rose +from the dead, it seems to me that almost all the rest follows of +necessity: the influx of the supernatural, the unique character of His +career, the correspondence of the end with the beginning, the broad seal +of the divine confirmation stamped upon His claims to be the Son of God +and the Redeemer of the world. All these things seem to me to come +necessarily from that fact. And I say, given the consentient witness of +nineteen centuries, given the existence of the Church, given the effects +of Christianity in the world, given that upon which they repose--the +Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead--the conclusion is sound, +'This is a faithful saying . . . that He came into the world to save +sinners.' + +Men talk, nowadays, very often as if the progress of science and new +views as to the evolution of creatures or of mankind had effected the +certitude of the Gospel. It does not seem to me that they have in the +smallest degree. 'The foundation of God standeth sure,' whatever may +become of some of the superstructures which men have built upon it. They +may very probably be blown away. So much the better if we get the rock +to build upon once more. A great deal is going, but not the Gospel. Do +not let us be afraid, or suppose that it will suffer. Do not let us +dread every new speculation as if it was going to finish Christianity, +but recognise this--that the fact of man's sin and, blessed be God! the +fact of man's redemption stands untouched by them all; and to-day, as of +old, Jesus Christ is, and is firmly manifested to be, the world's +Saviour. Whatsoever refuge may be swept away by any storms, 'Behold, I +lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried corner-stone, a sure +foundation: He that believeth shall not be confounded.' + +III. Lastly, notice the consequent wisdom and duty of acceptance. + +'Worthy of all acceptation,' says Paul. Yes, of course, if it is +reliable. That word of the Lord which is 'sure, making wise the simple,' +deserves to be received. Now this phrase, 'all acceptation,' may mean +either of two things: it may either mean worthy of being welcomed by all +men, or by the whole of each man. + +This Gospel deserves to be welcomed by every man, for it is fitted for +every man, since it deals with the primary human characteristic of +transgression. Brethren! we need different kinds of intellectual +nutriment, according to education and culture. We need different kinds +of treatment, according to condition and circumstance. The morality of +one age is not the morality of another. Much, even of right and wrong, +is local and temporary; but black man and white, savage and civilised, +philosopher and fool, king and clown, all need the same air to breathe, +the same water to drink, the same sun for light and warmth, and all need +the same Christ for redemption from the same sin, for safety from the +same danger, for snatching from the same death. This Gospel is a Gospel +for the world, and for every man in it. Have you taken it for yours? If +it is 'worthy of all acceptation,' it is worthy of _your_ acceptation. +If you have not, you are treating Him and it with indignity, as if it +was a worthless letter left in the post-office for you, which you knew +was there, but which you did not think valuable enough to take the +trouble to go for. The gift lies at your side. It is less than truth to +say that it is '_worthy_ of being accepted.' Oh! it is infinitely more +than that. + +It is, also, 'worthy of all acceptation' in the sense of worthy of being +accepted into all a man's nature, because it will fit it all and bless +it all. Some of us give it a half welcome. We take it into our heads, +and then we put a partition between them and our hearts, and keep our +religion on the other side, so that it does not influence us at all. It +is worthy of being received by the understanding, to which it will bring +truth absolute; of being received by the will, to which it will bring +the freedom of submission; of being received by the conscience, to which +it will bring quickening; of being received by the affections, to which +it will bring pure and perfect love. For hope, it will bring a certainty +to gaze upon; for passions, a curb; for effort, a spur and a power; for +desires, satisfaction; for the whole man, healing and light. + +Brother! take it. And, if you do, begin where it begins, with your sins; +and be contented to be saved as a sinner in danger and sickness, who can +neither defend nor heal yourself. And thus coming, you will test the +rope and find it hold; you will take the medicine and know that it +cures; and, by your own experience, you will be able to say, 'This _is_ +a faithful saying, Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners.' + + + + +THE CHIEF OF SINNERS + + 'Of whom I am chief.'--1 TIM. i. 15. + + +The less teachers of religion talk about themselves the better; and yet +there is a kind of personal reference, far removed from egotism and +offensiveness. Few such men have ever spoken more of themselves than +Paul did, and yet none have been truer to his motto: 'We preach not +ourselves, but Christ Jesus.' For the scope of almost all his personal +references is the depreciation of self, and the magnifying of the +wonderful mercy which drew him to Jesus Christ. Whenever he speaks of +his conversion it is with deep emotion and with burning cheeks. Here, +for instance, he adduces himself as the typical example of God's +long-suffering. If _he_ were saved none need despair. + +I take it that this saying of the Apostle's, 'Of whom I am chief,' +paradoxical and exaggerated as it seems to many men, is in spirit that +which all who know themselves ought to re-echo; and without which there +is little strength in Christian life. + +I. And so I ask you to note, first, what this man thinks of himself. + +'Of whom I am chief.' Now, if we set what we know of the character of +Saul of Tarsus before he was a Christian by the side of that of many who +have won a bad supremacy in wickedness, the words seem entirely strange +and exaggerated. But, as I have often had to say, the principle of the +Apostle's estimate is to be found in his belief that, not the outward +manifestation of evil in specific acts of immorality, or flagrant +breaches of commandment, but the inward principle from which the deeds +flowed, is the measure of a man's criminality, and that, according to +the uniform teaching of Scripture, the very root of sin, and that which +is common to all the things that the world's conscience and ordinary +morality designate as wrong, is to be found here, that self has become +the centre, the aim, and the law instead of God. 'This is the +condemnation,' said Paul's Master--_not_ that men have done so-and-so +and so-and-so, but--'that light is come into the world, and men love +darkness.' That is the root of evil. 'When the Comforter is come,' said +Paul's Master, 'He will convince the world of sin.' Because they have +broken the commandments? Because they have been lustful, ambitious, +passionate, murderous, profligate, and so on? No! 'Because they believe +not in Me.' + +The common root of all sin is alienation of heart and will from God. And +it is by the root, and not by the black clusters of poisonous berries +that have come from it, that men are to be judged. Here is the +mother-tincture. You may colour it in different ways, and you may +flavour it with different essences, and you will get a whole +_pharmacopoeia_ of poisons out of it. But the mother-poison of them +all is this, that men turn away from the light, which is God; and for +you and me is God in Christ. + +So this man, looking back from the to-day of his present devotion and +love to the yesterdays of his hostility, avails himself indeed of the +palliation, 'I did it ignorantly, in unbelief,' but yet is smitten with +the consciousness that whilst as touching the righteousness that is of +the law he was blameless, his attitude to that incarnate love was such +as now, he thinks, stamps him as the worst of men. + +Brethren, _there_ is the standard by which we have to try ourselves. If +we get down below the mere surface of acts, and think, not of what we +do, but of what we are, we shall then, at any rate, have in our hands +the means by which we can truly estimate ourselves. + +But what have we to say about that word 'chief'? Is not that +exaggeration? Well, yes and no. For every man ought to know the weak and +evil places of his own heart better than he does those of any besides. +And if he does so know them, he will understand that the ordinary +classification of sin, according to the apparent blackness of the deed, +is very superficial and misleading. Obviously, the worst of acts need +not be done by the worst of men, and it does not at all follow that the +man who does the awful deed stands out from his fellows in the same bad +pre-eminence in which his deed stands out from theirs. + +Take a concrete case. Go into the slums of Manchester, and take some of +the people there, battered almost out of the semblance of humanity, and +all crusted over and leprous with foul-smelling evils that you and I +never come within a thousand miles of thinking it possible that we +should do. Did you ever think that it is quite possible that the worst +harlot, thief, drunkard, profligate in your back streets may be more +innocent in their profligacy than you are in your respectability; and +that we may even come to this paradox, that the worse the act, as a +rule, the less guilty the doer? It is not such a paradox as it looks, +because, on the one hand, the presence of temptation, and, on the other +hand, the absence of light, make all the difference. And these people, +who could not have been anything else, are innocent in degradation as +compared with you, with all your education and culture, and +opportunities of going straight, and knowledge of Christ and His love. +The little transgressions that you do are far greater than the gross +ones that they do. 'But for the grace of God, there goes John Bradford,' +said the old preacher, when he saw a man going to the scaffold. And you +and I, if we know ourselves, will not think that we have an instance of +exaggeration, but only of the object nearest seeming the largest, when +Paul said 'Of whom I am chief.' + +Only go and look for your sin in the way they look for Guy Fawkes at the +House of Commons before the session. Take a dark lantern, and go down +into the cellars. And If you do not find something there that will take +all the conceit out of you, it must be because you are very +short-sighted, or phenomenally self-complacent. + +What does it matter though there be vineyards on the slopes of Vesuvius, +and bright houses nestling at its base, and beauty lying all around like +the dream of a god, if, when a man cranes his neck over the top of the +crater, he sees that that cone, so graceful on the outside, is seething +with fire and sulphur? Let us look down into the crater of our own +hearts, and what we see there may well make us feel as Paul did when he +said, 'Of whom I am chief.' + +Now, such an estimate is perfectly consistent with a clear recognition +of any good that may be in the character and manifest in life. For the +same Paul who says, 'Of whom I am chief,' says, in the almost +contemporaneous letter sent to the same person, 'I have fought a good +fight; I have finished my course; I have kept the faith'; and he is the +same man who asserted, 'In nothing am I behind the very chiefest +apostles, though I be nothing.' The true Christian estimate of one's own +evil and sin does not in the least interfere with the recognition of +what God strengthens one to do, or of the progress which, by God's +grace, may have been made in holiness and righteousness. The two things +may lie side by side with perfect harmony, and ought to do so, in every +Christian heart. + +But notice one more point. The Apostle does not say 'I _was_,' but 'I +_am_ chief.' What! A man who could say, in another connection, 'If any +man be in Christ Jesus, he is a new creature; old things are passed +away'--the man who could say, in another connection, 'I live, yet not +I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I +live by the faith of the Son of God'--does he also say, 'I _am_ chief'? +Is he speaking about his present? Are old sins bound round a man's neck +for evermore? If they be, what is the meaning of the Gospel that Jesus +Christ redeems us from our sins? Well, he means this. No lapse of time, +nor any gift of divine pardon, nor any subsequent advancement in +holiness and righteousness, can alter the fact that I, the very same I +that am now rejoicing in God's salvation, am the man that did all these +things; and, in a very profound sense, they remain mine through all +eternity. I may be a forgiven sinner, and a cleansed sinner, and a +sanctified sinner, but I _am_ a sinner--not I _was_. The imperishable +connection between a man and his past, which may be so tragical, and, +thank God, may be so blessed, even in the case of remembered and +confessed sin, is solemnly hinted at in the words before us. We carry +with us ever the fact of past transgression, and no forgiveness, nor any +future 'perfecting of holiness in the fear' and by the grace 'of the +Lord' can alter that fact. Therefore, let us beware lest we bring upon +our souls any more of the stains which, though they be in a blessed and +sufficient sense blotted out, do yet leave the marks where they have +fallen for ever. + +II. Note how this man comes to such an estimate of himself. + +He did not think so deeply and penitently of his past at the beginning +of his career, true and deep as his repentance, and valid and genuine as +his conversion were. But as he advanced in the love of Jesus Christ, his +former active hostility became more monstrous to him, and the higher he +rose, the clearer was his vision of the depth from which he had +struggled; for growth in Christian holiness deepens the conviction of +prior imperfection. + +If God has forgiven my sin the more need for me to remember it. 