js^^^ How CliRlST ^% Came™ CHURCH m> m A-}'GOi(:30Nl),D. SWI i mmw ;l■■'■:■,>;^':.'■■^'l'■■■^•'•■: mm' -^^ '■'■ ........ ir ^■'=f,g'1. LIBRARY OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY PRINCETON, N. J. PRESENTED BY "R. K. Fo^-sy-Hlo BX 6495 .G67 H69 1897 Gordon, A. J. How Christ came to church 1. /?, (/ir>iy l^. HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH H ( JUJ <) 10 3f OW CHRIS r CAMI^: TO CHURCH thk pastor's dream a spiritual autobio(;raphy. p,y a. i. (Gordon, d. d. np HE LIFl ^ ING T iHE LIFE-STORY, AND THE DREAM AS INTERPRET- THE MAN. BY A. T. ITERSON, D. D. " Zo, / am with you akvay " The Christ PHILADELPHIA AMERICAN BAPTIST PUKLICAIION SOCIKTY NEW YOKK, BOSTON, CHICAGO, ST. LOUIS, DALLAS, ATLANTA FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY NEW YOKK, CHICAGO, TORONTO Copyright 1895 by the American Baptist Publication Societv CONTENTS PART I The Life-Story, vii-xxiv PART II How Christ Came to Church, . . . 1-68 I. The Dream 3 II. Here To-day, » 9 HI. And to Come Again 20 IV. If I Had not Come, 32 V. In thy Light 41 VI. The Temple of God is Holy 50 VII. Cleansing the Temple 61 Vi CONTENTS PART III The Dream as Interpreting the Man, 69-123 I. Loyalty to the Person of Christ, ... 76 II. The Personal Coming of Christ, ... 81 III. The Sacredness of the Preacher's Voca- tion, 88 IV. Jealousy for Divine Worship 96 V. The Authority of the Word of God, . . loi VI. The Scriptural Pattern of Church Life, 107 VII. The Presidency of the Spirit in the Church, 113 VIII. The Last Message TO the Church, . . .120 PART I THE LIFE-STORY THE LIFE-STORY HOW simple and brief are the outlines of a hu- man life. And yet only eternity can fill out those outlines, and make visible the unseen mysteries which we call character and influence. Adoniram Judson Gordon JVas born April /p, iSj6. Was converted to God in iS^2^ and was bap- tized the same year. Was in Nezv London^ from i8_^j to iS^y ; in BroiV7i University ^ from iSjj to i860 ; in Newton Theological Se}ni?iary^ from i860 to i86j. Ordained at famaica Plain^June^ ^S6j. Married to Maria Hale ^ October ij^ i86j. Removed to Boston^ December^ i86g. Departed this lif\ February 2^ iSgj. X THE LIFE-STORY This life thus reaches over a period lacking little of three-score years, and may be roughly di- vided into three parts, each embracing about twenty years : the first twenty, his growth to manhood ; the second twenty, his development as a Bible student and preacher of the word ; and the third period being especially memorable for his maturity as a Spirit-filled teacher and leader. The character and life of Dr. Gordon are so rich, both in incident and suggestion, so full of lessons in living for generations to come, that it is proposed to prepare a fuller biography hereafter. But, by way of introducing this marvelous personality to readers who were acquainted with the man only through his writings or public utterances, it may be well to give a brief sketch, as in profile, of his leading charac- teristics, and especially such as may help to eluci- date the experiences connected with the dream, here recorded. Dr. Gordon will long be remembered as a prince among the preachers and teachers of the modern pulpit. With preachers, as with musicians, there are different and distinct classes, and it is easy to find to which he belongs. Some study to express the word and mind of God ; they are exegetes. Others study their own states and express their own spiritual moods and experi- ences ; they are autobiographers. Others deal in divine conceptions, but invest them with the inter- THE LIFE-STORY xi est of their own experimental history ; these are witnesses and reach the truest ideal. Dr. Gordon was one of these. No man's preaching was a more faithful exposition of the word of God. He would have counted it an affront to the Scriptures to use them as a mere convenience to hang his own thoughts on, or caricature them by a misapplica- tion of sacred words. He was both too original in research and too independent in opinion, to be- come a mere reflector of others' views, like the copy- ist, or substitute sound for sense like the dealer in platitudes. He honestly, patiently, and prayerfully studied the word of God, and then illustrated — we might almost say illuminated — it by his own experi- ence. No review of this life, however hasty, must leave out his work as an author. Ten marked contribu- tions to the literature of the age remain, apart from the editorials and more transient articles in the "Watchword," the religious newspapers, the "Mis- sionary Review," etc. His books fall into five classes. One on " The Ministry of Healing," an- other, his " Coronation Hymnal," and this last, his " Spiritual Autobiography," must stand by them- selves. Then there are four precious books which center about the person of Christ: "In Christ," "The Two-fold Life," "Grace and Glory," and " Ecce Venit." Two have specially to do with the Holy Spirit : "The Ministry of the Spirit," and the Xll THE UFE-STORY "Holy Spirit in Missions." But what a wide range and scope of treatment, and on what vital themes ! It is not too much to say of these books that they constitute religious classics, and ought to form part of every well-furnished library. In his literary style three things are peculiarly prominent : first, his vigorous and discriminating use of language ; secondly, his marvelous power of analysis and antithesis ; and thirdly, his simple, natural, forceful illustrations. In these respects his writings will repay any one for critical and ha- bitual study. If the literary productions of any man of this century can in these respects supply a better model for young men who are preparing to preach, we know not where they are to be found. Dr. Gordon's book, for instance, on the " Ministry of the Spirit," is so tersely written and so carefully wrought out in every part, that there is scarcely one needless noun or heedless adjective in all the sixty thousand words which compose it ; while every page bristles with new and instructive suggestions ; and the whole is so reverent and worshipful that it suggests a man consciously treading on holy ground. Twenty-five years of this serviceable life were spent in the Clarendon Street Church, Boston ; and in helping to mold that church into conformity with primitive apostolic models was found the crowning work of his life. It implies neither exaggeration of his own merit nor depreciation of the service of any THE LIFE-STORY Xlll Other man to affirm that it was permitted to him, amid the atmosphere of Unitarianism and liberalism, to build up a believing brotherhood, characterized by as simple worship, pure doctrine, and primitive practice as any other in the world. To those who are familiar with the inner secrets of the life of this church, its central charm is one which is not apparent to the common eye : the adviinistration of the Holy Spirit is there devoutly recognized and practically realized. The beloved pastor sought, and with great success, to impress upon his people the fact that in the body of Christ the Holy Spirit literally though invisibly indwells ; that he is ready, if he finds a willing people, to oversee and administer all that pertains to the affairs of the body of Christ ; and that, as his administration both demands and depends upon co-operation, there must be neither secular men nor secular methods introduced into the practical conduct of Christ's church, but the Spirit of God must be recognized and realized as the Divine Archbishop finding there his See. It took years to get this practically wrought into the life of the church ; but under his persistent teaching and pa- tient pastoral guidance, there came a gradual elimi- nation of worldly elements, and a gradual trans- formation of the whole church as a working body until it has become a model for other churches, ap- proximating very closely to the apostolic pattern. B XIV THE LIFE-STORY Dr. Gordon has written many noble books and pamphlets ; but among all the volumes he has pro- duced, this is the most complete and satisfactory. This church is his permanent "living epistle." The golden pen of action, held in the firm hand of an inspired purpose, has been for a quarter of a cen- tury writing out its sentences in living deeds, to be known and read of all men. And the greatest prob- lem now awaiting solution is, how far this church is going to prove that the Holy Spirit still administers the body of Christ there. Should these brethren show that they have been inwardly saying, " I am of Dr. Gordon," rather than, "I am of Christ"; and were this church to prove only a sheaf, of which the pastor was the bond, and which when the bond is removed falls apart, it would be a world-wide re- proach. Jf, on the other hand, it shall not only as an organization survive the pastor's removal, but shall preserve jealously the high type of excellence it attained under his ministry; shall prove not man- centered but Christ-centered ; and shall regard itself as a kind of legatee unto whom the pastor has com- mitted the gospel he preached, the work he began, and the witness he maintained, to be guarded and perpetuated — this survival of the whole work when the workman has gone up higher, will be a testi- mony to the whole church and the whole world, as mighty and as