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THE 
 
 HEAVENLY VISION 
 
 AND 
 
 OTHER SERMONS 
 
 By 
 
 HENRY M: BOOTH, D.D. 
 
 Hftemoriai thition 
 
 RANDOLPH R. BEAM 
 
 NEW YORK MDCCCCII 
 
THE f.JBKAR* «F 
 CONGRESS, 
 
 Two CopifcB Receive* 
 
 MAR. 13 1902 
 
 COPVRMIHT ENTRY 
 
 CLAS3 tf-^XXc. «*■ 
 O- ^) T *) t 
 
 copy a 
 
 
 Copyright, 1885, 
 By Anson D. F. Randolph & Company 
 
 Copyright, 1902, 
 By Fisher Howe Booth 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGl 
 
 I. — The Heavenly Vision, 5 
 
 II. — The Religious Opportunities of Suburban 
 
 Life, 24 
 
 III.— The Divine Estimate of Man, ... 44 
 
 IV. — The Moral Ends of Business, ... 63 
 
 V. — Conceptions of God, as Expressed by the 
 
 Sanctuary, 82 
 
 VI.— The Efficiency of Refinement, . . .103 
 
 VII.— The Question of Mordecai, . . . .126 
 
 VIII.— " The Sea is His," 145 
 
 IX. — The Past in the Present, . . . .163 
 
 X.— Distress Without Despair, . . . .183 
 
 XL— Jesus of Nazareth— His Place in History, 203 
 
 XII. — The Gracious Words— What were they ? . 223 
 
 XII L— The Work of Jesus Christ— What did He 
 
 do? 243 
 
 XIV. — The Person of Jesus Christ, .... 264 
 
 XV. — The Christian Life, 285 
 
 XVI. — Leaven — The Influence of Jesus Christ, . 305 
 
 XVII.—" Out of Self, into Christ, up to Glory," . 327 
 
 (3) 
 
THE HEAVENLY VISION. 
 
 "Whereupon, O King Agrippa, I was not dis* 
 obedient unto the heavenly vision" — ACTS 
 xxvi. 19. 
 
 The Apostle had reference to the memorable cri- 
 sis, which was his introduction to the Christian life. 
 He had lived long enough to appreciate the signifi- 
 cance of that crisis, both as to purpose and influence. 
 In it, he had discovered the ideal, which he had been 
 trying to realize ever since ; and in it, also, he had 
 found a sacred magnetism, which had been to him a 
 perpetual solicitation. He had been like Moses, to 
 whom God had revealed the plan of the Tabernacle. 
 From Mount Sinai to the plain of the Hebrew en- 
 campment, the venerable leader had carried the plan, 
 which skilful workmen had afterward expressed. The 
 impression of the crisis had never ceased to control 
 Paul. He had crossed the continents, and had en- 
 countered every variety of thought ; he had endured 
 hardships, and had passed through many eventful ex- 
 periences ; he had advanced from youth to maturity 
 and thence to old age ; and yet he had never lost 
 
 (5) 
 
6 THE HE A VENL Y VISION. 
 
 sight of the ideal, whose welcome invitation had 
 called him " to press toward the mark for the prize 
 of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." 
 
 In the presence of King Agrippa and a splendid 
 retinue, the Apostle had appeared to explain his 
 conduct. He was a prisoner of the Romans. Jewish 
 enmity charged him with sedition and conspiracy. 
 He had made an appeal unto Caesar, and was await- 
 ing the time of his departure for the Imperial City. 
 The Procurator, Porcius Festus, was interested in his 
 case, and was glad of the opportunity of bringing him 
 before his royal guests. The occasion was one of un- 
 usual magnificence. Paul was facing a brilliant court, 
 as he stood to relate the circumstances of his life. 
 This was not a defence. His appeal had transferred 
 the trial to Rome. He was simply responding to the 
 orders of the Procurator, who had summoned him 
 from his prison to entertain Agrippa and Bernice. 
 
 With intense enthusiasm, the Apostle described 
 his conversion, dwelling minutely upon the vision 
 which he had, as he was on his journey to Damas- 
 cus. That vision was to him a convincing argument. 
 So evident, so satisfactory was it, that he promptly 
 yielded his life to its control. From that hour, he 
 had been a Christian. His subsequent career had 
 confirmed the faith, which he then exercised, as he 
 had practically made himself over into a new man 
 under the influence of the heavenly vision. Thus as 
 
THE HEA VENL Y VISION. 7 
 
 he stood in the presence of royalty, his simple man- 
 hood — so heroic, so pure, so Christlike — was more 
 brilliant than all the glitter of the pompous, licentious 
 court. Never, for one moment, had he been disobe- 
 dient unto the heavenly vision. The recompense had 
 been secured, and Paul's life and work were its grand 
 realities. 
 
 This same heavenly vision presents to us its glori- 
 ous possibilities of purpose and influence. We may 
 not, it is true, see a bright light and hear a divine 
 voice upon the Damascus Road. There are many 
 travellers who make the journey from Jerusalem to 
 Damascus without any consciousness of visions ; and 
 yet there are many pilgrims who never visit the 
 Holy Land, whose march is directed and cheered as 
 they become conscious of this same heavenly vision. 
 They share with Paul the ecstasy, and unite with him 
 in acknowledging their dependence upon the strength. 
 They " endure as seeing Him who is invisible." The 
 heavenly vision commands their obedience at every 
 step of this heavenward progress — beginning, middle, 
 and end. It is the sun of their spiritual firmament, 
 whose genial rays address the feeble infancy of ex- 
 perience with promise, the strong maturity of reali- 
 zation with fulfilment, and the timidity of the earthly 
 termination of life with hope. Always present, and 
 yet always ahead, the heavenly vision is constantly 
 announcing new revelations, and as constantly afford 
 
8 THE HE A VENL Y VISION. 
 
 ing new delights. Oh ! that we might be led, by the 
 Holy Spirit, to a happy appreciation of its place and 
 opportunity ! Oh ! that we might exhibit the fidel- 
 ity of Paul, which appeared in his noble Christian 
 life ! Oh ! that we might be permitted to make his 
 good confession : " I was not disobedient unto the 
 heavenly vision ! " But just what is this heavenly 
 vision? How is it possible that we, in our day and 
 country, should accept this as our purpose and influ- 
 ence? 
 
 ist. The heavenly vision is the revelation of Christ. 
 To Paul, this vision was a clear, definite manifestation 
 of the Redeemer, which qualified him for his Apostle- 
 ship. "Am I not an Apostle?" he asked as he ad- 
 dressed the Corinthians. "Am I not free? Have I 
 not seen Jesus Christ, our Lord?" Then he declared 
 positively, that "last of all He was seen. of me also, 
 as of one born out of due time." Thus he placed 
 himself on an equality with the other Apostles, who 
 had known Christ after the flesh. It would appear — 
 and yet we must not be too confident — that an ob- 
 jective revelation was granted, that he saw with his 
 eyes the Lord Jesus, and heard with his ears the 
 voice of the Son of man. However that may be, it 
 certainly pleased God to reveal His Son in him in 
 such manner that he was convinced of the divine 
 authority of Jesus of Nazareth. This was the es- 
 sential thing. We need not press the narrative un- 
 
THE HE A VENL Y VISION. g 
 
 duly. It is not possible that we should understand 
 the heavenly vision as to its method. "The wind 
 bloweth where it listeth." The methods of spiritual 
 phenomena are always obscure, even when their re- 
 sults are evident. He, who is caught up into Para- 
 dise, will certainly hear unspeakable words. We must 
 not be surprised. The revelation of Christ is for life, 
 not for philosophical speculation, for service rather 
 than for forms of words. " If," say Farrar,* " we 
 would in truth understand such spiritual experiences, 
 the records of them must be read by a light that never 
 was on land or sea. Paul arose another man ; he had 
 fallen in death, he arose in life ; he had fallen in the 
 midst of things temporal, he arose in awful conscious- 
 ness of the things eternal ; he had fallen a proud, in- 
 tolerant, persecuting Jew, he arose a humble, broken- 
 hearted, penitent Christian. In that moment, a new 
 element had been added to his being. Henceforth — 
 to use his own deep and dominant expression — he 
 was in Christ — God had found him ; Jesus had spoken 
 to him, and in one flash changed him from a raging 
 Pharisee into a true disciple — from the murderer of 
 the Saints into the Apostle of the Gentiles." 
 
 The revelation of Christ still announces the divine 
 realities of the Gospel. Individuals are now permit- 
 ted to appreciate and to enjoy these eternal facts 
 
 1 Life and Work of St. Paul." Vol. I., 
 I* 
 
IO THE HEA VENL Y VISION. 
 
 They make their appeal, and that appeal is within 
 the range of a sanctified, personal consciousness. I 
 may know, and I may know convincingly, that Jesus 
 Christ is my Saviour, " whom having not seen I love ; 
 in whom, though now I see Him not, yet believing, I 
 rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." If 
 this is not true, then Christian consciousness is a 
 delusion, and Christian history is the record of the 
 weakest credulity. For Christian consciousness is 
 based upon a faith in the presence of our blessed 
 Lord, and Christian history describes the fidelities of 
 many holy spirits whose lives have been hid with 
 Christ in God. You may ask the disciples of Jesus 
 as to their holy aspirations, and they will answer that 
 the Lord Jesus Christ has appeared to them. " Christ 
 stood before me," was the confession of a devout 
 woman, " and I saw Him with the eyes of the soul 
 more distinctly than I could have seen Him with the 
 eyes of the body." In such a confession, we are able 
 to advance a little in our knowledge of this revelation. 
 The eyes of the soul are contrasted with the eyes of 
 the body. When we speak of seeing a person, we 
 usually have reference to the sight which is afforded 
 by the eyes of the body, as when we say that we see 
 a friend upon the streets or at his own door. But 
 that is not the only sight. The eyes of the soul can 
 also see, as when we are asked to approve a descrip- 
 tion of virtue or grace. There are mental photo- 
 
THE HE A VENL Y VISION. \ \ 
 
 graphs ; there are word pictures. In a proper sense, 
 you and I see the German Emperor or the British 
 Queen, because we have been made acquainted with 
 their intellectual and moral characteristics. Perhaps 
 we see them more clearly and intelligently than he 
 does who catches a glimpse of their countenances 
 and knows nothing of their spirituality. 
 
 We have been taught that Christ is the divine in- 
 carnation of certain most excellent qualities, that 
 truth and goodness are present in Him, that forgive- 
 ness and mercy and love and hope are His announce- 
 ments, that in His face the glory of God appears. 
 This is the teaching of the Bible, and this teaching 
 reaches us in the person of Christ. Can we then see 
 Christ without seeing the lineaments of His counte- 
 nance and His human form ? If we may not bring back 
 in bodily presence the Jesus who lived for three-and- 
 thirty years in Galilee, may not Christ still be in us 
 the hope of glory? Most certainly! The reality has 
 frequently commended itself. As a revelation, Christ 
 has appeared to weary, anxious souls with hope and 
 blessing, opening to faith the splendid possibilities of 
 life with God, and shaping life here upon the earth in 
 every least particular. Men have seen Christ, as the 
 artist sees his conception of statue or cathedral : as 
 the poet sees the thought which he must elaborate 
 in Iliad or Lost Paradise ; as the musician sees the 
 symphony, whose matchless harmonies he reduces to 
 
12 THE HEAVENLY VISION. 
 
 the order of an orchestra. Christ is there, and we 
 are here. The heavenly vision is evident. There is 
 no doubt that God is speaking. The divine call 
 awakens a response. Every energy is aroused. The 
 pulse-beats are quick and eager, as the endeavor to 
 apprehend that for which also we are apprehended of 
 Christ Jesus becomes influential. Thus Pres. Ed- 
 wards — a man of unusual mental grasp — describes his 
 own happy experience when he says : " I had a view, 
 that for me was extraordinary, of the glory of the 
 Son of God as Mediator between God and man, and 
 His wonderful, great, full, pure, and sweet grace and 
 love, and meek and gentle condescension. The per- 
 son of Christ appeared ineffably excellent with an ex- 
 cellency great enough to swallow up all thought and 
 conception." Was not that a heavenly vision ? Did 
 he not see Christ as truly as Paul did ? Can we fail 
 to discover the influence of the heavenly vision upon 
 the subsequent life of that great man ? When the 
 eyes of David Livingstone — one of Africa's heroes — 
 were opened to behold the Saviour, the strong im- 
 pulse of a holy love filled his soul with most real and 
 earnest and effective ambitions. He did not know it 
 then, but he knew it afterward, that for him the 
 heavenly vision meant Africa's redemption, with the 
 toilsome life, which he ended on his knees in the rude 
 hut in Ilala. It was so too with Gordon, England's 
 lonely sentinel at Khartoum. The heavenly vision 
 
THE HE A VENL Y VISION. 
 
 13 
 
 outlined his duties to him, and then held him firmly 
 with its divine constraint, while all the world won- 
 dered at the spectacle of courage and consecration. 
 
 "Warrior of God, man's friend, not here below, 
 But somewhere dead in the far waste Soudan, 
 Thou livest in all hearts ; for all men know 
 This earth hath borne no simpler, nobler man." 
 
 It is to this heavenly vision, this revelation of Christ, 
 that I would direct your thoughts. You may be- 
 lieve in its reality. It is for you, as it was for Paul. 
 What then will life mean, if once you appreciate this 
 inspiration, if always you are controlled by your esti- 
 mate of Christ ? 
 
 2d. The revelation of Christ presents the ideal 
 which is a constant solicitation to holy endeavor. 
 This ideal is practical and at the same time pro- 
 gressive ; it is within my reach and also ahead of me. 
 Many of our ideals are exhausted. We quickly come 
 up to them, and their advantages are utilized, and 
 they are left behind. I suppose that every one has 
 found this to be true. In childhood we had our 
 ideals, and we look back at them now with amuse- 
 ment, or pity, or both. Then other ideals became 
 influential, but they had their day too, and disap 
 peared. Strength or wealth or beauty or pleasure 
 or fame have all solicited us, and over each, per- 
 chance, we have raised the bitter lamentation of the 
 preacher, " Vanity of vanities." We will not learn 
 
1 4 THE HE A VENL V VISION. 
 
 from the experience of others. Every one must be- 
 come an experimental philosopher for himself. The 
 follies and the mistakes of the generations are re- 
 peated year by year. We are no wiser than our 
 fathers were. Our ideals are so many of them like 
 the pot of money which is said to lie at the point of 
 the rainbow. The earthly vision lures us on to dis- 
 appointment and despair. We are seldom successful 
 with our cherished plans, and when we are, we are 
 not happy. The question, " Is life worth living?" is 
 soberly discussed ; and a pessimistic philosophy wins 
 adherents in the circles of fashion and pleasure. 
 
 This should not be. Life should be sweet and 
 interesting, progressive and spiritual. Where the 
 heavenly vision is distinctly recognized, its powerful 
 influence will be felt in calls to service, in bright an- 
 ticipations of a future state, and in most delightful 
 communings with God. The revelation of Christ 
 promotes Christian optimism which is intelligently 
 hopeful. Therefore with this conviction we can 
 hardly fail to prize the heavenly vision. It is our 
 ideal, whose influence we cordially respect. 
 
 The ideal meets us constantly, and is always prac- 
 tical. The revelation of Christ is for every age and 
 condition, and it is within the reach of all. Inas- 
 much as it presents a complete salvation, its appeal 
 is addressed to sinners everywhere. Sin is an inter- 
 est which is common to the race. " All have sinned 
 
THE HE A VENL Y VISION. \ 5 
 
 and come short of the glory of God." There is a 
 taint in human nature which grace must remove. 
 No rank, no station, no ancestral advantages can 
 secure an exemption from this condition. By the 
 divine law of heredity we appear in the world with 
 a sinful tendency. It is as certain that a child will 
 sin, as it is that a child will speak. Yes ! and more 
 so. This sinful tendency antagonizes God and the 
 authority of God. Its selfishness is conspicuous. 
 Without restraint, it develops into immorality, and 
 crime, and death. " Sin, when it is finished, bringeth 
 forth death." In and of itself it is hopeless. Facing 
 the wrong way, it advances, with more or less rapid- 
 ity, to despair and remorse. There is but one" hope, 
 and that is given in the revelation of Christ. 
 
 This revelation — the heavenly vision — meets sin in 
 all its stages with pardon, renewal, and perfect holi- 
 ness. A child may respond to this ideal, and many 
 children have. Their determination to accept Christ 
 has been the earnest of a happy life. Under His 
 guidance they have formed strong and beautiful 
 Christian characters. The traits which He exem- 
 plified have been secured by them in the progress of 
 the years. They have "grown up into Him in all 
 things which is the head, even Christ." He has al- 
 ways been kept in view. Every interest has been 
 referred to Him. The plan of life has been defi- 
 nitely conceived, and the important work of life- 
 
1 6 THE HE A VENL Y VISION. 
 
 building has gone steadily forward. What a splendid 
 career has thus opened before childhood! Christ. 
 The child is to be like Christ. He may occupy this 
 or that sphere of life ; he may engage in this or that 
 pursuit; he may be rich or poor; he maybe mer 
 chant, farmer, lawyer, scholar, soldier ; but he must 
 be increasingly like Christ. And what does this mean, 
 except that he must be transferring to himself and 
 appropriating "whatsoever things are true, whatso- 
 ever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, 
 whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are 
 lovely, whatsoever things are of good report "? Christ 
 is a generic, personal expression, which covers every 
 desirable characteristic. The Christian should ex- 
 hibit the finest types of manhood or womanhood. 
 A base Christian, a mean Christian, an impure Chris- 
 tian! What shall we say of such? They travesty 
 the Gospel, and bring reproach upon the Master, 
 whose name they bear. Christ is nobility and large- 
 heartedness and purity. He rebukes our miserable 
 selfishness, and calls us ever to 
 
 " Nobler modes of life, 
 With sweeter manners, purer laws," 
 
 How gladly then do we encourage childhood to 
 choose Christ as the only perfect ideal ! How de- 
 lightful it is to see youth advancing toward the per- 
 fection which Christ reveals ! We want nothing less ; 
 
THE HEAVENLY VISION. i; 
 
 we can be satisfied with nothing less. Let the end 
 of their conversation be " Jesus Christ, the same yes- 
 terday, and to-day, and forever." 
 
 Then what a grand encouragement the heavenly 
 vision is to the wasted, dissolute life ! Alas, that we 
 must say so, but the Parable of the Prodigal Son is 
 as fresh and pertinent as an item in the daily paper. 
 The far country is populous, and the journey thereto 
 is as direct as the route of a trunk-line. The law of 
 degeneracy is painfully evident. With or without 
 their portion of the estate, so many of the sons of 
 God leave the Father s house to waste their sub- 
 stance with riotous living. Often we meet them in 
 despair, poor, ragged, forsaken, with nothing to eat 
 but the wretched husks, which are fit only to feed 
 swine. Now, what can we say? What vision can we 
 offer them ? Will they be received if they return in 
 their rags, after these years of wickedness? Can 
 they find their way back to the Father's house ? Is 
 their condition hopeless? No! We may speak of 
 the heavenly vision ; we may encourage them to look 
 for it ; we may assure them that a welcome will be 
 theirs ; we may even convince them that they may 
 be washed, that they may be sanctified, that they 
 may be justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and 
 by the Spirit of our God. Surely that is good news ! 
 Think of what it would have been to the Prodigal 
 Son in his misery and loneliness among the swine, if 
 
£8 THE HEAVENLY VISION. 
 
 one of noble aspect, and generous resources, and 
 tender sympathies had appeared to say : " My brother, 
 this is not the life for you. You are wanted in the 
 old home. There a welcome is prepared for you. I 
 will be your companion. In time, you may become 
 as noble and generous and happy as I am." Think 
 of the influence of such an assurance ! Yet precisely 
 that — yea, and much more — meets every wayward, 
 profligate life, when Christ is present. " The wages 
 of sin is death ; but the gift of God is eternal life, 
 through Jesus Christ our Lord." 
 
 Another phase of the subject appears when ser- 
 vice is considered. The heavenly vision is a call to 
 service. John, the aged Apostle, appreciated the 
 Gospel when he wrote : " Whoso hath this world's 
 good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth 
 up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth 
 the love of God in him ? " The Gospel is love, and 
 the love of the weak, of the stranger, of the degraded, 
 . of the enemy. Around this estimate of the Gospel, 
 the bright Christmas legends, known and read of all 
 men, have grouped themselves with the evident de- 
 sign of enforcing the truth that Christ is served in the 
 service of humanity, " Inasmuch as ye have done it un- 
 to one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done 
 it unto me." Among these legends, I recently found 
 one which is associated with the ancient Saxon cus- 
 tom of burning the yule-log "to keep the divine in- 
 
THE HE A VENL Y VISION. I 9 
 
 fant from the cold." A selfish man, who had plenty 
 of money, but no sympathy, was keeping his Christmas 
 all alone, and out of deference to the day, he kept a 
 little log burning with a very feeble flame. As he 
 shivered in the chilly atmosphere of his desolate 
 room, he fell asleep and dreamed. In his dream he 
 heard a voice which drew his attention to a beautiful 
 child who stood near to him, and said, " Jesus is cold." 
 With an impatient movement, the selfish man stirred 
 the fire a little, and said : " Why don't you go to the 
 farm-house down the lane ? You'll be warm enough 
 there." "Yes!" replied the child, "but you make 
 me cold. You are so cold." " Then what can I do 
 for you ? " " You can give me a gold coin." With 
 a great deal of reluctance the money-chest was opened, 
 and a gold coin was given to the child. He took it. 
 Instantly the dingy room became bright and cheerful 
 as the child hung up some laurel and holly, saying, 
 " These are for life" and placed two candles on the 
 shelf, saying, " These are for light" and stirred the 
 fire, saying, " That is for love" Then the door was 
 thrown open, and a poor widow, and a sick man, and 
 orphan children were brought in and seated at a beau- 
 tiful repast, while the child kept saying, " Jesus is 
 warm now," and the selfish man found that he was 
 enjoying the scene, so that he presently confessed, 
 " I think that I am warmer too." But the child sud- 
 denly disappeared, and in his place there was a divine 
 
20 THE HEA VENL Y VISION. 
 
 Presence, and solemnly the words were pronounced : 
 " Although I am in Heaven, I am everywhere ; foi 
 everywhere is Heaven if I am there. I can not suffef 
 as I once suffered, but whenever my children are cold, 
 or hungry, or persecuted, or neglected, I suffer with 
 them : and whenever they are warm, and fed, and shel- 
 tered, and loved, I rejoice with them. So that Jesus 
 is often cold, and Jesus is often warm." 
 
 Looking into the faces of your fellow-men, can you 
 see the possibility of the Christ-likeness there ? Look- 
 ing beyond the seas to distant continents, and to 
 races hardly known, can you believe that Christ calls 
 you to bring them out of heathenism into the glori- 
 ous liberty of the sons of God ? Looking at the 
 grave problems of social life, can you realize the re- 
 sponsibility which Christ puts upon you in this be- 
 half? Looking at yourself with your equipment of 
 talent and influence, can you hear any message from 
 the skies which commands you to serve? If so, then 
 do you behold the heavenly vision. You are not de- 
 pendent upon the fancy or caprice of men. You are 
 not recompensed by the returns of effort. A grand 
 ideal has presented itself. You are conscious of a 
 divine inspiration. Your truest recompense is this 
 glorious fact, that you, a poor mortal, that you, a crea- 
 ture of yesterday, are associated with the infinite God 
 in the accomplishment of the plans for whose con- 
 summation He gave His own dear Son. God grant us 
 
THE HE A VENL Y VISION. 2 1 
 
 all a clear perception of the vision so heavenly ! May 
 we make it both purpose and influence, and thus 
 serve our generation until we fall on sleep, and are 
 gathered to our fathers ! 
 
 3d. A constant solicitation to holy endeavor met a 
 response in Paul, whose significance was expressed by 
 his splendid life. " He was not disobedient unto the 
 heavenly vision." In other words, and more positively, 
 he was faithful. The heavenly vision captivated him. 
 He surrendered absolutely to its control. Friends 
 were forsaken when friendship meant the denial of 
 Christ. Pharisaism with all its worldly preferment 
 was despised in comparison with the excellency of the 
 knowledge of Christ Jesus. Ease was exchanged for 
 hardship. Perils were freely encountered. Prisons 
 and dungeons became familiar. And for what ? In 
 order that Paul might finish his course with joy, and 
 the ministry which he had received of the Lord Jesus. 
 Was he wise? Was his life a success? Did the 
 heavenly vision lure him on to disappointment? 
 Consult his biographer and answer ; read his letters 
 and know ; consider his influence, and appreciate its 
 permanent, pervasive strength, as the bounds of Chris- 
 tendom are enlarged. Paul wrote his life upon the 
 centuries, and above his name there stands but one, 
 and that is the name which is above every name — the 
 name of Jesus. 
 
 Shall we share with him the service, the joy, and 
 
22 THE HEAVENLY VISION. 
 
 the crown, if we are not disobedient unto the heavenly 
 vision ? Most assuredly, because God is no respecter 
 of persons. The promise is for us, as it was for Him. 
 We may see Christ. Are we watching for Him ? 
 Would we know Him if He should appear? May we 
 hope to keep to Him faithfully? The Holy Spirit 
 waits upon our response to questions such as these. 
 He can open the sightless eyes, and He can train the 
 soul to see the unseen things. He can give steadfast- 
 ness of purpose and fixedness of endeavor. He can 
 enlarge experience and quicken faith. He can do what 
 was done for Moses, when from the top of Pisgah, the 
 Land of Promise was made known. He can antici- 
 pate the hour of death, which to the Lawgiver was 
 the hour of vision ; and He can bring this revelation 
 of Christ to the soul's perception, when the feet are 
 upon the threshold, and the years have just begun to 
 be numbered. Welcome, then, the gracious influence 
 of the Holy Spirit. Yield cheerfully to its control. 
 Make Christ your choice. Regard the heavenly 
 vision. Greet its sublime inspiration. March under 
 its glorious leadership. Other ideals — minor and 
 subordinate — will be reached and left behind you in 
 the advance. This never. Like the star that led the 
 wise men of the East, it conducts always to Christ. 
 When you have reached His perfection, when your 
 strength is His, when your beauty is His, when your 
 resemblance is complete, then may you speak of 
 
THE HE A VENL Y VISION. 
 
 23 
 
 other and grander ideals. But then, in that happy 
 consummation, you will be with the multitude which 
 no man can number, whose hearty sympathy is their 
 adoration of the Redeemer, Jesus Christ. There the 
 ideal will never more be questioned, for purpose and 
 influence will be one in Christ. 
 
II. 
 
 THE RELIGIOUS OPPORTUNITIES OF 
 SUBURBAN LIFE. 
 
 "And he left them, and went out of the city intt 
 Bethany ; and he lodged there." — MATTHEW 
 xxi. 17. 
 
 BETHANY was a suburb of Jerusalem. Many lawyers 
 and merchants of the city resided there. The town 
 was pleasantly situate upon the eastern slope of the 
 Mount of Olives. It was reached by three roads — 
 one of which was the highway to Jericho and the 
 country beyond the Jordan. A grove of palm-trees 
 afforded a delightful shade in the Summer ; while the 
 overhanging cliffs were a secure protection against 
 the rough winds of the Winter. In the distance, the 
 Peraean hills were visible, and the foreground of the 
 landscape was made attractive and beautiful by the 
 orchards and gardens, whose fertility was contrasted 
 with the barrenness of the Desert, which was con- 
 stantly invading the territory of " the house of 
 dates." 
 