'Thou +shalt be ashamed and confounded, and never open thy mouth any more +because of thy transgressions, when I am pacified towards thee for all +that thou hast done.' If you, my brother, have any real and genuine hold +of God's pardoning mercy, it will bow you down the more completely on +your knees in the recognition of your own sin. The man who, as soon as +the pressure of guilt and danger which is laid upon him seems to him to +be lifted off, springs up like some elastic figure of indiarubber, and +goes on his way in jaunty forgetfulness of his past evil, needs to ask +himself whether he has ever passed from death unto life. Not to remember +the old sin is to be blind. The surest sign that we are pardoned is the +depth of our habitual penitence. Try yourselves, you Christian people +who are so sure of your forgiveness, try yourselves by that test, and if +you find that you are thinking less of your past evil, be doubtful +whether you have ever entered into the genuine possession of the +forgiving mercy of your God. + +And then, still further, this penitent retrospect is the direct result +of advancement in Christian characteristics. We are drawn to begin some +study or enterprise by the illusion that there is but a little way to +go. 'Alps upon alps arise' when once we have climbed a short distance up +the hill, and it has become as difficult to go back as to go forward. + +So it is in the Christian life--the sign of growing perfection is the +growing consciousness of imperfection. A spot upon a clean palm is more +conspicuous than a diffuse griminess over all the hand. One stain upon +a white robe spoils it which would not be noticed upon one less +lustrously clean. And so the more we grow towards God in Christ, and the +more we appropriate and make our own His righteousness, the more we +shall be conscious of our deficiencies, and the less we shall be +prepared to assert virtues for ourselves. + +Thus it comes to pass that conscience is least sensitive when it is most +needed, and most swift to act when it has least to do. So it comes to +pass, too, that no man's acquittal of himself can be accepted as +sufficient; and that he is a fool in self-knowledge who says, 'I am not +conscious of guilt, therefore I am innocent.' 'I know nothing against +myself, yet am I not hereby justified: but He that judgeth me is the +Lord.' The more you become like Christ the more you will find out your +unlikeness to Him. + +III. Lastly, note what this judgment of himself did for this man. + +I said in the beginning of my remarks that it seemed to me that without +the reproduction of this estimate of ourselves there would be little +strong Christian life in us. It seems to me that that continual +remembrance which Paul carried with him of what he had been, and of +Christ's marvellous love in drawing him to Himself, was the very spring +of all that was noble and conspicuously Christian in his career. And I +venture to say, in two or three words, what I think you and I will never +have unless we have this lowly self-estimate. + +Without it there will be no intensity of cleaving to Jesus Christ. If +you do not know that you are ill, you will not take the medicine. If you +do not believe that the house is on fire, you will not mind the escape. +The life-buoy lies unnoticed on the shelf above the berth as long as the +sea is calm and everything goes well. Unless you have been down into the +depths of your own heart, and seen the evil that is there, you will not +care for the redeeming Christ, nor will you grasp Him as a man does who +knows that there is nothing between him and ruin except that strong +hand. We must be driven to the Saviour as well as drawn to Him if there +is to be any reality or tightness in the clutch with which we hold Him. +And if you do not hold Him with a firm clutch you do not hold Him at +all. + +Further, without this lowly estimate there will be no fervour of +grateful love. That is the reason why so much both of orthodox and +heterodox religion amongst us to-day is such a tepid thing as it is. It +is because men have never felt either that they need a Redeemer, or that +Jesus Christ has redeemed them. I believe that there is only one power +that will strike the rock of a human heart, and make the water of +grateful devotion flow out, and that is the belief in Jesus Christ as +the Redeemer of mankind, and as my Saviour. Unless that be your faith, +which it will not be except you have this conviction of my text in its +spirit and essence, there will not be in your hearts the love which will +glow there, an all-transforming power. + +And is there anything in the world more obnoxious, more insipid, than +lukewarm religion? If, with marks of quotation, I might use the coarse, +strong expression of John Milton--'It gives a vomit to God Himself.' +'Because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my +mouth.' + +And without it there will be little pity of, and love for, our fellows. +Unless we feel the common evil, and estimate by the intensity of its +working in ourselves how sad are its ravages in others, our charity to +men will be as tepid as our love to God. Did you ever notice that, +historically, the widest benevolence to men goes along with what some +people call the 'narrowest' theology? People tell us, for instance, to +mark the contrast between the theology which is usually called +evangelical and the wide benevolence usually accompanying it, and ask +how the two things agree. The 'wide' benevolence comes directly from the +'narrow' theology. He that knows the plague of his own heart, and how +Christ has redeemed him, will go, with the pity of Christ in his heart, +to help to redeem others. + +So, dear friends, 'If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.' +'If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, +and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.' + + + + +A TEST CASE + + 'Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in + me first Jesus Christ might show forth all + long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should + hereafter believe.'--1 TIM. i. 16. + + +The smallest of God's creatures, if it were only a gnat dancing in a +sunbeam, has a right to have its well-being considered as an end of +God's dealings. But no creature is so isolated or great as that it has a +right to have its well-being regarded as the sole end of God's dealings. +That is true about all His blessings and gifts; it is eminently true +about His gift of salvation. He saves men because He loves them +individually, and desires to make them blessed; but He also saves them +because He desires that through them others shall be brought into the +living knowledge of His love. It is most especially true about great +religious teachers and guides. + +Paul's humility is as manifest as his self-consciousness when he says in +my text, 'This is what I was saved for. Not merely, not even +principally, for the blessings that thereby accrue to myself, but that +in me, as a crucial instance, there should be manifested the whole +fulness of the divine love and saving power.' So he puts his own +experience as giving no kind of honour or glory to himself, but as +simply showing the grace and infinite love of Jesus Christ. Paul +disappears as but a passive recipient; and Christ strides into the front +as the actor in his conversion and apostleship. + +So we may take this point of view of my text, and look at the story of +what befell the great Apostle as being in many different ways an +exhibition of the great verities of the Gospel. I desire to signalise, +especially, three points here. We see in it the demonstration of the +life of Christ; an exhibition of the love of the living Christ; and a +marvellous proof of the power of that loving and living Lord. + +I. First, then, take the experience of this Apostle as a demonstration +of the exalted life, and continuous energy in the world, of Jesus +Christ. + +What was it that turned the brilliant young disciple of Gamaliel, the +rising hope of the Pharisaic party, the hammer of the heretics, into one +of themselves? The appearance of Jesus Christ. Paul rode out of +Jerusalem believing Him to be dead, and His Resurrection a lie. He +staggered into Damascus, blind but seeing, and knowing that Jesus +Christ lived and reigned. Now if you will let the man tell you himself +what he saw, or thought he saw, you will come to this, that it was a +visible, audible manifestation of a corporeal Christ. For it is +extremely noteworthy that the Apostle ranks the appearance to himself, +on the road to Damascus, as in the same class with the appearances to +the other apostles which he enumerates in the great chapter in the +Epistle to the Corinthians. He draws no distinction, as far as +evidential force goes, between the appearance to Simon and to the five +hundred brethren and to the others, and that which flashed upon him and +made a Christian of him. Other men that were with him saw the light. He +saw the Christ within the blaze. Other men heard a noise; he heard +audible and intelligible words in his own speech. This is _his_ account +of the phenomenon. What do _you_ think of his account? + +There are but three possible answers! It was imposture; it was delusion; +it was truth. The theory of imposture is out of court. 'Do men gather +grapes of thorns or figs of thistles?' Such a life as followed is +altogether incongruous with the notion that the man who lived it was a +deceiver. A fanatic he may have been; self-deceived he may have been; +but transparently sincere he undeniably was. It is not given to +impostors to move the world, as Paul did and does. + +Was it delusion? Well it is a strange kind of hallucination which has +such physical accompaniments and consequences as those in the story--not +wanting confirmation from witnesses--which has come to us. + +'At midday, O king'--in no darkness; in no shut-up chamber, 'at midday, +O king--I heard . . . I saw . . .' 'The men that were with me' partly +shared in the vision. There was a lengthened conversation; two senses at +least were appealed to, vision and hearing, and in both vision and +hearing there were partial participators. Physical consequences that +lasted for three days accompanied the hallucination; and the man 'was +blind, not seeing the sun, and neither did eat nor drink.' There must be +some soil beforehand in which delusions of such a sort can root +themselves. But, if we take the story in the Acts of the Apostles, there +is not the smallest foothold for the fashionable notion, which is +entirely due to men's dislike of the supernatural, that there was any +kind of misgiving in the young Pharisee, springing from the influence of +Stephen's martyrdom, as he went forth breathing out threatenings and +slaughter. The plain fact is that, at one moment he hated Jesus Christ +as a bad man, and believed that the story of the Resurrection was a +gross falsehood; and that at the next moment he knew Him to be living +and reigning, and the Lord of his life and of the world. Hallucinations +do not come thus, like a thunderclap on unprepared minds. Nor is there +anything in the subsequent history of the man that seems to confirm, but +everything that contradicts, the idea that such a revolutionary change +as upset all his mental furniture, and changed the whole current of his +life, and slammed in his face the door that was wide open to advancement +and reputation, came from a delusion. + +I think the hallucination theory is out of court, too, and there is +nothing left but the old-fashioned one, that what he said he saw, _he +saw_, and did not fancy; and that which he said he heard, _he heard_; +and that it was not a buzzing of a diseased nerve in his own ears, but +the actual speech of the glorified Christ. Very well, then; if that be +true, what then? The old-fashioned belief--Jesus who died on the Cross +is living, Jesus who died on the Cross is glorified, Jesus who died on +the Cross is exalted to the throne of the universe, puts His hand into +the affairs of the world as a power amongst them. Paul's Christology is +but the _rationale_ of the vision that led to Paul's conversion. It was +in part because he 'saw that Just One, and heard the words of His +mouth,' that he declares, 'God hath highly exalted Him, and given Him a +name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee +should bow.' I do not say that the vision to Paul is a demonstration of +the reality of the Resurrection, but I do say that it is a very strong +confirmatory evidence, which the opponents of that truth will have much +difficulty in legitimately putting aside. + +II. Secondly, let me ask you to consider how this man's experience is an +exhibition of the love of the living Lord. + +That is the main point on which the Apostle dwells in my text, in which +he says that in him Jesus Christ 'shows forth all long-suffering.' The +whole fulness of His patient, pitying grace was lavished upon him. He +says this because he puts side by side his hostility and Christ's love, +what he had believed of Jesus, and how Jesus had borne with him and +loved him through all, and had drawn him to Himself and received him. So +he established by his own experience this great truth, that the love of +Jesus Christ is never darkened by one single speck of anger, that He +'suffereth long, and is kind'; that He meets hostility with patient +love, hatred with a larger outpouring of His affection, and that His +only answer to men's departures from Him in heart and feeling is more +mightily to seek to draw them to Himself. 'Long-suffering' means, in its +true and proper sense, the patient acceptance, without the smallest +movement of indignation, of unworthy treatment. And just as Christ on +earth 'gave His back to the smiter, and His cheeks to them that pulled +off the hair'; and let the lips of Judas touch His, nor withdrew His +face from 'shame and spitting'; and was never stirred to one impatient +or angry word by any opposition, so now, and to us all, with equal +boundlessness of endurance, He lets men hate Him, and revile Him, and +forget Him, and turn their backs upon Him; and for only answer has, +'Come unto Me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give +you rest.' + +Oh, dear brethren, we can weary out all loves except one. By +carelessness, rebelliousness, the opposition of indifference, we can +chill the affection of those to whom we are dearest. 'Can a mother +forget? Yea, she may forget,' but you cannot provoke Jesus Christ to +cease His love. Some of you have been trying it all your days, but you +have not done it yet. There does come a time when 'the wrath of the +Lamb'--which is a very terrible paradox--is kindled, and will fall, I +fear, on some men and women who are listening now. But not yet. You +cannot make Christ angry. 