far-reaching as any witness of its sort in our creneration. THE LIFE-STORY XV It is a growing conviction tliat the lifework of Dr. Gordon has reached singular completeness, a rounded symmetry and sphericity. Nothing seems wanting. In the beauty of Christian character and culture he had so grown into the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, that it may be doubted whether the whole communion of believers presented one man more ripe in godliness and usefulness. He was in every sense a great man : great in his mind, in his genius, having not only the administrative but the creative faculty ; not only organizing but origi- nating. His versatility was amazing. He would have been great in many spheres. Had he been a judge, with what judicial equity and probity he would have adorned the bench. Had he been a trained musi- cian, what glorious oratorios he might have given to the world. Had he been called to rule an empire, with what mingled ability and urbanity he would have discharged imperial functions. But if he was not great in the eyes of men, he was great in the eyes of the Lord, and greatest be- cause of his humility. Ordinary progress is from infancy to manhood ; but, as Hudson Taylor says, Christian progress is in the reverse order, from manhood perpetually backward toward the cradle, becoming a little child again, one of God's little ones, for it is the little ones that get carried in the Father's arms and fondled. Coleridge sagaciously hints that the highest ac- XVI THE LIFE-STORY companiment of genius in the moral sphere is the carrying forward of the feelings of youth into the period of manhood and old age. Dr. Gordon more than any man I ever knew remained to the last per- fectly childlike, while he put away and left behind whatever was childish. In estimating the character of Dr. Gordon great stress should be laid on these childlike traits. The man of God was emphatically a child of God. He never lost his simplicity ; he rather grew toward it than away from it; there was a perpetual, return toward the spirit, attitude, and habitude of a babe in Christ. His humility and meekness, his frank- ness and candor, his generosity and gentleness, will always stand out conspicuous in the remembrance of all who knew him best. The love that flooded him was, however, a super- natural grace. Seldom do we find such energy of conviction softened by such charity for differing conviction. His creed was steeped in love. He disarmed criticism by magnanimity, and blunted the weapons of controversy by the impregnable armor of an imperturbable equanimity. While I was with him on one of our missionary tours, he gave utterance to certain convictions which met strong opposition ; but one of his most stubborn opponents confessed that he would rather hear Dr. Gordon when he did not agree with him than any other man when he did. THE LIFE-STORY XVll One of the most beautiful features of liis work and character was his unconsciousness of the real greatness of his attainment and achievement. When the Spirit of God controls a disciple, growth in grace and power and service becomes so natural and nec- essary as to be largely unconscious and in a sense involuntary. Great results come without human planning, certainly without human boasting. Mrs. Stowe said of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," that greatest work of modern fiction, that it was never begun or carried on by her with any thought of doing any great thing or becoming famous. She was simply possessed of an idea which she had to work out in a natural way, and she was a pen in the hands of God. And so yielding herself to him as an instru- ment, a book was produced which God used as a lever to upturn and overturn a monstrous fabric of wrong which it took a hundred years to build, and which was buttressed by commercial gains and car- nal self-interest, and justified in the name of moral- ity and even religion. A book was given to the world which Palmerston thrice read for its lessons on statesmanship, and which has been translated into fifty tongues. This Boston pastor, even at the very last, when his successful pastorate seemed so solitary in its greatness, had no sense of having done any great thing ; or if the thought of his superb triumph ever was suggested to him by others, he could only XVI 11 THE LIFE-STORY answer: "What hath God wrought!" "A man can receive nothing except it be given him from heaven." It is true, success of such sort as his is always costly. No man ever attains such exceptional god- liness, or achieves such exceptional usefulness, with- out getting a reputation for being eccentric, or as a fanatic, if not a heretic. Aristotle long ago said that there is no great genius without some mixture of mad- ness ; nothing supremely grand or superior was ever wrought save by a soul agitated by some great un- rest and upheaved by some great purpose. The torrents that are the melting of stainless snows, high up toward heaven, and which rush down the side of the mountain to carry healing waters afar to dry and desert wastes, leave a scarred and torn mountain's breast behind. But, as Keith Falconer said : We must not fear to be thought eccentric, for what is eccentricity but being out of center f and we must be out of center as to the world if we would be adjusted to that other divine center of which the world knows nothing. Such success also costs self-abnegation. The whole raising of our church-life depends on the higher standard of our ministry. " Like people, like priest." The ministry is the supreme flower and fruit of church-life — as to growth, its sign of consummation ; as to fruit, its seed of propagation and reproduction. The ambition after a cultivated THK LIKE-STORY XIX ministry flatters pride and carnality. But there is a culture which is fatal to the highest fruitfulness in holy things. The common wild rose has a per- fectly developed seed vessel, but the double rose, the triumph of horticulture, has none — the ovaries being by cultivation absorbed into stamen and petal : the beauty of the blossom is at the expense of the fertility of the seed vessel. There is a type of ministerial scholarship that is destructively critical and proudly intellectual, and hinders soul-saving. Let it not be thought that it cost Dr. Gordon nothing to renounce and resign the proud throne among pulpit orators and biblical scholars which his gifts seemed to offer, and seek simply to be a Spirit-filled man — consenting to be misunderstood, misrepresented, ridiculed, that he might be loyal to the still small voice within his soul ! This beloved brother stands out as a man, a man of singularly gifted mind, with rare insight into truth and clear methods of thinking and express- ing thought ; a man of large and noble heart, quick in sympathy, quickened into divine love, and know- ing the "expulsive power of a new affection" for Christ ; a man of clean, pure tongue, whose speech was seasoned with salt and always with grace, anointed with power ; a man of blameless life, in whose conduct the Babylonian conspirators would have found as little flaw as in Daniel's. But he interests us most of all as the man of XX THE I^IFE-STORY God, the man of the Book, versed in the word of God; the "man in Clirist " wliom we have known since "fourteen years ago," who looked back for his faith to Christ's first advent, and forward for his hope to his second coming ; tlie man of the Holy Ghost in whom the Spirit dwelt, and who dwelt in the Spirit, as the air is in us and we in it, his ele- ment ; and as the man of God, of Christ, of the Spirit ; in the church, a faithful preacher, loving pastor ; and in the world, not of it, yet evermore to it a blessing. Personally, the writer who pens this loving trib- ute never thinks of Dr. Gordon without recalling one specially memorable and delightful experience of association with him in a mission tour among the churches of Auld Scotland in 1888. After the World's Conference on Missions in Exeter Hall, London, and while we were en route to the " Eternal City," an invitation came from the Scottish capital, so urgent and earnest, that we should visit Edinburgh in the interest of missions before the students in the theological schools had scattered for the season, that he felt moved to abandon the Continental trip, and we went back from Paris, arriving at Edinburgh in time for a garden party at the grounds of Duncan McLaren, Esq., on Saturday afternoon, July 14. Then followed in rapid succession colossal meetings in the famous " Synod Halls " of the Free Church, and United Presbyterian body. And so great was THR LIFE-STORY xxi the impression made by Dr. Gordon's knowledge of missions, grasp of the whole subject, and espe- cially his mingled earnestness and unction, thai on the sixteenth of July a crusade was proposed to be undertaken by him and the writer jointly, among the churches of Scotland. The pressure was so great that we yielded as to the will of God, and after a week in Edinburgh, with other great meetings in the Synod Halls, we left together, visit- ing Oban, Inverness, Strathpeffer, Nairn, Forres, Elgin, and Aberdeen, where we spent August 5th. Dr. Gordon then felt called to return to America, and the rest of the tour was without his helpful in- spiration. But wherever he went in 1888 he is