 The population of Jerusalem could not be accom- 
 modated within the walls of the city. Numerous 
 (24) 
 
SUB URBAN LIFE. 25 
 
 public buildings occupied many desirable locations, 
 while the ordinary business — religious, political, mil- 
 itary, and commercial — pressed the home-life of the 
 more wealthy citizens out through the gates to enjoy 
 the villas which had been built upon the surrounding 
 hills. Roman law gave safety to the unwalled towns 
 of Judea. The Jews quickly appreciated the favor- 
 able opportunities which were thus presented to 
 them. They could secure the advantages of their 
 sacred city without encountering the disadvantages 
 of a city life. The Temple was accessible. The 
 courts of law were within easy reach. The libraries 
 were open to them. The shops and the exchanges 
 were not far away. The suburbs became attractive. 
 Lightfoot — a careful scholar — warrants the statement 
 that " if there were no gardens in Jerusalem, there 
 was a girdle of them, reaching from its very walls 
 and down the valleys, and up the opposite hillsides. 
 On the hills around rose the mansions of many citi- 
 zens, and at the bend, where the valleys of Kidron 
 and Hinnom met beside the Pool of Siloam, the eye 
 regaled itself with the wide and rich verdure of the 
 royal gardens." 
 
 Bethany was the suburban home of the friends of 
 Jesus, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. They were evi- 
 dently persons of consideration, for many of the Jews 
 came from Jerusalem upon visits of sympathy after 
 the death of Lazarus, and the spikenard with which 
 
26 SUB URBAN LIFE. 
 
 Mary anointed the feet of Jesus was very costly. In 
 this home, the duties of religion were not neglected. 
 The divine authority of the Old Testament Scriptures 
 was recognized, and the precious truths of that sub- 
 lime revelation determined the life of the family. 
 Jesus was cordially welcomed to their hospitality, 
 and an especial interest was manifested in His conver- 
 sation. What incident is more suggestive than that 
 given by Luke, when he introduces the practical 
 Martha, busily engaged in providing for the enter- 
 tainment of their guest, and the contemplative Mary, 
 completely absorbed in listening to His speech ! 
 
 Six days before the Passover, He arrived at the 
 dwelling of His friends, and there He remained, com- 
 ing back every evening from Jerusalem, until the 
 morning of the memorable Thursday which witnessed 
 His departure for the Paschal Supper and the suffer- 
 ings of Calvary. On that morning He sent two of 
 His disciples into the city to make all necessary prep- 
 arations, and at a later hour of the day He left Beth- 
 any to meet " the twelve " in the designated " upper 
 room." 
 
 The retirement of Bethany was evidently gratefu 1 
 to Jesus. When He crossed the brow of the Mount 
 of Olives, or passed around its southern shoulder, He 
 left the angry controversies of Scribes and Pharisees, 
 and found the peaceful companionship of sympathiz- 
 ing friends. Thus He gave a tacit commendation to 
 
SUBURBAN LIFE. 
 
 27 
 
 the life which we, my friends, have learned to prize, 
 and suggested an inquiry into the proper influence 
 of a suburban residence upon Christian character. 
 This theme — certainly quite practical — may prop- 
 erly engage our attention at the present time. We 
 are living near to a great city, and yet we are living 
 in the country. Are there advantages in a suburban 
 life which should be appreciated and improved ? 
 With a clear recognition of some of these advan- 
 tages, I may hope, by a few suggestions, to stimu- 
 late your thoughts. Christian character is affected 
 by its environment. How may we secure the best 
 results from our surroundings ? 
 
 1st. The works of God are constantly announcing 
 the divine presence to suburban life. It is a rare 
 privilege to live in the midst of God's works. Per- 
 haps they become common things to those who are 
 very familiar with them. Yet they are not the less 
 instructive on that account. Some of the most prec- 
 ious things become commonplace when they are 
 abundantly possessed. Friendship is not always 
 valued at its proper estimate ; health is never appre- 
 ciated until sickness comes ; the daily benefits of 
 life, fresh air, food, water, sleep, appear very desira- 
 ble when once we are deprived of them. It is so 
 with the works of God. There are many persons 
 who do not seem to consider them in their intelli- 
 gence and beauty. They have eyes, but they see 
 
2S SUBURB AX LIFE. 
 
 not. Sensibility is dormant. No response is given 
 to the appeals of nature. The landscape suggests 
 the market price of broad acres or of garnered grain, 
 but offers no hint, to minds like these, of the wisdom 
 and power which raised the mountains and traced a 
 path for the watercourses, which clothed the meadows 
 with verdure and called the spreading oak from the 
 recesses of an acorn. There is a sad loss here, which 
 remands to poverty not a few of the men who sup- 
 pose that they have become very rich. With all 
 their wealth of territory or estate they do not 
 have as much profitable enjoyment as the reverent 
 man has who " looks up from nature to nature's 
 God." 
 
 " To him who in the love of Nature holds 
 Communion with her visible forms, she speaks 
 A various language ; for his gayer hours 
 She has a voice of gladness, and a smile 
 And eloquence of beauty, and she glides 
 Into his darker musings with a mild 
 And healing sympathy that steals away 
 Their sharpness ere he is aware." 
 
 The Hebrew conception of nature, as we meet it 
 in the Psalms, was remarkably influential. God and 
 the works of God were intimately associated. They 
 never supposed that these works could have any ex- 
 istence whatever without the presence of God. God 
 was very near to their consciousness. They were not 
 skilled in the methods of science; and yet the meth- 
 
SUBURBAN LIFE. 
 
 2 9 
 
 ods of science, which bring to light so many of the 
 hidden things of nature, need not keep us from the 
 endeavor to sympathize with their spirit. On the 
 contrary, every new announcement of science is fitted 
 to add to our appreciation of the wisdom and power 
 which are capable of such wonderful expressions. 
 The universe is broader, the reign of law is far more 
 extensive, the authority of God is more sublime than 
 the Hebrews could have imagined. Yet with their 
 spirit we may keep pace with the advance of dis- 
 covery. A constant recognition may be given to 
 God. In the heavens we may behold His glory, and 
 in the firmament we may discover His handiwork. 
 Each season may bring us new intelligence of His 
 fidelity to the ancient promise that seed-time and 
 harvest shall not fail, and each morning may come 
 with a fresh benediction from Him, who is our ex- 
 ceeding joy ; the plants and the flowers may have 
 their appropriate lessons, and the animals and the 
 birds may suggest many profitable reflections. The 
 book is always open. There are no restrictions with 
 reference to study. God invites. The opportunity 
 is ours. May we not always enjoy the reward ? "I 
 would not," says one who has used his suburban life 
 to the best advantage, " I would not for all the com 
 fort which I might get from the books of the Alex- 
 andrian Library, or from the Lenox Library, give up 
 the comfort which I get out of nature. Nature, 
 
3 o SUB URBAN LIFE. 
 
 now that I have had the revelation of God which in 
 terprets it to me, I would not give up for anything 
 I had almost said that I would rather lose the Bible 
 than to lose my world. There is no sunlight that 
 does not say something to me of the Sun of Right- 
 eousness. There is no created thing that does not 
 
 say something to me of God, who framed it 
 
 There is nothing that grows, no weed, no grass, no 
 flower, no fruit, that is not in some way related to 
 God in my thoughts ; and I am never so near to Him 
 as when I am in the presence of His works, as when 
 night or day I am in that solemn cathedral, the world 
 of nature, and behold its everchanging beauty." 
 
 Here are certainly privileges which no one of us 
 should neglect. We can not dispense with the in- 
 terior, the more spiritual processes of grace — of that, 
 I am well aware. No one can prosper as a Christian, 
 if he fails to use his Bible and to wait upon the or- 
 dinances of the house of God. Yet, on the other 
 hand, we shall lose a freshness and vividness of ex- 
 perience which will add greatly to the interest of 
 religion, if we do not consider the works of God. 
 
 2d. In its contact with the natural world, suburban 
 life finds many suggestive comments jn the truths of 
 the Gospel. Our Lord delivered most of His dis- 
 courses in the open air. From the objects around 
 Him and from the phenomena of nature, He drew 
 His illustrations. These illustrations cover truths 
 
5 UB URBAN LIFE. 3 1 
 
 which announce themselves when the illustrations 
 are interpreted. Consequently, a Bible student must 
 be a student of nature. One of the best commen- 
 taries is Dr. Thomson's " The Land and the Book," 
 a volume that places side by side the descriptions 
 and references of the Bible and the life and customs 
 of the Holy Land. But we need not visit the Holy 
 Land in order to discover the hidden meaning of 
 these divine statements. The processes of nature 
 are much the same the world over, and here at home 
 we may constantly gain instruction as we read to- 
 gether the two volumes of the divine Author. I should 
 require an abundance of time and an ability which I 
 do not possess, if I should propose to open this sub- 
 ject to you in every particular. I shall be satisfied if 
 I can convince you of the possibilities — so rich and 
 fruitful — that wait upon your personal endeavors in 
 this direction. For after all, what we learn by per- 
 sonal endeavor is permanently helpful to us. The 
 man who has discovered for himself the significance 
 of one of these sacred analogies will be eager to add 
 to his knowledge by new discoveries. He will fill his 
 mind with the words of Christ, even when those 
 words are mysterious to him, and then he will gladly 
 find that nature has a key, which unlocks the mys- 
 teries and permits him to welcome the truth. Thus 
 he will live in expectation. His walks abroad, through 
 meadows, gardens, or forests, will be as interrogative 
 
32 SUB URBAN LIFE. 
 
 as are the walks of miners when they hope to be 
 able to locate a claim. 
 
 Perhaps I may aid you somewhat, if I develop the 
 methods of this study by a single reference to a com- 
 parison used by our Lord. He was preaching in 
 Galilee, and in the early spring. The hills were 
 carpeted with flowers, and His audience were seated 
 upon them. In the midst of His sermon He said : 
 " Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow ; 
 they toil not, neither do they spin, and yet I say 
 unto you that even Solomon in all his glory was not 
 arrayed like one of these." The lilies were there to 
 enforce the great and important lesson which their 
 Master was announcing, and they are still present to 
 offer Him their service. Without toiling, without 
 spinning, with none of the fret and worry which are 
 so common in human life, they grow to their own ap- 
 pointed perfection, and that is the beauty of form 
 and the delicacy of fragrance which no royalty can 
 command. Simply by fulfilling the law of nature, 
 simply by utilizing the opportunities of nature, the 
 lily matures and presents its flower. Who can fail to 
 grasp the thought of the great Teacher ? The lily is 
 true to itself, and to God — hence the perfection; 
 while man with his neglects and self-confidences Is 
 always striving after some ideal which he never at- 
 tains. Let him learn obedience of the lily. Let him 
 determine to respect God's method of growth in the 
 
SUBURBAN LIFE. 
 
 33 
 
 spiritual life ; and then let him await calmly and 
 hopefully the promised result. " He that believeth 
 shall not make haste." We are to grow up into Him 
 in all things, and growth requires time. Let us not 
 expect too much of young disciples. Jesus said that 
 the seed in the good ground brought forth fruit with 
 patience ; and at another time, He said to His anxious 
 disciples, " in your patience, possess ye your souls." 
 Ah, friends, " ye have need of patience, that after 
 ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the 
 promise." 
 
 The beauty of the lily, we can not fail to notice, is 
 a living beauty. The lily borrows no splendor from 
 colors which are not its own. The raiment of Solo- 
 mon, magnificent as it was, could be exchanged for 
 the rags of a beggar. Many a king has been stripped 
 of the purple. But the living beauty of a holy char- 
 acter is as real and as personal as is the adornment of 
 the lily. It can never be taken away from the Chris- 
 tian. While it is most attractive in the conspicuous 
 positions of earthly honor and renown, it is equally 
 attractive in the humble abodes of poverty, in the 
 wards of hospitals, in captivity, in dungeons. There 
 is nothing artificial in the character which can thus 
 manifest the grace of God. 
 
 Then our dear Lord directs attention to the indi- 
 vidualizing features of the divine interest, " like one 
 of these," — even one lily, surely an insignificant ob 
 2* 
 
34 
 
 SUBURBAN LIFE. 
 
 ject ! — is regarded by God. " We take up at ran 
 dom," the botanist remarks,* " any single plant from 
 a whole meadowful, and we find that it is as complete 
 in all its parts, and as admirably adapted for its pur- 
 pose, as though it were the only object in the uni- 
 verse ; and untold millions of such flowers are born 
 and die every year in lonely places, where no human 
 eye beholds them, and their sweetness seems to be 
 wasted on the desert air." Is there no encourage- 
 ment in this assurance? Who does not sometimes 
 feel that his poor life is of very little account, and 
 that even God must overlook him? We seem to be 
 lost in the mass of humanity. There are so many per- 
 sons in the world, and we are so insignificant ! " What 
 is man that Thou art mindful of him?" Is the indi- 
 vidual considered, or is consideration reserved for the 
 race ? May / pray, and will God hear me ? Shall / 
 live forever, and is there a mansion in the Father's 
 house for met Jesus answered these questions by 
 pointing to the lily, " like one of these," even one. 
 " And if God so clothe the grass of the field, which 
 to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall 
 He not much more clothe you, oh, ye of little faith?" 
 Yes ! we may trust Him. Like the Good Shepherd 
 who knows His sheep, and calls His own sheep by 
 name, He regards us individually, so that we may 
 
 * " Two Worlds are Ours," p. 5. 
 
SUB URBAN LIFE. 3 5 
 
 joyfully say, as Paul did, "He loved me and gave 
 Himself for me." 
 
 The lily in the field is but one of many lilies, while 
 the lily in the sick-room, or upon a mission of friend- 
 ship, is performing an especial service. And is not this 
 also true of every life that has been made beautiful 
 by God ? That life adds to the homage which God 
 receives from men, so long as it is but one of many 
 lives in the Church ; but when it brings itself for 
 helpfulness, or sympathy, or strength, or counsel, into 
 contact with the needy and the suffering, it discovers 
 a peculiar, a distinct, a personal interest, which offers 
 unusual homage. Thus an ordinary confession of 
 Christ is most welcome, while an extraordinary ex- 
 hibition of love in service is doubly welcome. 
 
 We need not pursue these analogies. You under- 
 stand me now, I trust, when I say that the natural 
 world presents many fresh comments on the truths 
 of the Gospel ; and not simply on the truths of the 
 Gospel, but on all portions of the Word of God as 
 well. Our contact with the natural world becomes 
 an expositor. How much more meaning there seems 
 to be in this out-of-doors book, the Bible, when we 
 study it out of doors. " Thy righteousness," ex- 
 claims the psalmist, " is like the great mountains." 
 What a sublime comparison ! How suggestive ! Yet 
 it needs the mountains to make it evident. How 
 can a man of the pavements, who never sees a moun 
 
7,6 SUB URBAN LIFE. 
 
 tain, grasp a thought like this? How impressive the 
 thought is when it is considered in the presence of 
 some bold, ragged, moss-covered cliffs like the Pali- 
 sades ! " Thy judgments are a great deep"; without 
 the ocean to send back an answer, what will our in- 
 quiries into the meaning of that magnificent simile 
 avail ? " With Thee is the fountain of life "; where 
 but to a living spring shall we go to gain an appre- 
 ciation of the outpouring, effusive nature of life, 
 which finds its perennial source in God ? Thus the 
 opportunities of suburban life become very precious 
 to the student of the Word. He walks abroad in pur- 
 suit of knowledge, and he returns with confirmations 
 of the divine origin of the sacred volume, which are 
 more eloquent to him than the grapes of Eshcol were 
 in the camp of Israel, when they were presented in 
 proof of the fertility of the Promised Land. 
 
 3d. Christian fellowship discovers its sacredness in 
 the intimacy of suburban life. Now, I shall be di- 
 verted from my purpose, and shall consume valuable 
 time, if I undertake to meet the complaints which 
 often arise respecting the reserve, the distance, or 
 the unfriendliness of suburban life. They are real, 
 and I regret that they are. But they are not peculiar 
 to suburban life. The city is well acquainted with 
 them. There is no place in the world where one can 
 be as lonely as in a great city ; there is no solitude 
 like the solitude of a great crowd. And then, too. 
 
SUBURBAN LIFE. 
 
 37 
 
 we are apt to think that the small talk, the common 
 gossip, which happens to concern our affairs, is the 
 worst, the most contemptible small talk and gossip 
 that can be heard. Yet we have only to cross over 
 to the next town to match it ; or we have only to 
 commune with the past to discover its successful 
 rival. The government of the tongue, alas, it is not 
 one of the lost arts ; it is still one of the undiscovered 
 arts. We may not hope to witness its beneficent, 
 practical rule, until there is a complete submission to 
 God of the human heart : for " out of the abundance 
 of the heart the mouth speaketh." 
 
 Without the exercise of a critical spirit, however, 
 we may readily appreciate, I imagine, the sacred- 
 ness of Christian fellowship, where intimacy is pos- 
 sible. And the circumstances of life, the informality, 
 the quiet, the leisure, which a suburban residence 
 allows, are most favorable to the maturing of friend- 
 ships. Christian character develops in connection 
 with friendship. The early Church was a brother- 
 hood. We lose a great deal when we lose the stimu- 
 lating energy of religious conversation. " Iron sharp- 
 eneth iron ; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of 
 his friend." We must learn to converse. It is easy 
 to talk ; but talking is not conversation. Most of our 
 talking is about individuals, while the best of our con- 
 versation is upon themes. When the two disciples 
 were on their way to Emmaus they communed to 
 
38 SUB URBAN LIFE. 
 
 gether. Their communion was not a recital of per- 
 sonalities about Peter, James, and John, but an earn- 
 est consideration of the sublime truths of the Lord's 
 death and resurrection. We need more of such com- 
 munion. These high themes must become a part of 
 familiar speech. I see no reason why the countenance 
 should assume a solemn aspect, and the voice assume 
 unnatural tones, when we converse about " Jesus and 
 His love." Let us be frank and ingenuous, brethren ! 
 Let us encourage holy conversation. Let us welcome 
 the questions of children. Let us prize the mature 
 wisdom of old age. 
 
 " For conversation, choose what theme we may, 
 And chiefly w T hen religion leads the way, 
 Should flow, like waters after summer showers, 
 Not as if raised by mere mechanic powers. 
 The Christian, in whose soul, tho' now distress'd, 
 Lives the dear thought of joys he once possess'd, 
 When all his glowing language issued forth, 
 With God's deep stamp upon its current worth, 
 Will speak without disguise, and must impart. 
 Sad as it is, his undissembling heart, 
 Abhors constraint, and dares not feign a zeal, 
 Or seem to boast of fire he does not feel. 
 The song of Sion is a tasteless thing, 
 Unless when rising on a joyful wing, 
 The soul can mix with the celestial bands, 
 And give the strain the compass it demands." 
 
 Thus writes Cowper of the nobility of conversation 
 I would, my friends, that we might appreciate it. We 
 prize these friendships. They are sincere. We dis 
 
 
SUBURBAN LIFE. 39 
 
 cover their strength when life's emergencies present 
 themselves. Oh, that we might realize the best re- 
 sults of friendship in a generous, spiritual improve- 
 ment ! 
 
 4th. Suburban life affords unusual advantages for 
 reading, meditation, and prayer. We have the time 
 which city life does not allow ; we escape many of 
 the temptations which city life presents. Yet we 
 hear the roar of the city ; we feel the beating of its 
 pulse ; we catch its thought as quickly as it is coined. 
 Distance from the city means dulness. But suburban 
 life is not distant. It is of the city, and yet not in 
 the city. Therefore, under its own conditions it must 
 mature. Reading, meditation, and prayer are all pos- 
 sible. Reading fills the mind with the treasures of 
 thought. The past and the present meet in reading. 
 Books are cheap. The noble spirits of other ages and 
 lands become the companions of the man who reads. 
 The interest in such companionship should and may 
 be cultivated. " He that walketh with wise men shall 
 be wise." God permits us to enjoy this great privi- 
 lege, and in this way to secure a wisdom that is from 
 above. Be careful, then, in your selection of read- 
 ing. Select your reading, as you properly select your 
 friends. An introduction commends one as an ac- 
 quaintance, and an acquaintance may become a friend. 
 Let it be so with books. Indiscriminate reading is as 
 bad as indiscriminate contact with mankind. Wait a 
 
40 S UB URBAN LIFE. 
 
 little. Life is too short and the mind is too sacred 
 to be abused. Many books may be disregarded en« 
 tirely, while a few books will repay close study. Em- 
 erson has said that " Nature is much our friend in 
 this matter. Nature is always clarifying her water 
 and her wine. No filtration can be so perfect. She 
 does the same thing by books as by her gases and 
 plants. There is always a selection in writers, and 
 then a selection from the selection." Let us try and 
 be wise. We want the best. 
 
 Then with reading we should associate meditation. 
 After the Apostle had urged Timothy to " give at- 
 tendance to reading," he added the counsel, " medi- 
 tate upon these things." Reading resembles eating, 
 and meditation digestion. By eating, food is received 
 into the body, and by digestion it is assimilated ; 
 by reading, truth is received into the mind, and by 
 meditation it is appropriated as experience. Until 
 we meditate upon truth, we do not really possess it. 
 The quiet hours of the Lord's Day are especially fa- 
 vorable to meditation ; and he who loses this blessing 
 of holy time, deprives himself of a rare privilege. 
 For this reason, as well as for others, we should guard 
 the sacredness of the Lord's Day. No men need it 
 more than the men of active business pursuits. Seven 
 days of work, seven days of material interests, seven 
 days in the smoke and grime of the world, seven days 
 with care as a despotic master, who could endure 
 
SUB URBAN LIFE. 4 1 
 
 the ceaseless round with lash and spur to keep him 
 ever at his utmost speed! God is merciful. He 
 gives a rest. The seventh part of time is consecrated 
 to man's supreme, eternal interests. In meditation, 
 sweet and peaceful, let us spend the hours of the hal- 
 lowed day, going from them to resume toil with the 
 consciousness that we carry with us the smile of God. 
 
 " The spirit of the holy eve 
 
 Comes through the silent air 
 To feeling's hidden spring, and wakes 
 
 A gush of music there. 
 And the far depths of ether beam 
 So passing fair, we almost dream 
 That we can rise and wander thro' 
 Their open paths of trackless blue. 
 
 " Each soul is filled with glorious dreams, 
 
 Each pulse is beating wild, 
 And thought is soaring to the shrine 
 
 Of glory undefiled ! 
 And holy aspirations start, 
 Like blessed angels from the heart, 
 And bind — for earth's dark ties are riven — 
 Our spirits to the gate of Heaven." * 
 
 Then prayer becomes the natural language of de- 
 vout, appreciative feeling. The call to prayer is not 
 the voice of muezzin from some lofty minaret, nor the 
 tones of swinging bell from the church spire, but the 
 prompting of the heart. On bended knee, in silent 
 closet, the child of God pours out his aspirations and 
 
 Y George D. Prentice. 
 
42 SUBURBAN LIFE. 
 
 his love, and invokes a blessing which God only can 
 bestow ; and then in many quiet moments of the day, 
 when the eye is filled with the beauty of the divine 
 workmanship ; at the evening sunset, when the horizon 
 glows as if it had become, indeed, the vestibule of 
 Heaven ; beneath the stars, when the pale light, so 
 soft and soothing, seems almost like the greeting of 
 distant residents of other worlds, prayer discovers its 
 blessedness in brief ejaculations of adoring wonder, 
 in restful communings with the Father of spirits, in 
 earnest entreaties that grace may abound. 
 
 Under influences such as these, the religious life 
 matures with strength and symmetry. God's Word is 
 the Book, and our meditation upon its truths is sweet, 
 while prayer clarifies the spiritual vision to discover 
 new realities in the sacred Word, and promotes a fel- 
 lowship which we have with the Father and with His 
 Son Jesus Christ. 
 
 Our walk to Bethany has suggested a theme which, 
 while unusual, is still pertinent. God has blessed us, 
 my friends, with opportunities of spiritual improve- 
 ment, which we should appreciate and improve. 
 Ours is a Christian suburb. The men who organized 
 this community were wise in making the church cen- 
 tral to its life. We who have come after them have 
 endeavored to be true to their good purpose. Kindly 
 influences prevail. The name of our divine Re- 
 deemer is the magnetism which secures our prosperity 
 
SUBURBAN LIFE. 43 
 
 and happiness. Consider these opportunities. How 
 are yon using them ? " Freely ye have received, 
 freely give," our Saviour said. Do you recognize the 
 obligation ? God desires your service. Are you ren- 
 dering it ? By and by you will leave us and these 
 pleasant surroundings, leave us on that journey from 
 which no traveller returns. What then will you carry 
 with you? What results will you present as the 
 recompense of your favored life? We shall meet 
 at the Day of Judgment, — you to answer for your 
 fidelity, and I to answer for mine. Oh ! brethren 
 and friends, what will be the joy of that great day, 
 if we shall all meet on the right hand, if we shall 
 all hear the " come, ye blessed ! " 
 
III. 
 
 THE DIVINE ESTIMATE OF MAN. 
 
 " Hoiv ■•>:■< :h tr.en is a -::>: :-:tter than .? sheep?"— 
 Matt. xii. 12. 
 
 A GOOD question is an argument in itself. It cov- 
 ers the truth as completely as an elaborate statement 
 
 can. and then sends it 0:1 its mission with the impetus 
 oi a projectile. The great teachers of antiquity made 
 frequent use oi this method of instruction. Solomon 
 among the Hebrews and Socrates among the Greeks 
 were illustrious examples of the power which a wise 
 man may exercise by asking questions. The Rabbin- 
 ical schools of Jerusalem undertook to train their pu- 
 pils in this most delicate art, and as a consequence 
 the streets and market-places of villages and towns 
 throughout Judea and Galilee resounded with the 
 angry disputes which these skilful questions aroused. 
 When Jesus appeared. He entered heartily into the 
 life of His time. There was nothing of the John the 
 Baptist about Him. Where men were accustomed 
 to congregate, there He presented Himself, and the 
 themes which were of pressing interest were the 
 themes which He wished to discuss. His attitude in 
 - 
 
THE DIVINE ESTIMATE OE MAN. 45 
 
 the Temple, when He was only twelve years of age, 
 was prophetic of His entire career ; for He was seated 
 in the midst of the learned doctors, and He was both 
 hearing them and asking them questions. As soon 
 then as it became generally known that He could 
 speak with authority, His instruction was eagerly 
 sought. " The common people heard Him gladly." 
 He met the unuttered desires of their hearts, and en- 
 couraged them to a familiarity, which quickly became 
 expressive. Thus He was able to correct their errone- 
 ous opinions, and to confirm their faith. He was con- 
 siderate, and yet firm. The law of God had been 
 covered by the rubbish of their traditions, and He 
 wished to bring it to light in its simple beauty ; it had 
 been perverted by their false interpretations, and He 
 wished to place it clearly before them as a divine 
 thought. Especially was this the case with reference 
 to the law of the Sabbath — that grand, salutary law, 
 which is essential to the best interests of intelligent 
 beings. Jesus sought to restore the Sabbath to its 
 original position in the divine economy. He endeav- 
 ored to make it spiritually effective, to give it once 
 more to man as the brightest, the most helpful day of 
 the week. In this endeavor, however, He was met 
 by the most intense and bitter opposition. Questions 
 and answers flew thick and fast whenever He touched 
 upon this important subject. 
 
