B52428 .C29 I ii) I : ijiijl Mii'tiji II n;ii w Hi..!: i I -iii mm\ ill M 11 m t> g ft3 Q ^ CO O S:^ <1 "§ 1 ^ 1 1 1 1— 1 to .0 ^. ^ g c^ ^ Ph o Pi ?^ 1^ ^ $-» o£ ^ Mh W -^ »^i* ^ Xittlc :fiSooft5 on IReligion Edited by W. Robertson Nicoll, LL.D. FORTY DAYS OF' THE RISEN LIFE Other Volumes in this Series. Gospel Questions and Answers. By James Denney, D.D. The Unity and Symmetry of tlie Bible. By John Monro Gibson, M.A., D.D. Four Psalms. By George Adam Smith. Christ and the Future Life. By R. W. Dale, LL.D. The Seven Words from the Gross. By W. Robertson Nicoll, LL.D. The Visions of a Prophet ; Studies in Zechariah. By Marcus Dods,D.D. The Four Temperaments. By Alexander Whyte. Why be a Christian ? By Marcus Dods, D.D. The Upper Eoom. By John Watson (Ian Maclaren). OTHERS TO FOLLOW. ■f FORTY DA^ THE RISEN LIFE > BY BOYD CARPENTER BISHOP OF RIPON NEW YORK DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY 1898 Copyright, rSgS, Bv DoDD, Mead and Company. ©nitjersitg Press; John Wilson and Son, Cambridge, U.S.A. Contents Chapter Page I. The Gospel of the Twi- light I II. The Shattering of Hopes ii III. The Moods of Sorrow . . 27 IV. The Aim of Comfort . . 50 V. The Consistent Inconsist- ency of Love .... 62 VI. Manifold are Love's Ways -]■] VII. Grace sanctions and sanc- tifies Natural Ties . . 88 FORTY DAYS OF THE RISEN LIFE Forty Days of the Risen Life 9 THE GOSPEL OF THE TWILIGHT There is within the Gospels a gospel of special tenderness, a gospel which appeals with pe- culiar power to those who are weighted with the burdens of doubt and sorrow. Wherever, indeed, Christ is, there also is His voice, saying, " Come unto Me, all that are heavy laden ; " but if we would see Christ min- istering with grave wisdom and I FORTY DAYS OF effective tenderness to those upon whose spirits the shad- ows have fallen, let us open the story of the Risen Christ. There He appears a tender minister to the perplexed and sorrowful — to those who feel the burden of belief and the burden of the loss of belief, whose hearts are smitten with the sense of life's loneliness, and to whom the empty place where love once dwelt has be- come an intolerable void. Jesus Christ had, indeed, no Adaptation, csotcric gospel. He not Reserve. ^^^ ^^ QnOStic ; He encouraged no vain and con- ceited notion of a teaching THE RISEN LIFE which was reserved for the in- tellectually elite. What He had to tell was the truth of God — God's love, God's righteous- ness, God's healing — open to all, taught to all without re- serve, without money and with- out price. What there was to teach was to be taught to all nations, to every creature under heaven, without restric- tion, frankly and fully. But though there is no esoteric doctrine in Christianity, yet is there an esoteric teaching, for the kingdom of heaven is within; and its teachings are the teachings of the spirit given to each man. Those teachings FORTY DAYS OF cannot be received by deputy. Man vainly tries to teach them to his brother man. He may tell them glad tidings, but he cannot teach them. Christian- ity is not esoteric, if by esoteric is meant that it has some re- serve doctrine ; but Christianity is the most esoteric of all reli- gions if we consider that it sets forth the need of an inward and spiritual teaching which lies beyond human art and skill to impart. Only spirit can teach spirit. Only God's Spirit can teach effectively. The promise of the new covenant is '* They shall be all taught of God." While, therefore, Jesus Christ THE RISEN LIFE 5 had no reserve in His teaching, He yet taught as only He could teach. And in the story of His appearances after His resur- rection we have types of His method of teaching. It is like, yet unlike, His teaching in the days before the passion. It is like, for the love, the thought- fulness, the skill is the same ; it is like, for it is still tenderly adapted to character; but it is unlike, for there is more quiet- ness, a more deeply personal element in it. It is a gospel of the twilight. It is like teach- ing heard in calm and cool hours. The turmoil of the FORTY DAYS OF world seems far away. The roar is heard, but heard only as a sound afar off. The fierce noontide heat and glare are softened to our senses. If the gospel is the same, it is a gos- pel told in gentle voice as of one speaking low and clear in the hour of softened light, or as one who whispers comfort in a darkened chamber to be- reaved hearts. The hour is propitious ; the burden and heat of the day are gone. The voice which speaks tells of pos- sibilities which in full daylight hours we do not think of or care for. The unseen world seems to come nearer. The THE RISEN LIFE voice which speaks is the same familiar voice, yet it speaks from the other side of the grave. As it speaks we mark how varying phenomena may be united in common principle. We begin to understand that variety of experience is not hostile to unity of guidance. We perceive that there is one who is the same to all, and who yet comes differently to each. His love is changeless and im- partial, and His wisdom is the wisdom which reads individual needs. He can recognise the idiosyncrasies of men as well as show himself alive to their common wants. FORTY DAYS OF It is the gospel of the twi- light. The messages spoken are messages of love and wis- dom to sad and troubled souls, and moreover they are mes- sages spoken at a time when they are most welcome and most needful. It is the time " when thoughts of guilt come heaviest on the soul," when the quietness enables us to think more clearly, and to perceive more vividly the significance of our failures. It is the hour when loneliness is felt to be most lonely. It is the hour when the light is clear of cloud — soothing yet tender, and as it were lovingly veiled for the THE RISEN LIFE sake of weeping eyes. And it is such an hour which reveals that, though dead, the real, risen Christ may come to many hearts with varying method but the same changeless love and helpfulness. And thus in the story of the Forty Days, and in the mani- festations of our Lord during them we have pictures of the way in which the Lord of life dealt with those whose hopes had been shattered, whose hearts had been grief-smitten, who had gone through an agony of doubt, bewilderment, bereavement, and self-reproach. This twilight gospel becomes FORTY DAYS OF thus a gospel for the troubled. In its quiet and peace-giving incidents we hear the echo of the same voice which spoke those immortal words in the upper chamber before He suf- fered, *' Let not your heart be troubled : ye believe in God, believe also in Me." THE RISEN LIFE II II THE SHATTERING OF HOPES The three days between Geth- semane and the first Easter Day brought to the Disciples experiences which changed their whole life. We cannot enter into the significance of the story which follows unless we bear in mind the startling and searching ordeal to which they had been subjected. Their Master passed through the grave and gate of death. They, too, in a sense, were buried with 12 FORTY DAYS OF Him. They were as those who had passed through the Valley of Shadows. They had been cherishing dreams, which those few days destroyed. Noth- Broken Dreams. ing is SO hard to disturb as the notions and asso- ciations which have grown up with us. Ideas come to us at first through