re- membered, and will not be forgotten while this gen- eration lasts. That year the impulse thus given to missions was such that more candidates offered and more money was contributed than in any previous year. Would that such a man could have been spared to make a world-tour of missions and carry a like inspiration elsewhere ! When we think of such a man, taken from us in his very prime, when we might have counted on twenty years more of service, we can only remember the words of Holy Scripture : "Be still, and know that I am God." " I was dumb with silence : " " I opened not my mouth because Thou didst it." XXll THE LIFE-STORY " What I do thou knowest not now ; " "• But thou shalt know hereafter." We have not yet come to the point where we may penetrate the thick darkness where God dwells, and know the secrets of his purpose who doeth all things well. We can only trust blindly in the promise that all things work together for good to them that love God. "Ye sorrow not as others which have no hope." Sorrow is not forbidden, but a hopeless sorrow is also a faithless sorrow. We begin the New Testament with Rama, where Rachel's disconsolate grief still echoes, weeping and refusing to be comforted for those who are not. But we are to leave Rama behind as we find Him who says : " I am the Resurrection and the Life," and move on in his company toward the New Jeru- salem. Even the Psalm of Moses (90 : 15, 16) teaches us a sublime lesson in divine compensation, " Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us." An inspired prayer is also a proph- ecy. If we submit cheerfully to him he will give us gladness for every aflfliction and evil day, and even so great a sorrow as this shall somehow be turned into joy. Professor Chapell has suggested a most appro- priate quotation as the epitaph of this holy man and witness for Christ : THE LIFE-STORY XXlll " / think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, To stir you up by putting you in 7'emembrance ; Knowing that shortly I must put off this my taber- nacle, Even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath shelved me. Moreover I ivill endeavour that ye may be able After my decease To have these things always in remembrance. For zue have not followed cunnijigly devised fables. When we made known unto you The power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ ^ ' 1 2 Peter I : 13-16. PART 11 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH THE DREAM NOT that I attach any importance to dreams or ever have done so. Of the hundreds which have come in the night season I cannot remem- ber one which has proved to have had any prophetic significance either for good or ill. As a rule more- over, dreams are incongruous rather than serious, a jumble of impossible conditions in which persons and things utterly remote and unconnected are brought together in a single scene. But the one which I now describe was unlike any other within my remembrance, in that it was so orderly in its movement, so consistent in its parts, and so fitly framed together as a whole. I recognize it only as a dream ; and yet I confess that the impression of it was so vivid that in spite of myself memory brings it back to me again and again, as though it were an actual occurrence in my personal history. And yet why should it be told or deliberately committed to print .-* " I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord," says the apostle. His 3 4 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH was undeniably a real, divinely given, and super- natural vision. But from the ecstasy of it, wherein he was caught up into paradise and heard unspeak- able words, he immediately lets himself down to the common level of discipleship. " Yet of myself I will not glory but in my infirmities." God help us to keep to this good confession evermore ; and if perchance any unusual lesson is taught even " in visions of the night when deep sleep falleth on men" let us not set ourselves up as the Lord's favorites to whom he has granted especial court privileges in the kingdom of heav-en. No, the dream is not repeated as though it were a creden- tial of peculiar saintship, or as though by it God had favored me with a supernatural revelation ; but because it contains a simple and obvious lesson, out of which the entire book which we are now writing has been evolved. It was Saturday night, when wearied from the work of preparing Sunday's sermon, that I fell asleep and the dream came. I was in the pulpit before a full congregation, just ready to begin my sermon, when a stranger entered and passed slowly up the left aisle of the church looking first to the one side and then to the other as though silently asking with his eyes that some one would give him a seat. He had proceeded nearly half-way up the aisle when a gentleman stepped out and offered THE DREAM him a place in his pew, which was quietly accepted. Excepting the face and features of the stranger everything in the scene is distinctly remembered — the number of the pew, the Christian man who offered its hospitality, the exact seat which was occupied. Only the countenance of the visitor could never be recalled. That his face wore a peculiarly serious look, as of one who had known some great sorrow, is clearly impressed on my mind. His bearing too was exceeding humble, his dress poor and plain, and from the beginning to the end of the service he gave the most respectful atten- tion to the preacher. Immediately as I began my sermon my attention became riveted on this hearer. If I would avert my eyes from him for a moment they would instinctively return to him, so that he held my attention rather than I held his till the discourse was ended. To myself I said constantly, " Who can that stranger be .-* " and then I mentally resolved to find out by going to him and making his acquaintance as soon as the service should be over. But after the benediction had been given the departing con- gregation iiled into the aisles and before I could reach him the visitor had left the house. The gen- tleman with whom he had sat remained behind however ; and approaching him with great eager- ness I asked : " Can you tell me who that stranger was who sat in your pew this morning ? " In the HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH most matter-of-course way he replied : " Why, do you not know that man ? It was Jesus of Naza- reth." With a sense of the keenest disappoint- ment I said : " My dear sir, why did you let him go without introducing me to him ? I was so desirous to speak with him." And with the same nonchalant air the gentleman replied : " Oh, do not be troubled. He has been here to-day, and no doubt he will come again." And now came an indescribable rush of emotion. As when a strong current is suddenly checked, the stream rolls back upon itself and is choked in its own foam, so the intense curiosity which had been going out toward the mysterious hearer now re- turned upon the preacher : and the Lord himself "whose I am and whom I serve" had been listening to me to-day. What was I saying ? Was I preach- ing on some popular theme in order to catch the ear of the public .'' Well, thank God it was of him- self I was speaking. However imperfectly done, it was Christ and him crucified whom I was holding up this morning. But in what spirit did I preach .-* Was it " Christ crucified preached in a crucified style.'* " or did the preacher magnify himself while exalting Christ .'' So anxious and painful did these questionings become that I was about to ask the brother with whom he had sat if the Lord had said anything to him concerning the sermon, but a sense of propriety and self-respect at once checked the THE DREAM suggestion. Then immediately other questions be;- gan with equal vehemence to crowd into the mind. " What did he think of our sanctuary, its gothic arches, its stained windows, its costly and powerful organ ? How was he impressed with the music and the order of the worship ? " It did not seem at that moment as though I could ever again care or have the smallest curiosity as to what men might say of preaching, worship, or church, if I could only know that he had not been displeased, that he would not withhold his feet from coming again be- cause he had been grieved at what he might have seen or heard. We speak of "a momentous occasion." This, though in sleep, was recognized as such by the dreamer — 3. lifetime, almost an eternity of interest crowded into a single solemn moment. One present for an hour who could tell me all I have so longed to know ; who could point out to me the imperfec- tions of my service ; who could reveal to me my real self, to whom, perhaps, I am most a stranger ; who could correct the errors in our worship ta which long usage and accepted tradition may have rendered us insensible. While I had been preach- ing for a half-hour He had been here and listening who could have told me all this and infinitely more — and my eyes had been holden that I knew him not ; and now he had gone. " Yet a little while I am with you and then I go unto him that sent me." 8 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH One thought, however, lingered in my mind with something of comfort and more of awe. " He has been here to-day, and no donbt he zvill come again' ; and mentally repeating