 Upon one occasion in a synagogue of Galilee, He 
 
46 THE DIVINE ESTIMA TE OF MAN. 
 
 met a man with a withered hand. The Sabbath 
 question was then prominent, and His opponents 
 were very anxious to find Him guilty of some gross 
 violation of the law. Pointing to the man, they asked 
 Him, " Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath days?'* His 
 prompt reply was a question which drew their atten- 
 tion to the approved conduct of a shepherd whose 
 sheep had fallen into a pit on the Sabbath. Did he 
 not lay hold on it, asked Jesus, and lift it out ? What 
 else should he do ? What else would the Word of 
 God teach him to do ? Without waiting for a reply, 
 He instantly raised another question, which covered 
 the whole case and was itself an unanswerable argu- 
 ment. " How much then is a man better than a 
 sheep?" 
 
 In this way, Jesus exhibited the divine estimate of 
 man. He directed attention to a shepherd's interest 
 in a sheep. When the exalted character of man's 
 life is considered, it is certainly reasonable to believe 
 that God must regard man with a solicitude as genu- 
 ine as that which a sheep receives from a shepherd. 
 At once, therefore, we are permitted to use the many 
 references of our Lord to the shepherd life of Pales- 
 tine, as we undertake to acquaint ourselves with God's 
 estimate of man. 
 
 ist. Jesus speaks of a sheep as the property of a 
 shepherd, and of man as belonging to God. In the 
 beautiful parable, which John alone has recorded, the 
 
THE DIVINE ESTIMA TE OF MAN. 47 
 
 ownership of the shepherd is particularly emphasized. 
 There may be assistants, or hirelings, who are ap- 
 pointed to protect and to lead the flock, but the shep- 
 herd is the owner. " To him, the porter openeth ; 
 and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth 
 them out. And when he putteth forth his own sheep, 
 he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him ; for 
 they know his voice." What could be more personal ? 
 The sheep knows the shepherd, and the shepherd has 
 a name for the sheep. From the midst of other flocks 
 he can quickly separate his own, as he moves away 
 with a clear, shrill call. Then, in time of danger, he 
 is ready to risk his own life in defence of the sheep. 
 " Thy servant," said David to Saul, " kept his father's 
 sheep, and there came a lion and a bear, and took a 
 lamb out of the flock; and I went out after him, and 
 smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth, and 
 when he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, 
 and smote him, and slew him." " The good shep- 
 herd," Jesus remarked, "giveth His life for the sheep." 
 They are His property. He will not suffer them to 
 be taken from Him. " I lay down my life for the 
 sheep." " My sheep hear my voice, and I know 
 them, and they follow me ; and I give unto them 
 eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall 
 any man pluck them out of my hand." 
 
 Now, it is quite impossible for any one to read 
 that parable without inquiring as to God's persona] 
 
4 8 THE DIVINE ESTIMA TE OF MAN. 
 
 interest. What can it mean, if it does not teach 
 that God regards us individually, and that God claims 
 us as His own ? God is infinitely great and glorious 
 and the affairs of the universe require the constant 
 Vi atchfulness of the Divine intelligence. There is an 
 eye that never sleeps, and an activity that knows no 
 cessation. The providence of God is the hand upon 
 the helm, whose judicious pilotage secures safety and 
 a desirable progress. We are not driven to and fro 
 by the winds of chance, and we are not borne irre- 
 sistibly by the strong currents of fate, because God 
 rules. In His estimate, human interests are very 
 precious. Our earth is small in bulk, the Bethlehem 
 of worlds, indeed, and yet its moral quality, its spirit- 
 ual importance must outweigh the vast size of planets 
 which have upon them no intellectual life. Science 
 confirms revelation in thus elevating a reasonable and 
 responsible being to the position of honor and dig- 
 nity. The relative value of worlds can not be esti- 
 mated by the standards of platform scales. The 
 moral is superior to the intellectual, and the intel- 
 lectual to the material ; and a thought, or an affec- 
 tion, or a noble deed can not be announced in terms 
 of pounds and ounces. This earth of ours is to the 
 universe of God what the plain of Marathon is to 
 the geography of Greece, or the field of Waterloo is 
 to the geography of Europe— the theatre of a deci- 
 sive struggle. Here sin and redemption have met in 
 
 
THE DIVINE ESTIMATE OE MAN. 
 
 49 
 
 mortal combat, — sin organized and ^marshalled by 
 Satan, the Prince of the fallen angels, and redemp- 
 tion under the command of the Son of God. Can God 
 be an indifferent spectator of such a conflict ? Will 
 He leave man to himself, when He " so loved the 
 world that He gave His only begotten Son " ? 
 
 But this general interest on the part of God must 
 be special also, and personal. Indeed, it is hard to con- 
 ceive of a general providence that is not special and 
 personal. The insignificant events play a very im- 
 portant part. God often works with minorities. It 
 was the floating seaweed around his vessel that en- 
 couraged Columbus to pursue his voyage after his 
 comrades had given up all hope of seeing land ; it 
 was a tear upon his mother's cheek that kept Wash- 
 ington out of the British navy and thus gave to our 
 country a splendid patriot ; it was a father's solic- 
 itude for his absent boys that sent Joseph out of 
 the tents of Jacob to visit his brethren, and subse- 
 quently to condition the history of the world. The 
 accuracy of science is very suggestive of the attitude 
 of God. Science insists that regard must be had for 
 every grain of sand, for every drop of water, for every 
 breath of air. Why then should it be thought a thing 
 incredible that God should look upon man as His 
 own, His creature, His child ? The statements of 
 the Bible in this particular are not unreasonable. 
 They meet a response in every penitent, trustful soul. 
 3 
 
50 THE DIVINE ESTIMA TE OF MAN. 
 
 Prayer is encouraged by them. They rebuke anxiety 
 Love is aroused. They stimulate hope. God is great, 
 but never too great to be indifferent to us. He made 
 us for Himself. He loves us, even in our sins. Around 
 us He places the many evidences of His bounty. 
 " Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord 
 pitieth them that fear Him. For He knoweth our 
 frame ; He remembereth that we are dust." More 
 willing is He to bestow the Holy Spirit — His own 
 gracious presence — than earthly parents are to give 
 good gifts unto their children. If we neglect Him, 
 He is grieved, and He esteems our neglect as rob- 
 bery ; if we serve Him, He rejoices, and He visits our 
 fidelity with the choicest recompense. What, then, 
 shall we say of our disregard of God, of our prayer- 
 less years, of our ungrateful conduct? Can we ex- 
 cuse them? Has he who lives without reference to 
 God, whose life is a practical denial of the existence 
 of God, any adequate apology? Think of his attitude ! 
 He belongs to God. God has a right to demand obe- 
 dience of him. Yet he thinks not of this relation, 
 and never once looks up to say, " My Father, I am 
 Thine." Then when profligacy is evident, when this 
 life — God's life — is marred and defiled and brutalized, 
 what a spectacle is presented ! We see the filthy 
 tramp upon the streets, and we wonder if he was 
 ever a clean, sweet babe ; and we see the profligate 
 in his debauchery, and we wonder that God tolerates 
 
THE DIVINE ESTIMA TE OF MAN. 5 1 
 
 his presence on the earth. Oh, the waste of sin ! 
 Oh, the ingratitude of sin ! Oh, the injustice that 
 God receives through sin ! Let these sad realities 
 not be named among us, my friends, for God has 
 called us unto holiness. In His presence, life dis- 
 covers its true significance. " If they obey Him and 
 serve Him, they shall spend their days in prosperity 
 and their years in pleasures." God dealeth with us as 
 with sons. He desires our love. He welcomes our 
 fidelity. " Godliness is profitable unto all things, 
 having promise of the life that now is, and of that 
 which is to come." In this direction you can not 
 mistake. A recognition of God's ownership will brace 
 every energy and guide every purpose. The finest 
 product of our humanity is the spirituality which is 
 responsive to the direct, personal appeal of God. 
 Enoch walked with God until his refinement became 
 ethereal ; and the sturdy Elijah was borne by the 
 momentum of his devoted life to the rapt vision and 
 the triumphal ascent. Paul enriched his immortal 
 nature with the rarest gems of truth, as he submitted 
 himself completely to the evident control of God ; 
 and John diffused a heavenly radiance among the 
 churches, as he sat in the evening twilight of the 
 first century, with God's blessing on his holy life. 
 We can suggest nothing better. Life is precious. 
 You may despise it, but God does not. Let us seek 
 to share His estimate respecting ourselves, and also 
 respecting one another and all mankind. 
 
52 THE DIVINE ESTIMATE OF MAN. 
 
 2d. In His teaching, Jesus exhibits a shepherd's 
 interest in a wandering sheep, and God's solicitude 
 over a lost sinner. The shepherd is represented as 
 leaving the ninety and nine in the wilderness, in order 
 that he may go after the one lost sheep. The sheep 
 is in danger. It will not do for the shepherd to be 
 indifferent. He must gird himself for the toilsome 
 search, and then he must patiently endure the ex- 
 posure and the weariness. Over the mountains, 
 along the banks of streams, through the forests, into 
 the swamps, his way may lie, while every hour in- 
 creases the necessity of his finding the defenceless 
 creature. For among t ne animals which receive 
 man's care, none are so dependent as sheep. When 
 they go astray, they wander aimlessly. Unable to 
 rest, dissatisfied with the richest pasture, in their 
 loneliness, they are torn by briers, wounded by the 
 sharp rocks, and frequently devoured by wild beasts. 
 Their shepherd's interest is their only hope. Because 
 he values them, he does not fail to seek for the lost. 
 
 What a picture is this, my friends, of the folly and 
 misery of sin, and the graciousness of God ! Sin is 
 folly and also misery. The sinner can give no good 
 reason for departing from God, and he finds that he 
 is unable alone to make his way back to God. " In 
 the common things of our daily experience," remarks 
 Archbishop Trench,* " a sheep which could wander 
 
 * " Parables," p. 304. 
 
THE DI VINE ES TIM A TE OF MAN, 5 3 
 
 away from, could also wander back to, the fold. But 
 it is not so with the sheep of God's pasture : this 
 could lose, but it could not find itself again ; there is in 
 sin a centrifugal tendency, and of necessity the wan- 
 derings of this sheep could only be further and fur- 
 ther away. Therefore, if it shall be found at all, it 
 shall only be by its shepherd going to seek it ; with- 
 out this, being once lost, it must be lost forever." 
 Clearly did God recognize the condition of a sinner 
 when He planned redemption. Redemption, it should 
 be remembered, is God's thought. In this matter 
 God takes the first step. The Gospel is not man 
 seeking God, but God seeking man. Other religions 
 begin with man's endeavors to find God, while the 
 Gospel alone announces the original purpose of God 
 to save. This is an interesting feature, and one that 
 is suggestive of divinity. For how else can this re- 
 markable fact be explained? The entire religious 
 system of the world is reversed by the revelation of 
 the Bible. In direct antagonism to every known 
 form of faith, which looks eagerly upward from earth 
 to Heaven, the revelation of the Bible looks down- 
 ward from Heaven to earth. " Herein is love, not that 
 we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His 
 Son to be the propitiation for our sins." 
 
 But why did God send His Son, and what did the 
 sending involve ? I reply that He sent His Son be- 
 cause God appreciated the inherent excellence of hu- 
 
54 THE DIVINE ESTIMATE OF MAN. 
 
 man life; and the sending involved the humiliation 
 and suffering of Bethlehem and Calvary. For a vile 
 or a worthless object, there would have been no 
 such divine consideration. Intelligence never ex- 
 pends the choicest resources on a trivial or useless 
 mission. When a complete relief is organized, there 
 is evidence of appreciation. What then of the divine 
 estimate of man, as it is set forth in the person and 
 work of the Son of God ? Can we fail to understand 
 it ? Is it possible that we should be indifferent to 
 God's regard when we visit the manger and stand be- 
 side the cross ? A man may think very little of him- 
 self and of human nature, but in the presence of this 
 holy Saviour he dares not utter his complaints, or 
 express his contemptuous feelings. Human nature 
 is precious in the sight of God, otherwise the Eternal 
 Son would never have prepared Himself by the In- 
 carnation, to accomplish our redemption. 
 
 This preparation brought Him from His throne of 
 universal dominion to the low estate of infancy. " He 
 took upon Him the form of a servant." The feeble- 
 ness and dependence of a little child were His ; and 
 as He grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with 
 God and man, He was always subjected to the limi- 
 tations of the flesh. " He made Himself of no repu- 
 tation." His accepted position was one of decent 
 poverty. He was not a beggar; and yet He had not 
 where to lay His head. But His position did not dis« 
 
THE DIVINE ESTIMATE OF MAN. 
 
 55 
 
 turb Him. The most exalted position of earthly 
 grandeur would have been nothing to Him, whose 
 proper empire is the vast universe. He was with the 
 poor, because most men are poor, and because spirit- 
 ual influences usually reach the rich from the poor. 
 The poor of this world have their riches in faith. He 
 wished to reach man as man, and not man in the 
 purple, or man with the sword. As He went from 
 place to place the magnetism of sympathy drew 
 around Him publicans and harlots, the forlorn and 
 the neglected, the outcasts and the degraded. It was 
 openly said in contempt : " This man receiveth sin- 
 ners, and eateth with them." He had the divine fac- 
 ulty of looking into the depths of the human heart. 
 Hypocrisy turned from Him with downcast counte- 
 nance, while penitence approached with hope and 
 courage. From His lips came the command, which 
 His disciples obey when they undertake to preach 
 the Gospel to every creature. He abolished racial 
 distinctions in the higher unity which love enjoins. 
 The freeman and the slave were alike to Him, in- 
 asmuch as He cared principally for the manhood 
 of each. 
 
 Then as His teaching became prophetic of His 
 death, He entered speedily into the shadow of the 
 cross. There the gloom increased until the noonday 
 midnight of Calvary was reached, and His expiring 
 groans were heard. For the sake of lost man, in or« 
 
5 6 THE DI VINE ES TIM A TE OF MAN. 
 
 der that He might secure his redemption, our blessed 
 Saviour met death and yielded to its power. It was 
 necessary that the penalty of sin should be borne. 
 To bear it himself the sinner must suffer death. If 
 another may bear it for him, he may be pardoned and 
 saved. In His own body on the tree, Jesus Christ 
 bore our sins. Love prompted His sacrifice. His 
 regard for man made Him willing to give Himself a 
 ransom. Thus He expressed the divine estimate of 
 sin, and at the same time the divine estimate of our 
 humanity; for a sacrifice of priceless value would 
 only have been made on behalf of very precious lives. 
 From this consciousness we may take unspeakable 
 comfort. The cross is the measure of the world. 
 When we weary, as we sometimes do, of the strife 
 and the confusion, of the bitterness and the jealousy, 
 of the shame and the loathsomeness of human nature, 
 we do well to contemplate the cross. The Son of 
 God knew all this, and yet He gave Himself ; He ap- 
 preciated the evil, and yet He placed Himself in the 
 midst of it. Let us be patient. The water-lily raises 
 its pure white petals above the slimy waters of the 
 muddy pond. A saint is a redeemed sinner, nothing 
 else. From the defilement of earth the population 
 of heaven is constantly recruited. When the Son of 
 God gives Himself to redeem a man, let us not think 
 that man to be beneath our notice, or unworthy of 
 our Christian sympathy ! 
 
THE DIVINE ESTIMA TE OF MAN. 5; 
 
 3d. Jesus emphasizes the tenderness of God's love 
 for a man, when He describes the conduct of a shep 
 herd who has found a sheep. We lose much, if our 
 eyes fail to rest upon the words, "When he hath 
 found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing." 
 There are no reproaches, no punishments, no attempts 
 to drag the wandering sheep back to the fold. The 
 search has been successful. The silly, miserable crea- 
 ture has ceased running, and has waited for the shep- 
 herd to approach. Now at last he is near. With a 
 gentle, soothing voice he calls the sheep by name ; 
 and most lovingly he extends his strong hands to 
 disengage it from the thorns. Gently he takes it in 
 his arms, and knowing well that it is very tired, he 
 carries it on his shoulders. Oh, the wonders of re- 
 deeming love! Oh, the sweetness of the Holy Spir- 
 it's influence ! Have you ever known it ? Have 
 you ever struggled with sin, or suffered yourself to 
 be led away by sin, until you were almost in despair? 
 Then have you heard the Saviour's invitation, " Come 
 and I will give you rest"? Have you wondered if 
 you could be accepted, just as you are? Have you 
 supposed that you must make yourself better before 
 God would receive you ? Have you feared the re 
 proaches and chidings which you knew that you de 
 served? Then in looking up penitently have you 
 ever experienced the peace of God which passeth all 
 understanding? Have you carried in your heart a 
 3* 
 
58 THE DIVINE ESTIMATE OF MAN. 
 
 calm, restful satisfaction, which has surprised you ? 
 Oh, friend, it has been the grace of God, whose ten- 
 der regard you have thus enjoyed. His ways are not 
 our ways. So rash are we, so unforgiving, so cruel, 
 so vindictive, that we can hardly believe in the reality 
 of His grace. Yet the Bible, you know, tells us about 
 the everlasting arms and about the shadow of the 
 wings. We may think now and here on this pleasant 
 spring morning that such things are not for us, that 
 they are too sentimental. But let me remind you 
 that the spring mornings do not last all the year. 
 We shall become conscious of our need of God. The 
 future will have its imperative demands. Will it not 
 be a comfort then to know that God, by the activity 
 of the Holy Spirit, will be to us just what a shep- 
 herd is to a sheep, when " he layeth it on his shoul- 
 ders, rejoicing " ? Poor, weary soul, there is no more 
 opportunity for wandering! Weak and exhausted, 
 there is nothing left but to rest, just as God has 
 asked us to, on His holy promises, without anxiety, 
 without fear, without any endeavor after an expe- 
 rience, without much thought, indeed ! 
 
 " Sweet in the confidence of faith 
 To trust His firm decrees ; 
 Sweet to lie passive in His hands, 
 And know no will but His." 
 
 4th. The joy and glory of man's recovery by God 
 appear in what Jesus says of the unity of the flock 
 
THE DIVINE ESTIMATE OF MAN. 59 
 
 and the safety of the many folds. We must thank 
 the revisers of the New Testament for correcting one 
 reading at least, which has apparently sanctioned the 
 grave mistakes of Christendom. They have made 
 public the proper translation of the words concerning 
 the many folds and the one flock. " And other sheep 
 I have which are not of this fold : them also I must 
 bring, and they shall hear my voice ; and they shall 
 become one flock, one shepherd." Unity with di- 
 versity ; one spirit and many forms, or expressions. 
 Oh ! that Christendom might learn this essential les- 
 son of catholicity, and that we might cease to hear 
 about the one, the only fold! There is a tradi- 
 tion among the Germans, which Uhland, their lyric 
 poet, has embalmed in verse, to preserve the con- 
 ception of a lost church. Somewhere in the depths 
 of the forest there is a church, the way to which 
 has been lost. The traveller, even in the night, 
 often hears the sweet sounds of its chimes, and he 
 says, " There are the winds, playing upon the bells of 
 the lost church." Occasionally a favored mortal has 
 found his way to its shrine, and has there witnessed 
 the simplicity of a pure worship and the fellowship 
 of a holy love. But no one has ever been able to re- 
 trace such steps, and to lead others to that sacred 
 place. Multitudes sigh over and after the lost church, 
 and the restoration of the time when, as Ambrose 
 finely says : " The cross stood like the mast of a 
 
60 THE DIVINE ESTIMA TE OF MAN. 
 
 ship, to which men might cling in the wreck of the 
 world." 
 
 " In human speech I could not tell 
 
 All that I saw in that blest shrine. 
 The chastened twilight suited well 
 
 With sculptured forms of maids divine, 
 The martyred saints of God, and soon 
 
 There shone a flush of glowing light 
 That brought a fresher life, like noon, 
 
 And brighter worlds appeared to sight." 
 
 Do we not discover a very high appreciation of the 
 possibilities of a redeemed humanity, when we listen 
 to our Saviour's intercessory prayer ? That prayer is 
 a prophecy. When He, the divine Lord, prayed for 
 His disciples that "they all may be one, as Thou, 
 Father, art in me, and I in Thee, that they also may 
 be one in us," He understood Himself. He was asking 
 for a consummation which grace is able to realize. We 
 may be one. Love may unite us. Swords may be 
 beaten into ploughshares and spears into pruning- 
 hooks. Humanity, through redemption, is capable 
 of this heavenly fellowship. It is to be known. The 
 earth is to acknowledge it. The angels are to rejoice 
 over it. The Saviour is to see of the travail of His 
 soul and to be satisfied. Not the unity of compul- 
 sion, not the unity of death, but the strong, enduring, 
 intelligent, cordial unity of love. "And this com- 
 mandment have we from Him, that he who loveth 
 God love his brother also." 
 
THE DIVINE ESTIMA TE OF MAN. 6l 
 
 Meanwhile, and in preparation for that delightful 
 consummation, He leadeth me beside the still waters, 
 and He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. 
 His grace, and that alone, quickens my spirituality 
 to such a degree that the lofty themes of inspiration 
 are my delight, that communion with God is possible, 
 that holiness becomes a clear and definite ambition. 
 Facing now toward God, with sin forgiven, with the 
 spirit renewed and in part sanctified, with every right 
 impulse to direct and stimulate, with endless ages as 
 the vista of the Christian life, what must be before us, 
 of what are we capable, unto what shall we attain? 
 In glowing terms, a gifted writer* of our day and 
 land has recorded his convictions and hopes in a pas- 
 sage of rare beauty : " It seems to me to glorify life, 
 it seems to me to banish the shadow of gloom from 
 death, to feel that that majestic figure — of Brother, 
 Teacher, Friend, Redeemer — which towers supremely 
 over the centuries, which made the earth sublime by 
 its advent, which seemed in ascending to unite it to 
 the heavens, has equal place in worlds to come ! that 
 we may trust His imperative word ; that we may 
 serve His kingly cause; that we may see the illu- 
 mined universe for us as for Him a house of Victory 
 and Peace ! that we may stand, bye and bye, with 
 Him amid the light as yet unreached, and say, each 
 
 * Storrs, "Divine Origin of Christianity," p. 357. 
 
62 THE DIVINE ESTIMA TE OF MAN. 
 
 one : ' I believed in Thy religion ; I saw its triumphs 
 in the earth ; I felt its power in my heart ; I rose to 
 God in love upon it ; I foreknew by it, what I now 
 find, Eternal Life.' " 
 
 Oh ! brethren, when I think of these possibilities, 
 when I realize somewhat the surpassing opportunities 
 of grace, when I know that you and I and all men are 
 called of God to accept this splendid inheritance, I 
 wonder at my dulness, my apathy, my disregard of 
 others and their welfare, and I long to give myself and 
 them entirely to God, that we may respond to the so- 
 licitations of His love. Not to humiliate us : No ! but 
 to honor us ; not to abase us : No ! but to glorify us ; 
 not to strip us to our shame : No ! but to crown us 
 with immortal beauty. This is God's purpose. He 
 knows that we can respond. He is not addressing 
 the rocks, nor the cedars, nor the pines, nor the king 
 of beasts, nor the gentle lambs ; but He is speaking to 
 men, whom He has created in His own image and 
 after His own likeness, and whom He has redeemed 
 with the precious blood of the beloved Son ; to men, 
 whom He is prepared to rescue, and then to welcome 
 to an experience of perfect joy. Alas, alas, that men 
 reject God's mercy, and seek the way of death, when 
 life, eternal life, is open to them! Let it not be so 
 with us. But cheerfully recognizing this divine esti- 
 mate of man, let us aim to secure " the stature of the 
 fulness of Christ." 
 
IV. 
 
 THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 " Seest thou a man diligent in his business ? ht 
 shall stand before kings ; he shall not stand 
 before mean men." — Prov. xxii. 29. 
 
 The Proverb addresses every one who is engaged 
 in business. Business is employment. The employ- 
 ment may be more or less important without passing 
 beyond the reach of the Proverb. Anything that de- 
 mands attention comes within the scope of Solomon's 
 maxim. He has coined the experience of a careful 
 observer. Life in Jerusalem has exhibited the many 
 occupations which engage the residents of a city ; and 
 the adjacent country has presented every variety of 
 rural interest. The successes and failures of mer- 
 chants and statesmen, of farmers and shepherds, of 
 mechanics and soldiers, have announced themselves 
 to him. His estimate has a broad application. As a 
 king, he has frequently commended the diligence 
 which has elevated a subject to a position of promi- 
 nence and influence. 
 
 The thought of Solomon, however, does not turn 
 principally to the material ends of business. Business 
 
 (63) 
 
64 THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 has reference to such ends ; and with many persons 
 those are the only ends of business. Business, as they 
 regard it, is for the sake of money. When money is 
 realized, business prosperity is evident ; and when 
 money is not realized, business is a disappointment. 
 But it should be remembered that a large share of the 
 business of life can have nothing whatever to do 
 with money. There are countless services which are 
 performed without any idea of money. Duty or 
 love must explain them. Yet they are business, and 
 business of a most exalted character. With these 
 services the sagacious king is well acquainted. He 
 knows that they possess a moral value, and that dili- 
 gence in them leaves a permanent impression. It is 
 to this impression, as it shapes and adorns the soul, 
 that he directs his Proverb. The "man diligent in 
 his business " secures his manhood. His employment 
 becomes his discipline. Out from his business he 
 brings a generous spirituality. He is unlike the fool 
 of the New Testament Parable, whose entire wealth 
 was stored in barns and granaries, because he resem- 
 bles Simon Peter, who could say to the cripple at the 
 gate of the Temple : " Silver and gold have I none ; 
 but such as I have, give I thee," or Paul the Apostle, 
 who could write, " As having nothing, and yet pos- 
 sessing all things." He is " rich toward God," even if 
 he must be counted among the "poor of this world." 
 The moral ends of business are the returns, which no 
 
THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 6$ 
 
 bankruptcy can threaten, no thief can steal, no fire 
 can destroy. They are safe. As solid bullion, they 
 are transported to the New Jerusalem, where they 
 will enhance the joys of eternal life. In the presence 
 of the King of kings, the diligent man may hope tc 
 stand, as the greeting is heard : " Well done, thou 
 good and faithful servant, thou hast been faithful 
 over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many 
 things." 
 
 We should have no difficulty, my friends, in rising 
 to the grand estimate of the Hebrew king. We are 
 engaged in business. With many different employments' 
 our time is filled. There must be an end or purpose 
 which holds us. We should not engage in business 
 simply for the sake of engaging in business. Business 
 is a means to an end, rather than an end. What 
 then is its end ? Is it material or moral ? Are we 
 absorbed in pursuits whose returns can all be ex- 
 hibited on a balance-sheet, or have we learned to 
 prize the returns which are moral ? I fear that to 
 some of us the suggestion may seem novel, if not ab- 
 surd, that the moral ends of business are of principal 
 importance. The suggestion crosses the lines of our 
 familiar thoughts. We are not accustomed to it. 
 Yet after all, is it not a wise and true suggestion ? 
 Has not God given us the business of life in order 
 that we may secure therefrom a training which will 
 develop holy characters ? If this is His design, should 
 
66 THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 we not undertake our business in obedience to the 
 command : " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do 
 it with thy might " ? For " a man diligent in his busi- 
 ness " should become possessed of a large amount of 
 spiritual wealth. 
 