concrete forms. As we recall these ideas, we recall also the vivid pictures with which they were first asso- ciated in our minds. The imaginations with their early colouring hover round our thoughts till some strange, per- haps heart-breaking experience THE RISEN LIFE 1 3 dashes them in pieces. We know well what were the imag- inings with which the Disciples associated the idea of the king- dom of heaven. The notion of the coming kingdom had in their minds its dazzling drapery of worldly and material pomp. In their earliest days the dream of the Messiah's kingdom had taken this form. In their first intercourse with our Lord this form of the kingdom still hung in their thoughts. Their antici- pations of His triumph took the colouring of their early dreams ; it could hardly be otherwise ; and even the clear and reiter- ated teaching of their Master 14 FORTY DAYS OF concerning a kingdom which was within and spiritual, failed wholly to dispel their mistaken imaginations. The pictures had been so early painted on their inmost fancy that the colours and forms persisted in showing themselves through whatever else was sketched or delineated before their minds. This persistency of early im- pressions shows itself, even after the resurrection of our Lord, in the question, '* Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?" (Acts i. 6.) But though these im- pressions thus lingered, the materialism of their conceptions THE RISEN LIFE I 5 was rudely shaken by the death of Him whom they beHeved to be the Messiah. Their per- plexity found expression in the plaintive utterance of almost abandoned hope. '' We hoped that it was He which should redeem Israel." Whatever else was shown to them in those wondrous days of suspense and sorrow, they were taught that the fulfilment of their expec- tations was not necessarily through the continuance of things as they were, or the per- petuation of their materialistic dreams. They had seen the death of the Kingof the Jews — their trusted Messiah. This in FORTY DAYS OF itself must have diverted their thoughts into new directions. If their materiaHstic hopes thus received a blow, the same ggjf. blow struck home Revelation. ^j^^ ^^ ^j^^j^ ^^^^^^ through a deepened and inten- sified self-knowledge. Death has a wondrous power of ap- peal to our better nature. It reveals us to ourselves. It awakens our self-reproach, be- cause it discloses to us our selfishness and our indolent neglect of the opportunities of love. However much we may have shown affection and ten- der ministration to our dear ones, a sort of reproach falls THE RISEN LIFE 1/ upon us when they have passed beyond our reach. We feel that we might have done more. We never value them as much as in the moment when they are no longer ours. If, as is too often the case, we have been unkind through heedless- ness or harshness, then the moment of death brings a re- proach which is dashed with bitter truth. Then the minis- try, which in life looked so commonplace that it seemed a trifling thing to forego, appears to us as a sacred opportunity which only cruel hardness could have neglected. We can thus, perhaps, understand something 1 8 FORTY DAYS OF of what the death of Christ must have been to those who did indeed sincerely love Him, but who for that very reason would most realise how much more they might have done. Would not the perfume of Mary's gift linger with them and its very fragrance bring a bitter reproach? "She did it for my burial," Christ had said; and they, the others, who had seen more of Him and been admitted to even closer and more continuous fellowship, had done nothing except to weary Him with their conten- tions and to forsake Him in His extremity. What yearn- THE RISEN LIFE 19 ings for one more chance of showing their love must have been theirs? How often in those three days must they have longed for the touch of the vanished hand or the right and power to say, *' In spite of all our selfish blindness and heedlessness, we did love." For hearts thus riven with self-re- proach, it would have seemed a sweet and heavenly joy to have been able to minister in the humblest way to Him ! Ah ! to have loosed the latchet of His shoes and to have washed His tired feet ! But this they had lost the opportunity of doing; and His hands, the hands 20 FORTY DAYS OF which the nails had pierced, had, in that crowning hour of His sorrow, washed their feet. Their memory and love in those three days must have Educating wrought with cdu- Influence of Sorrow. cating power in their hearts. We can trace symp- toms of this in the restlessness and the longing to be doing something which seems to have taken possession of them at times. It was as though they would fain shut out the mem- ory of things too bitter to be borne. How can they endure to think of what they might have done and did not, or of what their faithlessness and THE RISEN LIFE 21 cowardice had done, adding bitterness to His cup of sorrow? Are we surprised to hear Simon Peter saying, " I go a-fishing"? or to listen to the prompt reply of men who feel something at least of what he feels: *'We also go with thee "? These men were men to whom a few short days had brought experiences which to others a lifetime might not bring. The one central power and support of their life had fallen. The One round whom their hopes had gathered, and whose sweet attractiveness had awakened deep and lasting affection, had passed into the land of shadows. 22 FORTY DAYS OF Where they had dreamed of triumph, there they had seen the vanishing of their dreams. Their Master had gone into the valley of humiliation instead of mounting the throne of His father David. In encountering such an ex- perience of loss and disap- pointment, a hundred problems started into life within their souls. Questions which they had been content to leave un- answered, believing that the future held an abundant and satisfactory answer, now clam- oured for reply. Had the Mes- siah come? Had their faith been based on a delusion? THE RISEN LIFE 23 Had their hearts been drawn by One who was after all just as other men? Was the love which they had allowed to stream towards Him all in vain? And even more heart-confound- ing was the thought of the love which flowed from Him to them. Was it as a brook which sparkled and refreshed for a moment, and had then dried up into silence beneath the burning sunshine? Had the moral beauty and heavenly dig- nity of that wondrous life no permanent meaning? They had not apprehended all His teach- ing, but the shock of these few days had caused many fancy- 24 FORTY DAYS OF built edifices to tumble down; and they began dimly to see that His teaching had touched ranges of spiritual thought which their materialism of view had veiled from them. The outlines of the real spiritual kingdom of God began to loom upon them, casting as yet shadows upon their perplexed hearts. They perceived, how- ever, that there were realities other than those to which they had looked forward. There was a kingdom of moral beauty of which the life and the death of their Lord had made them sen- sible. But as yet all seemed confused. Their sight was but half restored. Living realities were as yet but as trees walk- ing. In their spirits, the sense of loss, the reversal of their ex- pectations, the sorrow of their hearts, the consciousness of life's