these words as one regret- fully meditating on a vanished vision, " I awoke, and it was a dream." No , it was not a dream. It was a vision of the deepest reality, a miniature of an actual ministry, verifying the statement often re- peated that sometimes we are most awake toward God when we are asleep toward the world. II HERE TO-DAY " TT ERE to-day, and to come again." In this single J^ sentence the two critical turning-points of an extended ministry are marked. It is not what we have but what we know that we have which determines our material or spiritual wealth. A poor farmer owned a piece of hard, rocky land from which, at the price of only the severest toil, he was able to support his family. He died and be- queathed his farm to his eldest son. By an acci- dent the son discovered traces of gold on the land which, being explored, was found to contain mineral wealth of immense value. The father had had pre- cisely the same property which the son now pos- sessed, but while the one lived and died a poor man the other became independently rich. And yet the difference between the two depended entirely upon the fact that the son knew what he had, and the father did not know. "Where two or three are gathered in my name tJicrc am I in the midst of them," says Christ. Then the dream was literally true, was it .'' Yes. If this promise of the Son of God means what it says, Jesus of Nazareth was present 9 lO HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH not only on that Sunday morning, but on every Sunday morning when his disciples assemble for worship. "Why, then, oh preacher, did you not fix your attention on him from the first day you stood up in the congregation as his witness, asking how you might please him before once raising the ques tion how you might please the people, and how in your ministry you might have his help above the help of every other ? Was the dream which came to you in the transient visions of the night more real to you than his own promise, ^ Lo, I am zvith yon alway,' which is given in that word which en- dureth forever ? " Alas, that it was ever so ! It is not what we know but what we know that we know which constitutes our spiritual wealth. I must have read and expounded these words of Jesus again and again during my ministry, but somehow for years they had no really practical meaning to me. Then came a blessed and ever-to-be-remem- bered crisis in my spiritual life when from a deeper insight into Scripture the doctrine of the Holy Spirit began to open to me. Now I apprehended how and in what sense Jesus is present : not in some figurative or even potential sense, but liter- ally and really present in the Holy Spirit, his in- visible self. " And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide zvith yon for ever'' (John 14 : 16). The coming of this other Paraclete was conditioned on the depart- HERE TO-DAY ' II lire of Jesus :" If I go I will send him unto you." And this promise was perfectly fulfilled on Pente- cost. As truly as Christ went up, the Holy Ghost came down : the one took his place at the Father's right hand in heaven, the other took his seat in the church on earth which is " builded together for a habitation of God in the Spirit." And yet, lest by this discourse about his going and the Comforter's coming we should be led to think that it is not Christ who is with us, he says, clearly referring to the Spirit : " I will not leave you orphans ; / ivill come to you." Thus it is made plain that the Lord himself is truly though invisibly here in the midst of every company of disciples gathered in any place in his name. If Christ came to church and sat in one of the pews, what then } Would not the minister con- strain him to preach to the people and allow himself to be a listener .? If he were to decline and say : '* I am among you as one that heareth," would he not beg him at least to give the congregation some mes- sage of his own throiigh the lips of the preacher "^ If an offering for the spread of the gospel among the heathen were to be asked on that morning, would not the Master be besought to make the plea and to tell the people how he himself " though rich, for our sakes became poor that we through his pov- erty might be rich .' " If any strife existed in the flock, would there not be an earnest appeal to 12 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH him, the Good Shepherd, to guide his own sheep into the right way and to* preserve the fold in peace? Ah, yes. And Christ did come to church and abode there, but we knew it not, and therefore we took all the burden of teaching and collecting and ofovernino: on ourselves till we were often wearied with a load too heavy for us to bear. Well do we remember those days when drudgery was pushed to the point of desperation. The hearers must be moved to repentance and confession of Christ ; therefore more effort must be devoted to the ser- mon, more hours to elaborating its periods, more pungency put into its sentences, more study be- stowed on its delivery. And then came the disap- pointment that few, if any, were converted by all this which had cost a week of solid toil. And now attention was turned to the prayer meeting as the possible seat of the difficulty— so few attending it and so little readiness to participate in its services. A pulpit scourging must be laid on next Sunday, and the sharpest sting which words can effect put into the lash. Alas, there is no increase in the at- tendance, and instead of spontaneity in prayer and witnessing there is a silence which seems almost like sullenness ! Then the administration goes wrong and opposition is encountered among officials, so that caucusing must be undertaken to get the members to vote as they should. Thus the burdens of anxiety increase while we are trying to lighten them, and HERE TO-DAY 1 3 should-be helpers become hinderers, till discour- agement comes and sleepless nights ensue ; these hot boxes on the train of our activities necessitat- ing a stop and a visit of the doctor, with the ver- dict over-work and the remedy absolute rest. It was after much of all this of which even the most intimate friends knew nothing, that there came one day a still voice of admonition, saying, " There staiideth one among you wliojn ye ktiow not'' And perhaps I answered, " Who is he, Lord, that I might know him ? " I had known the Holy Ghost as a heavenly influence to be invoked, but somehow I had not grasped the truth that he is a Person of the Godhead who came down to earth at a definite time and who has been in the church ever since, just as really as Jesus was here during the thirty and three years of his earthly life. Precisely here was the defect. For it may be a question whose loss is the greater, his who thinks that Christ is present with him when he is not, or his who thinks not that Christ is present with him when he is } Recall the story of the missing child Jesus and how it is said that " they supposing him to be in the company went forward a day's journey." Alas, of how many nominal Christians is this true to-day ! They journey on for years, saying prayers, reciting creeds, pronouncing confessions, giving alms, and doing duties, imagining all the time that because of these things Christ is with them. D 14 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH Happy are they if their mistake is not discovered too late for them to retrace their steps and to find, through personal regeneration, the renewed heart which constitutes the absolute essential to compan- ionship with the Son of God. On the other hand, how many true Christians toil on, bearing burdens and assuming responsibilities far too great for their natural strength, utterly for- getful that the mighty Burden-bearer of the world is with them to do for them and through them that which they have undertaken to accomplish alone ! Happy also for these if some weary day the blessed Paraclete, the invisible Christ, shall say to them, ^^ Have I been so lojtg time with you and yet hast thou not known me? " So it happened to the writer. The strong Son of God revealed himself as being evermore in his church, and I knew him, not through a sudden burst of revelation, not through some thril- ling experience of instantaneous sanctification, but by a quiet, sure, and steady discovery, increasing unto more and more. Jesus in the Spirit stood with me in a kind of spiritual epiphany and just as definitely and irrevocably as I once took Christ crucified as my sin-bearer I now took the Holy Spirit for my burden-bearer. "Then you received the baptism of the Holy Spirit did you .'' " some one will ask. Well, we prefer not to use an expression which is not strictly biblical. The great promise, " Ye shall be baptized HERE TO-DAY 15 in the Holy Ghost " was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost once for all, as it seems to us. Then the Paraclete was given for the entire dispensation, and the whole church present and future was brought into the economy of the Spirit, as it is written : " For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body" (I Cor. 12 : 13, R. V.). But for God to give is one thing ; for us to receive is quite another. " God so loved that he gave his only begotten Son," is the word of our Lord to Nicodemus. But it is written also : " As