 As we consider this very practical subject, we 
 should remember that, 1st, A diligent man is per- 
 mitted to believe that an honorable business is a divine 
 calling. We have adopted an unfortunate usage 
 which leads us to designate one particular business, 
 that of the minister of religion, as a sacred profession 
 or calling. This usage is certainly good, if it does 
 not lead to a discrimination against other employ- 
 ments. But that is just what it does, and conse- 
 quently it is evil. There are hundreds of worthy 
 men and women who are pursuing the quiet life of 
 the farm, the shop, the counting-room, or the house- 
 hold without any conception that theirs is a divine 
 calling. They believe that the minister of religion 
 has been called to a sacred work, but they can not dis- 
 cover the sacredness of their work. Yet their work 
 is sacred, and their calling is a divine calling, just as 
 truly as his is. Many pages of the world's history 
 must be turned before the special institution of an 
 order of religious teachers is met. When God 
 created man, however, He placed him in the Garden 
 of Eden to dress it and to keep it, and thus He called 
 him to be a farmer ; and when He ordained that fee- 
 
THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 67 
 
 ble infancy should make an appeal to parental 
 strength and love, He sanctified the duties of the 
 household ; when He chose out of all the numerous 
 inhabitants of the earth the father of the faithful, He 
 sent him from Ur of the Chaldees upon journeys 
 which compelled him to traffic with the Egyptians 
 and Canaanites, and thus Abraham became a mer- 
 chant; and when He gave His Son to the humble 
 life of Nazareth, Jesus became for many years the 
 village carpenter. Perhaps we may have overlooked 
 the significance of the divine appointments. Busi- 
 ness is God's ordination. The apostles of the early 
 church were men of business. Paul did not hesitate 
 to hold up his callous hands before the elders of 
 Ephesus, and to remind them that " these hands have 
 ministered unto my necessities and to them that were 
 with me." He it was who sent to Corinth the sharp 
 command : " Let every man abide in the same calling 
 wherein he was called." The converted slaves were 
 restless. They imagined that new opportunities of 
 usefulness would be found in new spheres of work. 
 Paul checked them, and urged diligence in the par- 
 ticular calling which was then theirs. Thus it came 
 to pass that the diligence of Christian slaves ccm- 
 mended the Gospel to heathen masters, until the 
 splendid palaces of the Roman Empire became the 
 homes of our Lord's disciples. 
 
 It is not by accident that " man goeth forth unto 
 
6$ THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 his work, and to his labor, until the evening." " Ver} 
 plainly,' remarks an English writer,* " God has put 
 
 us into such a universe that He only can shape us 
 by — destiny only spins its purpose out of us by — 
 work. Perhaps we should translate the word in wider 
 or narrower senses ; indeed, all that reduces us to ex- 
 perience, all that stirs within us the sense of knowl- 
 edge, partakes of the nature of work. Every toil may 
 be the platform for a higher toil ; and all toils point 
 to the consummation and perfection of the worker, 
 the invisible, but living, personal soul." We should 
 not, therefore, fret and worry because we are in a 
 humble place. God has appointed the place, in which 
 He looks for our diligence. 
 
 "' God doth not need 
 Either man's work or his own gifts ; who best 
 Bear His mild yoke, they serve Him best ; His state 
 Is kingly ; thousands at His bidding speed, 
 And post o'er land and ocean without rest ; 
 They also serve who only stand, and wait." 
 
 Who does not need the bracing influence of this 
 conviction ? The minister of religion feels it in his 
 business, and so should every one of us. The business 
 of life is a divine calling. God recognizes it. By His 
 providence He leads the individual into it. There 
 He expects that there will be a recognition of the 
 moral ends, which are readv to exert a controlling in- 
 
 * Paxton Hood, " Dark Sayings on a Harp," p. 72. 
 
THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 69 
 
 fluence. Thus endeavor secures point and definite 
 ness, and activity finds guidance and comfort, and 
 aspiration looks up to God with cheerful hope. The 
 estimate of life is completely altered. We hush our 
 complaints. We gird our energies. We determine 
 to do our best at all times, because we are laborers 
 together with God. " Not with eye-service, as men- 
 pleasers, but as the servants of Christ, doing the will 
 of God from the heart. With good will doing service 
 as to the Lord and not to men. Knowing that what- 
 soever good thing any man doeth, the same shall he 
 receive of the Lord, whether he be bond or free." 
 
 2d. " A man diligent in his business" is in a posi- 
 tion to appreciate the traits of character which God 
 approves. This appreciation will come to him as he 
 observes his own life and the lives of others. The 
 contact of life with life in business ; the demands 
 which are made upon the moral qualities of the soul ; 
 the approvals and the condemnations which are evi- 
 dent — these are all instructive. The proper study of 
 man is man ; and man can be studied most critically 
 when he is in the activity of business. Then he dis- 
 covers himself, and by a prolonged course of life he 
 manifests the characteristics which God commends or 
 rebukes. These characteristics appear now in the 
 concrete rather than in the abstract, as illustrations 
 rather than as statements. The abstract truths, the 
 plain statements are to be found in the Word of God, 
 
JO THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 while their correspondences, the examples, are pres- 
 ent in the life of business. Gradually the diligent 
 man becomes possessed of the conviction that God is 
 right in announcing the traits of character which He 
 has presented for our acceptance. The lessons of 
 business are confirmatory of the divine counsels and 
 commands. 
 
 There is a very plain statement in the Bible of the 
 power of love. In his masterly discussion of the 
 principles of government, the Apostle reaches the 
 conclusion that "love is the fulfilling of the law." 
 He makes bold to say this when Nero is Emperor and 
 his deputies are governors. He proposes to antago- 
 nize their wickedness with the power of love. They 
 have all the machinery of government under their 
 control. They are in command of a magnificent 
 army. They worship, if such men can be said to 
 worship, power. Yet Paul is prepared to meet them 
 with love. He is ready to match love against power. 
 Is he wise ? Has he been carried away by his enthu- 
 siasm ? The diligent man can answer. His experi- 
 ence has acquainted him with the influential elements 
 of character. He has learned to give an appropriate 
 estimate to the man who threatens and storms and 
 blasphemes, as well as to the man who considers right 
 and justice, and who seeks the welfare of his fellow- 
 men. He knows that the thunder makes the noise, 
 while the lightning hurls the shaft. He has not for- 
 
THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 71 
 
 gotten John the Baptist and Herod, nor our Lord 
 and Pilate. Love has opened to his scrutiny in order 
 that he may become acquainted with its precious 
 contents. These contents include every moral duty. 
 All personal, social, and religious interests are here. 
 For surely that is a comprehensive statement which 
 says that " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with 
 all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy 
 mind," and " Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself." 
 Selfishness ultimately digs its own grave. Duplicity 
 ultimately smites the deceitful man with the recoil of 
 the boomerang. Adoni-bezek was taught by his con- 
 tact with business that retribution is the shadow of 
 cruelty ; while Mephibosheth was protected by David 
 because he was Jonathan's son. Without love there 
 can be no desirable progress, no uplifting of the weak, 
 no defence of the poor, no consideration of age or 
 sex. Where might makes right, there barbarism 
 hovers about the door. The kingdom of Dahomey 
 has long enjoyed the unenviable notoriety of being 
 destitute of love ; and in that kingdom property and 
 life are both at the mercy of a despotic tyrant. Love 
 would rebuke his despotism, would arrest his bloody 
 hand, would give him a new heart, would transform 
 his kingdom. Love is wisdom as well as mercy ; 
 love is strength as well as grace ; love is duty and 
 also privilege. " We then that are strong ought to 
 bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please our- 
 
72 THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 selves. Let every one of us please his neighbor foi 
 his good to edification." " What do you think fools 
 were made for?" Ruskin once asked. Then without 
 waiting for an answer, he said : " They were made 
 that wise people may take care of them. That is the 
 true and plain fact concerning the relations of every 
 strong and wise man to the world about him. He 
 has his strength given to him, not that he may crush the 
 weak, but that he may support and guide them. In 
 his own household he is to be the guide and the sup- 
 port of his children ; out of his household, he is still 
 to be the father, that is, the guide and support of the 
 weak and the poor ; not merely of the meritoriously 
 weak and of the innocently poor, but of the guiltily 
 and punishably poor ; of the men who ought to have 
 known better, of the poor who ought to be ashamed 
 of themselves." There were certain well-dressed and 
 comfortably circumstanced Jews who looked into the 
 face of the half-crazed Judas as he threw the price of 
 his iniquity upon the pavement at their feet, saying, 
 with a sneer, " What is that to us ? See thou to 
 that " : and then there was a converted Pharisee 
 who wrote in the catholic spirit of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ : "As we have therefore opportunity let us do 
 good unto all men "; there was the cultured Gallio, 
 who dismissed the appeal of justice because he did 
 not care to trouble himself with vexatious questions : 
 and then there was an apostle who wrote that " pure re- 
 
THE MORAL ENDS OE BUSINESS. 73 
 
 ligion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, 
 to visit the fatherless and widows in their afflictions, 
 and to keep himself unspotted from the world." The 
 law of love is the law of considerateness, the law of 
 political economy, the law of prudence, the law of 
 common sense. 
 
 We may reverse the picture, and thus discover 
 renewed evidence of the moral value of business. It 
 is not difficult to imagine a household, a community, 
 a State, in which the traits of character which God 
 approves are all disregarded : we can readily believe 
 that some men look at trade as the business of cun- 
 ning and greed rather than of honesty and liberality ; 
 we can recognize the temporary success which waits 
 upon the most corrupt endeavors. These are the 
 dazzling pictures of worldly life, whose high colors 
 attract undue attention. The Psalmist met them in 
 his day, and he was perplexed as he undertook to 
 explain them until he went into the sanctuary of 
 God ; then understood he their end. We are often 
 saddened by the prosperity of the wicked. It tries a 
 good man's faith to see that wealth pours into the 
 coffers of one who is violating every law of God, 
 while his own arduous labors barely yield him his 
 daily bread. Yet the good man after all is not un- 
 blessed. The moral ends of business are his. But 
 for fidelity and industry like his, society would dis 
 integrate and trade would be an impossibility. For 
 4 
 
r4 THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 how can society maintain its order if every man's 
 hand is against his brother, and how can trade flour- 
 ish if there is no confidence in character? Men of 
 the world have their portion in this life — a fair por- 
 tion, an attractive portion — and yet their portion 
 leaves them destitute at last, when they enter upon 
 the life whose years are endless. " Be not deceived ; 
 God is not mocked ; for whatsoever a man soweth, 
 that shall he also reap." 
 
 With that memorable word of the Lord, through 
 Micah, upon our lips, "to do justly, and to love 
 mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God," we 
 might safely address our fellow-men in every depart- 
 ment of business. The universal response would be 
 a commendation of the inspired statement. Be just, 
 be merciful, and be humble before God. What more 
 can be desired ? Do not those traits of character 
 promise the most complete prosperity ? Justice be- 
 fore mercy, and yet justice tempered by mercy ; per- 
 fect integrity in speech and conduct, and an integrity 
 which is thoughtful and compassionate. Justice and 
 mercy exercised always with respect for the perfect 
 attributes of the infinite God. An absence of pride. 
 The contrition which God loves. Suffer those traits 
 to become prevalent, and what may you not expect ? 
 What household life will then be known ! What a 
 pure Christian socialism will be witnessed ! What a 
 splendid conception of the possibilities of trade will 
 
THE MORAL ENDS OE BUSINESS. 75 
 
 obtain among men ! For these are the traits of char- 
 acter which can meet the earnest, anxious appeal of 
 the world's restlessness, and which can establish the 
 world's business upon the solid foundations of truth, 
 equity, and love. 
 
 3d. A diligent man may find that the opportu- 
 nities of business are favorable to the development 
 of the Christian virtues and graces. One of Krum- 
 macher's Parables describes a visit of a Cherub, after 
 Adam had tilled the ground and made himself a 
 garden full of plants and trees. The Cherub came 
 without his flaming sword, and his countenance was 
 benignant and kind. " Behold," he said, " no more 
 do fruits grow of themselves for you ; you must labor 
 to eat bread in the sweat of your brow. But after 
 the labor, you rejoice in the fruit acquired by your 
 toil, and the full corn-ears are pleasant to your eyes. 
 The merciful Jehovah has given you the means of 
 creating for yourselves an Eden." 
 
 " His goodness is great even when He chasteneth," 
 replied Adam. " We will labor willingly in the sweat 
 of our brows. But formerly Jehovah was nearer to 
 us, and blessed us, and lifted up the light of His 
 countenance on us. What have we to atone for 
 this?" 
 
 " Prayer," answered the Cherub. " Toil is the 
 earthly ; prayer is the heavenly gift of Jehovah." 
 
 " Then Adam lifted up his face, and gave thanks, 
 
;o THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 and prayed, and confessed that the Lord is gracious.' 
 The Parable covers the whole truth. Toil and prayer, 
 business and devotion ; these are two blessed priv- 
 ileges, which God in mercy has conferred upon oui 
 race. " Not slothful in business ; fervent in spirit ; 
 serving the Lord." 
 
 The favorable opportunities of which we speak, are 
 those which call for self-restraint, those which call for 
 consideration, and those which call for a generous 
 beneficence. In the activity of business contact, dil- 
 igence discovers many admirable means of grace. 
 These we must improve, with a cordial recognition of 
 their divine purpose. 
 
 a. First of all, there are many opportunities of self- 
 restraint. The fretting, little cares must be met calmly 
 and patiently ; the ordinary temptations must be re- 
 sisted ; the disappointments must not be allowed to 
 produce despair ; the afflictions must witness resigna- 
 tion. Self-discipline is a necessity, which is only pos- 
 sible in connection with life's business. In the retire- 
 ment of his own chamber a man may imagine that 
 he has completely subdued himself, while a brief ex- 
 perience in the world will probably convince him that 
 he has still many very active remainders of corruption. 
 The mistake of monasticism has deluded many an 
 earnest soul into the belief that a ieligious life may 
 be advantageously cultivated within the retirement 
 of a cell. But such was not our Saviour's conception 
 
THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 7; 
 
 when He prayed earnestly that His disciples might 
 be kept from the evils of the world without being 
 taken out of the world. We need just this discipline, 
 my brethren, and we should be quick to appreciate 
 it. What is a gilded toy of some land-locked harbor, 
 with its smooth lines and well-trimmed yards, as com- 
 pared with the weather-beaten merchantman which 
 has sailed on every sea ! Moral heroism is realized in 
 conflict. It is easy, very easy, to love the lovely and 
 to do good to the amiable ; but it is hard, very hard, 
 to love your enemies, to do good to those who hate 
 you. The cheek may readily be turned for the sec 
 ond kiss of a friend, but the man who will offer his 
 cheek for a second blow is a man of magnificent self- 
 control. What spectacle is there that is more truly 
 divine than power under restraint. Yet, alas, we too 
 seldom witness that spectacle. Our impatience, our 
 fretfulness, our complaints — these are the blemishes 
 on the robe of many a saint. I have somewhere 
 read that Mr. Pitt once gave to a manager of the 
 Bank of England the advice not to lose his temper, 
 if possible, at any time, and never during the hours of 
 business. The illustrious statesman himself was an 
 excellent example of his own advice. His patience 
 seemed inexhaustible. The advice is timely. We may 
 all accept it with profit to ourselves and others. What- 
 ever our station or our work may be, we may find op« 
 portunity for the exercise of patience or self-restraint. 
 
r S THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 b. There are opportunities, not a few, which call fol 
 consideration. It is written : " Blessed is he that con- 
 sidereth the poor." " The poor always ye have with 
 you." There are many kinds of poverty. The prob- 
 lem of distress is complex. What can we do ? How 
 shall relief be brought? The ordinary business of 
 each day is an introduction to the problem. Who 
 are so well acquainted with the requirements of child- 
 life as the women who nurture and train these little 
 ones? Who know the condition of the degraded 
 classes as well as the men and women who go among 
 them with counsel and encouragement? Who can 
 appreciate sorrow if he has never had a grief? We 
 must not be distant. The intimacy of life is too real. 
 " Whether one member suffer, all the members suffer 
 with it." We must consider one another in order 
 that we may benefit the entire race. The day of Chi- 
 nese walls and sealed ports and feudal castles has 
 passed. A more open day has dawned. Practical 
 Christianity is abroad in search of the needy. Like 
 the brave monks of St. Bernard, who keep watch 
 upon their snowy mountain for any traveller who 
 maybe dying from cold and hunger, Christian philan- 
 thropy is seeking to " rescue the perishing and care 
 for the dying." Its consideration is already manifest- 
 ing most blessed results, and is also offering most 
 encouraging promises. The problems are not de- 
 spised. With devout consecration the best intelli 
 
THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 79 
 
 gence and effort are given to these interests of moral- 
 ity and social order. We are rapidly making history, 
 and history, too, of a most encouraging character. 
 The future may be safely left to Christianity, if only 
 the Holy Spirit will quicken Christians in order that 
 we may meet the call of Christ. 
 
 And can any one imagine that such consideration 
 will leave no impress on character? How is it with 
 the Christians, who are most ready to bear one an- 
 other's burdens? How is it with those who imitate 
 the Master in going about and doing good ? Surely, 
 they have their reward. The culture of the virtues 
 and graces proceeds under the most favorable aus- 
 pices. The devoted servants of Christ are Christ- 
 like in speech and conduct. To one such from our 
 own community — a modest woman* — the welcome of 
 our Lord has just been spoken. With a heart full of 
 tenderness, she gave her life to the poor, neglected 
 girls of the city, whose interests she espoused, and 
 for whose sake she exhausted her vitality. A noble 
 service, beautifully rendered, and as beautifully rec- 
 ompensed by Him whose anointing filled the house 
 at Bethany with the odor of the spikenard ! For as 
 the gentle-hearted woman considered others, her 
 Lord considered her, and made His grace to triumph 
 in a spirituality which was the beginning of eternal life. 
 
 * Mrs. J. F. Joy. 
 
THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 
 
 c. There are the opportunities of a generous be« 
 neficence. What is the Gospel but love, and what 
 is love without beneficence ? Beneficence — the sacred 
 art of giving — needs exercise; and how shall we exer- 
 cise ourselves in this grace, if we have nothing to do 
 with any form of business? One of your number 
 told me the other day that he once discovered a 
 spring on the Palisades, which was only noticeable 
 because the ground was wet around it. When, how- 
 ever, the spring had been cleaned and piped, the wa- 
 ters flowed for use and beauty in an inexhaustible 
 supply. It is so with love. There are hearts whose 
 love is hardly more than the moisture of selfishness. 
 There is no outlet ; no opportunity. But when suf- 
 fering is present, when the opportunity is at hand, 
 when relief is organized, then the love pours out a 
 strong, full stream of beneficence. Thus affliction has 
 been sanctified, and the memorials of sorrow are often 
 blessings to the poor in many ways. When Henry 
 I. sailed from Normandy to England, the white ship 
 which carried Prince William and his bride was lost. 
 The king, it is said, never smiled again. But Theo- 
 bald, who was with Henry, and whose grief over the 
 loss of Matilda, the princess, his sister, was inconsol- 
 able, rose to a grander estimate of the meaning of 
 affliction, and gave to Bernard of Clairvaux the 
 money with which to erect a house of prayer in the 
 beautiful valley of France. Life must carry upon its 
 
THE MORAL ENDS OF BUSINESS. 8 1 
 
 surface this impressive lesson. We are not to live foi 
 ourselves. We are only stewards. As God is always 
 giving, so must we give constantly, and in giving, 
 find the increase of our devotion, the efficiency of our 
 strength. 
 
 In one of his emblems, Gotthold says that as he 
 was passing a mill he remembered the remark of a 
 friend, that " man's heart is like a mill-stone : pour in 
 corn, and round it goes, bruising and grinding and 
 converting it into flour ; whereas give it no corn, and 
 the stone, indeed, turns round, but only grinds itself 
 away, and becomes ever thinner, and smaller, and 
 narrower." Work is God's benediction. Business is 
 His bountiful provision for the safety of man. There 
 are moral ends to be secured. Happy is he who se- 
 cures those ends in the strengthening and adornment 
 of character, so that he becomes prepared to stand 
 before " the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the 
 only wise God ! " 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD AS EXPRESSED 
 BY THE SANCTUARY* 
 
 " That thine eyes may be open toward this housi 
 night and day" — I KINGS viii. 29. 
 
 There is a thought of present interest in the 
 petition of the Hebrew king. He has completed the 
 magnificent Temple, which is designed to take the 
 place of the simple Tabernacle in the worship of God. 
 The sacred ark has been deposited in the inner sanc- 
 tuary, and the divine response of the descending, 
 overshadowing cloud has been received. A song of 
 praise has met this welcome expression of approval, 
 and Solomon has turned to pronounce a benediction 
 upon the great congregation. Then with his face 
 toward the cloud which covers the Temple, he has 
 prostrated himself upon his knees to engage in prayer. 
 
 His prayer is a remarkable exhibition of the preva- 
 lent ideas respecting God. For he addresses the 
 Most High with the intelligent reverence which the 
 Hebrews alone are able to express. The divine unity 
 
 * Preached after the enlargement of the church edifice. 
 (82) 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 83 
 
 and spirituality are recognized, as well as the justice 
 and the grace, which are so precious to the chosen 
 people. Reference is made to the efficacy of the 
 sacrifices, whose significance is an essential element 
 of true religion. The order of the Temple, in its 
 structure, in its appointments, in its many services, is 
 presented as an appeal, which may be expected to se- 
 cure the blessing of God. Inasmuch as he believes 
 that the commands of God have been met, the king 
 rejoices in God's approval. This obedience is mag- 
 netic. By it the cloud has been attracted to the 
 Temple, upon which it rests as the symbol of the 
 divine presence. 
 
 Consequently the petition, which asks that " thine 
 eyes may be open toward this house night and day," 
 is an expression of Solomon's conviction that the 
 Temple with its worship is adapted to the character 
 of God. A structure like this, with its brazen altar, its 
 laver, its table of shew-bread, its candlestick, its altar 
 for incense, its veil and sacred ark ; with its priests 
 and sacrifices ; with its elaborate ritual and many ob- 
 servances, which are concerned with the reconciliation 
 of those who have sinned, can have reference only to 
 the worship of Jehovah, who is " merciful and gra- 
 cious, long-suffering and abundant in goodness and 
 truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity, 
 transgression, and sin." No such temple would have 
 been erected by a heathen nation. Idolatry does not 
 
84 
 
 CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 express itself in this way when it provides foi the 
 worship of false gods. Only to the Lord God, who 
 has revealed His infinite love in the offering of His 
 Son, can such a typical system make an appeal. The 
 Temple is simply the response of the Hebrews to the 
 revelation of the divine character which was made to 
 Moses at Mount Sinai. Thus the convictions of 
 Solomon and the religious opinions of his age are 
 recorded as their conceptions of God are made 
 known. 
 
 This then is the thought which may profitably en- 
 gage our attention. Our sanctuary has been re- 
 modelled. Through the blessing of God we are once 
 more permitted to worship in this place which has 
 become very sacred to us. Since we last met here, 
 extensive alterations and improvements have been 
 made. Our house of worship is now commodious 
 and convenient. Every attention has been paid to 
 our comfort. We are grateful that we are able to meet 
 under such auspicious circumstances. This work, how- 
 ever, as it has been planned intelligently, must have 
 reference to our ideas of God. This is not a heathen 
 temple, nor is it a lyceum. These walls have been 
 erected by the devotion of Christians who desire thus 
 to secure a place of worship. Our conceptions of God 
 have conditioned our efforts : and we are prepared 
 now to invoke the blessed presence of Him whose 
 we are and whom we serve in the petition of the He- 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GO J). 85 
 
 brew king, " that thine eyes may be open toward this 
 house night and day ! " 
 
 1st. The sanctuary has an intimate relation to the 
 worship of the church. Our Puritan ancestors called 
 their sanctuaries " meeting-houses," as a protest 
 against the baptized idolatry of the middle ages, 
 which had attempted to sanctify splendid abbeys and 
 costly shrines. In this endeavor, the middle ages 
 neglected sadly the spiritual interests of the people. 
 Architecture and ecclesiasticism joined hands in the 
 work of building and decorating cathedrals and of 
 establishing hierarchies. The Bible was neglected. 
 The Gospel was seldom preached in its simplicity. 
 Education was confined to the universities. Pilgrim- 
 ages became a necessity, inasmuch as acceptable 
 prayer was supposed to be associated with the ser- 
 vices of particular altars. Images of the saints and 
 pictures of the Virgin Mary were accepted by the 
 ignorant as objects of worship. Superstition pre- 
 vailed, and with it intolerance, and with that evil 
 cruelty, and with cruelty persecution. Against this 
 spirit and these practices, Puritanism, with an open 
 Bible, raised its hand and its voice — its hand, which 
 held the hammer of the iconoclast, and its voice, 
 which thundered out the rebukes and denunciations 
 of the Almighty. Religion took possession of the 
 popular heart in connection with the labors of Luther 
 ,in Germany, of Calvin in Switzerland, of Tyndale in 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 England, and of Erasmus in all parts of Europe. 
 Men began to realize that they were deprived of 
 their rights. Their intelligence, quickened and in- 
 formed by the Word of God, which they could read 
 in their own languages, asserted itself firmly and in- 
 dignantly. An organization was effected. A blow 
 for liberty was struck, and a new idea of worship 
 instantly gained prominence. In his reply to Sir 
 Thomas More's jest about the building of Tenterden 
 steeple, Tyndale said : " Since these false monsters 
 crope up into our consciences and robbed us of the 
 knowledge of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, making us 
 believe in such pope, holy works, and to think that 
 there was none other way into Heaven, we have 
 not wearied to build them abbeys, cloisters, colleges, 
 chantries, and cathedral churches with high steeples, 
 striving and envying one another who should do 
 most." He saw and others with him that the Church 
 of the living God is the mystical body of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ, and that the visible church " consists of 
 all those throughout the world that profess the true 
 religion, together with their children." Such a church 
 is not to be confounded, even in the language of 
 familiar speech, with a stately edifice, which has been 
 erected out of the stones of the mountains, out of 
 the timber of the forests, out of the gold and silver, 
 graven by art and man's device. This is a living 
 Temple, which the Holy Spirit fills with the sacred 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 87 
 
 influences of penitence and faith, of peace and love. 
 No man can build a church. God alone is able to 
 quarry and to fashion the lively stones, and to build 
 up a spiritual house. 
 