greater things, the revela- tion of their own weakness, lone- liness, perplexity, heartache, and remorse contended to- gether. Active work might silence the tumult of those voices. They turned to their old familiar nets as to a refuge from experiences which had wrought bewilderment. They had tasted elevation and de- pression, lofty dreams and pro- found disappointment, strong 26 FORTY DAYS OF attachments and humiliating self-knowledge ; they would handle their fishing tackle and find solace in their ancient handicraft. As yet, Christ was not fully known to them ; but He was no mere dead man. The force of His life was to them a real force ; and some had said that He was alive, and some of them had seen Him. But all was not yet clear. Thought was too painful, for it led to no. definite result. The meaning of their life was not unfolded. There was one thing they could do. They were fishermen. They would resume their occupation. THE RISEN LIFE 2/ III THE MOODS OF SORROW " Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward," cried Job, in his sorrow. The world has echoed the thought, if not the saying. Trouble is too common not to have found expression in ev^ery age and among every people. It has been a common practice to bring together quotations from poets, philosophers, and great men of all nations and times to establish the truth of the 28 FORTY DAYS OF reign of sorrow; as if the thing needed proving which every human heart, sooner or later, knows without proof. But though trouble is com- mon to all, the effects of trouble are not the same in all. Trouble may evoke tears in some, but anger and fierce impatience in others. It be- wilders some spirits, and for many days after the blow has fallen they walk as in a dream. Others are startled ; fearfulness and a horrible dread take hold upon them. In some it begets scepticism ; in others an eager- ness for some refuge of faith. And there is yet another class. THE RISEN LIFE who seemed to suffer little change; and yet the change when recognised is most sadly significant. They go about work and duty as before ; but for them, ever after, life's music is set in a lower key. It is not the least interesting part of the story of the Forty Days that it exhibits to us the different effects of the same sorrow upon different classes. All those who are brought prominently on the scene had loved Christ. His death was the loss of a friend who had filled a large place in their lives and had found His v/ay into their hearts. Here then 30 FORTY DAYS OF are people prostrated by a common bereavement; but in what varied forms does sorrow show itself among them? The ministry to sorrow is no easy thing. The cheap and mechanical repetition of truths, however tender and noble, will not touch the heart or stay its pitiful or indignant throb. Men are alike; and yet how different! We need to know what is common to men, but we need also to have some skill in what is special to types of men if we would track the source of tears and staunch them at their fount. It is just because this narrative of the THE RISEN LIFE risen Lord shows us the Christ ministering to the different moods of sorrow, and proving Himself master and healer of all, that this gospel of the twi- light has its special message to the sorrowful. And first, then, let us see the moods of sorrow as they are set forth in wistful 1 • -n T Sorrow. the narrative. Mary stood at the sepulchre weep- ing. It is a very ordinary type. Here is sorrow in its simplest form — tears and a great heart-hunger with a wist- ful hope that the cloud may prove to be a dream-cloud after all. And yet here we 32 FORTY DAYS OF know there were certain spe- cial emotions which were due to personal memories and ex- periences. Christ had done for Mary that which none other had done. He had given her back her life to live again. Out of the last state, which was worse than the first, He had delivered her. He had given her back, instead of recklessness, a new reverence for life. He had anchored her spirit to a surer anchorage, and filled her spirit with the flame of a love so pure and lofty that it had burnt out the refuse of lower and baser affec- tions. To her sorrowinsf heart, THE RISEN LIFE 33 carrying the remembrance of the marvellous moral resur- rection which had taken place in her own life, the total pass- ing away of Him who had been life indeed to her was almost unthinkable. She could not believe that He was gone even when she carried the spices and ointments to do the last offices for the dead. And yet He was dead : she had seen Him die ; and when she found the sepulchre empty, her heart revolted at the thought that other than loving hands should be laid upon the sacred casket which held a life so dear. How human the story is ! How 3 34 FORTY DAYS OF natural too that when the men went away, satisfied that noth- ing more could be done, the woman should still linger at the spot, reluctant to accept the inevitable, and finding a flower of hope on the ground which reason had pronounced to be barren. And so Mary stood at the sepulchre weeping. The mood which Thomas showed in the hour of sorrow , , is in striking con- Despondent •=> ^°'"^°^- trast to that of Mary. With her there is tenderness, yearning of heart, a reluctance to believe the worst, a dread of the touch of stranger hands. With Thomas there seems a THE RISEN LIFE 35 sort of hardness born of de- spondency, a closing of the heart to the softer feehngs, a sullen acceptance of the loss as the inevitable fate of all the objects of admiration and affec- tion. She was unwilling to release her hold on what was so dear, and was reluctant to believe the worst. He fiercely thrust away hope and refused to believe other than the worst. Love takes opposing forms and yet remains love. Sometimes it is tearful, tender, wistful, as was Mary's. At other times it is obstinately hopeless and bit- terly incredulous, as in the case of Thomas. It is then misun- 36 FORTY DAYS OF derstood. This hard, sullen temper wears no semblance of a broken heart. We associate with it rather sobs and tears and desolated looks, as its usual vesture. But sorrow may freeze as well as dissolve the spirit. All the sceptical activities of the mind are summoned to the side of the disappointed heart, which is ready to take a sullen interest in pessimistic views. So Thomas will refuse to credit the news which his heart longs to find true. He will fight against any chance of fresh disappointment. That he could not endure. If he is to give way to joyfulness of heart THE RISEN LIFE IJ again he will have sohd argu- ments, yes, indubitable proofs. ** Except I see — except I touch, I will not believe." It is not the most pleasing form of grief; but we shall wrong it if we do not see that sorrow sometimes turns the spirit rigid as though frostbound. We shall miss the lesson of the story if we cannot read love beneath the hard and unyield- ing demeanour of Thomas. Different, again, is the atti- tude of Peter in this time of trouble. With him trouble brought more than loss. A deep and indel- ible self-reproach mingled with Remorseful Sorrow. 