'For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me +Jesus Christ might show forth all long-suffering, _for a pattern_'--for +the same long-suffering is extended to us all. + +And then, in like manner, I may remind you that out of Paul's +experience, as a cardinal instance and standing example of Christ's +heart and dealings, comes the thought that that long-suffering is always +wooing men to itself, and making efforts to draw them away from their +own evil. In Paul's case there was a miracle. That difference is of +small consequence. As truly as ever Christ spoke to Paul from the +heavens, so truly, and so tenderly, does He speak to every one of us. He +is drawing us all--you that yield and you that do not yield to His +attractions, by the kindliest gifts of His love, by the revelations of +His grace, by the movements of His Spirit, by the providences of our +days, by even my poor lips addressing you now--for, if I be speaking His +truth, it is not I that speak, but He that speaks in me. I beseech you, +dear friends, recognise in this old story of the persecutor turned +apostle nothing exceptional, though there be something miraculous, but +only an exceptional form of manifestation of the normal activity of the +love of Christ towards every soul. He loves, He draws, He welcomes all +that come to Him. His servant, who stood over the blind, penitent +persecutor, and said to him, '_Brother_ Saul!' was only faintly echoing +the glad reception which the elder Brother of the family gives to this +and to every prodigal who comes back; because He Himself has drawn Him. + +If we will only recognise the undying truth for all of us that lies +beneath the individual experience of this apostle, we, too, may share in +the attraction of His love, in the constraining and blessed influences +of that love received, and in the welcome with which He hails us when we +turn. If this man were thus dealt with, no man need despair. + +III. Lastly, we may notice how this experience is a manifestation of the +power of the living, loving Lord. + +The first and plainest thing that it teaches us about that power is that +Jesus Christ is able in one moment to revolutionise a life. There is +nothing more striking than the suddenness and completeness of the +change which passed. 'One day is with the Lord as a thousand years'; and +there come moments in every life into which there is crammed and +condensed a whole world of experience, so as that a man looks back from +this instant to that before, and feels that a gulf, deep as infinity, +separates him from his old self. + +Now, it is very unfashionable in these days to talk about conversion at +all. It is even more unfashionable to talk about sudden conversions. I +venture to say that there are types of character and experience which +will never be turned to good, unless they are turned suddenly; while +there are others, no doubt, to whom the course is a gradual one, and you +cannot tell where the dawn broadens into perfect day. But, in the case +of men who have grown up to some degree of maturity of life, either in +sensuous sin or crusted over with selfish worldliness, or in any other +way, by reason of intellectual pursuits, or others have become forgetful +of God and careless of religion--unless such men are in a moment +arrested and wheeled round at once, there is very little chance of their +ever being so at all. + +I am sure I am speaking to some now who, unless the truth of Christ +comes into their minds with arresting flash, and unless they are in one +moment, into which an eternity is condensed, changed in their purposes, +will never be changed. + +Do not, my friend, listen to the talk that sudden conversion is +impossible or unlikely. It is the only kind of conversion that some of +you are capable of. I remember a man, one of the best Christian men in a +humble station in life that I ever knew--he did not live in +Manchester--he had been a drunkard up to his fortieth or fiftieth year. +One day he was walking across an open field, and a voice, as he +thought, spoke to him and said, naming him, 'If you don't sign the +pledge to-day you will be damned!' He turned on his heel, and walked +straight down the street to the house of a temperance friend, and said, +'I have come to sign the pledge.' He signed it, and from that day to the +day of his death 'adorned the doctrine of Jesus Christ' his Saviour. If +that man had not been suddenly converted he would never have been +converted. So I say that this story of the text is a crucial instance of +Christ's power to lay hold upon a man, and wheel him right round all in +a moment, and send him on a new path. He wants to do that with all of +you to whom He has not already done it. I beseech you, do not stick your +heels into the ground in resistance, nor when He puts His hand on your +shoulder stiffen your back that He may not do what He desires with you. + +May we not see here, too, a demonstration of Christ's power to make a +life nobly and blessedly new, different from all its past, and adorned +with strange and unexpected fruits of beauty and wisdom and holiness? +This man's account of his future, from the moment of that incident on +the Damascus road to the headman's block outside the walls of Rome, is +this: 'If any man be in Christ he is a new creature'; 'I live, yet not +I, but Christ liveth in me.' Christ will do that for us all; for +long-suffering was shown on the Apostle for a pattern to them who should +hereafter believe. + +So, you Christian people, it is as much your business as it was Paul's, +to be visible rhetoric, manifest demonstrations in your lives of the +truth of the Gospel. Men ought to say about us, 'There must be something +in the religion that has done that for these people.' We ought to be +such that our characters shall induce the thought that the Christ who +has made men like us cannot be a figment. Do you show, Christian men, +that you are grafted upon the true Vine by the abundance of the fruit +that you bring forth? Can you venture to say, as Paul said, If you want +to know what Jesus Christ's love and power are, look at me? Do not +venture adducing yourself as a specimen of His power unless you have a +life like Paul's to look back upon. + +For us all the fountain to which Paul had recourse is open. Why do we +draw so little from it? The fire which burned, refining and +illuminating, in him may be kindled in all our hearts. Why are we so +icy? His convictions are of some value, as subsidiary evidence to Gospel +facts; his experience is of still more value as an attestation and an +instance of Gospel blessings. Believe like Paul and you will be saved +like Paul. Jesus Christ will show to you all long-suffering. For though +Paul received it all he did not exhaust it, and the same long-suffering +which was lavished on him is available for each of us. Only you too must +say like him, 'I was not disobedient to the heavenly vision.' + + + + +THE GLORY OF THE KING + + 'Now, unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, + the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever + and ever. Amen.'--1 TIM. i. 17. + + +With this burst of irrepressible praise the Apostle ends his reference +to his own conversion as a transcendent, standing instance of the +infinite love and transforming power of God. Similar doxologies +accompany almost all his references to the same fact. This one comes +from the lips of 'Paul the aged,' looking back from almost the close of +a life which owed many sorrows and troubles to that day on the road to +Damascus. His heart fills with thankfulness that overflows into the +great words of my text. He had little to be thankful for, judged +according to the rules of sense; but, though weighed down with care, +having made but a poor thing of the world because of that vision which +he saw that day, and now near martyrdom, he turns with a full heart to +God, and breaks into this song of thanksgiving. There are lives which +bear to be looked back upon. Are ours of that kind? + +But my object is mainly to draw your attention to what seems to me a +remarkable feature in this burst of thanksgiving. And perhaps I shall +best impress the thought which it has given to me if I ask you to look, +first, at the character of the God who is glorified by Paul's salvation; +second, at the facts which glorify such a God; and, last, at the praise +which should fill the lives of those who know the facts. + +I. First, then, notice the God who is glorified by Paul's salvation. + +Now what strikes me as singular about this great doxology is the +characteristics, or, to use a technical word, the attributes, of the +divine nature which the Apostle selects. They are all those which +separate God from man; all those which present Him as arrayed in +majesty, apart from human weaknesses, unapproachable by human sense, and +filling a solitary throne. These are the characteristics which the +Apostle thinks receive added lustre, and are lifted to a loftier height +of 'honour and glory,' by the small fact that he, Paul, was saved from +sins as he journeyed to Damascus. + +It would be easy to roll out oratorical platitudes about these specific +characteristics of the divine nature, but that would be as unprofitable +as it would be easy. All that I want to do now is just to note the force +of the epithets; and, if I can, to deepen the impression of the +remarkableness of their selection. + +With regard, then, to the first of them, we at once feel that the +designation of 'the King' is unfamiliar to the New Testament. It brings +with it lofty ideas, no doubt; but it is not a name which the writers of +the New Testament, who had been taught in the school of love, and led by +a Son to the knowledge of God, are most fond of using. 'The King' has +melted into 'the Father.' But here Paul selects that more remote and +less tender name for a specific purpose. He is 'the King'--not +'_eternal_,' as our Bible renders it, but more correctly 'the King of +the Ages.' The idea intended is not so much that of unending existence +as that He moulds the epochs of the world's history, and directs the +evolution of its progress. It is the thought of an overruling +Providence, with the additional thought that all the moments are a +linked chain, through which He flashes the electric force of His will. +He is 'King of the Ages.' + +The other epithets are more appropriately to be connected with the word +'God' which follows than with the word 'King' which precedes. The +Apostle's meaning is this: 'The King of the ages, even the God who is,' +etc. And the epithets thus selected all tend in the same direction. +'Incorruptible.' That at once parts that mystic and majestic Being from +all of which the law is _decay_. There may be in it some hint of moral +purity, but more probably it is simply what I may call a physical +attribute, that that immortal nature not only _does_ not, but _cannot_, +pass into any less noble forms. Corruption has no share in His immortal +being. + +As to 'invisible,' no word need be said to illustrate that. It too +points solely to the separation of God from all approach by human sense. + +And then the last of the epithets, which, according to the more accurate +reading of the text, should be, not as our Bible has it, 'the only +_wise_ God,' but 'the _only_ God,' lifts Him still further above all +comparison and contact with other beings. + +So the whole set forth the remote attributes which make a man feel, 'The +gulf between Him and me is so great that thought cannot pass across it, +and I doubt whether love can live half-way across that flight, or will +not rather, like some poor land bird with tiny wings, drop exhausted, +and be drowned in the abyss before it reaches the other side.' We expect +to find a hymn to the infinite love. Instead of that we get praise, +which might be upon the lips of many a thinker of Paul's day and of +ours, who would laugh the idea of revelation, and especially of a +revelation such as Paul believed in, to absolute scorn. And yet he knew +what he was saying when he did not lift up his praise to the God of +tenderness, of pity, of forgiveness, of pardoning love, but to 'the King +of the ages; the incorruptible, invisible, only God'; the God whose +honour and glory were magnified by the revelation of Himself in Jesus +Christ. + +II. And so that brings me, in the second place, to ask you to look at +the facts which glorify even such a God. + +Paul was primarily thinking of his own individual experience; of what +passed when the voice spoke to him, 'Why persecutest thou Me?' and of +the transforming power which had changed him, the wolf, with teeth red +with the blood of the saints, into a lamb. But, as he is careful to +point out, the personal allusion is lost in his contemplation of his own +history, as being a specimen and test-case for the blessing and +encouragement of all who 'should hereafter believe upon Him unto life +everlasting.' So what we come to is this--that the work of Jesus Christ +is that which paints the lily and gilds the refined gold of the divine +loftinesses and magnificence, and which brings honour and glory even to +that remote and inaccessible majesty. For, in that revelation of God in +Jesus Christ, there is added to all these magnificent and all but +inconceivable attributes and excellences, something that is far diviner +and nobler than themselves. + +There be two great conceptions smelted together in the revelation of God +in Jesus Christ, of which neither attains its supremest beauty except by +the juxtaposition of the other. Power is harsh, and scarcely worthy to +be called divine, unless it be linked with love. Love is not glorious +unless it be braced and energised by power. And, says Paul, these two +are brought together in Jesus; and therefore each is heightened by the +other. It is the love of God that lifts His power to its highest height; +it is the revelation of Him as stooping that teaches us His loftiness. +It is because He has come within the grasp of our humanity in Jesus +Christ that we can hymn our highest and noblest praises to 'the King +eternal, the invisible God.' + +The sunshine falls upon the snow-clad peaks of the great mountains and +flushes them with a tender pink that makes them nobler and fairer by far +than when they were veiled in clouds. And so all the divine majesty +towers higher when we believe in the divine condescension, and there is +no god that men have ever dreamed of so great as the God who stoops to +sinners and is manifest in the flesh and Cross of the Man of Sorrows. + +Take these characteristics of the divine nature as get forth in the text +one by one, and consider how the Revelation in Jesus Christ, and its +power on sinful men, raises our conceptions of them. 