 There is a story in Church history, which has lived 
 because it illustrates the power of these truths of 
 God's Word. It is said that when Charles V. was 
 holding the Diet of Augsburg, in 15 30, a party of 
 actors asked leave to present before him a pantomime. 
 When permission had been granted, there entered the 
 hall a masked figure in a doctor's gown, upon whose 
 back was a label, " Johann Reuchlin." He threw 
 down upon the floor a bundle of sticks, some straight 
 and some crooked, and so departed. Next followed 
 another, in similar dress, whose name was Erasmus of 
 Rotterdam. He tried to make the crooked sticks 
 square with the straight ones ; and then, finding his 
 labor in vain, retired with evident confusion. The 
 third masked figure was Martin Luther, who set a 
 light to the crooked sticks, and when the wood was 
 blazing, went out. Then came in the emperor, and 
 with drawn rword tried vainly to keep the fire and 
 the sticks apart. Last of all, Pope Leo X. appeared, 
 wringing his hands and looking about for help. Two 
 jars — one full of oil, the other of water— were within 
 reach. He passionately seized the oil and poured it 
 upon the flames, which, spreading madly, drove him 
 away. Puritanism was the fire which no violence of 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 civil authority, which no cunning of ecclesiasticism 
 could arrest. It was fed by the divine Word. The 
 truth, as God had made it known, was precious, and 
 nothing was allowed to interfere with the progress ol 
 that truth. Hence Puritanism took pride in calling 
 its sanctuaries " meeting-houses"; and the Pilgrims, 
 one branch only of the Puritans, met for worship, after 
 they had landed on the shores of New England, in 
 buildings which were severely plain. There are per- 
 sons with us now who can recall the unsightly appear- 
 ance of the old white " meeting-house " upon the vil- 
 lage green of their native town. Architecture was 
 despised. Even the comfort of worshippers was not 
 considered. The high pulpit and the straight-back 
 pews and the long prayers and the theological ser- 
 mons were intimately related. The Pilgrims expressed 
 their conceptions of worship. We may think, per- 
 haps, that they erred in their severity. We may be- 
 lieve, and with good right, that they would have been 
 nearer to the truth of God if they had not reacted so 
 sharply against the artistic sentiments of the middle 
 ages. For God has implanted in man's nature the 
 sentiment of the beautiful, and that sentiment must 
 somehow be allowed expression in the worship of 
 Him who is the perfectibn of beauty. But we must 
 judge them charitably. They were fallible men. Un- 
 der similar circumstances we should probably not dc 
 as well as they did. Pioneer work is rough work. 
 
CONCEP TIONS OF GOD. go. 
 
 The sappers and miners are always scratched and 
 bruised by the contact of their advance. Truth is 
 more to us than beauty. As some one has said : " We 
 ornament construction, but we do not construct orna- 
 ment." The protest of those stirring centuries is 
 echoing still. The Church in its spirituality has gained 
 a glorious recognition. Christendom no longer tol- 
 erates the piracy of the grand old name Catholic by 
 Rome or Constantinople, by Canterbury or West- 
 minster. When the confession " I believe in the 
 holy Catholic Church " is heard, the charity of Chris- 
 tian intelligence looks toward each horizon, and also 
 heavenward, with the sweet consciousness that all who 
 "love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity" are meant. 
 
 " One family, we dwell in Him, 
 One Church above, beneath, 
 Though now divided by the stream, 
 The narrow stream of death." 
 
 Such a church, while its members are here upon the 
 earth, must meet for worship ; and the sanctuaries, 
 erected with pious devotion, must express the ideas 
 of worship which obtain. If those ideas are simple, 
 the sanctuaries will be simple ; while, if the ideas are 
 associated with many suggestions of human thought, 
 the sanctuaries will resemble the cathedrals of the 
 middle ages, in which altars are seen, and sacrifices 
 are performed, and priests minister, and God's Word 
 has little prominence. 
 
30 CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 2d. The worship of the Church expresses the faith 
 which is held concerning God. The purest and most 
 acceptable worship will always proceed from a well- 
 informed faith. Our blessed Lord said to the woman 
 of Samaria : " God is a Spirit, and they that worship 
 Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth "; 
 while Paul, when he found at Athens an altar to 
 " The Unknown God," remarked to the Athenians : 
 " Whom ye ignorantly worship, Him declare I unto 
 you." Just as we know God shall we worship Him. 
 In the worship of the Church, therefore, the faith of 
 the Church is expressed. Devotion uses the language 
 of worship, and devotion is nothing better than a 
 foolish sentiment if it finds its origin in concep- 
 tions of God which are born of the human imagina- 
 tion. The divine Word alone can acquaint us with 
 the character and purposes of God ; and in that Word 
 alone are we able to meet the truths which build us 
 up on our most holy faith. Faith thus established 
 glows as devotion, burning the purest incense of 
 prayer and praise, of gratitude and love in the pres- 
 ence of the invisible God. But faith rests upon 
 truth, and thus truth underlies worship. There can 
 be no pure worship, holy and welcome in the esti- 
 mate of Him with whom we have to do, if truth is 
 not appreciated. The Italian bandit, with his bloody 
 dagger and his bloody plans, will hardly dare to pass 
 a wayside shrine without pausing to repeat his "Ave" 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. oi 
 
 or " Pater Noster." Yet who will say that he, in hia 
 ignorance and guilt, is an ideal worshipper ? He 
 draws near with his mouth, perchance, but his heart 
 is far away. On the other hand, the Scotch cove- 
 nanter, with his old Bible and in his quiet Highland 
 home, is able to offer the most devout offering to 
 God when he kneels and simply pours out his soul 
 in prayer. " Having therefore, brethren, boldness to 
 enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new 
 and living way, which He hath consecrated for us, 
 through the veil, that is to say, His flesh, and having 
 an high-priest over the house of God, let us draw 
 near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith, hav- 
 ing our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and 
 our bodies washed with pure water." We must " wor- 
 ship the Lord in the beauty of holiness." From the 
 Hebrews He demanded a lamb " without blemish 
 and without spot," and from us He requires an 
 equally pure sacrifice. " The sacrifices of God are a 
 broken spirit." "A broken and a contrite heart, 
 O God, Thou wilt not despise." 
 
 When, therefore, we become acquainted with the 
 worship ol the Church, we become acquainted, also, 
 with the prevalent ideas concerning God. Who is 
 God whom we worship ? What is the Divine char- 
 acter? Are His purposes known? How shall we 
 approach Him ? Let us inquire of the splendid 
 service which the Romish Church has brought tu 
 
(J2 CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 such perfection. What answer will be given ? Here 
 are paintings and images which represent the mother 
 of our Lord and many canonized saints. Before 
 them, prayer is offered. Here are altars and priests, 
 and the sacrifice of the Mass is constantly celebrated. 
 Here are confessionals, and the forgiveness of sins is 
 authoritatively announced. As we look upon such 
 an order of worship, what impression do we gain ? I 
 am not of those who turn away with ridicule and dis- 
 gust from the worship which has accumulated a great 
 deal of error around a precious nucleus of truth. I 
 should be ashamed of my Protestantism if it con- 
 sisted largely in denunciations of another name. 
 There is too much devotion within that ancient 
 communion, too much heroism in the ministry of 
 self-denial, too much holy living to allow of such 
 reflections. Yet I can see the error and rebuke it, 
 even when I recognize the truth and commend it. 
 Heartily do I join with Robertson * in saying : " I 
 pray you, Christian brethren, do not join those fierce 
 associations which think only of uprooting error. 
 There is a spirit in them which is more of earth than 
 heaven ; short-sighted, too, and self-destructive. They 
 do not make converts to Christ, but only controver- 
 sialists and adherents to a party. They compass sea 
 and land. It matters little whether fierce Romanism 
 
 ' Sermons," Vol. II., 269. 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 93 
 
 or fierce Protestantism wins the day ; but it does 
 matter whether or not in the conflict we lose some 
 precious truth as well as the very spirit of Christi- 
 anity." What, then, is the mistaken conception of 
 God which this worship appears to perpetuate? I 
 reply, that it makes too little of the sincerity and suf- 
 ficiency of God's purpose to save the world by the 
 sacrifice of Jesus Christ. As we read the Bible, we 
 are taught that " God so loved the world that He 
 gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth 
 in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life "; 
 that the Son of God was " made in the likeness of 
 men "; that " He became obedient unto death, even 
 the death of the cross"; that He has "put away sin 
 by the sacrifice of Himself "; that " by one offering 
 He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified "; 
 that " by grace are ye saved, through faith "; that He 
 is " a merciful and faithful High-Priest in things per- 
 taining to God "; that we may " come boldly unto 
 the Throne of Grace "; that " if we confess our sins, 
 He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to 
 cleanse us from all unrighteousness "; that " there is 
 one Mediator between God and men, the man Christ 
 Jesus." Thus we become acquainted with God in 
 the revelation of the Son. We are satisfied to trust 
 Him. To Him we make our confessions of sins, for 
 He is always ready to hear and to pardon, and con- 
 sequently the confessional is not required ; to His 
 
u| CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 complete sacrifice on Calvary we look by faith, and 
 are assured that no repetition of that supreme act 
 can ever be required, and consequently we do not 
 wish to celebrate the Mass, nor do we believe in a 
 human priesthood as an essential order of the Chris- 
 tian ministry. Jesus Christ is our Prophet, Priest, 
 and King ; to Him we direct our loving and adoring 
 interest, and are confident that no intercessor, like 
 the Virgin Mary or a saint, is needed to plead on our 
 behalf, and consequently we are not careful to kneel 
 before pictures or images when we worship. 
 
 It is evident that there are two ideas of God in 
 these two orders of worship. God, as we know Him 
 in our Bible study, is very near to us, is deeply inter- 
 ested in our welfare, is seeking our salvation, has 
 made every provision for our religious wants. The 
 glory of God appears in the face of Jesus Christ 
 whom we have been taught to admire and to rever- 
 ence and to love and to worship. As little children, 
 we fold our hands and lisp our simple prayer — the 
 "our Father which art in Heaven," and as strong 
 men, we bow our heads reverently with an awe- 
 inspiring consciousness of the Infinite Majesty of 
 God, and still we use the language, " Our Father 
 which art in Heaven." We have no altars, because 
 Christ, our Saviour, is the living altar; we have no 
 bloody sacrifices, because the sacrifice of Christ is oui 
 sufficient plea. We call no man priest, because the 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 95 
 
 priesthood was abolished when the Temple veil was 
 rent in twain to discover to all worshippers the 
 mercy-seat. God invites us ; we respond ; with pen- 
 itence and faith we approach Him, believing that He 
 will bless us " for Jesus' sake." 
 
 Let us turn now and observe the worship of the 
 sanctuary which is often called a " meeting-house." 
 Here is a less stately edifice, although taste and 
 beauty may find expression here, and comfort and 
 convenience may both be known. Puritanism has 
 wisely invoked the aid of architecture to relieve it 
 from the accusation of barrenness and austerity under 
 which it once rested. Truth may be as faithfully ex- 
 pressed in worship, when the eye is not offended, and 
 the body is not chilled, as ever it has been in dens 
 or caves of the earth, when every possible discomfort 
 was experienced. Within this sanctuary, now entered 
 for inspection, the arrangements for worship are 
 simple. There are no pictures nor images before 
 which devotion kneels. A congregation assembles 
 to unite in prayer and praise to God, to celebrate the 
 sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's Supper, and 
 to pronounce and to hear the inspired Word. A 
 chosen leader of these services is a minister or serv- 
 ant, not in any special sense a priest. He stands 
 behind the Holy Bible, which is his authority and 
 defence. Between him and his brethren, as an ar- 
 biter, as a bond of union, as a token of respect, ap- 
 
gC, CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 pears this sacred volume. Out of it he is to be 
 judged ; and out of it they are to be judged also 
 He is only a weak man. If he is faithful in his pres 
 entations of these divine truths, in prayer, in song 
 in the many utterances of his ministry, his message 
 is to be received as the truth of God ; if he is un- 
 faithful, if his own conceits find place and expression, 
 the message from his lips is to be treated as the word 
 of man. The one endeavor of this worship seems to 
 be to honor God in Christ, to emphasize the redemp- 
 tion which has been accomplished for the race, to 
 quicken the individual conscience, to develop per- 
 sonal religion, to secure the daily and hourly worship 
 of holy activity. God is presented with His deep 
 concern for all that is human. His presence in life is 
 constantly taught. The familiarity of His address is 
 announced. His hopes and His benedictions are urged 
 for man's acceptance. 
 
 Errors, we may rest assured, will creep in and at- 
 tach themselves here as elsewhere. No one of us is 
 safe. This order of worship has its dangers, which 
 we should not fail to consider. When we are trained 
 to think familiarly of God, we may find that we are 
 thinking carelessly and irreverently of Him. Even 
 the blessed assurance that we are justified by faith 
 has led, as in the days of Luther, to frightful excesses 
 through the perversions of corrupt men. Religion 
 is morality as well as devotion. " Who," asks the 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. q; 
 
 Psalmist, " shall ascend into the hill of the Lord ? 
 or who shall stand in His holy place?" Then he 
 answers his own question by saying, " He that hath 
 clean hands and a pure heart," not the clean hands 
 alone, for that would be morality without devotion ; 
 not the pure heart alone, for that would be mysticism 
 without morality. But the clean hands and the pure 
 heart, morality and devotion. Our simplicity of 
 worship may incline us to be intolerant of others 
 who prefer, as they have a right to, much more form. 
 The prayers which the eye catches from the printed 
 page may be adopted as the heart's sincere expres- 
 sion, as truly as the prayers which the ear reports to 
 the mind. There is room for large liberty here. God 
 has given ; let no man question it. Then there may 
 be a veritable idolatry of the Word, a bowing down 
 to worship the sacred volume, a carrying the Book 
 about as the African carries a fetich, a treatment of 
 its ennobling truths which is fatal to any hope of 
 discovering their spirit and life. " Search the Scrip- 
 tures," our Lord said. The Book is to be valued for 
 its contents. Only they properly use it who bring 
 forth from its treasures the precious messages of di- 
 vine love, and the still more precious exhibition of 
 Divine Excellence, which is contained in the life and 
 work of Jesus Christ. 
 
 Worship should be studious. Its knowledge of 
 God should be increasingly intimate. With this 
 5 
 
9 g CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 knowledge there should be an adaptation of order or 
 method. We do not think of God precisely as our 
 fathers did. Our thought has more of Christ in it. 
 We dwell more upon the love than upon the stern 
 attributes of the divine nature. Our Christianity is 
 more catholic and more practical. Canon Freemantle * 
 has remarked that " the old Jerusalem was all temple. 
 The mediaeval church was all temple. But the ideal 
 of the New Jerusalem was no temple, but a God- 
 inhabited society The title of its Founder is 
 
 Immanuel, God with us, God in us, God making 
 Himself a home in all the relations in which love and 
 justice draw man to man, and class to class, and na- 
 tion to nation ; a God who is known and realized in 
 the tenderness of fatherly and motherly and filial af- 
 fection, the rapture of married love, the steadiness of 
 friendship, the honesty of trade relations, the loyalty 
 of citizenship, the righteousness of political rule, the 
 peace which is destined to bind together all mankind. 
 .... All worship which does not aim at these is hy- 
 pocrisy; that worship alone is Christian worship 
 which aims at their establishment." As then truth 
 concerning God breaks in upon and informs the mind, 
 worship will adopt new expressions. We do not 
 worship just as our fathers did, and our children will 
 not worship just as we do. Yet those before us wor 
 
 'The Gospel of the Secular Life," p. 67. 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 99 
 
 shipped acceptably, and received the witness of the 
 Holy Spirit ; and we believe that God will be pleased 
 to accept our worship whenever it is sincerely offered ; 
 and we are confident that " from the rising of the 
 sun even unto the going down of the same, His name 
 shall be great among the Gentiles ; and in every place 
 incense shall be offered unto His name and a pure of- 
 fering." No stereotyped order of worship has come 
 down to us with divine sanction, and yet we know 
 that God has given the alphabet with which each de- 
 vout heart may form the sentences of prayer and praise. 
 3d. The faith which is held concerning God de- 
 termines the divine attitude toward the sanctuary. It 
 was after Moses had faithfully met the pattern which 
 had been given to him in the Mount, that the cloud 
 rested upon the Tabernacle ; it was after Solomon 
 had provided the furniture, as God had directed, 
 that the Temple was covered with the cloud. If 
 either of these eminent leaders of worship had diso- 
 beyed, if Moses had left out the brazen altar, or if 
 Solomon had concluded that the laver was superflu- 
 ous ; if Moses had decided that he would not veil 
 the Most Holy Place, or if Solomon had ventured to 
 bring in a new order of priesthood, God would not 
 have met their worship with His approval. They 
 both -accepted, however, the revelation of Mount 
 Sinai as from God, and then they knew that an an- 
 swer was theirs. 
 LofC. 
 
too CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 Unless we, my friends, can reproduce their wisdom 
 in our experience, we can not anticipate the blessed 
 presence of God in this place. We have no right to 
 ask Him to bless us if we are not honestly expressing 
 our faith concerning Him, and if we are not as hon- 
 estly endeavoring to make that faith intelligent. This 
 sanctuary, so costly and so beautiful, is of no interest 
 whatever to the Infinitely Pure and Holy One to whose 
 service it has been set apart, if it is to be the scene of 
 perversions of Christian life, if its walls are to resound 
 with perversions of Christian truth, if it is to minister 
 to pride, and to worldliness, and to impiety. The 
 Apostle is very bold, and says : " Though we, or an 
 angel from Heaven preach any other Gospel unto 
 you than that which we have preached unto you, let 
 him be accursed. As we said before so say I now 
 again, if any man preach any other Gospel unto you 
 than that ye have received, let him be accursed." 
 Paul understood that the divine blessing will never 
 rest upon those who disregard the divine Son. It is 
 idle to ask for it. Until we honor the Son, our wor- 
 ship will not be honored. But when we bring Him 
 our penitence and offer Him our faith at the altar of 
 His own priceless sacrifice ; when we are cleansed by 
 the Holy Spirit in the application of the pure water 
 of His holy Word ; when we accept Him as the Bread 
 of Life at the Table which announces His enduring 
 sufficiency ; when we live and walk continually in the 
 
CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 101 
 
 light of the golden candlestick, and present our devo- 
 tion upon the altar for the incense of prayer ; when we 
 appear before the mercy-seat naming His name, plead- 
 ing His merits, rejoicing in His example, obeying His 
 commands, then may we expect an answer in love and 
 mercy which will prove to each disciple of the Re- 
 deemer the witness of the Spirit with our spirits that 
 we are the sons of God, and which will awaken such 
 an interest in careless souls that they will inquire 
 eagerly to learn the way to be saved. 
 
 Our theme carries with it its own exhortation. 
 We have enlarged our sanctuary, that in it we may 
 meet for worship. God grant that the worship here 
 offered by us and by later generations may be so pure 
 and acceptable that the prayer of the Hebrew king 
 will always be appropriate ! Then as we pray that 
 " thine eyes may be open toward this house night and 
 day," we shall know that contrition will receive par- 
 don, that faith will rejoice in the beatific vision, that 
 consecration will be directed and stimulated, that 
 hope will be sanctified, that sorrow will be cheered. 
 Here the songs of praise and devotion will be heard, 
 and the language of prayer will be familiar ; here 
 " the truth as it is in Jesus " will be proclaimed, and 
 the holy sacraments of the church will be adminis- 
 tered ; here the union of hearts will be solemnized as 
 a blessing is pronounced upon marriage, and here, 
 too, the separation of hearts will be apparent, as the 
 
102 CONCEPTIONS OF GOD. 
 
 mourners sit around their dead. Yet in contrition or 
 in faith, in consecration or in holy joy, in the begin- 
 ning or at the close of life, with promise or with me- 
 morial, Jesus Christ, God's Son, our Saviour, will ever 
 meet us, and His presence will be our best evidence 
 that God responds in love. 
 
VI. 
 
 THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT.* 
 
 " That our sons may be as plants, grown up in 
 their youth ; that our daughters may be as 
 corner-stones, polished after the similitude of 
 a palace." — Psalm cxliv. 12. 
 
 The prayer of the Psalmist recognizes the efficiency 
 of refinement. For he asks that the sons of the 
 nation may be like plants, which are productive and 
 beautiful, even in their youth, and that the daughters 
 of the land may resemble sculptured pillars, which 
 strengthen and adorn the interior of a palace. In the 
 public life of the Hebrews, he sees the place of the 
 young men who have been carefully educated, and in 
 their domestic and social life, he believes that the 
 young women, who are intelligent, may exert a power- 
 ful influence. Thus he associates activity and useful- 
 ness with refinement ; and his prayer expresses the 
 conviction that refinement is desirable, inasmuch as it 
 can serve. 
 
 The thought which is thus announced is endorsed 
 
 * Preached before the graduating class of the Packer Col« 
 legiate Institute, Brooklyn, N. Y„ June 19, 1881. 
 
 (103) 
 
104 THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. 
 
 by Christ, and illustrated by His perfect life. His 
 words lead to refinement ; and His life, so pure and 
 beautiful, was employed in helpful, self-sacrificing 
 work. " He went about doing good." " He came 
 not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to 
 give His life a ransom for many." 
 
 Instructed by the Master, the disciples of Christ 
 have used their refinement to benefit the world. The 
 world has been enriched by them. Literature, science, 
 and art have attended their efforts. The standard of 
 excellence which governs them is so high that a 
 higher can not be conceived. They are laboring that 
 we all may " come in the unity of the faith, and oi 
 the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect 
 man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
 of Christ." For it is the belief of Christians, that the 
 perfect man in Christ is " the best material and the 
 best instrument for any great undertaking, or for any 
 worthy enterprise that is not great, whether you would 
 build a character, a home, a literature, a nation." 
 
 Thus Christianity produces a refinement which is 
 efficient ; and, as a consequence, the progress of the 
 centuries can never outstrip Christianity. For while 
 progress means refinement, Christianity means re- 
 finement also ; and while progress demands a refine- 
 ment which is useful, Christian refinement appreci- 
 ates its work and is ready to accomplish it. Recent- 
 ly it has been said that "the new French socialism 
 
waves its adieu to Christianity as a social failure, on 
 the ground that alms-giving and resignation are its 
 last words." But "we have not so learned Christ." 
 Christianity, as we have been taught, looks into the 
 future as the soldier plans his campaign ; stands wait- 
 ing in the present, as the laborer waits for the oppor- 
 tunity of service, with loins girded, with arms bared, 
 with shovel and with axe. 
 
 To the graduating class of the Packer Institute, 
 the subject which is thus presented for consideration 
 is of practical importance. Your feet are now upon 
 the threshold. You are about to leave the quiet of 
 the school-room for the activity of the busy, eager 
 world. For many years you have enjoyed the ad- 
 vantages of education in one of the leading Christian 
 Institutions of our land. Christian refinement, as 
 possessed by your instructors, has done its utmost to 
 refine you. You represent the ripest intelligence of 
 the age. And now the question of your efficiency 
 must come home to you with intense significance. 
 You are young ladies of refinement. But of what 
 use is this refinement? What can you add to the 
 forces which are ministering unto human beings? 
 Have you a noble purpose? Has your refinement 
 been sanctified by a true consecration ? Bear with 
 me while I endeavor to open this subject and to pre- 
 sent a few of its applications. 
 
 The aim of education is to produce refinement 
 5* 
 
lo6 THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. 
 
 — refinement is the legitimate result of education. 
 There are, of course, many degrees and varieties 
 of refinement, and yet each one of these degrees, 
 each one of these varieties, is associated with educa- 
 tion. The savage teaches his son to handle the bow, 
 to ride the horse, to build the wigwam, to follow the 
 trail, and in so doing he refines his natural powers so 
 that he is enabled to triumph over the elements of 
 nature, to subdue wild beasts, and to contend with 
 hostile tribes. Travellers often wonder at the extent 
 of this refinement. The sight is rendered marvellous- 
 ly keen, the touch becomes as gentle as an infant's 
 breath, and the hearing is so acute that the faintest 
 whisper is detected. Education among savages seeks 
 this sort of refinement. From our vantage-ground 
 we may despise it ; yet when a comparison is insti- 
 tuted, it will be found that a brave or a chieftain has 
 been educated up to the position which he holds in 
 view of his endurance, his courage, and his skill. 
 
 The farmer's boy who has learned to run a straight 
 furrow, to swing the scythe skilfully, to plant trees, 
 to cultivate the fields, has secured a measure of re- 
 finement, which elevates him above his associates. 
 In his own department of life he has become an in- 
 telligent man. His opinions are recognized ; his in- 
 fluence is felt. 
 
 The apprentice who is learning one of the mechani- 
 cal trades is seeking refinement. When he begins to 
 
THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. 107 
 
 work with tools he is very clumsy and awkward. A 
 great deal of excellent material is injured by him. 
 He can hardly drive a nail, or saw through a plank. 
 After a time, however, his hand becomes steady, and 
 he is able to undertake the finest work. 
 
 In the school-room, where books are used, refine- 
 ment is the aim of instruction. We enter the school- 
 room in our infancy, hardly knowing who or what we 
 are ; we leave it in our maturity with knowledge of 
 ourselves, and of what we can do. 
 
 You remember how forcibly this idea is expressed 
 by Mr. Tennyson : 
 
 " The baby new to earth and sky, 
 
 What time his tender palm is prest 
 Against the circle of the breast, 
 Has never thought that ' this is I.' 
 
 " But as he grows he gathers much, 
 And learns the use of ' I ' and • me/ 
 And finds ' I am not what I see, 
 And other than the things I touch.' 
 
 " So rounds he to a separate mind, 
 
 From whence clear memory may begin, 
 As thro' the frame that binds him in 
 His isolation grows defined." 
 
 Thus every child is an experimental philosopher, 
 and the refining process waits upon the experiments. 
 
 But the great world is, after all, nothing but a large 
 school-room, and men and women all their lives are 
 only grown-up scholars. Education goes on, and 
 
IOS THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. 
 
 education means refinement. An upward pressure ia 
 constantly felt ; each generation makes an advance ; 
 new thoughts are presented ; an interest in literature 
 is awakened as the common wants of life are met ; 
 spirituality asserts itself ; art summons the students 
 who are to become renowned ; science welcomes re- 
 cruits from the quarry, the forge, the sheepfold, and the 
 plough ; the peasant's cottage is on the road which 
 passes by the mansion of affluence or the dwelling- 
 place of power; the plain, unlettered parent stands be- 
 side the learned and distinguished son as he becomes 
 the chief ruler of a republic ; the few articles of humble 
 poverty are in contrast with the unnumbered luxuries of 
 great wealth ; appreciation increases ; the range of life 
 broadens ; libraries are a necessity ; a picture discov- 
 ers its noble thought ; a statue proclaims a principle. 
 These wonderful advances are made with astonishing 
 rapidity. Nations are really born in a day. It is 
 almost impossible to grasp the significance, or to re- 
 alize the meaning, of the educational tendencies which 
 are now so influential. In every direction the refine- 
 ment of life is going on. A great city, with its dwell- 
 ings, its museums, its churches, its galleries, its parks, 
 its libraries, its lyceums, is an expression of modern 
 refinement. And this refinement, such as it is, is the 
 impulse of the age. " Culture " has become the watch- 
 word of the hour. Much that is superficial, and much 
 that is dangerous, take shelter under cover of this 
 
THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. iog 
 
 fair-sounding word. We are rushing on, gaining every 
 year in refinement, pressing the necessity of education 
 at every point, calling to our aid the master spirits of 
 every land, confirming ourselves in the conviction 
 that man's chief end is refinement, and that " culture " 
 is the present Christ. Are we right ? Is there need 
 of a danger-signal ? Can we discover any signs of a 
 useless, vain refinement ? What does history teach ? 
 What is the wisdom of God's Word? 
 
 A refinement which is to be efficient must pos- 
 sess certain moral qualities. One of the most thought- 
 ful of our historians has remarked : " The difficulty of 
 conduct does not lie in knowing what it is right to 
 do, but in doing it when known. Intellectual culture 
 does not touch the conscience. It provides no mo- 
 tives to overcome the weakness of the will, and with 
 wider knowledge, it brings also new temptations." 
 And he adds these significant words: " Tendencies 
 now in operation may a few generations hence land 
 modern society in similar conclusions, unless other 
 convictions arise meanwhile and get the mastery of 
 them." 
 