38 FORTY DAYS OF his sorrow. A look in which all the boundless love and ten- derness of the past and the unutterable pity and sorrow of the present found expression, must have haunted him during those three days. And Peter acts as a man who carries with him an unappeased remorse. We notice his restlessness ; he cannot quietly wait; inaction is impossible ; at the first news of a resurrection he must run to the sepulchre. No awe re- strains his restless impetuosity. He enters the sepulchre; he eagerly surveys all that is to be seen. While doubt still re- mains, he is afraid to find that THE RISEN LIFE 39 true which, nevertheless, he longs to know is true. His spirit, torn with self-reproach, dreads to meet the Master to whom he has been false, whom yet he loves so truly. He can- not endure inaction; he must be doing something. " I go a- fishing." And when in the dim dawn, John whispers to him of the lonely figure which stands on the shore, " It is the Lord," the necessity to be doing some- thing grows fierce within him. The hour of the inevitable meet- ing with his forsaken Lord has come. He feels the Master's eye is upon him once more. He dreads to meet it. He will 40 FORTY DAYS OF lessen self-consciousness in ac- tivity. In a moment he is over the ship's side and is busily at work dragging the net to shore. Only fierce absorbing activity will allay the fever of tumultu- ous joy and agonising self-re- proach and nervous dread which torments him. The hour of sorrow finds him a restless, heart-stricken, and remorseless man to whom quiet thought is torture, and movement a neces- sary relief Can we form any clear view of the manner in which John met this great sorrow? The materials are not plentiful, but there is enoug-h to enable us to THE RISEN LIFE 41 trace in outline the demeanour of the Beloved Disciple at the time. He had been at the Cross till the end, or nearly so. He accepted the precious legacy which Christ had left him. He had taken charge of the mother of the Lord. Already we trace the growing quietude of John's demeanour. He had been called one of the Boanerges. He had had his impulsive moods; he had felt fierce resentment for his Master's sake, when he fain would have called down fire from heaven. But he had lived near to the quiet, calm, loving heart of his Master. Something of the calm which belonged to 42 FORTY DAYS OF the depth of Christ's nature had passed upon him. He had be- gun to drink of the fountain of hfe; more deeply than the others he had drunk into the spirit of his Master; and with these draughts had come some- thing of the calm of a more rest- ful faith. Nothing which was of God could finally be over- thrown. Perplexity and bewil- derment might be experiences by the way ; but was there not a well-built dwelling-place which no storm could over- throw? (Matt. vii. 35.) And so without restlessness, though sore of heart, John devotes him- self to the task which Christ had THE RISEN LIFE 43 given him. This at least can be done. The Master's will may- be fulfilled though the Master's eyes have closed in death. But the quietness of John is not the quietness of crushed natural feeling. He can respond to the suggestions of hope and loving curiosity. With Peter, when the rumour of the empty sepulchre is brought, he can run to the sepulchre, and his young feet bring him there first. But once there, an awe touches his soul. This is the spot where his Master lay. Here they had placed Him after death. The reverent dread which love feels for the spot, the form, the relics 44 FORTY DAYS OF of those who are gone, is upon him. He reaches the place; yet went he not in. Only when the stronger soul had led the way did John venture in with sinking and awe-touched heart. He shrank from doing anything which seemed to violate the sanctity of that resting-place; but when Peter, eager to probe the story to the bottom, entered without hesitation, then went in also that other Disciple which came first to the sepulchre; and he saw and believed. And now the quiet trust of his spirit is vindicated. It is true that the idea of a resurrection had not penetrated his mind, but he THE RISEN LIFE 45 had dwelt so near to his Mas- ter, he had so caught His spirit, that a fiHal confidence possessed him in the hour of loss. Love was over all. The Father of whom Christ had spoken was not dethroned because of the tragedy of the Cross. Love had given him work to do ; but now that he had visited the empty sepulchre, and found it even as the women had said, his trust was reassured. Noth- ing need surprise him. Any moment the Master might be in their midst again ; and, there- fore, the words he speaks to Peter in the boat sound as the words of one to whom there is 46 FORTY DAYS OF nothing surprising in the fact that his Lord should be near at hand. He first — because his heart was quicker in re- sponse and his repose of trust the calmer — he first, of the Disciples, recognises Jesus on the lakeside. ** It is the Lord," he says, as though it was a natural and glad thing that he should be there. He more than any of the Disciples had risen into that region of trust which asks no supernatural evidence' of that which is the most natu- ral thing in the world — the nearness of the divine to the human. The deep trustfulness of John's spirit does not wholly THE RISEN LIFE 47 forsake him in the hour of su- premest sorrow. There are yet two more upon whom this sorrow had fallen with bewildering ef- perplexed feet. More fully in ^°"°"^- some respects than with even the better known of the Dis- ciples is the state of mind of the two Disciples who went to Emmaus made known to us. We are allowed to hear the free expression of their disap- pointments and of their doubts. They are men upon whom the loss has brought mental per- plexity. Questions arose in their hearts. The ideas which they had formed had been 48 FORTY DAYS OF rudely shattered. The sorrow which brought to others deso- lation of heart, unsatisfied rest- lessness, obstinate incredulity, has occasioned them intellec- tual difficulty allied to a sur- prise and disappointment of hope. They had lost a friend; but they had lost One in whom all their future dreams had been centred. With His death came the question: "Have we been mistaken all along? " And yet, in one thing they could not be mistaken. The One whom they had known, loved, and followed had been " a prophet mighty in word and deed." The enigma of His life remained, and, in- THE RISEN LIFE 49 deed, was the greater because of His death. And so they exchange their confidences, ventilate their difficuhies, and share their sadness as they leave the city of so many dis- appointments and perplexities behind them, little dreaming that along the road they trod the Christ whom they mourned was walking also. A sorrow- ful bewilderment was their por- tion in the time of trouble. 