'The King of the +ages'--and do we ever penetrate so deeply into the purpose which has +guided His hand, as it moulded and moved the ages, as when we can say +with Paul that His 'good pleasure' is that, 'in the dispensation of the +fulness of times, He might gather together in one all things in Christ.' +The intention of the epochs as they emerge, the purpose of all their +linked intricacies and apparently diverse movements, is this one thing, +that God in Christ may be manifest to men, a nd that humanity may be +gathered, like sheep round the Shepherd, into the one fold of the one +Lord. For that the world stands; for that the ages roll, and He who is +the King of the epochs hath put into the hands of the Lamb that was +slain the Book that contains all their events; and only His hand, +pierced upon Calvary, is able to open the seals, to read the Book. The +King of the ages is the Father of Christ. + +And in like manner, that incorruptible God, far away from us because He +is so, and to whom we look up here doubtingly and despairingly and often +complainingly and ask, 'Why hast Thou made us thus, to be weighed upon +with the decay of all things and of ourselves?' comes near to us all in +the Christ who knows the mystery of death, and thereby makes us +partakers of an inheritance incorruptible. Brethren, we shall never +adore, or even dimly understand, the blessedness of believing in a God +who cannot decay nor change, unless from the midst of graves and griefs +we lift our hearts to Him as revealed in the face of the dying Christ. +He, though He died, did not see corruption, and we through Him shall +pass into the same blessed immunity. + +'The King . . . the God invisible.' No man hath seen God 'at any time, nor +can see Him.' Who will honour and glorify that attribute which parts Him +wholly from our sense, and so largely from our apprehension, as will he +who can go on to say, 'the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of +the Father, He hath declared Him.' We look up into a waste Heaven; +thought and fear, and sometimes desire, travel into its tenantless +spaces. We say the blue is an illusion; there is nothing there but +blackness. But 'he that hath seen Me hath seen the Father.' And we can +lift thankful praise to Him, the King invisible, when we hear Jesus +saying, 'thou hast both seen Him, and it is He that talketh with thee.' + +'The only God.' How that repels men from His throne! And yet, if we +apprehend the meaning of Christ's Cross and work, we understand that the +solitary God welcomes my solitary soul into such mysteries and sacred +sweetnesses of fellowship with Himself that, the humanity remaining +undisturbed, and the divinity remaining unintruded upon, we yet are one +in Him, and partakers of a divine nature. Unless we come to God through +Jesus Christ, the awful attributes in the text spurn a man from His +throne, and make all true fellowship impossible. + +So let me remind you that the religion which does not blend together in +indissoluble union these two, the majesty and the lowliness, the power +and the love, the God inaccessible and the God who has tabernacled with +us in Jesus Christ, is sure to be almost an impotent religion. Deism in +all its forms, the religion which admits a God and denies a revelation; +the religion which, in some vague sense, admits a revelation and denies +an incarnation; the religion which admits an incarnation and denies a +sacrifice; all these have little to say to man as a sinner; little to +say to man as a mourner; little power to move his heart, little power to +infuse strength into his weakness. If once you strike out the thought of +a redeeming Christ from your religion, the temperature will go down +alarmingly, and all will soon be frost bound. + +Brethren, there is no real adoration of the loftiness of the King of the +ages, no true apprehension of the majesty of the God incorruptible, +invisible, eternal, until we see Him in the face and in the Cross of +Jesus Christ. The truths of this gospel of our salvation do not in the +smallest degree impinge upon or weaken, but rather heighten, the glory +of God. The brightest glory streams from the Cross. It was when He was +standing within a few hours of it, and had it full in view, that Jesus +Christ broke out into that strange strain of triumph, 'Now is God +glorified.' 'The King of the ages, incorruptible, invisible, the only +God,' is more honoured and glorified in the forgiveness that comes +through Jesus Christ, and in the transforming power which He puts forth +in the Gospel, than in all besides. + +III. Lastly, let me draw your attention to the praise which should fill +the lives of those who know these facts. + +I said that this Apostle seems always, when he refers to his own +individual conversion, to have been melted into fresh outpourings of +thankfulness and of praise. And that is what ought to be the life of all +of you who call yourselves Christians; a continual warmth of +thankfulness welling up in the heart, and not seldom finding utterance +in the words, but always filling the life. + +Not seldom, I say, finding utterance in the words. It is a delicate +thing for a man to speak about himself, and his own religious +experience. Our English reticence, our social habits, and many other +even less worthy hindrances rise in the way; and I should be the last +man to urge Christian people to cast their pearls before swine, or too +fully to + + 'Open wide the bridal chamber of the heart,' + +to let in the day. There is a wholesome fear of men who are always +talking about their own religious experiences. But there are times and +people to whom it is treason to the Master for us not to be frank in the +confession of what we have found in Him. And I think there would be less +complaining of the want of power in the public preaching of the Word if +more professing Christians more frequently and more simply said to those +to whom their words are weighty, 'Come and hear and I will tell you what +God hath done for my soul.' 'Ye are my witnesses,' saith the Lord. It is +a strange way that Christian people in this generation have of +discharging their obligations that they should go, as so many of them +do, from the cradle of their Christian lives to their graves, never +having opened their lips for the Master who has done all for them. + +Only remember, if you venture to speak you will have to live your +preaching. 'There is no speech nor language, their voice is not heard, +their sound is gone out through all the earth.' The silent witness of +life must always accompany the audible proclamation, and in many cases +is far more eloquent than it. Your consistent thankfulness manifested in +your daily obedience, and in the transformation of your character, will +do far more than all my preaching, or the preaching of thousands like +me, to commend the Gospel of Jesus Christ. + +One last word, brethren. This revelation is made to us all. What is God +to you, friend? Is He a remote, majestic, unsympathising, terrible +Deity? Is He dim, shadowy, unwelcome; or is He God whose love softens +His power; Whose power magnifies his love? Oh! I beseech you, open your +eyes and your hearts to see that that remote Deity is of no use to you, +will do nothing for you, cannot help you, may probably judge you, but +will never heal you. And open your hearts to see that 'the only God' +whom men can love is God in Christ. If here we lift up grateful praise +'unto Him that loveth us and hath loosed us from our sins in His blood,' +we, too, shall one day join in that great chorus which at last will be +heard saying, 'Blessing and honour and glory and power be unto Him that +sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.' + + + + +WHERE AND HOW TO PRAY + + 'I will therefore that men pray every where, + lifting up holy hands without wrath and + doubting.'--1 TIM. ii. 8. + + +The context shows that this is part of the Apostle's directory for +public worship, and that, therefore, the terms of the first clause are +to be taken somewhat restrictedly. They teach the duty of the male +members of the Church to take public, audible part in its worship. + +Everywhere, therefore, must here properly be taken in the restricted +signification of 'every place of Christian assembly.' And from the whole +passage there comes a picture of what sort of thing a meeting of the +primitive Church for worship was, very different from anything that we +see nowadays. 'Every one of you hath a psalm, hath a doctrine, hath an +exhortation.' I fancy that some of the eminently respectable and utterly +dead congregations which call themselves Christian Churches would be +very much astonished if they could see what used to be the manner of +Christian worship nineteen hundred years ago, and would get a new notion +of what was meant by 'decently, and in order.' + +But we may fairly, I suppose, if once we confess that this is so, widen +somewhat the scope of these words, and take them rather as expressive of +the Apostle's desire and injunction, for the word that he used here, 'I +will,' is a very strong one, to all Christian people, be they men or +women, that they pray 'everywhere,' in the widest sense of that +expression, 'lifting up holy hands without wrath or doubting.' + +I do not attempt anything more than just to go, step by step, through +the Apostle's words and gather up the duties which each enjoins. + +'I will that men pray everywhere.' That is the same in spirit as the +Apostle's other command: 'Pray without ceasing; in everything give +thanks.' A very high ideal, but a very reasonable one, for unless we can +find some place where God is not, and where the telegraph between heaven +and earth is beyond our reach, there is no place where we should not +pray. And unless we can find a place where we do not want God, nor need +Him, there is no place where we should not pray. Because, then, +'everywhere' is equally near Him, and the straight road to His throne is +of the same length from every hole and corner of the world; therefore, +wherever men are, they ought to be clinging to His skirts, and reaching +out their open hands for His benefits; and because, wherever a man is, +there he utterly depends upon God, and needs the actual intervention of +His love, and the energising of His power for everything, even for his +physical life, so that he cannot wink his eyelashes without God's help, +therefore, 'In every place I will that men pray.' + +And how is that to be done? First of all, by keeping out of all places +where it is impossible that we should pray; for although He is +everywhere, and we want Him everywhere, there are places--and some of us +know the roads to them but too well, and are but too often in +them--where prayer would be a strange incongruity. A man will not pray +over the counter of a public-house. A man will not pray over a sharp +bargain. A man will not pray that God may bless his outbursts of anger, +or sensuality and the like. A man will not pray when he feels that he is +deep down in some pit of self-caused alienation from God. The +possibility of praying in given circumstances is a sharp test, although +a very rough and ready one, whether we ought to be in these +circumstances or not. Do not let us go where we cannot take God with us; +and if we feel that it would be something like blasphemy to call to Him +from such a place, do not let us trust ourselves there. Jonah could pray +out of the belly of the fish, and there was no incongruity in that; but +many a professing Christian man gets swallowed up by monsters of the +deep, and durst not for very shame send up a prayer to God. Get out of +all such false positions. + +But if the Apostle wills 'that men pray alway,' it must be possible +while going about business, study, daily work, work at home amongst the +children, work in the factory amongst spindles, work in the +counting-house amongst ledgers, work in the study amongst lexicons, not +only to pray whilst we are working, but to make work prayer, which is +even better. The old saying that is often quoted with admiration, 'work +is worship,' is only half true. There is a great deal of work that is +anything but worship. But it is true that if, in all that I do, I try to +realise my dependence on God for power; to look to Him for direction, +and to trust to Him for issue, then, whether I eat, or drink, or pray, +or study, or buy and sell, or marry or am given in marriage, all will be +worship of God. 'I will that men pray everywhere.' What a noble ideal, +and not an impossible or absurd one! This was not the false ideal of a +man that had withdrawn himself from duty in order to cultivate his own +soul, but the true ideal of one of the hardest workers that ever lived. +Paul could say 'I am pressed above measure, insomuch that I despair of +life, and that which cometh upon me daily is the care of all the +churches,' and yet driven, harassed beyond his strength with business +and cares as he was, he did himself what he bids us do. His life was +prayer, therefore his life was Christ, therefore he was equal to all +demands. None of us are as hard-worked, as heavily pressed, as much +hunted by imperative and baying dogs of duties as Paul was. It is +possible for us to obey this commandment and to pray everywhere. A +servant girl down on her knees doing the doorsteps may do that task from +such a motive, and with such accompaniments, as she dips her cloth into +the hot-water bucket, as to make even it prayer to God. We each can lift +all the littlenesses of our lives into a lofty region, if only we will +link them on to the throne of God by prayer. + +There is another way by which this ideal can be attained, and that is to +cultivate the habit, which I think many Christian people do not +cultivate, of little short swallow-flights of prayer in the midst of our +daily work. 