 It should not be forgotten when the opening 
 chapters of Paul's epistle to the Romans are read, 
 that the Apostle was writing to a people who had 
 reached " the blossoming period of the old civilization, 
 when the intellect was strained to the highest point 
 which it could reach ; and on the great subjects oj 
 
I io THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. 
 
 human interest, on morals, on politics, on poetry, on 
 art, even on religion itself, men thought as we think, 
 doubted where we doubt, argued as we argue, aspired 
 and struggled after the same objects." * To the Rome 
 of the Caesars, Paul sent the letter which exposes the 
 real character of Roman refinement. That refinement 
 was godless ; and as a consequence it was destitute of 
 the moral stamina which godliness alone can furnish. 
 u When they knew God they glorified Him not as 
 God, neither were thankful, but became vain in their 
 imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened ; 
 professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 
 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into 
 an image made like to corruptible man and to birds, 
 and four-footed beasts, and creeping things." The 
 sad history is very familiar ; we know how inefficient 
 and worthless Roman refinement became ; we remem- 
 ber how the high offices of the State were bought and 
 sold ; and the profligacy of Nero, and the brutality of 
 Caligula, can never be forgotten. Luxurious living 
 prepared the way for effeminacy, and effeminacy was 
 the drunken seamanship which drove the Empire 
 upon the rocks. " The Romans ceased to believe," 
 says Mr. Froude, u and in losing their faith, they be- 
 came as steel becomes when it is demagnetized ; the 
 spiritual quality was gone out of them, and the high 
 
 * " Caesar," by J. A. Froude. 
 
THE EFFICIENC Y OF REFINEMENT. \ \ \ 
 
 society of Rome itself became a society of power- 
 ful animals with an enormous appetite for pleasure 
 Wealth poured in more and more, and luxury grew 
 
 more unbounded Even the most cultivated 
 
 patricians were coarse alike in their habits and amuse- 
 ments. They cared for art as dilettanti, but no schools, 
 either of sculpture or painting, were formed among 
 themselves. They decorated their porticos and their 
 saloons with the plunder of the East. The stage was 
 never more than an artificial taste with them. Their 
 delight was the delight of Barbarians, in spectacles, 
 in athletic exercises, in horse races and in chariot 
 races, in the combats of wild animals in the circus, 
 combats of men with beasts on choice occasions, 
 and, as a rare excitement, in fights between men and 
 men, when select slaves, trained as gladiators, were 
 matched in pairs to kill each other."* And this was 
 the refinement of Rome, then the proud mistress of 
 the world ! Of Rome, then attentive to the eloquence 
 of a Cicero ! Of Rome, then acquainted with the 
 poetry of a Virgil and a Horace ! Of Rome, then 
 enthusiastic over the victories of a Pompey and a 
 Caesar ! Of Rome, then the resort of scholars, philos- 
 ophers, and artists ! As we look upon that life, even 
 from this distant land and time, we are constrained 
 to adopt the language of the Hebrew Prophet, and 
 
 'Caesar," by J. A. Froude. 
 
1 1 2 THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. 
 
 to say : " The whole head is sick and the whole heart 
 faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the 
 head, there is no soundness in it, but wounds and 
 bruises and putrifying sores. They have not been 
 closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with oint- 
 ment." 
 
 And what was true of Rome was true also of 
 Greece, of Nineveh, of Babylon, of Egypt. In each 
 of these civilizations there was a period of progress. 
 Then a halt was called*; all progress was arrested ; a 
 decline commenced ; ruin was witnessed. The refine- 
 ment was inefficient, and so it helped on the destruc- 
 tion. Roman life simply repeated the experiences 
 which these other nations had known. Education 
 brought the ancients up to a certain position, but 
 their education could not hold them there. Some- 
 thing was lacking. Education failed to develop moral 
 qualities. Yet Christian England has existed, and 
 has flourished, for many centuries, and the evidences 
 of her decay are not apparent while she is loyal to 
 the lessons of her history. 
 
 Do we appreciate the importance of these moral 
 qualities ? Or are we anxious to secure an external 
 refinement at any cost without regard to the real 
 quality thereof ? Alas ! my friends, I fear that such 
 is the caze. Too little attention is paid to the grand 
 moral qualities which make the highest refinement 
 efficient. Too seldom do we emphasize the necessit) 
 
THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. \ \ 3 
 
 of God's presence in our education, of God's Word ir, 
 our plans of instruction. But God alone can furnish 
 those sturdy, moral qualities which refinement needs ; 
 and His Word is a Book which contains the precepts 
 whose guidance secures efficiency. At the Wyclif 
 celebration, the last winter, a prominent lawyer closed 
 his address with the familiar quotation from Burke, 
 " Education is the cheap, defence of nations," and 
 with these words of his own : " He would have added, 
 had his theme permitted, Bible education is the only 
 secure basis for freedom, civilization, and progress." 
 
 The moral qualities which give efficiency to refine- 
 ment are associated with a consciousness of the evils of 
 sin, a sense of dependence upon God, a conviction of the 
 nobility of service. 
 
 It seems, perhaps, a strange thing to say, that man 
 must be treated as a sinner if his refinement is to be 
 permanent and useful. I am aware that the fact of 
 sin is often disregarded ; yet the fact remains, and its 
 influence conditions human life. The denial of a fact 
 does not destroy the fact. You may hear the leper's 
 denial of the taint that is in the blood of his fair- 
 faced child ; you may hear the workman's denial of 
 the danger that is associated with the handling of 
 nitro-glycerine ; you may hear the profligate's denial 
 of the wickedness that debases his life. Denial never 
 destroys a fact. Facts are stubborn things. And 
 there is no fact which is more apparent than this ter 
 
H4 
 
 THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT 
 
 rible fact of sin. Man is not innocent. Innocence 
 never would have written the history of the world, 
 as events have written it, with a pen of iron and with 
 ink of blood. Sin meets us everywhere — in the house- 
 hold, on the exchange, in the senate chamber, on the 
 farm, in the camp, on the battle-field. 
 
 And sin must be considered, if the interests of 
 humanity are to be considered. The problem of edu- 
 cation has this disturbing element. Many of the an- 
 cients realized this. Socrates appreciated it. Seneca 
 understood it. The confusion and misery of life 
 were sad facts to them. They tried to discover some 
 method of redemption, by means of which prosperity 
 and happiness might be secured. But they failed. 
 For redemption can only be provided by God. In 
 the gift of His Son, our Saviour, Jesus Christ, God 
 has made such provision. Thus sin may be pardoned ; 
 a holy life is a possibility ; friendship with God be- 
 comes the joy of a faithful heart. 
 
 But this relation introduces a sincere and affection- 
 ate dependence. Responsibility to an infinite Being 
 is appreciated. " Thou, God, seest me," becomes a 
 restraint and an encouragement, — a restraint when 
 temptation is near ; an encouragement when hope is 
 feeble. The consciousness is formed that life and its 
 service may be given to God. Spirituality is de- 
 veloped by prayer, and spirituality is the salt of re- 
 finement. 
 
THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT \ \ 5 
 
 Then the nobility of service is recognized. Noth 
 ing is too good for service. The grandest use of life 
 is service. " Beautiful," says Jean Paul, in a brilliant 
 passage, "beautiful is the eagle, as he soars above 
 the clouds and bathes himself in the clear sunlight ! 
 But how much more beautiful when he visits his 
 eaglets in the clefts of the rocks, bearing to them 
 their daily food ! " Can we know this in practical 
 life? And how? Is it an instinct? Does education 
 always teach it ? Shall we find that it is inseparably 
 connected with refinement? Look around you for 
 your answers to questions such as these ! How many 
 of the men and women who are cultured in the best 
 culture of our schools, are doing anything to benefit 
 the world? How often is it true that refinement is 
 so inefficient that it becomes almost contemptible ! 
 Life is wasted in having a good time. Days and 
 weeks and months are passed in receiving pleasure, 
 not in giving help. The pound is kept in a napkin. 
 Occasionally it is brought out for inspection by a few 
 admiring friends. But service, real service, is never 
 suggested. Club life for men, parlor life for women, 
 are the ruin of our youth. There seems to be a sad 
 lack of ambition where there is this willingness to 
 live without a purpose, and to die without accom- 
 plishing anything. 
 
 Some time ago, as I learn from my reading,* the 
 
 * " Duty," by Samuel Smiles. 
 
1 1 6 THE EFFICIENC V OF REFINEMENT. 
 
 Bishop of Manchester received a letter from a young 
 lady, who excused herself from Christian work on the 
 plea that she had no time. In the letter, the follow 
 ing account of her daily life was given : " We break* 
 fast at ten. Breakfast occupies the best part of an 
 hour, during which we read our letters, and pick up 
 society news in the papers. After that we have to 
 go and answer our letters, and my mother expects 
 me to write her notes of invitation, or to reply to 
 such. Then I have to go into the conservatory and 
 feed the canaries and parrots, and cut off the faded 
 flowers and the dead leaves from the plants. Then 
 it is time to dress for lunch, and at two o'clock we 
 lunch. At three my mother likes me to go with her 
 when she makes her calls, and we then come home 
 to a five o'clock tea, when some friends drop in. 
 After that we get ready to take our drive in the park, 
 and then we go home to dinner ; and after dinner we 
 go to the theatre or opera, and then, when we get 
 home, I am so dreadfully tired that I do not know 
 what to do." And is that a refined woman's life in 
 England ? Is it possible that a woman of refinement, 
 there or here, is willing to go through life, as the bird 
 cleaves the air, with no mark whatever left behind ? 
 If so, our refinement is doomed, for such inefficiency 
 is only the repetition of Roman negligence and in- 
 temperance, whose destruction came so rapidly. 
 What refinement needs is an authoritative word 
 
THE EFF1CIENC Y OF REFINEMENT. \ \ ; 
 
 and a perfect life ; a word which announces the no- 
 bility of service, and a life which shall go about upon 
 errands of mercy. Refinement must understand that 
 God can use the intelligence of His creatures, and that 
 the most refined life ever known was freely given for 
 the salvation of the world. 
 
 I have spoken of a woman's life in England, and 
 have endeavored to point out the error of a frivolous 
 employment of sacred opportunities. Let me bring 
 you now another phase of life, so much more com- 
 mendable. Kinglake, in his last volume upon the 
 Crimean war, refers with intense admiration to " the 
 priceless reinforcement of brain power that was 
 brought to the rescue by woman " during the winter 
 of 1854. Among the women who went to the hos- 
 pitals of the Bosphorus was Mary Stanley, the daugh- 
 ter of the late Bishop of Norwich, and the sister of 
 the present Dean of Westminster. She had the ad- 
 vantages of high social rank, of education in the best 
 schools, and of foreign travel. Yet her refinement 
 was singularly efficient. " Having long served as the 
 very right hand of her father in bringing to bear his 
 larger measures for the good of the poor, she soon 
 disclosed great capacity for both organizing and trans- 
 acting executive work, whilst also, in her own gentle 
 way, she knew how to rule." That beautiful life, so 
 rich in its capabilities, was given to the soldiers of 
 the British army ; and not one of its many graces was 
 useless, because the refinement was genuine. 
 
1 1 8 THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. 
 
 Doubtless many of you have read the exquisite de- 
 lineation of home life which the Archbishop of Can- 
 terbury penned, when he sketched the life of Catha- 
 rine Tart.* There is another illustration of the 
 possibility of refinement and efficiency going hand 
 in hand, without departing in the least from the 
 modest order of a woman's round of duties. Mrs. 
 Tait made her Christian influence felt in every circle 
 which she entered. In her own home she was a true 
 wife and a devoted mother, and in the Church of God 
 she was not only a sincere worshipper, but also an 
 earnest worker. 
 
 Perhaps, too, you may have formed something of 
 an acquaintance with Frances Ridley Havergal,f 
 another devoted woman. Her gifts — and they were 
 numerous — were consecrated to the service of her 
 King. She had in Christian service the spirit of 
 mediaeval chivalry. Intense loyalty ruled her. Her 
 musical ability, " and she was able to play through 
 Handel, much of Beethoven and Mendelssohn with- 
 out any notes," was wholly dedicated to Christ. 
 
 " Take my lips, and let me sing, 
 Always, only, for my King," 
 
 was her prayer. Every one loved her. Her very 
 presence was a benediction. 
 
 * Catharine and Craufurd Tait. 
 
 t" Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal." 
 
THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. \ 19 
 
 Now you may not be called, as these women were, 
 to just such work as they performed ; but there is 
 other work, and plenty of it, and to that work you 
 are surely called. God has a place for each one of 
 you. These voices, which have been trained to such 
 perfection ; these ringers, which can play skilfully 
 upon stringed instruments ; these lips, which can 
 speak in many languages ; these intellects, which are 
 so stored with knowledge — these are for service. Are 
 they not ? Answer then, each one, the call divine, 
 " Here am I, send me ! " 
 
 The moral qualities which are essential to refine- 
 ment are provided by Christ in order that He may 
 control education. He came as a light into this dark 
 world. Upon the problems of sin and salvation He 
 shed the light of Heaven. No wisdom can compare 
 with His. He looked fairly at sin, and described it 
 as it really is. He traced its history. He discovered 
 its origin. He announced its inevitable end. We 
 may apologize for sin, but Christ never did. We may 
 make light of sin, but Christ knew too much to do 
 so. Sin, as He understood it, is exceeding sinful. 
 There is a corruption about it which only divine 
 power can cleanse. In its nature it is deadly. Unless 
 relief is afforded, the sinner must die. 
 
 And relief is afforded by the grace of God in Jesus 
 Christ. He has secured redemption. He is the 
 mediator. Altars are no longer necessary, and priests 
 
I jo THE EFFICIENC Y OF REFINEMENT, 
 
 may be dismissed, and sacrifices have ceased to have 
 any meaning ; for Christ Jesus is forever altar, priest, 
 and sacrifice. 
 
 This great fact is the basis of Christian morality. 
 Education has always accompanied this preaching of 
 the Gospel. Martin Luther heralded modern educa- 
 tion when he emphasized the doctrine of justification 
 by faith. For that doctrine places a high estimate 
 upon the individual, as it promises acceptance by God 
 for the sake of Christ the Son. It has unchained and 
 opened the Bible, and offered it, thus free and open, 
 to the multitude ; and a free Bible and a free school 
 will always be found in the same place. 
 
 Besides, through Christ God is known. He is the 
 revelation of God. In Him the glory of God appears. 
 And what a strangely wonderful glory that is ! How 
 unlike the conceptions of men ! How sublime ! How 
 condescending ! " God is a Spirit, and they that 
 worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in 
 truth." No idol form can represent Him. No myth- 
 ological conceit can portray His excellence. He is 
 not like Jupiter, nor does He resemble Minerva. But 
 purity and love are His in absolute perfection, for He 
 is as Jesus was while here upon the earth. We do 
 not fear Him, and yet we do Him homage. We do 
 not shrink from Him because He calls us to Himself. 
 He is our dependence. We love to do as He directs 
 us to do. His approval is our comfort ; His friend- 
 
THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. \ 2 1 
 
 ship is our joy. When we are conscious of any need, 
 we turn to Him in prayer ; when we are blessed with 
 any blessing, we express to Him our thanks. Thus 
 He is our spirituality, for spirituality never fails to 
 appear when one is walking with his God. 
 
 Then, too, Christ speaks of service, and also illus- 
 trates service. He tells us what to do, and why we 
 should do it. " The servant is not greater than his 
 Lord ; neither He that is sent greater than He that 
 sent Him." If the "only begotten Son, who is in 
 the bosom of the Father," was ready to give Himself, 
 what is my life that I should withhold it ? If the 
 well Beloved, who was " the brightness of the Father's 
 glory and the express image of His person," was will- 
 ing to touch the leper's sore, to become the friend 
 of publicans and sinners, to endure reproach, to be 
 covered with the dust of an unbelieving city, to be 
 crowned with a crown of thorns, to be scourged by 
 common soldiers, then who am I, what is my refine- 
 ment, that I should hesitate to give myself, that I 
 should shrink from offering the little refinement that 
 I possess, to my fellow-men? Thus "the love of 
 Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if 
 one died for all, then were all dead, and that He died 
 for all, that they which live should not henceforth 
 live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for 
 them, and rose again." Now the springs of Chris- 
 tian activity are touched. " For Jesus' sake " is the 
 6 
 
I2 2 THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. 
 
 motive which thrills many a heart. "What wilt Thou 
 have me to do ? " is the question which is heard on 
 every hand. " Where is there work for the Master?" 
 is the inquiry of all disciples. 
 
 I can discover no limitation to Christian refinement. 
 Whatever is a proper study for man is a proper study 
 for a Christian man. Art in its purity ; science in its 
 profound investigations ; literature in its companion- 
 ship with many noble minds ; commerce in its ex- 
 changes ; society in its friendly intercourse — these ad- 
 vantages are as much to the Christian as to any one 
 else. The hand of Christ rests upon all truth and 
 beauty and power. They are His. He claims them. 
 They are to be employed in the ministry which He 
 directs. 
 
 The applications of this subject, my friends, are 
 evident. If I read the signs of the times aright, this 
 eagerness for refinement has taken strong hold upon 
 us. We appreciate the importance of education. We 
 are proud of our advantages. But are we not in dan- 
 ger of forgetting that education needs the moral con- 
 trol which Christ can give ? Do we not sometimes 
 leave out the word Christian when we speak of edu- 
 cation ? If we do, we err. Our education finds its 
 jjeril right here. The conditions of life are such, with 
 our rapid increase of wealth and our magnificent re- 
 sources, that a materialistic refinement can easily be 
 developed. Then " farewell " to the republic and its 
 
THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. 125 
 
 civilization. The old story will be written out once 
 more. Education led to refinement, and refinement 
 led to effeminacy, and effeminacy led to sensuality, 
 and sensuality is death. It may not come in this 
 generation — a catastrophe so melancholy — probabfy 
 it will not. But that it will come, I am persuaded, il 
 Christ is refused that place in our refinement which 
 is the guarantee of efficiency. 
 
 Therefore, bring Him into your life. Settle the 
 question of your relation to God. Accept the justifi- 
 cation which is offered you. Become a new creature 
 in Christ Jesus. Live with the understanding that 
 God's eye is upon you. Ask Him to guide you every 
 day and every hour. " Seek those things which are 
 above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of 
 God." Learn the lesson of self-sacrifice. Know 
 that you can not be too wise, too gentle, too pure, 
 too refined for God's work. Look about you, and 
 see what you can do. Hear the cries of sorrow which 
 come up from many hearts. No place for you, a 
 Christian woman ! No work for you, with your re- 
 finement ! Condemned to uselessness, because you 
 are without a vocation ! Ah ! my friends, ten thou- 
 sand of the brightest minds are wanted, at this very 
 hour, to consider, to solve, and to explain the ques- 
 tions which are pressing us ! What of these class dis- 
 tinctions? What of the rewards of labor? What of 
 woman's sphere? What of the administration of 
 
124 THE EFFICIENCY OF REFIXEMEXT. 
 
 charity? What of the relief of suffering? What ol 
 the methods of evangelization? Some one must tell 
 us, and common, unrefined minds can not. 
 
 Our sons should be like well-grown plants, and our 
 daughters like sculptured pillars. Man's work is not 
 woman's work, and woman's work is not man's work ; 
 but both are Christ's. Some things can be better 
 done by men than by women, and some things can be 
 better done by women than by men. There is wis- 
 dom in a division of labor. It may not be best for a 
 woman to cast a vote at the polls. Many excellent 
 women shrink from such publicity. But it is best 
 that woman's* influence should have much to do 
 in making that vote, by determining its character. 
 When war was devastating our land, women did not 
 march in the ranks of the regiments, nor did they 
 handle the musket upon the battle-field; yet what an 
 element of strength, of high courage, of holy patriot- 
 ism was given to the war by the devotion of many 
 women ! Let us believe this. We must make our 
 refinement Christlike in order that it may be efficient. 
 
 Of the youth of Great Britain, Mr. Ruskin was 
 speaking, when he said : u We have to turn their 
 courage from the toils of war to the toils of mercy : 
 and their intellect from the dispute of words to dis- 
 cernment of things ; and their knighthood from the 
 errantry of adventure to- the state and fidelity of a 
 kingly power. And then, indeed, shall abide foi 
 
THE EFFICIENCY OF REFINEMENT. 
 
 125 
 
 thern, and for us, an incorruptible felicity, and an 
 infallible religion ; shall abide for us faith no more to 
 be assailed by temptation, no more to be defended 
 by wrath and by fear ; shall abide with us hope no 
 more to be quenched by the years that overwhelm, 
 or made ashamed by the shadows that betray : shall 
 abide for us, and with us, the greatest ot these, the 
 abiding will, the abiding name of the Father, for the 
 greatest of these is charity." * 
 
 True of the youth of Great Britain, these words 
 are also true of the youth of America. God help 
 you, my friends, to carry your refinement into many 
 homes, into many churches, into many towns and 
 cities, as the efficiency of true Christian womanhood ! 
 
 * "The Mystery of Life," by John Ruskin. 
 
VII. 
 
 THE QUESTION OF MORDECAI. 
 
 " And who knoweth whether thou art come to thi 
 kingdom for such a time as this ? " — Esth 
 iv. 14. 
 
 WITH this question, Mordecai endeavors to break 
 up the indecision of Esther. The fair young queen 
 is in great distress. Haman's conspiracy has ripened. 
 From the palace a decree has gone forth which means 
 the extermination of the Jews. Prompt action is a 
 necessity. Esther alone can hope to influence the 
 king. Mordecai is her counsellor. She has sent one 
 of her attendants to ask his advice, and has just 
 returned her objections to his plan. For he has 
 urged her to make a direct appeal to the king, by 
 presenting herself at the door of the audience-cham- 
 ber. Such a step can only be taken at the peril of 
 her life. For if she is not then made welcome, she 
 must be put to death. 
 
 While Esther is hesitating, Mordecai sends her 
 
 this question, which acts as a spur to her courage. 
 
 It is an appeal to the best elements of her truly 
 
 heroic nature. Duty is made prominent by it. A 
 (126) 
 
THE Q UES TION OF MORDECAL \ 2 7 
 
 signal opportunity of service is presented. The divine 
 purpose of her life is delicately suggested. The ques- 
 tion covers Mordecai's belief. He evidently cherishes 
 the conviction that Esther has been selected by God 
 to secure the deliverance of his countrymen. He can 
 not believe that the wickedness of Haman is to 
 triumph over the promises which have written much 
 of the unaccomplished history of the Jews. He is a 
 man of large faith. The destiny of the chosen people 
 is in God's hands. From some quarter, help will 
 surely come. But is not Esther to bring it ? Is 
 she not " the anointed of the Lord " for this emer- 
 gency ? He believes that she is ; and he wishes 
 her to go forward boldly that she may discover her 
 proper relation to God's work. 
 
 The question accomplishes its purpose. Esther 
 dismisses her fears. A noble resolution is formed. 
 After a brief season of prayer, in which all the Jews 
 of Shushan unite, the queen makes her way into the 
 royal presence. Her request is heard. A new decree 
 is issued. The Jews in the provinces are encouraged. 
 The day which had been appointed for their exter- 
 mination witnesses their triumph. No enemy can 
 withstand them. Haman and his sons are destroyed ; 
 while Mordecai becomes the favorite of the king. 
 
 As we accompany Hatach, the chamberlain, who 
 is bearing Mordecai's question to Esther, we can 
 hardly fail to realize that this is Mordecai's recog. 
 
128 THE QUESTION OF MORDECAI. 
 
 nition of the providential significance of Esther's life. 
 With what skill does that great man put the ques- 
 tion ! He does not use God's name — indeed the 
 name of God is not used in the Book of Esther — and 
 yet his thought is all of God. He is a splendid ex- 
 ample of a God-fearing man, whose reverential esti- 
 mate of the divine interest and care is the deep, 
 strong current of the soul. The Gulf Stream does 
 not babble like the shallow brook of the pasture-field. 
 It is silent as it sweeps by the shores of great con- 
 tinents, imparting life and fertility by its warmth. 
 There is an easy familiarity in the use of God's name, 
 which passes for pure religion, while it is not to be 
 mentioned with the speech whose every utterance is 
 an expression of dependence upon a Higher Power. 
 " Not every one," remarks Jesus, " that saith unto 
 me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of 
 Heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father 
 which is in Heaven." We need to cultivate this deep 
 sense of God's presence ; and, in so doing, to re- 
 member that even the common lives, the uneventful 
 lives, are providential. It is easy to form the habit 
 of saying, "Lord, Lord"; but it is not so easy to 
 bring God into direct contact with every thought and 
 every emotion. Yet this is His true place. He made 
 us for Himself. He wishes that each one of us should 
 be the habitation of God through the Spirit. 
 
 For this reason, an especial value may be found 
 
THE QUESTION OF MORDECAI. 129 
 
 in the Book of Esther. It has always had a place in 
 the sacred canon. The Bible would be incomplete 
 without it. Its interesting records span a gulf which 
 we could not afford to leave without a bridge. " It 
 is necessary," says Dean Stanley, " that in the rest 
 of the sacred volume the name of God should con- 
 stantly be brought before us to show that He is all 
 in all to our moral perfection. But it is expedient 
 for us no less that there should be one Book which 
 omits it altogether to prevent us from attaching to 
 the mere name a reverence which belongs only to the 
 reality. In the mind of the sacred writer, the mere 
 accidents, as they might seem, of the quarrel of 
 Ahasuerus, the sleepless night, the delay of the lot 
 worked out the Divine will as completely as the 
 parting of the Red Sea, or the thunders of Sinai. 
 The story of Esther is not only a material for the 
 noblest and grandest of meditations, but a token 
 that in the daily events, the unforeseen chances of 
 life, in little unnumbered acts, in the fall of a sparrow, 
 in the earth bringing forth fruit of herself, God is 
 present. The name of God is not there, but the 
 work of God is/'* We read this ancient history in 
 the light of related events, which bring out into 
 clear prominence the operative causes ; and then we 
 forget that present events, with which we have to do, 
 
 * "Jewish Church," Vol. III., p. 201. 
 6* 
 
130 THE QUESTION OF MORDECAL 
 
 must also be operative. The good friends who 
 watched over the infant life of Esther could not 
 have forecast her wonderful career. She was the 
 child of the exile, born in Babylon, and very soon 
 left to the protection of her cousin Mordecai. He 
 received her to his home as a daughter, and educated 
 her with care. From his position in the palace, 
 Mordecai became acquainted with the king's purpose 
 to select a new wife in the place of the rejected 
 Vashti ; and he was also able to present Esther to 
 the king, who accepted her as his queen. Then it 
 came to pass that Mordecai, through Esther, gave in- 
 formation of a conspiracy which was directed against 
 Ahasuerus himself. Afterward Haman gained un- 
 usual influence, and rose rapidly in the royal favor 
 until he had surpassed all the princes of the realm. 
 The one object of his hatred was Mordecai, who 
 refused to do him homage. To destroy Mordecai, 
 this wretched man undertook the destruction of all 
 the Jews. The hands upon the dial of providence 
 had reached the appointed hour. The significance of 
 the life of a simple Jewish girl is about to be dis- 
 covered. With high courage Esther ventures into. 
 the inner court, where all persons are required to fall 
 on their faces and to cover their hands in the folds of 
 their sleeves, and where executioners with axes stand 
 ready to behead any intruder. Her first request is 
 heard. A sleepless night brings the attention of 
 
THE QUESTION OF MORDECAL 131 
 
 Ahasuerus to the records, which mention the im- 
 portant service of Mordecai. At her banquet, Esther 
 acquaints the king with the plans of Haman ; and 
 then she receives the assurance of deliverance, which 
 the king's decree quickly announces to all the prov- 
 inces. 
 