50 FORTY DAYS OF IV THE AIM OF COMFORT Comfort is a word which in its common use has lost some- thing of its original robustness. Comfort is regarded as some- thing which calms the agitated and storm-swept heart. It is regarded as soothing rather than stimulating; but in its true meaning, comfort is something much nobler than the mere consoling of the troubled spirit. No doubt the mother comforts the child when she takes the THE RISEN LIFE 5 I little weeping one on her knees and kisses away his tears as he lies in her soft, warm, shelter- ing arms. There is something analogous to this in divine comfort : " As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort thee." But the out- look of the divine comfort is even wider than this imagery suggests. With the earthly mother, pity and distress for the child's distress prompt her to embrace the crying child. With the divine comfort, there is al- ways the look beyond the sor- row of the passing hour. There is the desire to fortify as well as to console, to strengthen the 52 FORTY DAYS OF heart as well as assuage the grief, to put the soul in the way of a victory over sorrow rather than in the way of escape from it. In all the divine com- fort, there is a ministry of power to bear as well as consolation because of trouble. The di- vine Comforter binds up the broken in heart, but He seeks also to make the spirit brave to endure. There is a bracing energy about divine comfort, then, which lifts it into a higher range than the mere pale nega- tive soothing of soul which is commonly associated with the word. True comfort brings THE RISEN LIFE 53 fresh courage to the soul. It stimulates, arouses, invigorates, besides consoling the sorrow- ing heart. This perhaps will be clearer to us if we try to remember what is the purpose ^^at is of divine love to- Move's Aim? wards human souls. Jesus Christ said: *' I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abun- dantly." The work of the Di- vine Redeemer, then, is the pouring of the divine life into the human soul. To this end He sent His Spirit: *'VVe have all been made to drink into one spirit." Indeed, the Apostle 54 FORTY DAYS OF uses bold language when he says : *' That we may be filled with all the fulness of God." Our spirit life is strong accord- ing to the fulfilling of our spir- its with this divine life. Then we are invigorated with a power which is not of this world. We become conscious that we have kinship with that which is above. We do not become less human, but more human ; for our love becomes more ten- der, more unselfish, more wide. We become less worldly, be- cause we regard all the inci- dents, attractions, ambitions — the wealth and honours for which men scramble — as in THE RISEN LIFE 55 no way essential to the best life. They may play their part as means to one end ; but in themselves they have no neces- sary relationship to the higher and divine life. They may be used as agencies of experience in their giving or taking away. They are but tools in the grav- er's hands. They are but inci- dents and episodes on the way, bringing with them knowledge and enabling us to use and test the principles and the force of the divine life. The great pur- pose is never forgotten. The true life of souls is never found till they live by and in the divine life, taking in and using 56 FORTY DAYS OF its force freely, fully, hourly, not regarding the divine life as a casual and opportune help by the way, not finding it as the traveller in the desert might find a welcome well here and there in the sandy waste, but finding it constant, flowing ever at hand, as the Rock that fol- lowed Israel, near to the pil- grim every foot of his journey according to that word of the prophet: "In the wilderness shall waters break forth and streams in the desert." The realisation of the continuous- ness and nearness of the divine life, its free accessibility to all of us, is a primary truth of reli- THE RISEN LIFE 5/ gion. It needs not to travel up to heaven for it, or to pierce down to the grave. It speaks on this wise : " The word is nigh thee, in thy mouth and in thy heart." The Hfe which is so potent and so invigorating is near as the ether which en- virons and interpenetrates all things, in which stars and suns float, and which the stoutest material cannot exclude, which bathes every atom of every created thing. Do we say too much? We cannot, for of the divine life-power which sur- rounds us, flows through us, and is open to our use and our needs, the Apostle said: "In 58 FORTY DAYS OF Him, we live and move and have our being." This divine Hfe, so near at hand, is ever seeking fuller and freer entry into our spirits. Life and life more abundantly is sought to be made ours. If this be so, mere consola- tions cannot be the final end No Mere ^^ diviuc comfort. Consolation. jj^^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^^ the invigorating and encourag- ing of the spirit with more and more of the divine life. The Godlike life must be ever more and more, the earthly life ever less and less. Though the out- ward man perish, the inward man is renewed day by day. THE RISEN LIFE 59 Not in mere soothing of sor- row, not in mere wiping away of tears, but in deeper con- sciousness of God, and of His full, free, and sustaining life does the true divine comfort consist. Only as we keep this in mind shall we understand the com- fort which Christ brought to the sorrowing Disciples. He gave them the supremest con- solation of all. Death was shown to be a shadow, a power- less thing. He whom they saw die stood in the midst of them and said : " Peace be unto you." He whom they had lost was once more beside them. This 60 FORTY DAYS OF was the common feature of the consolation He brought to them all. And this was what was needed by all. No matter what form their sorrow had taken, it was the restored and living Christ whom they longed for. And so He was mani- fested to them : to Mary, as she stood at the sepulchre weeping; to Thomas, as he sat with the other Disciples; to Peter by the lakeside, or in that other interview of which we know so little ; to the two Disciples as they took their sad walk towards Emmaus. The hearts which had yearned, each in their own manner, after Him THE RISEN LIFE 6 1 who was gone, were all satis- fied. The Master was alive. " The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared." But in the manner of His appearing and in His dealing with each sorrowful one, He wrought more for them than the consolation that He was alive. He remembered the needs of each, and He adapted the ministry of His appearing to the characters and spiritual requirements of each. 62 FORTY DAYS OF THE CONSISTENT INCONSIST- ENCY OF LOVE The narrative of the Forty Days shows us Christ as the supreme teacher. Teachers are various, but there are two classes of teacher who must ever be in a radical disagreement, because there is a profound difference of principle at the root of their methods. There is the teacher who has his system, and makes his system the one inflexible part of his method. Those whom he teaches must accept THE RISEN LIFE 63 his system ; they must be thrown into the one mould, and all must come forth stamped with some impression. Legal- istic races delight in their sys- tems. The French minister who rejoiced to think that as he pulled out his watch every French child was learning the same lesson, was the very em- bodiment of the worship of system. These are the men who pride themselves on their consistency; every variety of treatment seems to them a sin, because it transgresses the rule of consistency. Such is the class of teachers who are pro- foundly legal, intensely sys- 64 FORTY DAYS OF tematic, the worshippers of an external form of consistency. Opposed to these are the teach- ers who look first at the pupil, and are ever ready to adjust their system to the pupil's need, capacity, and character. These teachers are aware that one of the profoundest facts respect- ing human beings lies in the subtle and wide-ranging varie- ties which