'They cried unto God in the battle, and He was entreated of +them.' If a Philistine sword was hanging over the man's head, do you +think he would have much time to drop down upon his knees, to make a +petition, divided into all the parts which divines tell us go to make up +the complete idea of prayer? I should think not; but he could say, 'Save +me, O Lord!' 'They cried to God in the battle--little, sharp, short +shrieks of prayer--and He was entreated of them.' If you would cast +swift electric flashes of that kind more frequently up to heaven, you +would bring down the blessings that very often do not come after the +most elaborate and proper and formal petitions. 'Lord, save or I +perish!' It did not take long to say that, but it made the difference +between drowning and deliverance. + +Still further, notice the conditions of true prayer that are here +required. I will that men pray everywhere 'lifting up _holy_ hands.' +That is a piece of symbolism, of course. Apparently the Jewish attitude +of prayer was unlike ours. They seem to have stood during devotion and +to have elevated their hands with open, empty, upturned palms to heaven. +We clasp ours in entreaty, or fold them as a symbol of resignation and +submission. They lifted them, with the double idea, I suppose, of +offering themselves to God thereby, and of asking Him to put something +into the empty hand, just as a beggar says nothing, but holds out a +battered hat, in order to get a copper from a passer-by. The psalmist +desired that the lifting up of his hands might be as the 'evening +sacrifice.' + +If a man stands with his open, empty palm held up to God, it is as much +as to say 'I need, I desire, I expect.' And these elements are what we +must have in our prayers; the sense of want, the longing for supply, the +anticipation of an answer. What do you hold out your hand for? Because +you expect me to drop something into it, because you want to get +something. How do you hold out your hand? Empty. And if I am clasping my +five fingers round some earthly good it is of no use to hold up that +hand to God. Nothing will come into it. How can it? He must first take +the imitation diamonds out of it or we must turn it round and shake them +out before He can fill it with real jewels. As for him who continues to +clutch worldly goods, 'let not that man think that he shall receive +anything of the Lord.' Empty the palm before you lift it. + +Still further, says Paul, 'lifting up _holy_ hands.' That, of course, +needs no explanation. One of the psalms, you may remember, says 'I will +wash mine hands in innocency, so will I compass Thine altar.' The +psalmist felt that unless there was a previous lustration and cleansing, +it was vain for him to go round the altar. And you may remember how +sternly and eloquently the prophet Isaiah rebukes the hypocritical +worshippers in Jerusalem when he says to them, 'Your hands are full of +blood. Wash you, make you clean, put away the evil of your doings,' and +_then_ come and pray. A foul hand gets nothing from God. How can it? +God's best gift is of such a sort as cannot be laid upon a dirty palm. A +little sin dams back the whole of God's grace, and there are too many +men that pray, pray, pray, and never get any of the things that we pray +for, because there is something stopping the pipe, and they do not know +what it is, and perhaps would be very sorry to clear it out if they did. +But all the same, the channel of communication is blocked and stopped, +and it is impossible that any blessing should come. Geographers tell us +that a microscopic vegetable grows rapidly in one of the upper affluents +of the Nile, and makes a great dam across the river which keeps back the +water, and so makes one of the lakes which have recently been explored; +and then, when the dam breaks, the rising of the Nile fertilises Egypt. +Some of us have growing, unchecked, and unnoticed, in the innermost +channels of our hearts, little sins that mat themselves together and +keep increasing until the grace of God is utterly kept from permeating +the parched recesses of our spirits. 'I will that men pray, lifting up +holy hands,' and unless we do, alas! for us. + +If these are the requirements, you will say, 'How can I pray at all?' +Well, do you remember what the Psalmist says? 'If I regard iniquity in +my heart, the Lord will not hear me,' but then he goes on, 'Blessed be +God, who hath not turned away my prayer nor His mercy from me.' It is +always true that if we regard iniquity in our hearts, if in our inmost +nature we love the sin, that stops the prayer from being answered. But, +blessed be God, it is not true that our having done the sin prevents our +petitions being granted. For the sin that is not regarded in the heart, +but is turned away from with loathing hath no intercepting power. So, +though the uplifted hands art stained, He will cleanse them if, as we +lift them to Him, we say, 'Lord, they are foul, if thou wilt Thou canst +make them clean.' + +But the final requirement is: 'Without wrath or doubting.' I do not +think that Christian people generally recognise with sufficient +clearness the close and inseparable connection which subsists between +their right feelings towards their fellow-men and the acceptance of +their prayers with God. It is very instructive that here, alongside of +requirements which apply to our relations to God, the Apostle should put +so emphatically and plainly one which refers to our relations to our +fellows. An angry man is a very unfit man to pray, and a man who +cherishes in his heart any feelings of that nature towards anybody may +be quite sure that he is thereby shutting himself out from blessings +which otherwise might be his. We do not sufficiently realise, or act on +the importance, in regard to our relations with God, of our living in +charity with all men. 'First, go and be reconciled to thy brother,' is +as needful to-day as when the word was spoken. + +'Without . . . doubting.' Have I the right to be perfectly sure that my +prayer will be answered? Yes and no. If my prayer is, as all true prayer +ought to be, the submission of my will to God's and not the forcing of +my will upon God, then I have the right to be perfectly sure. But if I +am only asking in self-will, for things that my own heart craves, that +is not prayer; that is dictation. That is sending instructions to +heaven; that is telling God what He ought to do. That is not the kind of +prayer that may be offered 'without doubting.' It might, indeed, be +offered, if offered at all, with the certainty that it will not be +answered. For this is the assurance on which we are to rest--and some of +us may think it is a very poor one--'we know that, if we ask anything +_according to His will_, He heareth us.' To get what we want would often +be our ruin. God loves His children a great deal too well to give them +serpents when they ask for them, thinking they are fish, or to give them +stones when they beseech Him for them, believing them to be bread. He +will never hand you a scorpion when you ask Him to give it you, because, +with its legs and its sting tucked under its body, it is like an egg. + +We make mistakes in our naming of things and in our desires after +things, and it is only when we have learned to say 'Not my will but +Thine be done,' that we have the right to pray, 'without doubting.' If +we do so pray, certainly we receive. But a tremulous faith brings little +blessing, and small answer. An unsteady hand cannot hold the cup still +for Him to pour in the wine of His grace, but as the hand shakes, the +cup moves, and the precious gift is spilled. The still, submissive soul +will be filled, and the answer to its prayer will be, 'Whatsoever things +ye desire believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.' + + + + +SPIRITUAL ATHLETICS + + 'Exercise thyself unto Godliness.'--1 TIM. iv. 7. + + +Timothy seems to have been not a very strong character: sensitive, +easily discouraged, and perhaps with a constitutional tendency to +indolence. At all events, it is very touching to notice how the old +Apostle--a prisoner, soon to be a martyr--forgot all about his own +anxieties and burdens, and, through both of his letters to his young +helper, gives himself to the task of bracing him up. Thus he says to +him, in my text, amongst other trumpet-tongued exhortations, 'Exercise +thyself unto godliness.' + +If I were preaching to ministers, I should have a good deal to say about +the necessity of this precept for them, and to remind them that it was +first spoken, not to a private member of the Church, as an injunction +for the Christian life in general, but as having a special bearing on +the temptations and necessities of those who stand in official positions +in the Church. For there is nothing that is more likely to sap a man's +devotion, and to eat out the earnestness and sincerity of a Christian +life, than that he should be--as I, for instance, and every man in my +position has to be--constantly occupied with presenting God's Word to +other people. We are apt to look upon it as, in some sense, our +stock-in-trade, and to forget to apply it to ourselves. So it was with a +very special bearing on the particular occupation and temptation of his +correspondent that Paul said 'Exercise thyself unto godliness' before +you begin to talk to other people. + +But that would not be appropriate to my present audience. And I take +this injunction as one of universal application. + +I. Notice, then, here expressed the ever-present and universal aim of +the Christian life. + +Paul does not say 'be godly'; but 'exercise thyself unto'--with a view +towards--'godliness.' In other words, to him godliness is the great aim +which every Christian man should set before him as the one supreme +purpose of his life. + +Now I am not going to spend any time on mere verbal criticism, but I +must point to the somewhat unusual word which the Apostle here employs +for 'godliness.' It is all but exclusively confined to these last +letters of the Apostle. It was evidently a word that had unfolded the +depth and fulness and comprehensiveness of its meaning to him in the +last stage of his religious experience. For it is only once employed in +the Acts of the Apostles, and some two or three times in the doubtful +second Epistle of St. Peter. And all the other instances of its use lie +in these three letters--the one to Titus and two to Timothy; and eight +of them are in this first one. The old Apostle keeps perpetually +recurring to this one idea of 'godliness.' What does he mean by it? The +etymological meaning of the word is 'well-directed reverence,' but it is +to be noticed that the context specifically points to one form of +well-directed reverence, viz. as shown in conduct. 'Active godliness' is +the meaning of the word; religion embodied in deeds, emotions, and +sentiments, and creeds, put into fact. + +This noble and pregnant word teaches us, first of all, that all true +religion finds its ultimate sphere and best manifestation in the conduct +of daily life. That sounds like a platitude. I wish it were. If we +believed that, and worked it out, we should be very different people +from what the most of us are; and our chapels would be very different +places, and the professing Church would have a new breath of life over +it. Religion must have its foundation laid deep in the truths revealed +by God for our acceptance. And does God tell us anything simply that we +may believe it, and there an end? What is the purpose of all the +principles and facts which make up the body of the Christian revelation? +To enlighten us? Yes! To enlighten us only? A hundred times no! The +destination of a principle, of a truth, is to pass out from the +understanding into the whole nature of man. + +And if, as I said, the foundation of religion is laid in truths, +principles, facts, the second story of the building is certain emotions, +sentiments, feelings, desires, and affections, and 'experiences'--as +people call them--which follow from the acceptance of these truths and +principles. And is that all? A thousand times no! What do we get the +emotions for? What does God give you a Revelation of Himself for, that +kindles your love if you believe it? That you may love? Yes! Only that +you may love? Certainly not. And so the top story is conduct, based upon +the beliefs, and inspired by the emotions. + +In former centuries, the period between the Reformation and our fathers' +time, the tendency of the Protestant Church was very largely to let the +conception of religion as a body of truths overshadow everything else. +And nowadays, amongst a great many people, the temptation is to take the +second story for the main one, and to think that if a man loves, and has +the glow at his heart of the conscious reception of God's love, and has +longings and yearnings, and Christian hopes and desires, and passes into +the sweetnesses of communion with God, in his solitary moments, and +plunges deep into the truths of God's Word, that is godliness. But the +true exhortation to us is--Do not stop with putting in the foundations +of a correct creed, nor at the second stage of an emotional religion. +Both are needful. Number one and number two are infinitely precious, but +both exist for number three. And true religion has its sphere in +conduct. 