many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God." In order to regeneration and sonship it is as absolutely essen- tial for us to receive as for God to have given. So on the day of Pentecost the Holy Spirit, as the Comforter, Advocate, Helper, and Teacher and Guide, was given to the church. The disciples who before had been regenerated by the Spirit, as is commonly held, now received the Holy Ghost to qualify and empower them for service. It was an- other and higher experience than that which they had hitherto known. It is the difference between the Holy Spirit for renewal and the Holy Spirit for ministry. Even Jesus, begotten by the Holy Ghost and therefore called "the Son of God," did not enter upon his public service till he had been "anointed," or "sealed," with that same Spirit through whom he had been begotten. So of his immediate apos- tles ; so of Paul, who had been converted on the 1 6 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH way to Damascus. So of the others mentioned in the Acts, as the Samaritan Christians and the Ephesian disciples (19 : 1-8). And not a few thoughtful students of Scripture maintain that the same order still holds good ; that there is such a thing as receiving the Holy Ghost in order to qualification for service. It is not denied that many may have this blessing in immediate connection with their conversion, from which it need not necessarily be separated. Only let it be marked that as the giving of the Spirit by the Father is plainly spoken of, so distinctly is the receiving of the Spirit on the part of the disciples constantly named in Scripture. When the risen Christ breathed on his disciples and said : " Receive ye the Holy Ghost," it is an active not a passive re- ception which is pointed out, as in the invitation : " Whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely." Here the same word is used as also in the Epistle to the Galatians. " Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? " (3 : 2.) God forbid that we should lay claim to any higher attainment than the humblest. We are simply try- ing to answer, as best we may from Scripture, the question asked above about the baptism of the Holy Ghost. On the whole, and after prolonged study of the Scripture, we cannot resist this conviction : As Christ, the second person of the Godhead, came HERE TO-DAY 1 7 to earth to make atonement for sin and to give eternal life, and as sinners we must receive him by faith in order to forgiveness and sonship, so the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Godhead, came to the earth to communicate the " power from on high " ; and we must as believers in like manner receive him by faith in order to be qualified for service. Both gifts have been bestowed, but it is not what we have but what we know that we have by a conscious appropriating faith, which determines our spiritual wealth. Why then should we be satisfied with " the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace" (Eph. i : 7), when the Lord would grant us also " according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man " ? {Eph. 3 : 16.) To return to personal experience. I am glad that one of the most conservative as well as emi- nent theological professors of our times, has put this matter exactly as I should desire to see it stated. He says : " If a reference to personal ex- perience may be permitted, I may indeed here set my seal. Never shall I forget the gain to conscious faith and peace which came to my own soul not long after the first decisive and appropriating view of the crucified Lord as the sinner's sacrifice of peace, from a more intelligent and conscious hold upon the living and most gracious personality of the Holy Spirit through whose mercy the soul had l8 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH got that view. It was a new development of in- sight into the love of God. It was a new contact, as it were, with the inner and eternal movements of redeeming love and power, and a new discovery in divine resources. At such a time of finding gratitude and love and adoration we gain a new, a newly realized reason and motive power and rest."^ " A conscious hold upon the personality of the Holy Spirit ; " "a newly realized motive power," Such it was ; not the sending down of some new power from heaven in answer to long waiting and prayer, but an "articulating into" a power already here, but hitherto imperfectly known and appropriated. Just in front of the study window where I write is a street, above which it is said that a powerful elec- tric current is constantly moving. I cannot see that current : it does not report itself to hearing, or sight, or taste, or smell, and so far as the testimony of the senses is to be taken, I might reasonably discredit its existence. But I see a slender arm, called the trolley, reaching up and touching it ; and immediately the car with its heavy load of passen- gers moves along the track as though seized in the grasp of some mighty giant. The power had been there before, only now the car lays hold of it or is rather laid hold of by it, since it was a touch, not a grip, through which the motion was communicated. 1 Principal H. C. G. Moule, Ridley Hall, Cambridge, Eng., " Vent Creator Spiritus^'' p. 13. HERE TO-DAY 19 And would it be presumptuous for one to say that he had known something of a similar contact with not merely a divine force but a divine person ? The change which ensued may be described thus : Instead of praying constantly for the descent of a divine influence there was now a surrender, how- ever imperfect, to a divine and ever-present Being : instead of a constant effort to make use of the Holy Spirit for doing my work there arose a clear and abiding conviction that the true secret of ser- vice lay in so yielding to the Holy Spirit that he might use me to do his work. Would that the ideal might be so perfectly realized that over what- ever remains of an earthly ministry, be it shorter or longer, might be written the slightly changed motto of Adolphe Monod : " All throiigJi Christ : in the Holy Spirit : for the glory of God. All else is nothing." Ill AND TO COME AGAIN THE apprehension of the doctrine of Christ's second advent came earlier than the realiza- tion of the other doctrine, that of his abiding presence in the church in the Holy Spirit. But its discovery constituted a no less distinct crisis in my ministry. " This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, sJiall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven,'' is the parting promise of Jesus to his disciples, communicated through the two men in white apparel, as a cloud received him out of their sight. When after more than fifty years in glory he breaks the silence and speaks once more in the Revelation which he gave to his servant John, the post-ascension Gospel w^iich he sends opens with, " Behold, he cometh with clonds,'' and closes with " Surely I come qjiickly!^ Considering the solemn emphasis thus laid upon this doctrine, and considering the great prominence given to it throughout the teaching of our Lord and of his apostles, how was it that for the first five years of my pastoral life it had absolutely no place in my preaching.-' Undoubtedly the reason lay in the lack of early instruction. Of all the AND TO COME AGAIN 21 sermons heard from childhood on, I do not remem- ber listening to a single one upon this subject. In the theological course, while this truth had its place indeed, it was taught as in most theological semi- naries of this country, according to the post-mil- lennial interpretation ; and with the most reverent respect for the teachers holding this view I must express my mature conviction that, though the doc- trine of our Lord's second coming is not ignored in this system, it is placed in such a setting as to render it quite impractical as a theme for preaching and quite inoperative as a motive for Christian living. For if a millennium must intervene before the return of our Lord from heaven, or if the world's conversion must be accomplished before he shall come in his glory, how is it possible for his disciples in this present time to obey his words : " Watch, therefore, for ye know not what hour your Lord shall come " .'' I well remember in my early ministry hearing two humble and consecrated laymen speaking of this hope in the meetings of the church, and urg- ing it upon Christians as the ground of unworld- liness and watchfulness of life. Discussion fol- lowed with these good brethren, and then a search- ing of the Scriptures to see if these things were so ; and then a conviction of their truth ; and then ? The godly William Hewitson declares that the discovery of the scriptural hope of our Lord's 22 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH second coming wrought in him a change amounting almost to a second conversion. What if anotlier, not presuming to be named in company with this consecrated saint, should nevertheless set his hand and seal to the affirmation that the strongest and most permanent impulse of his ministry came from his apprehension of the blessed hope of our Lord's second coming ? But how is it that this doctrine, so plainly and conspicuously written in Scripture, could have re- mained so long undiscovered ? In answering this question we see how