may co-exist with the deepest and most indisput- able harmonies of nature. All men are alike in blood, in men- tal and moral structure. One touch of nature reveals the kin- ship of mankind. But the charm of social life lies in the THE RISEN LIFE 65 existence of the constant and piquant differences which exist side by side with these deep and inalienable resemblances. The wise teacher, while realis- ing these resemblances, will recognise also differences. His system will not be hard and inflexible. He will have no Procrustes-like system. He has men to deal with, and not merely things. To this latter class our Lord belonged. Law made and could make nothing ^^ . , ^ ^ Christ a True perfect. Systems '^e^^^^^'"' were for dead things, not for living beings. He has no nar- row reverence for consistency, 5 66 FORTY DAYS OF His aim being always the high- est goal of those with whom He dealt. He can afford to run the risk of being called in- consistent. Shallow natures cannot understand the noble readiness with which divergent methods are used by larger minds. They quarrel with the varieties which they do not un- derstand. John comes neither eating nor drinking; they say he hath a devil. Christ comes eating and drinking, and they say, " Behold a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sin- ners." They could not ap- preciate the divine love which could deliver its message in THE RISEN LIFE 6/ startlingly contrasted forms. But if the world is to be won,' and if human nature is to be helped, hard and fast rules must be left aside. God's love is like the atmosphere which fills up all corners regardless of their shapes. It is like the flowing river which spreads its beauty into every creek, and fills the shallows as well as the deep holes in its course. It adjusts itself to the hearts which it visits. Its consistency lies in this, that it is the same to all. Its earnestness and thoughtfulness lie in this, that it adapts itself to all. It is the same pure, true, and beautiful 68 FORTY DAYS OF current wherever it goes; but it possesses the capacity for adapting itself to each. It is like the ether, rigid yet pene- trating, as firm as steel and yet as flexible as the softest silk. After this fashion Christ showed His love. He was un- His Contrasted changeable in pur- ''"'^°"- pose and changeful of method. We have only to put side by side His dealing with Mary and His dealing with Thomas. Both Mary and Thomas were alike in this — they would fain verify to their senses the presence of their ri;-cn Lord. Both sought the THE RISEN LIFE 69 evidence of touch to satisfy themselves that they were not deceived by their eyes. Thomas will demand their verification. " Except I put my hand into the print of the nails, I will not believe." Mary reaches forth her hand to assure herself that it is in very deed her Master who stands before her. But our Lord treats them differently. He welcomes — nay, he insists — on the touch of Thom.as. He checks the outstretched hand of Mary. To the one He says, " Reach hither thy hand." To the other: "Touch me not." Here were very different pu- 70 FORTY DAYS OF pils in the school of faith. The action which would be good for the one would not be good for the other. Beyond our power of explanation, there were reasons for this difference in the moral condition and spiritual progress of the two persons. Even if we could not guess at the explanation, we should be content to believe that He who knew so pro- foundly our nature, and who understood with such tender individual interest the needs of each of His servants, varied His action as was best suited to the spiritual attainments of each. THE RISEN LIFE We may guess at the reason for the difference. Thomas was possessed of that His Reason. fond temperament which out of his very affection found reasons for disbeheving what he most ardently wished to be true. To correct the weakness of such a desponding temperament is part of Christ's work. Can it be better done than by granting the very evi- dence which had been asked, and by giving it readily to awaken a sense of shame that it should ever have been demanded? Thomas is brought face to face with the littleness and low- ness to which he had yielded 72 FORTY DAYS OF through the fierce demand prompted by his too ready despair. He is brought to see that there was a loftier path which he might have trod. He is driven to wish that he had not so unadvisedly resolved or expressed his resolve. A little patience, a little more trust, a little more cultivation of hope- fulness would have spared him the shame of having his wishes fulfilled. More blessed would he have been had he been con- tent to trust the larger love without this eager impatience for physical evidence. When we turn to Mary we meet with a wholly different character. THE RISEN LIFE 73 Love, genuine love to their Master, is the common prop- erty of both Disciples; but the temperament of Thomas was gloomy and despondent. Good news must come with decisive evidence if it is to be believed. Dark things are more likely than bright. Faith in the ever-ruling goodness is as yet but a hesitating senti- ment. With Mary love was fond and ardent. It was not so much the desire for evi- dence which prompted her to reach forth her hand. It was the longing to feel the sweet nearness of the Lord for whose presence she yearned. With 74 FORTY DAYS OF Thomas, the verification sought was the verification of evidence. With Mary it was the assur- ance of affection. She yearned for the touch of the vanished hand as well as the sound of the voice which had been stilled. For her, therefore, a different lesson is needed. She stands a stage higher in the school of faith. She may move up a step more. The Master will not always be present to the sight or near to the touch of His Disciples. The spirit- ual presence must take the place of the physical. She is fitted to take the step forward into that life which is of faith, THE RISEN LIFE 75 not sight. It is an ascended Lord, whose presence can be in the hearts of His people though He Himself is unseen, who is to be her Lord hence- forth. To her Christ seems to say: " Learn ! for you are ripe to learn it, that the path of trust is often in the dark. Be- gin to walk that higher road which is so hard to earthly na- tures. Endeavour to do with- out material supports ; cultivate the faith which needs not to see." In this various treatment we see the depth of Christ's love and wisdom. He does not treat His disciples wholesale. FORTY DAYS OF He calls his own sheep by name. He realises their indi- vidual needs; He adjusts His treatment to their characters. THE RISEN LIEE JJ VI MANIFOLD ARE LOVE'S WAYS There is much to be learned from Christ's methods of action. Love displays itself not only in doing good and kind things, but in its way of doing them. There is, therefore, not only something to be learned from the fact that He showed Him- self to His Disciples, but from considering the meaning of those words of the Evangelist, ** After this manner He showed Himself." He chose His own 78 FORTY DAYS OF way of manifestation, and His own way had its meaning and use. We need to dwell on this variety that we may grasp its significance. Sometimes He appears to the Disciples when gathered together, as in the place where ** they were as- sembled for fear of the