'Exercise thyself unto godliness.' That does not mean +_only_--for it does include that--cultivate devout emotions, or realise +the facts and the principles of the Gospel, but it means, take these +along with you into your daily life, and work them out there. Bring all +the facts and truths of your creed, and all the sweet and select, the +secret and sacred, emotions which you have felt, to bear upon your daily +life. The soil in which the tree grows, and the roots of the tree, its +stem and its blossoms, are all means to the end--fruit. What is the use +of the clearest conceptions, and of the most tender, delicate, holy +emotions, if they do not drive the wheels of action? God does not give +us the Gospel to make us wise, nor even to make us blessed, but He gives +it to us to make us good men and women, working His work in our daily +tasks. All true religion has its sphere in conduct. + +But then there is another side to that. All true conduct must have its +root in religion, and I, for my part--though of course it is extremely +'narrow' and 'antiquated' to profess it--I, for my part, do not believe +that in the long-run, and in general, you will get noble living apart +from the emotions and sentiments which the truths of Christianity, +accepted and fed upon, are sure to produce. And so this day, with its +very general depreciation of the importance of accurate conceptions of +revealed truth, and its exaltation of conduct, is on the verge of a very +serious error. Godliness, well-directed reverence, is the parent of all +noble living, and the one infallible way to produce a noble life is +faith in Christ, and love which flows from the faith. + +If all that is so, if godliness is, not singing psalms, not praying, not +saying 'How sweet it is to feel the love of God,' still less saying 'I +accept the principles of Christianity as they are laid down in the +Bible'; but carrying out beliefs and emotions in deeds, then the true +aim which we should have continually before us as Christians is plain +enough. We may not reach it completely, but we can approximate +indefinitely towards it. Aim is more important than achievement. +Direction is more vital in determining the character of a life than +progress actually made. Note the form of the exhortation, 'exercise +thyself _towards_ godliness,' which involves the same thought as is +expressed in Paul's other utterance of irrepressible aspiration and +effort, 'Not as if I had already attained, either were already perfect, +but I follow after,' or as he had just said, 'press towards the mark,' +in continual approximation to the ideal. A complete penetration of all +our actions by the principles and emotions of the Gospel is what is set +before us here. + +And that is the only aim that corresponds to what and where I am and to +what I need. I fall back upon the grandly simple old words, very dear to +some of us, perhaps, by boyish associations, 'Man's chief end is to +glorify God, and (so) to enjoy Him for ever.' 'Unto Godliness' is to be +the aim of every true life, and it is the only aim which corresponds to +our circumstances and our relations, our powers and possibilities. + +II. Notice the discipline which such an aim demands. + +'Exercise thyself.' Now, I have no doubt that the bulk of my hearers +know that the word here rendered 'exercise' is drawn from the athlete's +training-ground, and is, in fact, akin to the word which is transported +into English under the form 'gymnasium.' The Apostle's notion is that, +just as the athlete, racer, or boxer goes through a course of training, +so there is a training as severe, necessary for the godliness which Paul +regards as the one true aim of life. + +You Christian people ought to train your spirits at least as carefully +as the athlete does his muscles. There are plenty of people, calling +themselves Christians, who never give one-hundredth part as much +systematic and diligent pains to fulfil the ideal of their Christian +life as men will take to learn to ride a bicycle or to pull the stroke +oar in a college boat. The self-denial and persistence and concentration +which are freely spent upon excellence in athletic pursuits might well +put to shame the way in which Christians go about the task of 'doing' +their religion. + +I suppose there never was a time, in England's history at any rate, +whatever it may have been in Greece, when modern instances might give +more point to an old saw than to-day does for this text, when athletic +sports of all kinds are taking up so much of the time and the energy of +our young men. I do not want to throw cold water on that, but I do say +it is a miserable thing to think that so many professing Christians will +give a great deal more pains to learn to play lawn tennis than ever they +did to learn to be good, Christian people. + +'Exercise thyself unto godliness.' Make a business of living your +Christianity. Be in earnest about it. A tragically large number of +professing Christians never were in earnest about mending themselves. +And that is why they are so far, far behind. 'Exercise thyself.' You +say, How? + +'Well, I say, first of all, concentration. 'This _one_ thing I do.' That +does not mean narrowing, because this 'one thing' can be done by means +of all the legitimate things that we have to do in the world. Next +Friday, when you go on 'Change, you can be exercising yourself to +godliness there. Whatever may be the form of our daily occupation, it is +the _gymnasium_ where God has put us to exercise our muscles in, and so +to gain 'the wrestling thews that throw the world.' 'Be strong in the +Lord, and in the power of His might.' The concentration for which I +plead does not shut us out from any place but the devil's +wrestling-ground. All that is legitimate, all that is innocent, may be +made a means for manifesting and for increasing our godliness. Only you +have to take God with you into your life, and to try, more and more +consciously, to make Him the motive-power of all that you do. Then the +old saying which is profoundly true as it was originally meant, and has +of late years been so misused as to become profoundly false, will be +true again, '_Laborare est orare_.' Yes! it is; if worship underlies the +work, but not else. + +Again I say, exercise yourselves by abstinence. How many things did the +athlete at Corinth do without in his training? How many things do +prizefighters and rowing men do without when in training to-day? How +rigidly, for a while at any rate, they abstain--whether they recompense +themselves afterwards or not has nothing to do with my present purpose. +And is it not a shame that some sensual man shall, for the sake of +winning a medal or a cup, be able gladly to abandon the delights of +sense--eating, drinking, and the like--and content himself with a +hermit's Spartan fare, and that Christian people so seldom, and so +reluctantly, and so partially turn away from the poisoned cups and the +indigestible dainties which the world provides for them? I think that +any Christian man who complains of the things which he is shut out from +doing if he is to cultivate the godliness which should be his life need +only go to any place where horse-jockeys congregate to get a lesson that +he may well lay to heart. 'Exercise thyself,' for it is unto godliness. + +And then what I said in a former part of this sermon about the various +stages of religion may suggest another view of the method of discipline +proper to the Christian life. The strenuous exercise of all our powers +is called for. But if it is true that the godliness of my text is the +last outcome of the emotions which spring from the reception of certain +truths, then if we work backwards, as it were, we shall get the best way +of producing the godliness. That is to say, the main effort for all men +who are in earnest in regard to their own growth in Christlikeness is to +keep themselves in touch with the truths of the Gospel, and in the +exercise of the sentiments and emotions which flow from these. Or, to +put it into other words, the 'gymnastic' is to be, mainly, the man's +clinging, with all his might of mind and heart, to Christ, and the +truths that are wrapped up in Him; and the cultivation of the habit of +continual faith and love turned to that Lord. If I see to number +one--the creed, and to number two--the emotions, they will see to number +three--the conduct. Keep the truths of the Gospel well in your minds, +and keep yourselves well in the attitude of contact with Jesus Christ, +and power for life will come into you. But if the fountain is choked, +the bed of the stream will be dry. They tell us that away up in +Abyssinia there form across the bed of one of the branches of the Nile +great fields of weed. And as long as they continue unbroken the lower +river is shrunken. But when the stream at the back of them bursts its +way through them, then come the inundations down in Egypt, and bring +fertility. And there are hundreds of professing Christians whose fields +lie barren and baked in the sunshine, because they have stopped with +weeds, far away up amongst the hills, the stream that would water them. +Clear out the weeds, and the water will do the rest. + +And 'exercise thyself unto godliness' by keeping the crown and the prize +often and clear in view. 'Paul the aged' in this very letter says: 'I +have finished my course, henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of +glory.' He had said, in the midst of the strife: 'Not as though I had +already attained--I press toward the mark for the prize.' And the prize +which gleamed before him through all the dust of the arena now shone +still more brightly when his hand had all but clasped it. If we desire +to 'run with perseverance the race that is set before us' we must keep +our eyes fixed on Jesus, and see in Him, not only the Rewarder, but the +Reward, of the 'exercise unto godliness.' + + + + +ONE WITNESS, MANY CONFESSORS + + 'Thou . . . hast professed a good profession before + many witnesses. 13. I give thee charge in the + sight of God, who quickeneth all things, and + before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate + witnessed a good confession, 14. That thou keep + this commandment. . . .'--1 TIM. vi. 12-14. + + +You will observe that 'a good confession,' or rather 'the good +confession,' is said here to have been made both by Timothy and by +Christ. But you will observe also that whilst the subject-matter is the +same, the action of Timothy and Jesus respectively is different. The +former professes, or rather confesses, the good confession; the latter +witnesses. There must be some reason for the significant variation of +terms to indicate that the relation of Timothy and Jesus to the good +confession which they both made was, in some way, a different one, and +that though what they said was identical, their actions in saying it +were different. + +Then there is another point of parallelism to be noticed. Timothy made +his profession 'before many witnesses,' but the Apostle calls to his +remembrance, and summons up before the eye of his imagination, a more +august tribunal than that before which he had confessed his faith, and +says that he gives him charge 'before God' (for the same word is used in +the original in both verses), 'who quickeneth all things, and before +Christ Jesus.' So the earthly witnesses of the man's confession dwindle +into insignificance when compared with the heavenly ones. And upon these +thoughts is based the practical exhortation, 'Keep the commandment +without spot.' So, then, we have three things: the great Witness and His +confession, the subordinate confessors who echo His witness, and the +practical issue that comes out of both thoughts. + +I. We have the great Witness and His confession. + +Now, you will remember, perhaps, that if we turn to the Gospels, we find +that all of them give the subject-matter of Christ's confession before +Pilate, as being that He was the King of the Jews. But the Evangelist +John expands that conversation, and gives us details which present a +remarkable verbal correspondence with the words of the Apostle here, and +must suggest to us that, though John's Gospel was not written at the +date of this Epistle, the fact that is enshrined for us in it was +independently known by the Apostle Paul. + +For, if I may for a moment recall the incident to you, you will remember +that when Pilate put to the Saviour the question, 'Art Thou a King?' +our Lord, before He would answer, took pains to make quite clear the +sense in which the judge asked Him of His royal state. For He said, +'Sayest thou this thing of thyself, or did others tell it thee of Me? If +it is your Roman idea of a king, the answer must be, "No." If it is the +Jewish Messianic idea, the answer must be, "Yes." I must know first what +the question means, in the mind of the questioner, before I answer it.' +And when Pilate brushes aside Christ's question, with a sort of +impatient contempt, and returns to the charge, 'What hast Thou done?' +our Lord, whilst He makes the claim of sovereignty, takes care to make +it in such a way as to show that Rome need fear nothing from Him, and +that His dominion rested not upon force. 'My Kingdom is not of this +world.' And then, when Pilate, like a practical Roman, bewildered with +all these fine-spun distinctions, sweeps them impatiently out of the +field, and comes back to 'Yes, or No; are you a King?' our Lord gives a +distinct affirmative answer, but at once soars up into the region where +Pilate had declined to follow Him: 'To this end was I born, and for this +cause came I into the world, that I might bear witness to the truth.' +'Before Pontius Pilate he witnessed the good confession.' And His +confession was His royalty, His relation to the truth, and His +pre-existence. 