little ground we have for glorying over the Jews. They did not recognize Christ in his first advent because they discerned in Scripture only those predictions which announced him as a reigning and conquering Messiah. This conception they wove into a veil of exposition and tradition so thick that when Jesus appeared as the lowly and humble Nazarene they knew him not, but "hid as it were their faces from him." And this strong prepossession still obscures their vision so that " even unto this day when Moses is read the veil is upon their heart." With the larger mass of Gentile Christians the case is just the reverse. They know Christ cruci- fied, and believing that the Cross is to conquer the world and that the preaching of the gospel in the present dispensation is to bring all men to God, they see no need of the personal coming of the AND TO COME AGAIN 23 Christ as king to subdue all things under his feet and to reign visibly on the earth. This concep- tion in turn has been woven into an elaborate veil of tradition for Gentile believers and " until this day, remaineth the same veil untaken away " in the reading of the New Testament. It was not so in the beginning. For three hun- dred years the church occupied the position of a bride awaiting the return of the bridegroom from heaven — she, meantime, holding herself free from all alliance with this world, content to fullill her calling in witnessing for Christ, in suffering with Christ, and so to accomplish her appointed work of the gathering out of the elect body for the Lord " until he come." A strange and almost grotesque con- ception to many modern Christians no doubt. But it was while maintaining this attitude that the church moved on most rapidly and irresistibly in her missionary conquests. Then came the foreshadowings of the great apos- tasy. The world which had been a foe to the church became her friend and patron ; Constantine, the emperor of Rome, became her head, and thus the eyes of Christians began to be withdrawn from him who is " Head over all things to his church." The great and good Augustine yielded to the seduc- tion and was among the first to teach that in the temporal triumph of Christianity the kingdom had already come, though the King with whose return 24 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH the primitive church had been wont to identify the appearing of the kingdom was still absent. Little by little, as the apostasy deepened, this early hope of Christians became eclipsed till, in the words of Auberlin, " when the church became a harlot she ceased to be a bride who goes forth to meet her Bridegroom," and thus chiliasm disappeared. What moreover would have been deemed an apostasy in the primitive church grew into a tradition and a creed in the post-Nicene church, which creed until this day largely rules the faith of Christians. Within fifty years, however, there has been a widespread revival of the early teaching on this point, especially among the most eminent evan- gelists and missionary promoters, until to-day in a great company of devout Christians, the uplifted gaze is once more visible, and the advent cry " Even so come, Lord Jesus," is once more heard. " But tell me," we hear some one saying, "how it is that this doctrine can have such an inspiring and uplifting influence as you claim for it .? " We answer, in more ways than can be described in a single chapter. " The doctrine of the Lord's second coming as it appears in the New Testament," says an emi- nent Scotch preacher, " is like a lofty mountain which dominates the entire landscape." An admir- able illustration ! For in such a case, no matter what road you take, no matter what pass you tread, AND TO COME AGAIN 25 you will find the mountain bursting on your vision at every turn of the way and at every parting of the hills. What first struck me now, in reading the New Testament, was something like this : What- ever doctrine I was pursuing, whatever precept I was enforcing, I found it fronting toward and ter- minating in the hope of the Lord's second coming. Js watchfulness amid the allurements of the world enjoined, the exhortation is : " Watch therefore ; for yc knozv not zvJiat hour your Lord doth come " (Matt. 24 : 42). Is patience under trial and injus- tice counseled .-' The word is : " Be patient there- fore, brethren, !tnto the coming of the Lord'' (James 5 : 7). Is an ideal church presented concerning whose deportment the apostle " needs not to speak anything " } Its commendation is : " Ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God ; and to zvait for his Soji from Jieaven " (i Thess. i : 9, 10). Is holy living urged.' This is the inspi- ring motive thereto : " That, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, right- eously, and godly, in this present world ; looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearijig of the great God and onr Saviour Jesus Christ'' (Titus 2 : 12, 13). All paths of obedience and service lead onward to the mountain. Our command to service bids us "Occupy till L come" (Luke 19 : 13). In observing the Lord's Supper we " shew the Lord's death //// he come " (i Cor. 1 1 : 26). In the injunc- E 26 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH tion to fidelity the word is that we " keep this com- mandment without spot, unrebukable, jintil the appearing of oicr Lo7-d Jcsiis Christ'' (i Tim. 6 : 14). Let any candid reader collate the texts in the New Testament on this subject, and he will see that our statement as to the pre-eminence of this doctrine is not exaggerated. To pursue the figure farther. As all the roads lead toward the mountain, so conversely the moun- tain looks out upon all the roads. Take your stand in the doctrine of the Lord's coming and make it your point of observation for viewing Scripture, and your map of redemption will very soon take shape, and the relation of part to part will become apparent. Just as Christ crucified is the center of soteriology, so Christ coming again is the center of eschatology. Place the Saviour where the Script- ures place him, on the cross — " who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree" — and all the teachings of the ceremonial law become intelligible, and its types and offerings fit together into one harmonious system. God forbid that we should by a grain's weight lessen the emphasis upon Christ crucified. This is the central fact of redemption accomplished. Even so put Christ coming into his scriptural place and all the prophecies and Mes- sianic hopes of the Old Testament and the New be- come intelligible — the establishment of the king- dom, the restoration of Israel, the renewing of all ^f m AND TO COME AGAIN 27 things. These two centers — Christ crucified and Christ coming — must be rigidly maintained if all the Bible is to be utilized and all its teachings har- monized. So the writer bears joyful testimony that the dis- covery of this primitive doctrine of the gospel, the personal pre-millennial coming of Christ, constituted a new era in his study of the word of God, and gave an opening-out into vistas of truth hitherto undreamed of. And moreover, apart from the question of eschatology, it was the means of the deepest and firmest anchoring in all the doctrines of the evangelical faith. Why should not this be the case ? If it is true, as one has said, that " when the smallest doctrine in the body of truth is mutilated it is sure to avenge itself upon the whole system," why should it not be even more cer- tainly the case, that one of the mountain truths of Scripture being recognized, all neighboring doctrines should be lifted into distincter prominence around its base ? At all events, I confess myself so in- debted to this hope in every way, that I cannot measure the loss it would have been to have passed through a ministry of twenty-five years without knowledge of it. And as to the relation of this truth to Christian life : Is not an unworldly and single-eyed ministry the supreme need in these days of a materialized civilization and a secularized church .-' And where 28 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH shall the most powerful motive to such a ministry be found ? No one who reads the New Testament carefully can deny that our Lord has lodged it in the hope of his second coming. We may not see how the doctrine should have that effect ; but if he has so ordained, it will certainly be found true in actual experience. I recall a lecture which I heard some years since from a scholarly preacher in which he aimed to show that Christ's second com- ing so far from being personal and literal is a spir- itual and perpetual fact ; that he is coming all the time in civilization, in the diffusion of Christianity, and in the march of human progress. He closed his argument by questioning seriously what prac- tical influence upon Christian life the anticipation of an event so mysterious and so uncertain as to time and circumstance can have. Being asked to speak, I related a little household incident which had recently occurred. Having gone into the country with my children for a few weeks' vacation, I had planned with them many pleasant diversions and engagements for the holidays, when almost upon my arrival I was summoned back to the city on an important mission. In the disappointment of the children I said to them : " Children, I am going to the city to-day. But I shall soon be back again. I may come to-morrow, or the next day, or the day after, or possibly not till the end of the week, but you may expect me any time." It so happened AND TO COME AGAIN 29 that I was detained until Saturday. But when I returned I learned that in their eagerness to wel- come me back the children, contrary to their nat- ural instincts, had insisted on having their faces washed every day and upon having on their clean clothes and going down to meet me at train time. " A good story," exclaimed the lecturer, " but it is not an argument." Ah, but is it not .