Jews." Sometimes He appears to one Disciple alone, as to Mary at the sepulchre and to Peter; sometimes to two friends to- gether, as to the two on their way to Emmaus. Sometimes He appears while His Disciples are conversing; at other times when they are working. No THE RISEN LIFE 79 time or place or occupation seems to exclude His coming. He reveals Himself to His Disciples in the various condi- tions of their life and thoughts. This variety of His action teaches us two things : He forbids our limiting the manifestation of Christ to one method only. This has been a weakness of some Christian teachers. They have imagined that as Christ came to them, so He would come to others. The truth is that our poor weak minds cling to places we know and to methods with which we are familiar; we measure Him and His ways by our own small 80 FORTY DAYS OF range, as though His thoughts must be as our thoughts, and His ways as our ways. One imagines that it is only in soH- tude that Christ will be found. Each soul must go out into its wilderness. Far from the world and its stunning noises, far from men and their distracting influences, the vision of the Lord can be seen, and only when we have cut ourselves away from our fellows will the Lord come. It is true that He has come thus to many. Solitude has been found a sanctuary by many souls. But it is not true that He only comes there. Did he not warn THE RISEN LIFE His Disciples against the limi- tations of His way of coming? Did he not tell of those who would cry, " Behold, He is in the desert"? And did he not say, " Go not after them, neither follow them "? He does, indeed, come to sad and solitary souls. Weep- ing Mary finds Him near when she deems herself alone. But He comes also when men are gathered together in brotherly counsel and afifection. While they discuss matters of common interest and common danger Jesus Himself stands in the midst of them. This can hardly surprise us. Was it not the 82 FORTY DAYS OF fulfilment of His own promise, " Where two or three are gath- ered together in my name there am I in the midst of them"? But though this is true, they speak falsely who would say, " Only where the Disciples are gathered together is Christ found." He seeks out the lonely and sad-hearted Peter: " The Lord is risen and hath appeared unto Simon." He comes to those who are in the desert, but the desert does not command Him. He comes to those who are in the upper room, but the upper room does not command Him. He appears to those who jour- THE RISExM LIFE 83 ney from Jerusalem, but the Emmaus road does not com- mand Him. The force which draws Him is that which drew Him to earth. It is that which drew Him to the side of men while He was ministering be- fore He suffered. It is human need which draws Him near to man. It is to hungering souls that He comes. The state of the spirit has more to do with His coming than the place or the company in which we chance to be. " The kingdom of heaven is within you," He said; and in saying this He taught us that men saw Him or saw Him not according to 84 FORTY DAYS OF their spiritual dispositions, and not according to their geo- graphical position. He set Himself against all localising ideas. Neither in this moun- tain, nor yet at Jerusalem. Spiritual things were above terrestrial limits. They were governed by spiritual, not by terrestrial considerations. " In spirit and in truth " the Father was to be worshipped. Men need not to ask where they are, but only what they are in spirit. If the spirit be right, the vision is theirs. The pure in heart may see Him. To the loving and obedient soul He will mani- fest Himself. Light springs up THE RISEN LIFE 85 for the righteous, and joyful gladness for such as are true- hearted. Thus, whether on the highroad, or in the place of assembly, or at the graveside, He may be met with. True hearts may meet Him any- where, everywhere. n. But, none the less, this variety teaches us His tender thought for special and indi- vidual needs. It was best for Mary that she should meet her Lord by the empty tomb. There where her sorrow seemed greatest her comfort came. There are heart-sorrows with which no stranger may inter- meddle, and in which earthly 86 FORTY DAYS OF friends seem to have no real part. We feel that we must carry it away with us to the spot most sacred to memory. In such cases the consolation comes fittest in solitude. Other cases need different help. When the Disciples were drawn together by their com- mon sorrow, common peril, and common perplexity, no mani- festation of Christ to the in- dividual would have sufficed. The presence of their Lord was a common presence; they all saw Him ; they all recognised Him. He was the Lord of all, seen of all, and by His presence binding all into a brotherhood THE RISEN LIFE 8/ as real and as indissoluble as their common sorrow and com- mon danger had bound them. Thus He consecrates and con- firms His presence in collective worship. We may look for Him where His people are gathered together, not because it is this place or that, but be- cause they are gathered to- gether in His name. 88 FORTY DAYS OF VII GRACE SANCTIONS AND SANC- TIFIES NATURAL TIES There are certain human con- ditions which Christ appears to me to have recognised in His methods of manifestation. I. He recognises human friendships. It is as the two friends (for who can doubt their attach- ment ?) walk and speak sadly together that Jesus Himself drew nigh. We read the story and we recognise all that Christ taught them concerning the THE RISEN LIFE 89 Scriptures and Himself. But does he not teach them and us how friendship may be sanctified? One fatal foe of friendship is that reserve which creates an artificiality of sentiment. We meet, but we do not commune of all that is in our souls. We feel that to speak with entire frankness will be to lose some measure of esteem. If we ex- press what we really think and feel we shall be viewed with suspicion ; our orthodoxy will be impeached ; we shall be considered erratic ; we shall be spoken of as dangerous, as persons with undecided or 90 FORTY DAYS OF misty views. We do not, per- haps, wish to shock our friends ; we know their views, and we would not willingly wound them. There may be some self-denial in this reserve; but there may arise from it an atmosphere of unreality, and where this exists friendship in the deeper and truer sense becomes impossi- ble. For real friendship there must be real confidence, and no tinge of suspicion that the frank outspokenness of the heart will be misunderstood or misrepresented. No really tender-hearted man will lightly shock his friend or wound his soul by posing as better or THE RISEN LIFE worse than he is; but, never- theless, friendship needs the freest intercourse, the difficul- ties, the misgivings, the per- plexities of the mind may be told ; there is a calm and frank telling of doubts which can never be misunderstood, for it is the pledge of earnestness and sincerity. And so the two friends on their way to Emmaus told all their thoughts and doubts to one another. They communed with one another. Divine hopes and behefs had been their com- mon treasure. The shadows of the present hour of darkness were theirs also. They shared FORTY DAYS OF their souls with one another. They sought no veil or con- cealment. In this way they came nearest