'To this end was I born,' and the next clause is no mere +tautology, nor a non-significant parallelism, 'and for this cause came I +into the world.' Then He was before He came, and birth to Him was not +the beginning of being, but the beginning of a new relation. + +So, then, out of this great word of our text, which falls into line with +a great many other words of the New Testament, we may gather important +and significant truths with regard to two things, the matter and the +manner of Christ's witnessing. You remember how the same Apostle +John--for whom that word 'witness' has a fascination in all its manifold +applications--in that great vision of the Apocalypse, when to his +blessed sight the vision of the Master was once given, extols Him as +'the faithful witness, and the First-begotten from the dead, and the +Prince of the kings of the earth.' And you may remember how our Lord +Himself, after His conversation with Nicodemus, says, 'We speak that we +do know, and bear witness to that we have seen,' and how again, in +answer to the taunts of the Jews, He takes the taunt as the most +intimate designation of the peculiarity of His person and of His work, +when He says, 'I am one that bear witness of Myself.' So, then, we have +to interpret his declaration before Pilate in the light of all these +other sayings, and to remember that He who said that He came to bear +witness to the truth, said also, 'I am the truth,' and therefore that +his great declaration that He was the witness-bearer to the truth is +absolutely synonymous with His other declaration that He bears witness +of Himself. + +Now, here we come upon one of the great peculiarities of Christ as a +religious teacher. The new thing, the distinctive peculiarity, the +differentia between Him and all other teachers, lies just here, that His +theme is not so much moral or religious principles, as His own nature +and person. He was the most egotistical man that ever lived on the face +of the earth, with an egotism only to be accounted for, if we believe, +as He Himself said, that in His person was the truth that He proclaimed, +and that when He witnessed to Himself He revealed God. And thus He +stands, separate from all other teachers, by this, that He is His own +theme and His own witness. + +So much for the matter of the good confession to which we need only add +here its pendant in the confession before the High Priest. To the +representative of the civil government He said, 'I am a king,' and then, +as I remarked, He soared up into regions where no Roman official could +rise to follow Him, and to the representative of the Theocratic +government He said, 'Hereafter ye shall see the Son of Man sitting at +the right hand of God, and coming in the clouds of heaven.' These two +truths, that He is the Son of God, who by His witness to the truth, that +is, Himself, lays the foundations of a Monarchy which shall stretch far +further than the pinions of the Roman eagles could ever fly, and that he +is the Son of Man who, exalted to the right hand of God, is to be the +Judge of mankind--these are the good confessions to which the Lord +witnessed. + +Then with regard to the manner of His witness. That brings us to another +of the peculiarities of Christ's teaching. I have said that He was the +most egotistical of men. I would say, too, that there never was another +who clashed down in the front of humanity such tremendous assertions, +with not the faintest scintilla of an attempt to prove them to our +understandings, or commend them by any other plea than this, 'Verily, +verily, I say unto you!' + +A witness does not need to argue. A witness is a man who reports what he +has seen and heard. The whole question is as to his veracity and +competency. Jesus Christ states it for the characteristic of His work, +'We speak that we do know, and bear witness to that we have seen.' His +relation to the truth which He brings to us is not that of a man who has +thought it out, who has been brought to it by experience, or by feeling, +or by a long course of investigation; still less is it the relation +which a man would bear to a truth that he had learnt from others +originally, however much he had made it his own thereafter: but it is +that of one who is not a thinker, or a learner, or a reasoner, but who +is simply an attester, a witness. And so He stands before us, and says, +'The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, they are life. +Believe Me, and believe the words, for no other reason, primarily, than +because I speak them.' In these two respects, then, the matter and the +manner of His witness, He stands alone, and we have to bow before Him +and say, 'Speak, Lord! for thy servant heareth.' 'Before Pontius Pilate +He witnessed a good confession.' + +II. We have here suggested to us the subordinate confessors who echo the +Lord's witness. + +It is a matter of no consequence when, and before whom, this Timothy +professed his good profession. It may have been at his baptism. It may +have been when he was installed in his office. It may have been before +some tribunal of which we know nothing. That does not matter. The point +is that a Christian man is to be an echo of the Lord's good confession, +and is to keep within the lines of it, and to be sure that all of it is +echoed in his life. Christ has told us what to say, and we are here to +say it over again. Christ has witnessed; we are to confess. Our relation +to that truth is different from His. We hear it; He speaks it. We accept +it; He reveals it. We are influenced by it; He _is_ it. He brings it to +the world on His own authority; we are to carry it to the world on His. + +Be sure that you Christian men are echoes of your Master. Be sure that +you reverberate the note that He struck. Be sure that all its music is +repeated by you And take care that you neither fall short of it, nor go +beyond it, in your faith and in your profession. Echoes of Christ--that +is the highest conception of a Christian life. + +But though there is all the difference between the Witness and the +confessors, do not let us forget that, if we are truly Christian, there +is a very deep and blessed sense in which we, too, may witness what we +have seen and heard. A Christian preacher of any sort--and by that I +mean, not merely a man who stands in a pulpit, as I do, but all +Christian people, in their measure and degree--will do nothing by +professing the best profession, unless that profession sounds like the +utterance of a man who speaks that he knows, and who can say, 'that +which our eyes have beheld, that which we have handled, of the Word of +life, we make known unto you.' And so, by the power of personal +experience speaking out in our lives, and by the power of it alone, as I +believe, will victories be won, and the witness of Jesus Christ be +repeated in the world. Christian men and women, the old saying which was +addressed by a prophet to Israel is more true, more solemnly true of us, +and presses on us with a heavier weight of obligation, as well as lifts +us up into a position of greater blessedness: 'Ye are my witnesses, +saith the Lord.' That is what you and I are here for--to bear witness, +different and yet like to, the witness borne by the Lord. We have all to +do that, by words, though not only by them. That is the obligation that +a great many Christian people take very lightly. That yoke of Jesus +Christ many of us slip our necks out of. If He has witnessed, you have +to confess. But some of you carry your Christianity in secret, and +button your coats over the cockade that should tell whose soldiers you +are, and are ashamed, or too shy, or too nervous, or too afraid of +ridicule, or not sufficiently sure of your own grip of the Master, to +confess Him before men. I beseech you remember that a Christian man is +no Christian unless 'with the mouth confession is made unto salvation,' +as well as 'with the heart' belief is exercised unto righteousness. + +III. Lastly, we have here the practical issue of all this. + +'I charge thee before God, who quickeneth all things, and before Jesus +Christ, that thou keep the commandment without spot.' The 'commandment,' +of course, may be used in a specific sense, referring to what has just +been enjoined, but more probably we are to regard the same thing which, +considered in its relation to Jesus Christ, is His testimony, as being, +in its relation to us, His commandment. For all Christ's gospel of +revelation that He has made of Himself to the world, is meant to +influence, not only belief and feeling, but conduct and character as +well. All the New Testament, in so far as it is a record of what Christ +is, and thereby a declaration of what God is, is also for us an +injunction as to what we ought to be. The whole Gospel is law, and the +testimony is commandment, and we have to keep it, as well as to confess +it. Let me put the few things that I have to say, under this last +division of my subject, the practical issue, into the shape of three +exhortations, not for the sake of seeming to arrogate any kind of +superiority, but for the sake of point and emphasis. + +Let the life bear witness to the confession. What is the use of +Timothy's standing there, and professing himself a Christian before many +witnesses if, when he goes out into the world, his conduct gives the lie +to his creed, and he lives like the men that are not Christians? Back up +your confession by your conduct, and when you say 'I believe in Jesus +Christ,' let your life be as true an echo of His life as your confession +is of His testimony. Else we shall come under the condemnation, 'Nothing +but leaves,' and shall fall under the punishment of the continuance of +unfruitfulness, which is our crime as well as our punishment. There is a +great deal more done by consistent living for, and by inconsistent +living against, the truth of the Gospel, than by all the words of all +the preachers in the world. Your faults go further, and tell more, than +my sermons, and your Christian characters will go further than all the +eloquence of the most devoted preachers. 'There is no voice nor +language, where their sound is not heard. Their line is gone out into +all the earth, and their words to the end of the world.' + +Again, let the thought of the Great Witness stimulate us. He, too, took +His place by our sides, though with the differences that I have pointed +out, yet with resemblances which bring Him very near us. He, too; knew +what it was to stand amongst those who shrugged their shoulders, and +knit their brows at His utterances, and turned away from Him, calling +Him sometimes 'dreamer,' sometimes 'revolutionary,' sometimes +'blasphemer,' and now and then a messenger of good tidings and a +preacher of the gospel of peace. He knows all our hesitations, all our +weaknesses, all our temptations. He was the first of the martyrs, in the +narrower sense of the word. He is the leader of the great band of +witnesses for God. Let us stand by His side, and be like Him in our +bearing witness in this world. + +Again, let the thought of the great tribunal stimulate us. 'I give thee +charge before God, who quickeneth all things--and who therefore will +quicken you--and before Jesus Christ, that thou keep this commandment.' +Jesus, who witnessed to the truth, witnesses, in the sense of beholding +and watching, us, knowing our weakness and ready to help us. 'The +faithful witness, and the first begotten from the dead, and the Prince +of the kings of the earth,' is by us, as we witness for Him. And so, +though we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, the +saints in the past who have witnessed for God, and been witnessed to by +Him, we have to turn away from them, and 'look off' from all others, +'unto Jesus.' And we may, like the first of the noble army of martyrs, +see the heavens opened, and Jesus 'standing'--started to His feet, to +see and to help Stephen--'at the right hand of God.' + +Brethren, let us listen to His witness, let us accept it, setting to our +seals that God is true. Then let us try to echo it back by word, and to +attest our confession by our conduct, and then we may comfort ourselves +with the great word, 'He that confesseth Me before men, Him will I also +confess before My Father which is in Heaven.' + + + + +THE CONDUCT THAT SECURES THE REAL LIFE + + 'Laying up in store for themselves a good + foundation against the time to come, that they may + lay hold on eternal life.'--1 TIM. vi. 19. + + +In the first flush of the sense of brotherhood, the Church of Jerusalem +tried the experiment of having all things in common. It was not a +success, it was soon abandoned, it never spread. In the later history of +the Church, and especially in these last Pauline letters, we see clearly +that distinctions of pecuniary position were very definitely marked +amongst the believers. There were 'rich men' in the churches of which +Timothy had charge. No doubt they were rich after a very modest fashion, +for Paul's standard of opulence is not likely to have been a very high +one, seeing that he himself ministered with his own hands to his +necessities, and had only one cloak to keep him warm in winter time. But +great or small as were the resources of these men, they were rich in +comparison with some of their brethren. The words of my text are the +close of the very plain things which Paul commands Timothy to tell them. +He assures them that if they will be rich in good works, and ready to +distribute, they will lay up for themselves a good 'foundation against +the time to come.' + +The teaching in the text is, of course, a great deal wider than any +specific application of it. It is very remarkable, especially as coming +from Paul. 'Lay up a good foundation'--has he not said, 'Other +foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus +Christ'? 'That they may lay hold on eternal life'--has he not said, 'The +_gift_ of God is eternal life'? Is he not going dead in the teeth of his +own teaching, 'Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but by +His mercy He saved us'? I think not. Let us see what he does say. + +I. First, then, he says that the real life is the future life. + +Those of you who use the Revised Version will see that it makes an +alteration in the last clause of our text, and instead of 'eternal +life' it reads 'the life which is life indeed,' the true life; not +simply designating it as eternal, but designating it as being the only +thing that is worth calling by the august name of life. + +Now it is quite clear that Paul here is approximating very closely to +the language of his brother John, and using this great word 'life' as +being, in substance, equivalent to his own favourite word of +'salvation,' as including in one magnificent generalisation all that is +necessary for the satisfaction of man's needs, the perfection of his +blessedness, and the glorifying of his nature. Paul's notion of life, +like John's, is that it is the one all-comprehensive good which men need +and seek. + +And here he seems to relegate that 'life which is life indeed' to the +region of the future, because he contemplates it as being realised 'in +the time to come,' and as being the result of the conduct which is here +enjoined. But you will find that substantially the same exhortation is +given in the 12th verse of this chapter, 'Fight the good fight of faith; +lay hold on the life eternal'--where the process of grasping this +'life,' and therefore the possession of it, are evidently regarded as +possible here, and the duty of every Christian man in this present +world. That is to say, there is a double aspect of this august +conception of the 'life which is life indeed.' In one aspect it is +present, may be and ought to be ours, here and now; in another aspect it +lies beyond the flood, and is the inheritance reserved in the heavens. +That double aspect is parallel with the way in which the New Testament +deals with the other cognate conception of salvation, which it sometimes +regards as past, sometimes as present, sometimes as future. The complete +idea is that the life of the Christian