-• Human life is often found to be the best expositor of Scripture. He who put his sublimest doctrines into parables drawn from common experience can often be best understood through some homely household incident. He would have his servants always washed, and clothed in white raiment during his absence. If we believe that he will not return till hundreds of years have elapsed, we may reason- ably delay our purification and make no haste to put on our white raiment. But what if his coming is ever imminent .-• Let this truth be deeply realized and let the parables in which he affirms it become household words to us, and who shall say that it will be without effect .-' One at least may with all humility testify to its influence in shaping his min- istry. Without imparting any sombre hue to Christian life ; without " replacing glory with gloom " in the heart which should rejoice evermore, it is enough to say that when '• the solemn Afar- anatha " resounds constantly through the soul, the most powerful impulse is awakened toward our 30 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH doing with all diligence what he would have us do, and our being with all the heart what he would have us be. "Then your dream came true, did it?" No; rather it had been true before it was dreamed, and the vision was a kind of resume of a quarter-century ministry. Here now in the Holy Spirit and to come again in person ! These were two discoveries which, added to the fundamental truths already real- ized, brought unspeakable blessing into one Chris- tian experience. We reiterate emphatically that that night-vision has never been regarded as any- thing supernatural or extraordinary in itself. Nevertheless there it stands to-day in the hall of memory, a dream-parable as clean-cut and distinctly outlined as a marble statue, with the legend in- wrought in it, ^^ Here to-day and to come to-morrozv,'^ so that in spite of knowledge to the contrary it comes back ^ again and again as an occurrence of actual history. Call it a dream of mysticism .'' What if rather it might be named a vision of prim- itivism .? The most eminent living master of ec- clesiastical history, Harnack, photographing in a single sentence the church of the earliest cen- turies, says : " Originally the church zuas the heavenly Bride of Christ, the abiding place of the Holy Spirit. " Does the reader not see that here is the same two-fold conception — Christ in-resident in the church by the Spirit ; and Christ expected AND TO COME AGAIN 3I to return in person as the Bridegroom for his bride ? This was the church which moved with such rapid and triumphant progress against ancient heathenism. With no power except "the irresist- ible might of weakness" ; with no wealth except the riches of glory inherited through her heavenly citi- zenship ; refusing all compromise with the world, declining all patronage of kings and emperors, she nevertheless went forth conquering and to conquer, till in a few years she had undermined the whole colossal fabric of paganism. And might not the church of Christ do the same to-day if she were to return to this primitive ideal ? and if renouncing her dependence on human resources — wealth and power and social prestige, she were to inscribe upon her banner that ancient motto : " Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." Such is the train of questioning started by a dream. IV IF I HAD NOT COME n^O see Christ is to see ourselves by startling con- J_ trast. The religious leaders of our Saviour's day were sinners before they knew him, but their sin was not manifested. *' If I had not come and spoken unto them they had not had sin," said Jesus, "but now they have no cloak for their sin." The Son of God is CJiristus Revelator before he is CJiristus Salvator. No truer testimony to this Mes- siahship was ever uttered than that of the Samari- tan woman : " Come and see a man that told me all things that ever I did. Is not this the Christ .'* " If Christ came to church it were a sacred privi- lege to entertain him ; and evermore the aisles which he had trodden would be counted holy ground. But are we ready for the revelations which his coming is sure to bring } His glory would certainly manifest our guilt. Ah, yes ! And his lowly garb would also rebuke our costly attire, and his deep humility would shame the diamonds on jeweled Christian fingers. Does the reader remem- ber how, in the dream, I saw him looking first to the one side and then to the other, as he walked up the aisle on that Sunday morning, as though silently 32 IF I HAD NOT COME 33 begging for a seat ? Well, though there had been misgivings and questionings about our system of pew rentals, with the sittings so graded that one could read the relative financial standing of the worshipers by noting their position in the broad aisles, the matter had not come home to me as a really serious question till Christ came to church on that morning. Judging by his dress and bearing it was evident that were he to become a regular at- tendant, he could not afford the best pew in the house : and this was distressing to think of, since I knew from Scripture that he has long since been accorded the highest place in heaven, " angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him." And there were other things in our worship whose presence caused great searchings of heart, so soon as the Master of assemblies was recognized as being there. To translate the dream into plain literal prose : When it became a realized and unquestionable fact that, in the person of the Holy Ghost, Jesus is just as truly in the midst of the church as he once stood in the company of his disciples and " showed them his hands and his feet," then the whole house began to be searched as with a lifted candle. Yes ! And he is among us no longer " as one that serveth " but as "a Son over his own house, whose house are we if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end." We who worship and 34 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH we who conduct worship are simply his servants to do only what he bids us do, and to speak and act by the guidance of his Spirit. And judgment began with the pulpit as that mys- terious man in yonder pew looked toward it and listened, though he spoke not a word. The theme had been scriptural and evangelical, as we have al- ready said : but with what spirit was it presented ? We have " preached the gospel unto you in the Holy Ghost sent forth from heaven" (i Peter i : 12, R. V.), is almost the only homiletical direction found in Scripture. And yet how deep and searching the words ! We are not to use the Holy Spirit in preach- ing : he is to use us. As the wind pours through the organ pipes, causing their voice to be heard, albeit ac- cording to the distinctive tone and pitch of each, so the Spirit speaks through each minister of Christ ac- cording to his special gift, that the people may hear the word of the Lord. Is it not the most subtle temptation which comes to the preacher that he allow himself to be played upon by some other spirit than the Paraclete .-' the popular desire for eloquence, for humor, for entertainment, for wit, and originality, moving him before he is aware, to speak for the applause of men rather than for the approval of Christ '} Not until the presence in the assem- bly of the Spirit of the Lord is recognized does this error come painfully home to the conscience. We must not enter into personal experience here, IF I HAD NOT COMR 35 further than to tell the reader how repeatedly we have turned to the following paragraph in the Jour- nal of John Woolman, the Quaker, and read and re-read it : " One day, being under a strong exercise of spirit, 1 stood up and said some words in meeting, but not keeping close to the divine opening, I said more than was required of me. Being soon sensible of my error, I was afflicted in mind some weeks, with- out any light or comfort even to that degree that I could not take satisfaction in anything. I remem- bered God and was troubled, and in the depth of my distress he had pity on me, and sent the Comforter. . . . Being thus humbled and disciplined under the cross, tny understanding became more strengthened to distingiiisJi the pitre Spirit wJiich moves inwardly 7ipon the heart, and which taught me to wait in si- lence, sometimes many weeks together, until I felt that rise which prepares the creature to stand like a trumpet through which the Lord speaks to his flock." Here is a bit of heart biography so antique and strange to that spirit of unrestrained utterance which characterizes our time, that it almost needs an interpreter to make it intelligible ; but if one has ever considered deeply the requirement to speak in the Spirit, its meaning will be very plain. Is it not as true of our spirits as of our bodies that the sev^erest colds which we contract come to us from 36 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH sitting in a draught ? Perhaps a current of popu- lar applause strikes us and before we know it our fervor has become chilled, and then we find our- selves preaching self instead of preaching Christ, giving more heed to rhetorical effect than to spirit- ual impression, till the Lord mercifully humbles us and shows us our sin. Well were it if we could some- times impose on ourselves the penance of " silence many weeks together " till we should learn to " keep close to the divine opening." What was it then that Jesus in the Spirit seemed to demand as he appeared in church that morning .'' What but the freedom of the place accorded to Him who builded the house and therefore " hath more honor than the house ?" Is it not written that "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.