to helping one another. It was to such friends that Christ drew near. Honest seekers after truth may thus find truth together. Friend- ship is sanctified when some- thing is sought which is even greater than friendship, even that divine heart of all things which is the stay and the source of all friendship. Jesus Christ, in recognising their friendship, taught that a simple and true- hearted attachment, which has other aims than mere egotistic THE RISEN LIFE 93 satisfaction, can exercise an ennobling influence. To be united in the pursuit of truth tends to strengthen affection. Where such attachments are, Christ is not far off. But this friendship was not the only one our Lord rec- ognised. There was another friendship which we must have noticed among the Disciples. Peter and John had just those points of resemblance and of difference which so often be- come the bonds of friendship. There was a measure of vehe- mence in both. The impetu- osity of St. Peter is paralleled by the eagerness of St. John. 94 FORTY DAYS OF Peter could not endure to think of his Master suffering humilia- tion. " That be far from Thee, Lord" (Matt. xvi. 22). John could not endure to see his Master rejected, and would fain call down fire upon those who did not receive Him (Luke ix. 51-56). But there was a strain of quiet thoughtfulness about John which Peter lacked. Peter was the Martha of the Apos- tles; John was its Mary. Be- tween them grew a special friendship. They understood one another. If a question is to be asked, or a remark of rapid insight to be expressed, they address one another nat- THE RISEN LIFE 95 urally, as though sure of sym- pathetic response (John xiii. 24 and xxi. 7). Jesus Christ recognised this friendship also. It is charac- teristic of Peter that his first question after his forgiveness and restoration was a question respecting John, ** Lord, what shall this man do?" The re- ply sounds hard. It sounds as though our Lord would check the warmth of this attachment. ''What is that to thee? follow thou me." In weighing this reply, some- thing must be allowed for Peter's mental balance at the moment, and what it required. He had g6 P^ORTY DAYS OF been relieved from the tension of those days of anxiety and suspense. With the sense of rehef, he a little lost his self- control, and, like a man from whom a great weight has fallen, he was tempted to speak for the sake of speaking, and to speak without full reflection. His eye rested on his friend, and he burst out with the ques- tion, *' What shall this man do?" At such moments de- cisiveness of manner and lan- guage is helpful in restoring the half-lost balance of the mind. Christ, therefore, re- calls Peter to himself by reminding him that there are THE RISEN LIFE 9/ matters which it is not for him to know. And yet, when we allow our Lord's reply further thought, we begin to realise how fully it meant this : '' Your friend is in my hands. I may have a will concerning him and his future. You may surely trust him to me. Do your work, and believe that I have charge of what you hold so dear." Thus with rebuke there mingles reassurance. The answer, which the heart of Peter asked for, is given. He may trust that all will be well with his friend, though he may not know what future is in store for him. 7 98 FORTY DAYS OF It is God's way to ask us to trust not only ourselves, but what is far harder, our friends, in His keeping. And this for a simple reason — viz., that we may realise that however strong our love for our friends may be, the divine love is more. If we realise the depth and inten- sity, the wisdom and persis- tency of the love of God, we shall recognise that our ques- tions, and at times even our prayers, on their behalf, are only exhibitions of the naked- ness of our faith. God has His way and His work with every human soul. That way is wise. That work is good. A love THE RISEN LIFE 99 greater than ours presides over it all. The more completely we understand this, the fewer will our questions be. When faith is perfect, at that day we shall ask Him nothing. St. Peter learned a stronger trust as time went on. He could urge it upon his fellow-Chris- tians. It was not necessary to know everything and to see everything. It was only need- ful to rely on the unseen Christ and His love. " Whom, hav- ing not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see Him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." The man who wrote lOO FORTY DAYS OF thus is far removed from the man who asked, ''What shall this man do?" But though far removed from his former self, he is none the less firmly and constantly attached to his friend. Faith gives sanctity and security to friendship. II. Christ recognises the ac- tive and contemplative life. He makes manifest Himself to those who are meditating and to those who are working. I. He showed Himself to those who were working. On the seashore, where the Dis- ciples were toiling at their old trade of fishing, He appeared to them. There is nothing in- THE RISEN LIFE lOI compatible in toil with a divine revelation. Jeremiah found the word of the Lord in the pot- ter's house, while the potter wrought his work upon the wheel. Christ in His earlier ministry appeared to the fisher- men on the Lake of Galilee. It may have been a faithless despair which led Peter to re- sume his old trade; but there was nothing in the trade itself to hinder the vision of Christ We often complain that work excludes us from the calm light of heaven. Ah ! it is not work, but worldliness, which shuts out Christ. Work wherever God has called us is a blessed thing, 102 FORTY DAYS OF and in the doing of it we may meet our Lord. 2. He showed Himself to those who were plunged in thought. While Mary was re- volving the problem which per- plexed her in the graveyard, Christ appeared to her; while the two were exchanging their thoughts and meditating upon all that had happened in Je- rusalem, Jesus Himself drew near. He thus sanctions the two aspects of life. Life which has no contemplation, no leisure for quiet meditation, is so far incomplete. Life which is cut off from activity, is life which THE RISEN LIFE IO3 misses much teaching. It is best when both are combined — when he who works can pray, and he who prays can work also ; it is best so for the soul. Thought without work degen- erates into theory ; work with- out thought is weariness and often profitlessness. And yet when in the course of God's ordaining the worker is laid aside, or when, in the press of thronging duties, no leisure for thought is left, there need be no room or reason for despair. Such are not forsaken of Christ. The urgent duties may be bright with the light and joy of heaven, and the lonely cham- 104 FORTY DAYS OF ber of the invalid may be the home of Christ. Thus does the risen Lord show us that all sorts and con- ditions of life are within His care and His ken. The recog- nitions of His presence may be seldom ; the moments when we can rejoice in the light of His countenance may be rare ; but the conviction of His presence may be a perpetual strength, and the knowledge of His love a sustaining force in every task and trial which we may be called upon to encounter. DATE DUE - GAYLOKD PRINTED IN US m^ BS24-28 .C29 Forty days of the risen life. Princeton Theological Seminary-Speer Library 1 1012 00029 6626