 Now all this history is providential ; not the con- 
 clusion alone, because the conclusion is dependent 
 upon the beginning, but the entire history. From 
 first to last there is a steady unfolding of the purpose 
 of God. Yet the purpose is not evident until the un- 
 folding is complete. We can not discover it in the 
 cradle of Esther, nor is it plain when she is left an or- 
 phan ; we do not understand it when she enters the 
 palace, nor even when she starts out upon her import- 
 ant mission. We must wait. The entire life must be 
 before us. Then its significance is clear. 
 
 I have not learned that there is any standard water- 
 mark of Providence, any gauge which must measure 
 the stature of a life before it can become providential, 
 any distinct limit which must be reached in order to 
 secure God's presence. We may think that our lives 
 are not providential because they are commonplace ; 
 and yet what right have we to think so ? Has the 
 commonplace nothing to do with Providence? Is 
 the present time — so uneventful — a time to be disre- 
 garded ? Is the present opportunity — so trivial, ap- 
 parently — an opportunity to be neglected? It may 
 
1 32 THE QUESTION OF MORDECAL 
 
 be, forsooth, like the cradle days of Esther. Who 
 knows? Who can tell what great events may hang 
 upon a kind word to a poor boy, upon the routine 
 fidelity of a clerk, upon the turning to the right hand 
 or to the left? You may stop any mature person 
 with a question as to the providential significance of 
 an ordinary action, and you may receive an indiffer- 
 ent reply ; but you can hardly look for an indifferent 
 reply if your question covers a number of years and 
 the actions of a lifetime. Yet the many years and 
 the many actions are but multiples of one. " Thou 
 shalt know hereafter." God is not indifferent to the 
 least any more than He is to the greatest. The star- 
 dust of the firmament has its place just as the great 
 planets do. " He telleth the number of the stars ; 
 he calleth them all by their names." But then He 
 also " healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up 
 their wounds." Nothing can escape God's notice. 
 No interest is outside of His domain. We can not 
 tell. Our judgment is fallible. Our trivial things are 
 often God's great things. The eyes of the world 
 were once fixed upon Rome where Augustus held his 
 splendid court, while the eye of God was observant 
 of a stable in Bethlehem, where a peasant and his 
 wife were watching beside a little homeless babe. 
 We can not assay passing events so as to stamp them 
 at their true value. We must wait. To do with ouf 
 might whatsoever our hands find to do, is the true 
 
THE QUESTION OF MORDECAI. 133 
 
 governing purpose, and to bring God consciously into 
 all activity so that we may serve Him 
 
 " In the trivial round, the common task " 
 
 is the happy discovery of life's best secret. We shall be 
 called to higher service if we approve ourselves in the 
 lower. The end is not yet. There are men and 
 women — not a few — who will go up to God in Heaven 
 from the humility of earth's menial occupations to 
 undertake the work of saints around the throne. 
 There is another side to the curtain. Within the 
 veil the providences of the present will open grandly 
 to exhibit their meaning. Let us then, dear friends, 
 be hopeful. Not a sparrow falls to the ground with- 
 out our Father. The day is advancing ; our toil will 
 soon come to an end ; misunderstandings will be 
 clarified ; hardships will be of the past ; sufferings 
 will cease. When the Lord answered Job out of the 
 whirlwind, the patriarch began to interpret the mys- 
 teries of his life. We may think God out of our thought, 
 but we can not put God away from us. There is 
 love in the Father's heart, even when the prodigal is 
 rioting in the far country. No day passes without a 
 prayer for the absent boy ; no day without a wistful 
 look down the road. God will not forget us. There 
 are invisible cords which bind us to Him. Oh ! let 
 us be responsive ! Oh ! let us be more glad of His 
 leadership! Oh! let us observe even the commas and 
 
'34 
 
 THE OUESTIOX OF MORDECAI. 
 
 the semicolons on the page of Providence ! Some one 
 has said that " learning rightly apprehended is not 
 mere passive reception, as of water into a cistern, 
 bringing with it all the accidents and impurities of 
 roof or aqueduct. It is water in oak or elm, making 
 its way up through living tissue, filtered as it ascends, 
 shaking out its leafy banner, hardening into toughest 
 fibre." How true of our knowledge of God ! What 
 a grand thing it is thus to learn our divine lesson, and 
 become " filled with all the fulness of God ! " 
 
 The question of Mordecai calls attention to the 
 fact that emergencies seldom fail to test the qual- 
 ity of character. In the crisis of her life, Esther ap- 
 proved herself. The latent possibilities of her nature 
 announced themselves when she started upon her 
 perilous undertaking. She had never been tried. 
 From the seclusion of her cousin's house she had en- 
 tered the royal palace, where she had at once become 
 a favorite. No one could have imagined that she 
 would exhibit the heroism, the resoluteness, the ad- 
 dress, which appeared as soon as she began her diffi- 
 cult task. Unconsciously, to herself and to others, 
 she had been preparing for this crisis. God knew that 
 she must meet it. His omniscience is more sensitive 
 in its reports of impending danger than the barom- 
 eter is of storms. God was watchful. The crisis 
 found Esther possessed of unexpected strength, and it 
 left her in full possession of that strength. She had 
 
THE QUESTION OF MORDECAI. 13$ 
 
 tested her powers. The memory of that crisis must 
 have gone with her to the grave, and very often she 
 must have looked back for encouragement when sub- 
 sequently tried. These crises, through which we pass 
 safely and with victory, become monuments in the 
 memory of God's sustaining grace. We have a right 
 to refer to them. " Samuel took a stone, and set it 
 between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name of it 
 1 Ebenezer,' saying, ' Hitherto hath the Lord helped 
 us.' " He was unwilling that the Hebrews should 
 forget the goodness of God. They had been able to 
 recover the ark of God, and to defeat the Philistines. 
 A memorable triumph had been recorded. It was 
 the Lord who thundered with a great thunder that 
 day, and He had discomfited the Philistines. Why, 
 then, should they not remember His interference ; 
 and why should they not hope for similar assistance 
 in every time of need? Christians often wonder if 
 they are right in looking back upon past experiences. 
 In times of especial trial, when they have been very 
 ill, or when they have lost property, or when friends 
 have been taken from them, they have been conscious 
 of God's presence, and have been surprised to realize 
 such composure and resignation as they have known. 
 Every promise has yielded its truth : every anticipa- 
 tion has been met. Then time and the shifting in- 
 terests of life have diverted the soul, and new scenes 
 and new occupations have opened new possibilities 
 
136 THE QUESTION OF MORDECAI. 
 
 of trial. The exposure is evident. Will religion 
 prove helpful, once more, when a new crisis is met? 
 Why not ? The Psalmist, in the day of his trouble, 
 turned almost instinctively to remember the years of 
 the right hand of the Most High. May not we fol- 
 low His example ? Is it not true for us that " as thy 
 days, so shall thy strength be"? May we not look 
 for God in the crises of the future, because He has 
 been faithful in the crises of the past ? Most cer- 
 tainly ! We may wait confidently upon His word ; 
 " for He hath said, ' I will never leave thee, nor for- 
 sake thee.' So that we may boldly say. ' The Lord 
 is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do 
 unto me.' " It is in this way, and in this way only 
 that experience worketh hope. Men of the world shake 
 their heads incredulously at this statement of the 
 Apostle, " experience worketh hope ! " No ! they can 
 not believe it. Contact with the world takes hope 
 away. Inexperience is hopeful. The romance of life 
 disappears as the years multiply. Disappointments 
 are too frequent. Youth expects to realize the for- 
 tune. Old age is apt to be satisfied with the prayer : 
 " Give us this day our daily bread." But it is not so 
 with the sen-ants of God. Experience has satisfied 
 them that the things of God are real. They have 
 taken soundings for themselves, and they have always 
 discovered that the buoys along the channels have 
 been carefully located. God has been true. Even 
 
THE QUESTION OF MORDECAL 137 
 
 time that they have felt for the Rock they have found 
 it. Is it not reasonable, therefore, that they should 
 hope on and hope ever? Yes! we may dismiss anx- 
 ious solicitude. We know nothing about the partic- 
 ular future events of our lives. We must walk by 
 faith up to the very last. We may be sick, we may 
 be reproached, we may be poor, we shall surely die ; 
 yet God will meet us constantly ; and if we are only 
 looking for Him, we shall surely be calm and even 
 joyful. 
 
 It is evident that God orders our lives so that we 
 must meet these crises. We should not grow strong 
 if we should be left without them. They seem to be 
 necessary. Even the most ordinary events may ac- 
 complish this service. For God only can know how 
 universal and how varied these crises are. The rich 
 man meets them in one way and the poor man in 
 another. Yet both meet them. There is no escape ; 
 and it is well for us that there is no hope of escape. If 
 personal character is the one immortal interest, then 
 surely he must bring the most out of life, who is able 
 to carry with him into another world the most per- 
 fect character. The crises test us. We discover then 
 our weakness and our strength. If we are wise, we 
 straightway begin to do as the mariner does who has 
 made a harbor after a terrific gale. How quickly he 
 repairs his ship ; and how eager he is to add strength 
 to the rigging, if it has been severely strained. 
 
1 3 8 THE Q l/ES TION OF MORDECAL 
 
 Character requires constant testing. We must 
 co-operate with God in His endeavor to purify and 
 to spiritualize us. He has indicated the process. 
 We shall ultimately rejoice in the result. I found in 
 the book-store a short time ago a little volume of 
 " Reflections in Palestine/' by Gen. Gordon, the hero 
 of the Soudan. The book had come to us from Lon- 
 don, and contains some very interesting evidences 
 of the religious views of that remarkable man. These 
 " Reflections in Palestine " were written during the 
 year 1883. I n reading them, one discovers the se- 
 cret of the man's courage, and also of his determina- 
 tion. He was a firm believer in God, in the inspiration 
 of the Bible, and in the efficacy of prayer. His char- 
 acter had been tried again and again. He had lived 
 through a very large number of the truths of our 
 holy religion. " Praying for the people ahead of me 
 whom I am to meet gives me much strength," he 
 once said, " and it is wonderful how something seems 
 already to have passed between us, when for the first 
 
 time I meet a chief for whom I have prayed I 
 
 really have no troops with me, but I have the Sheki- 
 nah, and I do like trusting to Him." From Khartoum 
 on the 3d of March, he wrote to the publishers of 
 his book : "lam comforted here in my weakness by 
 the reflection that our Lord rules all things ; and it is 
 dire rebellion to dislike, or murmur against, His rule. 
 May His name be glorified ! these people blessed and 
 
THE QUESTION OF MORDECAL 139 
 
 comforted ! and may I be deeply humbled and thus 
 have a greater sense of His indwelling Spirit ! This 
 is my earnest prayer." 
 
 We shall not match His experience ; and yet, in our 
 own measure, we may draw upon His resources. Only 
 let us know why we are here ; only let us read into 
 life its thought ; only let us face toward Heaven, and 
 walk with its glory upon us all the time ! 
 
 There is still another thought in this question of 
 Mordecai — and a thought of present interest to us 
 all — viz., to arrest a great wrong or to avert an im- 
 pending calamity, strength and influence should be 
 given freely. This was after all the significance of 
 the appeal as it reached Esther. She had become 
 a queen. Unexpected opportunities of service had 
 been presented. She might embrace those oppor- 
 tunities, or she might fail. The disaster had not yet 
 come. It was only threatened. Should she step for- 
 ward now and prevent it by her intercession ? This 
 was the question of that hour, and it is the question 
 of every hour. The preventive ministry should be 
 an active ministry. " We then that are strong ought 
 to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please 
 ourselves. Let every one of us please his neighbor 
 for his good to edification." A very important prin- 
 ciple was given prominence in the Mosaic legislation, 
 when the Hebrews were commanded to place battle- 
 ments upon the roofs" of their houses. The house-top 
 
I4 o THE QUESTION OF MORDECAI. 
 
 was constantly used. It must, therefore, be made 
 safe. Friends must be kept from falling off, just as 
 they must be treated considerately if so unfortunate 
 as to fall off. When our Lord was in Galilee He re- 
 fused to dismiss the hungry multitude until He had 
 fed them. " I will not send them away fasting," He 
 said, " lest they faint in the way." He anticipated 
 trouble. A large part of- His ministry was exercised 
 with reference to prevention. The Church has this 
 as her great mission. We establish the Church of 
 Christ in new communities with the confident expec- 
 tation that she will become a mother to the people. 
 We admit children to the communion of the church 
 with the hope that we may be able to develop their 
 Christian characters, so that they may resist sin in 
 every form. A large part of education looks in this 
 direction ; and to these claims the ripest talents 
 should be given. We need to look ahead. ■ The wise 
 man foresees the evil, and makes provision to meet 
 it. His eyes are always open. Like a traveller who 
 stops to pick up a stone and to throw it out of the 
 road for the sake of those who may come after him, 
 the wise man is considerate of the generations follow- 
 ing. He uses his strength and influence, as a steward 
 employs the money of an estate. They are for the 
 benefit of his master's property. Can we make life 
 brighter? Can we hold our fellow-men to spiritual 
 interests? Can we cultivate the flowers and the 
 
THE QUESTION OF MORDECAI, 141 
 
 fruits to the exclusion of the thorns and the briars? 
 This is positive work. It is surely better to try and 
 make your friend a good man, than to try and keep 
 him from being a bad man. The Gospel v/orks in 
 this direction. Its aim is definite and clear. Men are 
 to be preserved blameless and presented faultless. 
 
 How often we find a man, after long wanderings 
 amidst speculations and doubts, coming back to the 
 faith of his childhood and accepting calmly his 
 mother's Saviour ! That mother may be in Heaven, 
 where her prayers have been laid up by God. She 
 may have passed away with the painful thought that 
 she had failed to lead her son aright. But now her 
 influence appears. The early instruction has not 
 been lost. She has her reward. Oh ! men with pray- 
 ing mothers, whose first breath of life was greeted 
 with prayer, whose steps were turned toward the 
 straight and narrow way by a loving hand, are you 
 mindful of that influence ? does it now affect you ? 
 are you conscious of its constraint ? Thank God 
 that you have it ! Respond promptly to its plead- 
 ing ! Return from all your wanderings to give your 
 faith unto Him whom your mother loved and served 
 so well ! 
 
 To most of us, the practical interests of temper- 
 ance make their appeal right here. We are ourselves 
 secure against intemperance, because we have been 
 the recipients of a preventive ministry. We have 
 
1 4 2 THE QUESTION OF MORDECAI. 
 
 been educated to our present convictions. They are 
 not the accidents of mere good fortune. Circum- 
 stances have exerted their influence upon us, and we 
 have learned the wisdom and the expediency of absti- 
 nence from the use of all that may intoxicate. This 
 is our personal safety. Now, what of our duty ? 
 Must we wait until men are drunkards before we 
 exert ourselves? or must we now undertake to pre- 
 vent drunkenness in every proper and legitimate 
 way? The public sentiment of the age is already 
 beginning to speak in answer to that question. We 
 must prevent. The intelligence and virtue of every 
 community must prevent. The strong arm of the 
 law must be employed. Public sentiment must be 
 cultivated. The individual conscience must be in- 
 structed. Here is a sphere for the exercise of 
 strength and influence. The hope of the future de- 
 pends upon this exercise. We can not afford to be 
 indifferent. To each one of us the question is ad- 
 dressed : " Who knoweth whether thou art come to 
 the kingdom for such a time as this ? " 
 
 There are men whom we meet who have more 
 than once stayed the tide of commercial disaster 
 when it was beginning to rush with destructive vio- 
 lence. They have simply put forth their strength 
 and influence, and confidence has been restored. 
 They did not wait until the havoc of the disaster 
 had brought ruin to multitudes. They appreciated 
 
THE QUESTION OF MORDECAI. 143 
 
 the situation. They anticipated, and so prevented 
 the calamity. This is quiet work. It seldom goes 
 out with music and banners. Yet it is heroes' work 
 The world does not applaud it as they do the clash 
 and noise of war. Yet it is better. It may not find 
 a place in history, but it carries a good conscience, 
 and God pronounces His " well done ! " You may 
 have had such opportunities in the past ; if so, you 
 will look for them in the future. To this end, let us 
 seek to be strong and to accumulate influence. A 
 man may wonder for years what his strength is good 
 for, and how his influence will ever tell. Let him 
 not be impatient. His time will come. There is 
 some good word for him to speak, some telling action 
 for him to accomplish ; only let him cultivate strength 
 and influence for service, service, service, always for 
 service; then, when he is summoned, he will be pre- 
 pared to meet the duty of the hour. 
 
 If we have carefully followed the course of this 
 strangely interesting history, we have already found 
 new reasons for trusting God. If you can really 
 trust God, then you are ready to enjoy life. God 
 gives us hope. We never weary of God. Our invest- 
 ments with God pay the best dividends. There can 
 be no bankruptcy there. The saints are perpetually 
 solvent. Accept God, live for God, work with God, 
 and then, oh ! then, life will grow sweet and mellow, 
 and its fair prospect of immortal blessedness will 
 
144 THE QUESTION OF MORDECAL 
 
 solve many of the mysteries of time, and will keep 
 from us despair and gloom and every foreboding. 
 " Many a man has said," remarks an English essayist 
 u I labored to grow rich ; I thought I should be happv 
 then ; I have grown rich, and I am no happier than 
 before. Many a man has said, I labored to grow 
 eminent ; I thought I should be happy then ; I have 
 gained what I wished, and I am no happier than be- 
 fore. But the man never breathed who would say 
 the like of the blessings of grace. The man never 
 breathed who would say that he had grown weary of 
 his Saviours love and of the blessed Spirit's consola- 
 tion ; that he had tried them for himself, and found 
 them empty and vain." Turn we, therefore, to God, 
 who is always true, always faithful, always satisfying ! 
 He is near to us in the person of our Saviour, Jesus 
 Christ. Accepting Him, the Saviour, we accept God ; 
 and when we accept God, we begin to be ready to 
 serve one another, to offer to our fellow-men a noble 
 personality, to meet the great w r orld with a strength 
 which is divine, 
 
VIII. 
 
 "THE SEA IS HIS." 
 
 " The sea is His, and He made it." — Ps. xcv. 5. 
 
 The Psalmist looked upon the sea as its waters 
 touched the western borders of the Holy Land. In 
 his day, commerce had not become familiar with the 
 great oceans which are now the highways of the 
 world. The Phoenicians, who were bold navigators, 
 sometimes passed between the Pillars of Hercules, and 
 coasted along the shores of Spain and Gaul until they 
 reached Britain. But the Hebrews remained at home, 
 satisfied to enjoy the fertility of the hills and valleys 
 which God had blessed. They were a favored peo- 
 ple. Jerusalem was the centre of their earth. To 
 visit the Temple and to participate in the great festi- 
 vals made them supremely happy ; while to foster a 
 national spirit and to keep separate from the sur- 
 rounding heathenism, were duties which their chil- 
 dren were taught to regard. The Mediterranean was 
 their sea, and its expanse seemed limitless. From 
 the heights of Carmel or from the hills of Judah, 
 they could observe the vast extent of its waters, and 
 could watch the ships which sailed to lands beyond 
 7 (i45) 
 
146 "THE SEA IS HIS." 
 
 the horizon ; while upon the coast from Joppa to 
 Sidon, they could hear the deep roar of the surf and 
 could enjoy the variety and beauty of the ever-chang- 
 ing waves. 
 
 Into the poetry of the Hebrews, the sea entered 
 as an illustration of the sublimity, the grandeur, and 
 the mysteriousness of God. To their imagination 
 He seemed to have kept the sea to Himself. They 
 could not understand its secrets any more than they 
 could understand His nature. The earth was theirs 
 and they had subdued so much of it as they pos- 
 sessed. But the sea — although it was spread out be- 
 fore their eyes, although its ownership was like the 
 ownership of the firmament above, the common heri- 
 tage of the race — filled them with wonder and awe 
 and dread. God was there. His way was in the 
 sea ; His paths were in the deep waters ; His foot- 
 steps were not known. 
 
 Centuries of heroic endeavor have added to man's 
 acquaintance with the sea. Its shores have been 
 mapped and its depths have been searched. One ocean 
 after another has been explored, until now the inac- 
 cessible regions about the pole are those which lie 
 concealed. Man's familiarity with the sea, however, 
 has not made him its master. He can not defy the 
 sea, nor can he disregard the authority of the sea. 
 God has not given man the sea as his domain. " The 
 sea is His, and He made it." How often this con- 
 
"THE SEA IS HISr 1 47 
 
 seriousness arises in and takes possession c: the mind ! 
 Man seems insignificant when he stands before the 
 mighty waves of the sea. His splendid armadas and 
 his granite foundations are quickly swept away if the 
 waters rage against them, and the sea measures its 
 strength with theirs. The voice of a king is as pow- 
 erless to arrest the rising tide as is that of an infant. 
 The sea commands respect. Its laws must be con- 
 sidered and obeyed if there is to be escape from its 
 wrath, or if there is to be use of its advantages. 
 God is there. His voice is heard. His omnipotence 
 is manifest. 
 
 As we sympathize with the devout Hebrews in 
 their estimate of the sea, we can hardly fail to con- 
 sider that the sea is a magnificent expression of 
 divine power in the broad expanse of its surface, and 
 the absolute control of its waves. Here is a fluid 
 substance, always in motion, whose extent is far be- 
 yond our estimate, and yet it is held within its own 
 bounds and under the most perfect authority of 
 divine law. We go down to the shore of the sea 
 and meditate alone upon this vastness and order. 
 The waves rise and fall, the tides advance and re- 
 cede, but there is no confusion. The waters do not 
 overleap their appointed bounds. Steadily they lift 
 themselves with irresistible power and then they 
 pause and quietly retreat, until they are far off in the 
 distance. Ordinarily, six to eight feet of tide may 
 
I 4 8 " THE SEA IS HIS." 
 
 be noticed, sometimes ten to twenty feet, and, occa« 
 sionally, forty, fifty, and even seventy feet. The in- 
 fluence of the moon is responsible for these mysteri- 
 ous changes, which occur with the utmost regularity. 
 We can predict when we shall have high tide and 
 when the tide will be low ; we can also name the day 
 and the hour of each month when the tide will be 
 very high and when it will be very low. Without 
 this control there could be no safety upon the shores 
 of the sea, nor, indeed, upon any portion of the land. 
 If the sea was permitted to rise and fall by chance 
 the land would be deluged. But God has ordained 
 such an order and made such laws, that the silent 
 moon is charged with the important duty of main- 
 taining the uniformity of the sea level. "As the 
 moon moves slowly around the earth," the astrono- 
 mer tells us, "her attraction draws up the yielding 
 waters of the ocean in a vast wave which moves 
 slowly along with her. The same attraction which 
 thus lifts a wave on the side of the earth toward 
 the moon, draws the earth gently away from the wa- 
 ters on the opposite side, and causes a second wave 
 there. These two waves sweep steadily onward, fol- 
 lowing the movements of the moon — not real, but 
 seeming movements — caused by the turning of the 
 earth upon its axis." What a beautiful exhibition is 
 this of that divine power which upholds all things ! 
 How impossible it is to refer to an accident, or to a 
 
" THE SEA IS HIS." 149 
 
 fortuitous concurrence of atoms, or to any unintelli- 
 gent force a result like this, which is so evident ! I 
 could as soon believe that stone from the mountains, 
 and timber from the forests, and iron from the mines, 
 and slate from the quarries came together of their 
 own motion, or through a certain natural affinity, and 
 combined to form a house, as I could believe that 
 the tides of the ocean are independent of the exist- 
 ence of God. In spite of all modern denials, we must 
 still cling to the argument of Paley to prove that de- 
 sign implies a designer. Effects must have a cause, 
 and the cause must be adequate to the production 
 of the effect. The irreverence which attempts to de- 
 throne God is rebuked by the sea. His power is a 
 sublime reality there. " The floods have lifted up, 
 O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice ; the 
 floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is 
 mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the 
 mighty waves of the sea." 
 
 But there is another form, or method, of God's con- 
 trol to which we may refer. The daily motion of the 
 earth upon its axis would pile up the mass of waters 
 which compose the sea around the equator, if there 
 were no counterbalancing agencies. But God has 
 met this difficulty by depressing the form of the 
 earth at the two poles, so that its shape is not that of 
 a perfect sphere. In this way, the equatorial regions 
 are elevated, and the centrifugal force of the daily 
 
150 
 
 THE SEA IS HIS." 
 
 motion is met. Here again there are evidences of the 
 most delicate adjustments. We have the alternations 
 of day and night, because the earth revolves upon its 
 axis ; and we have sea and land in the Northern and 
 Southern zones, because the earth is girded at the 
 equator by a ridge of mountains. This, God's order, 
 has been maintained from the beginning. Man can 
 not affect it. Its operations are beneficent. Life and 
 health and prosperity come to us from the sea, which 
 God ever holds within its bounds, obedient to His 
 purpose. 
 
 This broad expanse of waters is, therefore, eloquent 
 with God's praise. We go down to the sea in ships, 
 and sail away over the broad expanse. Day follows 
 day, week succeeds to week, and month to month, 
 while we still pursue our voyage upon the pathless 
 ocean. It is estimated that three-fourths of the 
 earth's surface is covered by this unstable element ; 
 only one-fourth is dry land, intrusted to man as his 
 abode. He may use the sea, but it is not his. Upon 
 it he can rear no monuments, he can engrave no in- 
 scriptions, he can build no cities, he can establish no 
 freehold. He is a voyager, often tossed to and fro 
 as the sport of the waves, often hurried to destruc- 
 tion by the raging of the tempest, and often speeding 
 on his way to the desired haven with faithful chart 
 and compass. God controls the sea. " The sea is 
 His, and He made it." We may cheer our hearts with 
 
" THE SEA IS HIS." \ 5 1 
 
 this sweet consciousness. Friends beloved are, it may 
 be, far off upon the sea, yet with them God is present. 
 He holds the waters in the hollow of His hand. He 
 rules the raging of the sea; when the waves thereof 
 arise He stills them. Gladly do we wait upon Him. 
 Reverently do we anticipate His presence. Tenderly 
 do we commit to Him our cherished interests on the 
 sea, and beseech Him of His great mercy to protect all 
 those who go down to the sea in ships. 
 
 The sea exhibits the wisdom of God in the va- 
 riety of its services and the abundance of its life. 
 You have observed the phosphorescence of the sea as 
 you have watched the breaking of the surf, or as you 
 have made your way through the water upon the 
 deck of a ship. How brilliant it is ! Yet this phosphor- 
 escence is nothing whatever but the activity of life. 
 Living creatures, many of them invisible alone to the 
 naked eye, flash forth this magnificent illumination by 
 their multitude. Mr. Darwin, the naturalist, once 
 observed this phenomenon in the Indian Ocean, when 
 it covered an area of more than twenty miles. " In 
 appearance," he remarks, " it was like a plain of snow. 
 The scene was one of awful grandeur ; the sea being 
 turned to phosphorus, the heavens being hung in 
 blackness, and the stars going out." 
 
 The coral islands of the Pacific are vast cemeteries 
 of insect life. Tiny insects have given their lives to 
 the construction of these beautiful homes of the palm 
 
152 "THE SEA IS HIS." 
 
 tree, where man has found a residence. Their num- 
 ber must have been far beyond any computation. 
 Yet each one of them was perfect of its kind, and 
 accomplished its predestined work. 
 