-*" Not liberty for us to do as we will surely, but lib- erty for him to do as he will. And where is the Spirit now but in the church, his only sanctuary in this dispensation ? Let there be no restrictions on his house then, lest — if in his revelation the Spirit shall. Show us that loving man That rules the courts of bliss, coming into our assembly to-day "poor and in vile raiment " — he shall hear the word : " Stand thou there or sit here under my footstool ; " while to the "man with a gold ring and goodly apparel" the invitation is given : "Sit thou here in a good place." IF I HAD NOT COME 37 And the Spirit must have equal liberty in th'e pul- pit, so that if he choose to come into the sermon in the garb of plain and homely speech, he may not be re- fused a hearing. Indeed, it was just this accusation ^bat came to one unveiled heart as Christ showed nimself in yonder pew — the conviction that he might have been fenced out of the .sermon many times when he had desired to be heard therein, because the discourse had been so elaborately pre-arranged and so exactly written out that after-thoughts were excluded though they should come direct from him. Ah, yes ; and that was not the deepest revelation. If Christ is present in the pulpit he must think his thoughts through us as well as speak his words by our lips. And what if these thoughts, like their Master, should be to some hearers like " a root out of a dry ground," having no beauty that they should de- sire them .'' Art thou ready, oh preacher, to take all the consequences of letting the Lord speak through thee as he will ? This may sometimes lead thee out of the beaten path of accepted opinion and into ways that seem devious to sacred tradition. And this in turn, though done in humility, may bring upon thee the accusation of pride of opinion as though thou wert saying : " I have more under- standing than all my teachers." Does the reader know the story of John Tauler, the mystic, and of that anointing and illumination of the Spirit which F 38 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH came Lo him after he had been for several years an eloquent preacher ? He represents some former teacher as chiding him for departing from his in- structions ; to which he replies : " But if the highest Teacher of all truth come to a man he must be empty and quit of all else and hear his voice only. Know ye that when this same Master cometh to me he teaches me more in one hour than you and all the doctors from Adam down." Bold words ! Let us reverence our teachers and seek to know how much the Lord hath taught us through them ; let the words of commentators, who have prayed and pored over God's holy word to search out precious ore for us, be honored for all the wealth that they have brought to us, knowing that only ^'wlth all saints,'" can we " comprehend what is the breadth and length and depth and height " of the love of Christ which passeth knowledge. Nevertheless, it is good sometimes with Tauler "to be empty and quit of all else and hear his voice only." And that it might be so is perhaps the reason why Christ came to church that day. The world is full of books which demand our study if we would know the mysteries of God ; criticism has set up its •' scien- tific method," declaring that what in the Bible can- not stand the test must be discarded. But while the vendors of learning are crying " Lo here," and " Lo there," the Good Shepherd speaks, saying : " My sheep hear my voice " ; and he is still in the fold to IF I HAD NOT COME 39 care for his own, to lead them into green pastures where the freshest and sweetest truth is found ; to make them He down by still waters in which they may see his own blessed face reflected. Only let not the sheep hear the voice of strangers who know not the truth : let them hear only Christ. He is not present in the church by his Spirit as critic and censor of the preacher, but as his gra- cious helper and counselor. Then give him lib- erty of utterance in your sermon, oh, man of God ! All our acquirements in knowledge of the world, all our mastery of style and expression he will use, if it is surrendered to him. But this is not enough. There must be such a line of Script- ure exposition in the sermon that the Spirit shall have free course to " ride triumphantly through it in his own chariot," the inspired word ; and there must be in it such windows looking toward "the divine opening " that he may find entrance at every point with suggestions, illuminations, inspirations. Let those who know bear witness whether, when preaching in such a frame, thoughts have not come in, far better than any which we had premeditated, lessons, illustrations, and admonitions fitted to the occasion and to the hearer as we could never have fitted them of ourselves. " So after many mortifi- cations and failures when going to this warfare at mine own charges," writes one, " I found that on this day I had been at ease and had had liberty in 40 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH prophesying, and withal had spoken better than I knew, and I said : ' Surely the Lord is in this place and I knew it not.' " Give me to see thee and to feel The mutual vision clear ; The things unseen reveal, reveal, And let me know them near. V IN THY LIGHT WITHIN the church of God the quality of actions depends not altogether upon what they are in themselves, but what they are in their relation to Christ. Many things, quite innocent in their proper sphere, become profane when brought into that temple where God, the Holy Ghost, has his dwelling place. That mysterious stranger who awed me by his presence in church on that morning, is no ascetic. It cannot be forgotten that he once mingled in the festivities of a marriage feast in Cana, and that he drew about him sportive children and took them in his arms and blessed them. " And if Christ is such a one, oh preacher ! do not make his church a mournful place where we must repress all exhibi- tions of natural joy and social good cheer, and be- come as the hypocrites are who disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast." Well spoken counsel, no doubt ! Yet Christ is still Christ ; and he has never outgrown the print of the nails. So confident of this am I that in dreaming over my dream in w^aking hours, it always seemed certain to me that, had I come near to him on that 41 43 HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH memorable Sabbath morning, I should have dis- cerned the marks of his crucifixion in his body. What John the apostle is represented as saying of our Lord still holds true : Cheerful he was to us : But let me tell you, sons, he was within A pensive man, and always had a load Upon his spirits. A convivial Christ is not quite the personage that rises up before us in the prophets and in the Gospels. And yet when one observes the pleasant devices for introducing men to him, which abound in the modern church — the music, the feasts, the festivals, and the entertainments — it would seem as though this were a very prevalent conception. No ! Jesus is the serious Christ, the faithful and true witness who will never cover up his scars in order to win disciples. Our latter day Christianity would not abolish the cross indeed, but it seeks so to fes- toon it with flowers, that the offense thereof may be hidden out of sight. If Christ crucified is " unto the Greeks foolishness," why not first present him in some other character if any of this cultured peo- ple are among the hearers ? But does not the reader remember that when " certain Greeks " came to worship at the feast, saying "we would see Jesus," the first recorded word which the Saviour spoke to them was : '* Verily, verily, I say unto you, IN THY LIGHT 43 Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone ; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit," thus presenting the whole deep doc- trine of the cross in a single condensed parable ? Never has, there been such a laborious attempt to popularize Christ as in the closing years of this nineteenth century. But if the Saviour were tc come to church and reveal himself to those who have so mistaken his identity, we can well think of his saying : " Behold my hands and my feet ///S'. ■ ■.■ilP