soul here and yonder, away out +into the furthest extremities of eternity, and up to the loftiest climax +of perfectness, is in essence one, whilst yet the differences between +the degree in which its germinal possession here and its full-fruited +enjoyment hereafter differ is so great as that, in comparison with the +completion that is waiting the Christian soul beyond the grave, all of +the same life that is here enjoyed dwindles into nothingness. It appears +to me that these two sides of the truth, the essential identity of the +life of the Christian soul beyond and here, and the all but infinite +differences and progresses which separate the two, are both needful, +very needful, to be kept in view by us. + +There is here on earth, amidst all our imperfections and weakness and +sin, a root in the heart that trusts in Christ, which only needs to be +transplanted into its congenial soil to blossom and burgeon into +undreamed of beauty, and to bear fruit the savour of which no mortal +lips can ever taste. The dwarfed rhododendrons in our shrubberies have +in them the same nature as the giants that adorn the slopes of the +Himalayas. Transplant these exotics to their native soil, and you would +see what it was in them to be. Think of the life that is now at its +best; its weakness, its blighted hopes, its thwarted aims, its foiled +endeavours; think of its partings, its losses, its conflicts. Think of +its disorders, its sins, and consequent sufferings; think of the shadow +at its close, which flings long trails of blackness over many preceding +years. Think of its swift disappearance, and then say if such a poor, +fragmentary thing is worthy of the name of life, if that were all that +the man was for. + +But it is not all. There is a 'life which is life indeed,' over which +no shadow can pass, nor any sorrow darken the blessed faces or clog the +happy hearts of those who possess it. They 'have all and abound.' They +know all and are at rest. They dread nothing, and nothing do they +regret. They leave nothing behind as they advance, and of their serenity +and their growth there is no end. That is worth calling life. It lies +beyond this dim spot of earth. It is 'hid with Christ in God.' + +II. Secondly, notice that conduct here determines the possession of the +true life. + +Paul never cares whether he commits the rhetorical blunder of mixing up +metaphors or not. That matters very little, except to a pedant and a +rhetorician. In his impetuous way he blends three here, and has no time +to stop to disentangle them. They all mean substantially the same thing +which I have stated in the words that conduct here determines the +possession of life hereafter; but they put it in three different +figurative fashions which we may separate and look at one by one. + +The first of them is this, that by our actions here we accumulate +treasure hereafter. 'Laying up in store for themselves' is one word in +the original, and it contains even more than is expressed in our +paraphrase, for it is really 'treasuring off.' And the idea is that the +rich man is bade to take a portion of his worldly goods, and, by using +these for beneficent purposes, out of them to store a treasure beyond +the grave. What is employed thus, and from the right motives and in the +right way, is not squandered, but laid up in store. You remember the old +epitaph, + + 'What I spent I lost; + What I gave I have.' + +Now that is Christ's teaching, for did He not say: 'Sell all that thou +hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven'? Did +He not say: 'Lay not up for yourselves treasures on earth, . . . but lay +up treasures in heaven'? And if anybody's theology finds it difficult to +incorporate these solemn teachings of our Lord with the rest of it, so +much the worse for the theology. + +I have no doubt at all that Christianity has yet a great deal to teach +the Christian Church and the world about the acquisition of money and +the disposal of money; and, though I do not want to dwell now upon that +specific application of the general principle of my text, I cannot help +reminding you, dear friends, that for a very large number of us, almost +the most important influence shaping our characters is the attitude that +we take in regard to these things--the getting and the distribution of +worldly wealth. For the bulk of Christian people there are few things +more important as sharp tests of the reality of their religion, or more +effective in either ennobling or degrading their whole character, than +what they do about these two plain matters. + +But then my text goes a great deal further than that; and whilst it +applies unflinchingly this principle to the one specific case, it +invites us to apply it all round the circumference of our earthly +conduct. What you are doing here is piling up for you, on the other side +of the wall, what you will have to live with, and either get good or +evil out of, through all eternity. A man who is going to Australia pays +some money into a bank here, and when he gets to Melbourne it is +punctually paid out to him across the counter. That is what we are doing +here, lodging money on this side that we are going to draw on that. And +it is this which gives to the present its mystical significance and +solemnity, that all our actions are piling up for us future possessions: +'treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath'; or, contrariwise, +'glory, immortality, honour, eternal life.' We are like men digging a +trench on one side of a hedge and flinging the spadefuls over to the +other. They are all being piled up behind the barrier, and when we go +round the end of it we shall find them all waiting for us. + +Then the Apostle superimposes upon this another metaphor. He does not +care to unravel it. 'Laying up in store for themselves a store,' he +would have said if he had been a pedant, 'which is also a good +foundation.' Now I take it that that does not mean a basis for hope, or +anything of that sort, but that it conveys this thought, that our +actions here are putting in the foundations on which the eternal +building of our future life shall be reared. When a man excavates and +lays the first courses of the stones of his building, he thereby +determines every successive stage of it, until the headstone is brought +forth with rejoicing. We are laying foundations in that profound sense +in this world. Our nature takes a set here, and I fail to see any reason +cognisable by us why that ply of the nature should ever be taken out of +it in any future. I do not dogmatise; but it seems to me that all that +we do know of life and of God's dealings in regard to man leads us to +suppose that the next world is a world of continuations, not of +beginnings; that it is the second volume of the book, and hangs +logically and necessarily upon the first that was finished when a man +died. Our lives here and hereafter appear to me to be like some +geometrical figure that wants two sheets of paper for its completion: +on the first the lines run up to the margin, and on the second they are +carried on in the direction which was manifest in the section that was +visible here. + +And so, dear friends, let us remember that this is the reason why our +smallest acts are so tremendous that by our actions we are making +character, and that character is destiny, here and hereafter. You are +putting in the foundations of the building that you have to live in; see +that they are of such a sort as will support a house eternal in the +heavens. + +The last of the metaphors under which the Apostle suggests the one idea +is that our conduct here determines our capacity to lay hold of the +prize. It seems to me that the same allusion is lingering in his mind +which is definitely stated in the previous verse to which I have already +referred, where the eternal life which Timothy is exhorted to lay hold +of is regarded as being the prize of the good fight of faith, which he +is exhorted to fight. And so the third metaphor here is that which is +familiar in Paul's writings, where eternal life is regarded as a garland +or prize, given to the victor in race or arena. It is exactly the same +notion as he otherwise expresses when he says that he follows after if +that he may 'lay hold of that for which also he is laid hold of by Jesus +Christ.' This is the underlying thought, that according to a Christian +man's acts here is his capacity of receiving the real life yonder. + +That is not given arbitrarily. Each man gets as much of it when he goes +home as he can hold. The tiniest vessel is filled, the largest vessel is +filled. But the little vessel may, and will, grow bigger if that which +is deposited in it be rightly employed. Let us lay this to heart, that +Christian men dare not treat it as a matter of indifference whether to +the full they live lives consistent with their profession, and do the +will of their Master or no. It is not all the same, and it will not be +all the same yonder, whether we have adorned the teaching, or whether +our lives have habitually and criminally fallen beneath the level of our +professions. Brethren, we are too apt to forget that there is such a +thing as being 'saved, yet so as by fire'; and that there is such a +thing as 'having an entrance ministered abundantly into the Kingdom.' Be +you sure of this, that if the hands of your spirits are ever to be +capable of grasping the prize, it must be as the result of conduct here +on earth, which has been treasuring up treasures yonder, and laying a +foundation on which the incorruptible house may solidly rest. + +III. And now the last word that I have to say is that these principles +are perfectly compatible with the great truth of salvation by faith. + +For observe to whom the text is spoken. It is to men who have professed +to be believers, and it is on the ground of their faith that these rich +men in Timothy's churches are exhorted to this conduct. There is no +incompatibility between the doctrine that eternal life is the gift of +God, and the placing of those who have received that gift under a strict +law of recompense. + +That is the teaching of the whole New Testament. It was to _Christian_ +men that it was said: 'Be not deceived; God is not mocked, whatsoever a +man soweth that shall he also reap.' It is the teaching of Jesus Christ +Himself. + +But there is a dreadful danger that we, with our partial vision, shall +see one side of the truth so clearly that we do not see the other; and +so you get two antagonistic schools of Christian teaching who have torn +the one word into halves. One of them says, 'Man is saved by faith +only,' and forgets 'faith without works is dead'; and the other says, +'Do your duty, and never mind about your belief,' and forgets that the +belief--the trust--is the only sure foundation on which conduct can be +based, and the only source from which it is certain to flow. + +Now, if I should not be misunderstood by that same narrow and contracted +vision of which I have been speaking, I would venture to say that +salvation by faith alone may be so held as to be a very dangerous +doctrine, and that there is a very real sense in which a man is saved by +works. And if you do not like that, go home and read the Epistle of +James, and see what you make of his teaching: 'Ye see, brethren, how +that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.' 'Faith wrought +with his works, and by his works was his faith made perfect.' + +Only let us understand where the exhortation of the text comes in. We +have to begin with absolute departure from all merit in work, and the +absolute casting of ourselves on Jesus Christ. If you have not done +that, my brother, the teaching 'Laying up in store for themselves a good +foundation' has no application to you, but this teaching has, 'Other +foundation can no man lay. Behold, I lay in Zion a tried corner-stone. +Whosoever believeth in Him shall not make haste.' If you have not +committed your souls and selves and lives and hopes to Jesus Christ, the +teaching 'Lay hold on eternal life' has only a very modified application +to you, because the only hand that can grasp that life is the hand of +faith that is content to receive it from His hands with the prints of +the nails in them. But if you have given yourselves to that Saviour, and +received the germinal gift of eternal life from Him, then, take my text +as absolutely imperative for you. Remember that it is for you, resting +on Christ, to treasure up eternal life; for you to build on that sure +foundation gold and silver and precious stones which may stand the fire; +for you, by faithful continuance in well-doing, to lay hold of that for +which you have been laid hold of by Jesus Christ. May it be true of all +of us that 'our works do follow us'! + + 'Thy works, thine alms, and all thy good endeavour + Stayed not behind, nor in the grave were trod, + But, as Faith pointed with her golden rod, + Followed thee up to joy and bliss for ever.' + + * * * * * + +Transcriber's Notes: + +Obvious punctuation errors repaired. + +Part I, + +Page 44, "transcendant" changed to "transcendent" (this one +transcendent) + +Page 59, "entrace" changed to "entrance" (a private entrance) + +Page 72, "for for" changed to "for" (day, for one) + +Page 150, "roalties" changed to "royalties" (symbols for royalties) + +Page 269, "immoveable" changed to "immovable" (firm and immovable) + +Part II, + +Page 52, "whatsover" changed to "whatsoever" (whatsoever things are +lovely) + +Page 63, "centifugal" changed to "centrifugal" (centrifugal and +centripetal) + +Page 118, a bit of text was not inked in the original, the following +words have been presumed: + + clea clear + an and + kno know + me men + + For: "clear + before you, or you will go yawing about, and washing + here and there, in the trough of the wave, and + the tempest will be your master. If you do not know + where you are going you will have to say, like the men" + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Expositions of Holy Scripture, by +Alexander Maclaren + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EXPOSITIONS OF HOLY SCRIPTURE *** + +***** This file should be named 21190.txt or 21190.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/1/1/9/21190/ + +Produced by Charles Franks and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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