 Then there are the fishes and marine animals, so 
 strange in their construction, so carefully formed by 
 their Creator ; and the plants of countless varieties, 
 which hide their beauty in the depths of the sea. God 
 made them all. They are His. With many of them man 
 has scarcely formed an acquaintance. They are be- 
 yond his reach. He can only wonder and adore, as 
 he searches the deep places of the sea, and brings 
 forth the treasures which are hidden there. The sea 
 is God's great museum of natural history, into which 
 man may sometimes enter, and from which it is hardly 
 possible to come forth without new impressions of 
 the Creator's wisdom and skill. Life, life on every 
 side, and life constantly appealing to the Infinite 
 Source of all Life. 
 
 Mention has been made of the tides, and we should 
 not fail to think for a moment of their services. They 
 are the great purifiers of the earth. With their sweet, 
 clean waters, they make their way into bays and 
 harbors and rivers, washing the shores, and carrying 
 off with them a great amount of waste and filth. 
 Toulon and Marseilles, in France, have both suffered 
 this present season,* because their artificial harbors 
 
-THE SEA IS HIS." 153 
 
 upon the Mediterranean Sea are not swept by the 
 tides; and London, the greatest city of the world, is 
 habitable, because the strong tides find their way far 
 beyond London Bridge. What a beneficent provision 
 this is! How dependent man is upon it ! Yet how 
 seldom do we consider the wisdom which ordained 
 and rules it ! 
 
 The tides suggest the great currents of the sea like 
 the Gulf Stream ; and what a marvellous display of 
 divine forethought is here ! " There is a river in the 
 ocean," says Lieut. Maury. " In the severest droughts 
 it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never 
 overflows. Its banks and its bottom are of cold 
 water, while its current is of warm. The Gulf of 
 Mexico is its fountain, while its mouth is in the Arctic 
 seas. It is the Gulf Stream. There is in the world 
 no other such majestic flow of waters. Its current is 
 more rapid than the Mississippi or Amazon, and its 
 volume more than a thousand times greater." These 
 currents of the sea carry with them and dispense heat 
 and fertility, cold and moisture. They flow in many 
 directions, and are the dependence of large portions 
 of the civilized world. The nations of Northern 
 F.urope would soon be driven from their homes by 
 frost and ice if the Gulf Stream should cease to pour 
 its waters along their shores ; and the Tropical seas 
 would become too warm for life, with the intense 
 rays of the sun pouring upon them, if their waters 
 
 7* 
 
I 54 "THE SEA IS HIS." 
 
 were not constantly chilled by the Polar currents, 
 which flow from the regions of perpetual ice. Thus 
 the wisdom of God has made provision for the welfare 
 of man in all parts of the world, and the sea is the 
 intelligent servant whose duties are indicative of His 
 omniscience. 
 
 Land-locked seas, like the Mediterranean and the 
 Red, are powerfully affected by evaporation. This 
 evaporation would dry up the seas in time, but for 
 the fact that the currents of water made dense with 
 brine flow out into the oceans, while the ocean cur- 
 rents, much lighter and with less brine, flow in to 
 maintain the level. These two currents, the one 
 above the other, are constantly in motion, and the 
 result is the maintenance of the sea. Here is a new 
 evidence of divine forethought and power. For God 
 alone could have foreseen this necessity, and no pow- 
 er but His could have given such orderly and essen- 
 tial currents to the waters of the sea. 
 
 The sea performs an important part in the activity 
 of the great law of circularity. This law secures the 
 distribution of matter, in its changes, over the face 
 of the earth. Nothing is lost. Matter changes its 
 form without destruction. As the sacred writer has 
 declared : " The wind goeth toward the south, and 
 turneth about unto the north ; it whirleth about con- 
 tinually, and the wind returneth again according to 
 his circuits. All the rivers run into the sea ; vet the 
 
"THE SEA IS HIS." 155 
 
 sea is not full : unto the place from whence the riv 
 ers come, thither they return again." " The thing 
 that hath been, it is that which shall be ; and that 
 which is done is that which shall be done ; and there 
 is no new thing under the sun." Here is a most 
 perfect adjustment, in which the sea is especially 
 active. It receives the waters of the streams, and 
 returns them to the clouds ; it arouses many of the 
 winds which sweep the moisture-laden clouds to the 
 regions of mountains and valleys. The activity is 
 incessant. By means of it the atmosphere is purified, 
 the early and the latter rains are given, and life is per- 
 petuated. Very beautifully has a Christian thinker* 
 of Scotland expressed himself in his reflections upon 
 this divine law : " Unlike man's best machinery, this 
 process produces absolutely no waste; not so much 
 as a dewdrop goes amissing in a thousand years. A 
 drop exhales from the ground as the morning sun 
 grows hot ; it goes out of sight in the unfathomable 
 ocean of air ; but it is not lost, it is in the book, and 
 in by double entry ; it must and will cast up at the 
 balance in its proper place. It dissipates from a 
 daisy in your garden in June ; if stock were taken at 
 Christmas, it might be found frozen in at St. Peters- 
 burg on the Neva, or sparkling as it leaps from the 
 paddle of a canoe on an unnamed African lake ; it 
 
 * Dr. Arnot, " The Present World," p. 46. 
 
i 5 6 
 
 ■'THE SEA IS HIS." 
 
 might be found on a pinnacle of the fantastic icicles 
 that adorn Niagara, or springing in the fountains 
 that feed the mysterious Nile ; it might be found ad- 
 hering to the feather with which a mother and queen 
 is wetting the lips of her son and heir at the deep, 
 dark, midnight turning-point of his fever, or consti- 
 tuting a portion of the great tear standing on the 
 black cheek of an African youth while the white 
 slaver is counting out the price and stowing away 
 the cargo ; it might be found — but where might it 
 not be found ? Only one thing is sure, it can not 
 be lost." 
 
 How admirable does the wisdom of the Supreme 
 Being appear when its manifestations are considered ! 
 God hides Himself, but He acquaints us with His 
 character. Back of and prior to these wonderful phe- 
 nomena of nature we recognize God. He is our de- 
 pendence. In Him we rejoice. His presence adds 
 interest to every tint on leaf or flower; to every 
 voice of insect or of bird ; to every motion of cloud 
 or sea. The earth is God's temple, in which His 
 praise is constantly heard, while man alone refuses 
 to do Him homage. Yet to man He has revealed 
 Himself in the clearest terms, and from him He de- 
 sires a service of holy love. Let us, brethren, recog- 
 nize God in His works, and let us render Him the 
 praise of reverent, devout, and appreciative hearts. 
 
 The sea announces God's supremacy in its ao 
 
"THE SEA IS HIS." 157 
 
 ceptance of man's presence, and its co-operation in 
 man's work. Man uses the sea by permission. He 
 does not do well to be boastful. Experience has 
 taught him to respect the sea, and the success with 
 which he navigates will be measured by his consid- 
 eration of its laws. Some years ago I passed a quiet 
 summer night upon a vessel within the shelter of 
 Montauk Point. An old sea captain, who had sailed 
 in charge of whaling ships, was in command. As 
 darkness came upon us, I observed that he carefully 
 reefed the sails, and when I asked the reason of such 
 a precaution, as there was no appearance of rising 
 wind, the old man replied : " We can not tell what 
 may happen before morning, and it is well to be pre- 
 pared for any change of weather." The sea does not 
 permit trifling. It co-operates most helpfully in the 
 work of commerce, if commerce will obey its laws. 
 But otherwise it resists with violence every aggres- 
 sion, and punishes with severity man's acts of dis- 
 obedience. You or I are at liberty to build our ships 
 as we please, to provision them as we please, and to 
 sail them as we please ; and the sea is at liberty to 
 meet us in our folly and to dash us to destruction. 
 If we meet destruction as the reward of folly, we are 
 culpable. God invites us to use the sea, but we must 
 use it lawfully. The chart and the compass are at 
 our service ; instruments of delicate construction to 
 indicate approaching storms are within our reach ; 
 
1 58 "THE SEA IS HIS." 
 
 experience has given us a record of many successes 
 and of many failures. If we propose to use the sea, 
 we must exhibit our intelligence and our prudence in 
 our preparations to sail. A man may imagine that 
 he is a hero, when he ventures to cross the stormy 
 Atlantic in a little open boat, but most men will think 
 that he is foolhardy. The Atlantic has been crossed 
 and is crossed each week with the uniformity of a 
 ferry service, but skilled navigators, obedient to the 
 laws of the sea, are in charge of the service, and the 
 wise man sails with those who have approved them- 
 selves upon the sea. 
 
 Is there not a thought here which lays hold on 
 eternal life ? There is a sea before us all. One day — ■ 
 we know not when — we must embark. The further 
 shore we have not seen, nor have we seen returning 
 one of the many millions of our race who have 
 already sailed from us upon this wide sea. Yet do 
 we believe that there is a further shore, for the same 
 reason that we, who have never left this continent of 
 ours, believe that, looking eastward, we are facing the 
 shores of France or Portugal or Spain. Of those 
 shores we have often heard. Credible witnesses have 
 spoken of their interesting scenes and attractive life. 
 We are somewhat familiar with them, although we 
 have never visited them. We should be ashamed 
 to question their reality, and that in view of testi- 
 mony. Shall we accept the word of man, and then 
 
'THE SEA IS HIS:' 
 
 159 
 
 shall we question the word of Him who spake as 
 never man spake? Jesus Christ came to us from 
 those blessed shores beyond the sea of time. He 
 has described the land which He calls Heaven. In 
 every particular his statements, so far as we have 
 been able to prove them, have commended them- 
 selves. He is the truth. His character is perfec- 
 tion. We accept what He has said with joy : we 
 anticipate the glory of the better land. It is there 
 beyond us. We hope to reach it, and to share its 
 blessedness. 
 
 But how ? How shall we cross the sea ? Is it wise 
 to attempt to struggle over in our own unaided 
 strength ? Shall we be borne to the further shore if 
 we cast ourselves upon the waters ? Will the skiffs 
 and rafts of our own construction hold together while 
 we attempt the voyage ? Or are we acquainted with a 
 method, approved by long experience, commended 
 by the authority of God, to which we may commit the 
 interests of our immortal souls ? There is such a 
 method. It considers the requirements of the voy- 
 age. The laws of this great sea are respected by it. 
 It has proved a safe transport from shore to shore. 
 No one who has ever accepted its safety has repented 
 of his choice. It is still accessible. We are invited 
 to intrust ourselves to its promises. 
 
 This divine provision is the Gospel of Jesus Christ, 
 which we may accept. God has sent His Son to be 
 
160 "THE SEA IS HIS." 
 
 the Saviour of the world. He has spoken the word 
 of life, and He has given His life to redeem us. " The 
 law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus" is the only 
 known law which meets the requirements of human 
 destiny. If we accept this law, if we live by it, if 
 we make it our dependence for time and for eternity, 
 we shall reach Heaven and shall secure an abundant 
 entrance there. But if we reject this law, if we re- 
 fuse to live by it, if we cast it from us as our de- 
 pendence, we can have no hope whatever of entering 
 Heaven and of being happy there. This, therefore, 
 is the only salvation, and it is offered to us freely in 
 the abundance of God's love. As we must all embark 
 upon this sea, whose waters wash the confines of 
 each mortal life, should we not make early provision 
 for the voyage ? We know not when we shall be 
 called to sail. Let us be ready at any hour, by simple 
 confidence in Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 And what is true of this interest is true of every 
 other interest which is under the control of law. 
 Obedience means success. When we meet the terms 
 of the law, we secure the promised blessing. There 
 are exceptions to this rule, but they only confirm the 
 statement. Obedience is a necessity. Life must be 
 conducted under the reign of law. 
 
 Thus the sea rebukes our pride. We can not boast 
 much, although we have accomplished much. We 
 are dependent, always dependent. The little that we 
 
" THE SEA IS HIS. " 1 6 1 
 
 gain we hold as stewards, and the little that we do, 
 we do by co-operation. God alone is great. We 
 should be humble, and docile, and willing always to 
 acknowledge His supremacy. 
 
 And can we, in the presence of the sea, cherish an 
 unbelieving thought ? Can we, with the fool of the 
 Psalmist's day, say in our hearts, "There is no God "? 
 " The sea is His, and He made it." Its testimony 
 is eloquent. Not only do we wrong God when we 
 neglect to recognize Him and give Him praise, we 
 also wrong ourselves. For life can not be rich 
 and full and noble if God is not in all its thoughts. 
 The men of the sea are seldom infidels. " They see 
 the works of the Lord, and His wonders in the deep." 
 They realize that they are in His hands, and in their 
 hours of danger they cry aloud unto Him for help. 
 Here are these many evidences of a presence whose 
 control is omnipotence and whose wisdom is perfect. 
 That presence must be explained. We can not refer 
 this order, these delicate adjustments, this magnifi- 
 cent expanse to chance, nor can we feel any better 
 satisfied if we simply talk about nature's laws. Laws 
 are not operative. There must be a lawgiver and an 
 administrator of law. Who is he? How shall we 
 name him ? Shall we say that the origin of all things 
 is lost in the dimness of eternity? Shall we announce 
 the conviction that matter, force, and motion will 
 account for what is visible without any effort to ac 
 
[62 "THE SEA IS HIS." 
 
 count for matter, force, and motion? Or shall we read 
 the record of Holy Scripture and accept its announce* 
 ment that " in the beginning God created the heaven 
 and the earth " ? Here is a resting-place. In God 
 thought finds an adequate explanation of things 
 which do appear, affection receives the recompense 
 of confidence, and the service of life opens grandly 
 with a divine interpretation. " Every house is 
 builded by some man, but He that built all things 
 is God." So we raise our heads to look upon the 
 stars, and behold " the heavens declare God's glory 
 and the firmament showeth His handiwork"; we 
 walk abroad through the fields, and every plant, every 
 flower, every insect, every bird, adds to our estimate 
 that " the hand that made us is divine "; we stand 
 upon the shore and watch the waves and hear the 
 pounding of the surf, and rejoice to believe that " the 
 sea is His, and He made it." For we have learned that 
 He who " telleth the number of the stars," that He 
 " who clothes the grass of the field," that He who 
 watches the sparrow's flight, that He who layeth up 
 the depth in store-houses is our God, to whom we 
 look with the confidence of filial love, who has made 
 known to us His counsel, who has prepared for us a 
 home, who has offered us a salvation, and who saves 
 us by His grace. 
 
IX. 
 
 THE PAST IN THE PRESENT AND THE 
 FUTURE. 
 
 " He shall call to the heavens from, above, and td 
 the earth, that He may judge His people."— 
 Ps. 1. 4. 
 
 The heavens and the earth constitute the empire 
 of God. He reigns over the entire universe. No 
 interest is too insignificant for His regard, none is too 
 vast for His control. The flight of the sparrow is 
 observed ; the cry of the young raven is noticed ; the 
 grass of the field is clothed : and at the same time 
 God telleth the number of the stars, and calleth them 
 all by their names ; He ruleth the raging of the sea, 
 and when the waves thereof arise He stilleth them ; 
 Hedoeth accordingto His will in the army of Heaven 
 and among the inhabitants of the earth. 
 
 In His government God is not affected by the 
 limitations of time. "One day is with the Lord as a 
 thousand years, and a thousand years as one day." 
 To the divine intelligence, the present, the past, and 
 the future must be an eternal now. A single glance 
 of omniscience compasses the entire field of observa- 
 
 (163) 
 
164 THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 
 
 tion. The end is declared from the beginning. 
 Events record themselves to serve the purposes of 
 judgment. There can be no mistakes. Strict and 
 impartial justice will be dispensed to every human 
 being, when the Book of God's Remembrance shall 
 discover its contents. 
 
 Meanwhile the present is steadily encroaching upon 
 the future, and as steadily adding to the past. The 
 car in which we are riding upon the invisible track of 
 destiny is the present, whose advance acquaints us 
 with the thought of the future, and leaves behind our 
 impression upon the life of the past. We are con- 
 stantly moving. The mile-stones of the journey dis- 
 appear, one by one, after we have approached them. 
 The end is soon reached ; and the car in which we 
 ride becomes as invisible to mortal eyes as is the track 
 which must still determine our course. Looking 
 back, we have the past, and that is historic ; looking 
 around, we have the present, and that is always chang- 
 ing ; looking ahead, we contemplate the future, and 
 that has no brightness, if it is not illuminated by the 
 promise of God. 
 
 A theme for the closing Sabbath of the year thus 
 announces itself, and we may hope for instruction as 
 we consider the relation of the past to the present 
 and the future. 
 
 1st. The present and the future rest upon and are 
 the expressions of the past. " Other men labored," 
 
THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 165 
 
 the Master said, " and ye are entered into their labors." 
 No generation can be independent of the preceding 
 generations. As David collected a large part of the 
 materials with which Solomon built the Temple, so 
 the energy and intelligence of former years bear fruit 
 in the grand results which are now apparent. Parents 
 toil and endure all manner of privations in order that 
 they may educate the sons and daughters who become 
 illustrious. They live in their children. Through 
 their services to humanity and to God, they serve 
 their day and generation. How quick we were to 
 recognize this sacred relation, when the lamented 
 Garfield drew to. himself the sympathy of the world 
 in those weary days of heroic suffering ! The life of 
 his mother, a humble woman, who had struggled 
 bravely with adversity, made his life a splendid 
 reality. Hereditary traits and ancestral conditions 
 have much to do with success or failure. The pure 
 blood of virtue and temperance means health and 
 vigor, sobriety and industry ; while the vicious blood 
 of lust and cunning and tyranny will record its pres- 
 ence in the narratives of many evil deeds. Why does 
 Europe dread the supremacy of the Bourbons ; and 
 why does France shrink from accepting the authority 
 of the Bonapartes ? Why does crinie perpetuate 
 itself from generation to generation ; and why are 
 the children of the righteous so often found in the 
 places of their fathers ? The roots of our lives may 
 
1 66 THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 
 
 be traced to a great distance. The beginnings ol 
 present results are often visible in the early centuries. 
 Our lives are an inheritance. We have received a 
 legacy of blessing, which we are expected to use; and 
 in the using we are expected to increase ; and with 
 its increase we are commanded to transmit. How 
 seldom do we realize this ! The prodigality of the 
 spendthrift squanders the fortune which his ancestors 
 accumulated, so that there is nothing left for those 
 who are to come after him, while his dissipation ex- 
 hausts the physical resources which he has also 
 received, so that his descendants are a puny, sickly, 
 useless race. This law of heredity imposes fearful 
 demands. It makes life intensely solemn. " None 
 of us liveth to himself." The generation following 
 may rise up to call us blessed, or else may appear to 
 condemn a selfish disregard of our future, which be- 
 comes their present. 
 
 A survey of the past in its relation to the present 
 can hardly fail to impress a thoughtful mind with a 
 sense of dependence. Our common utensils are the 
 implements of a former science. We do our work 
 every day with tools which have only been produced 
 by patient thought. Discovery and invention keep 
 pace with the requirements of the age — never very 
 far ahead, and yet never behind. We wondered once 
 what we should do for fuel, as the forests were disap- 
 pearing under the stroke of the woodman's axe. Then 
 
THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 167 
 
 inexhaustible supplies of coal were announced, and a 
 method of burning coal was suggested. The farthing 
 rush-light was succeeded by the more brilliant oil- 
 lamp, and that by the brighter gas-jet, and a flame 
 which is fed by springs in the earth ; and now elec- 
 tricity is prepared to illuminate our paths and to cheer 
 our abodes. Each new thought is quickly appro- 
 priated and becomes a part of our working capital. 
 We begin life upon an advanced plane. We handle 
 the mysteries of other years as the science of things 
 familiar. Our possibilities are greatly enlarged. Yet 
 we can never forget our debt. Constantly a voice is 
 heard — and it is more impressive far than the voice of 
 the slave which sought to restrain the pride of the 
 Roman conqueror by saying in the hour of his triumph : 
 " Thou too art a man ! " " Thou too art a man ! " — 
 a voice is heard asking : " Who maketh thee to differ 
 from another? and what hast thou that thou didst 
 not receive ? " Boasting is excluded. Humility is 
 commended. Our vantage-ground of opportunity is 
 simply the splendid platform of past achievements. 
 All literature, all science, all art, all religion join in 
 the tribute of praise which commemorates the 
 diligence of former times. The present is but a 
 single tier of a splendid pyramid. It rests upon and 
 springs out of the many tiers which are beneath it. 
 We can not forget. We are fellow-laborers. The 
 work is common to us all. Shall we not rejoice to- 
 
1 68 THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 
 
 gether, by and by, when the capstone is lifted to its 
 position amidst shouts of " grace," " grace," unto it ? 
 But a consciousness like this will surely assist us in 
 estimating the importance of our own place and 
 work. We are now the active generation. Our pres- 
 ent will very soon become another past. There is a 
 future, which must be affected by what we are and 
 by what we do. In building a tower, careless masons 
 will sometimes introduce a course of soft brick or 
 stone, whose presence will become evident, when the 
 weight of the other courses begins to be felt. His- 
 tory is acquainted with similar periods — periods like 
 the age of Charles the Second, which succeeded the 
 stern, heroic administration of Cromwell. They are 
 weak and contemptible. No vigorous policies are 
 outlined, and no useful deeds are recorded. Let us 
 elevate the period of our influence and control above 
 the plane of the commonplace ! We should leave 
 the world better than we found it. The unfinished 
 problems are for our solution. Let us know what 
 they are ; let us have convictions respecting them ; 
 and let us give our talents and our time freely on 
 their behalf. This is just "what others have done in 
 other years. May we not imitate them ? There are 
 the unsettled questions of the war, questions pertain- 
 ing to the freedmen and their rights. There are the 
 questions which affect the Indians. There is the ab- 
 sorbing question of Temperance. There is the Mor- 
 
THE PAST; THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 169 
 
 mon question. There is the question of labor and 
 capital, and the question of charity. We need not 
 fear that we shall exhaust the supply. That seems 
 to be limitless. There are questions enough and 
 work enough for us all. Let us not be idle. Let 
 us not be indifferent. " Brethren, let every man 
 wherein he is called, therein abide with God." 
 " Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
 thy might." " There are diversities of gifts, but 
 the same spirit. And there are differences of admin- 
 istrations, but the same Lord." We are making his- 
 tory. Our simple deeds are more important than 
 they seem. God observes us. There is encourage- 
 ment in His recognition. Who can describe the glory 
 which is wrapped up within the benediction : " Well 
 done, good and faithful servant : thou hast been 
 faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over 
 many things : enter thou into the joy of thy Lord ! " 
 
 2d. The past illustrates the principles which must 
 be operative in the present and the future. Life has 
 always been under the control of these principles. 
 Even when men have been ignorant of their presence 
 and activity, they have exerted their control. For 
 the discovery of a principle is not its origination. 
 The great principle of gravitation has been at work 
 from the beginning, and yet not until Sir Isaac 
 Newton expounded it did science appreciate the ex- 
 tent and character of its influence. The divine and 
 8 
 
I/O THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 
 
 holy principle of love has always been true, and yet 
 war continues to desolate the earth, and enmities and 
 strifes abound. It is a principle of God's govern- 
 ment, that "righteousness exalteth a nation," and 
 yet the prevalence of unrighteous authority is a dis- 
 tressing spectacle in every age. A careful scrutiny 
 will surely discover these grand principles which have 
 conditioned human life. Now that we are searching 
 for them, we shall make their acquaintance, and 
 shall profit by their instruction. Just as the astron- 
 omer works back into time and space from the op- 
 portunity of each new discovery of planet, star, or 
 nebula so may we inquire diligently of the past in 
 order that we may learn the lessons thus presented. 
 History moves in great circles, but the circles are 
 spiral. We never return to the same point. Our 
 apparent return marks a real advance. We are ever 
 to remember that we are using the principles which 
 made the past. They have already been illustrated 
 many times ; and we have them, in our turn, for 
 illustration. 
 
 This should be the teaching of experience, which, 
 alas, impresses very few minds. We are not ready to 
 accept the testimony which comes to us from the 
 wisdom and folly of preceding years. We must ex- 
 periment for ourselves. What progress we should 
 make, if we should use to the best advantage the ex- 
 perience of other men ! How a father would rejoice, 
 
THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 171 
 
 if he could feel sure that his son would avoid the 
 mistakes which have crippled his own life ! How 
 glad a mother's heart would be if she could know 
 that her daughter would start out in life from the 
 stand-point of the experience which she herself has 
 gained and also expounded ! But no, it seems to be 
 impossible for us to learn of the past. We are not 
 warned, as we should be, nor are we encouraged as 
 we should be. Yet the past is an object-lesson, which 
 God holds up for our instruction. 
 
 I should be quite willing to submit the whole sub- 
 ject of the advantage or the disadvantage of religion 
 to the teaching of experience. What does experience 
 say? We have this year observed many of the true 
 disciples of Christ — friends, whose consistency has 
 been most beautiful. They have walked with God. 
 Some of them have endured great spiritual conflicts, 
 contending desperately with temptation, or battling 
 with the ills of misfortune, or struggling to vanquish 
 death. We have watched them closely. They have 
 been sustained, and they have been victorious. Out 
 of the year, they have brought far more than we 
 have. They are truly rich, because they are " rich 
 toward God." He has been with them to strengthen, 
 and to cheer, and to bless them in many ways. Can 
 we question this? Is not their experience genuine? 
 If so, may we not expect a similar experience, if we 
 place ourselves under the influence of the principle 
 
1 72 THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 
 
 of grace ? In other words, will not religion do for ug 
 as much as it has done for them ? Certainly it will. 
 " God is no respecter of persons." The promise is 
 to us as much as to them. We may enjoy these 
 priceless blessings. Why then do we fail ? Why are 
 we without them ? Is God to blame ? Or does not 
 the fault lie with us? Yes ! We do not profit by ex- 
 perience. The opportunity is ours. But we have 
 not sought to embrace it. Our Christian friends, liv- 
 ing here beside us, are our condemnation, just as the 
 fertile acres of the faithful husbandman are the con- 
 demnation of his idle neighbor's wretched farm. We 
 may use the means. Repentance is ours. Faith is 
 ours. Prayer is ours. God's Word is ours. The 
 Saviour is ours. And the invitation reads: "Who- 
 soever will, let him take the water of life freely." 
 Ah ! we are losing the very best happiness of life, if 
 we are losing the precious blessings of the Gospel. 
 The past admonishes us. We can not hope to hear 
 God's invitation forever. The years of grace come to 
 an end. God's Spirit will not always strive with man. 
 We may be left to despair, even while life is pro- 
 longed. The angels look down upon no object which 
 is more pitiable than a God-forsaken man. The Holy 
 Spirit has been withdrawn. He is past feeling. The 
 man is dead in sin ; and for this death there is no 
 resurrection. May God, in His infinite mercy, keep 
 us all from this misery of despair, by bringing us 
 
THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 173 
 
 right speedily to a saving knowledge of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ ! But even with a degree of sensitive- 
 ness, we may still fail of securing everlasting life. 
 For death may come upon us unawares. As we re- 
 view the events of a single year, how many unex- 
 pected deaths we encounter. This acquaintance met 
 with an accident. He was taken, and we were 
 left. Another fell back in his chair, and expired. 
 He was taken, and we were left. Still another 
 was absent from business for a day or two, and 
 then we observed the announcement of his death. 
 He was taken, and we were left. A few only of the 
 large number who have passed away had a clear 
 recognition of the approach of God's messenger. 
 Death usually comes as a thief in the night. Seldom 
 is there time for intelligent preparation after that 
 coming has been made known. The mind, enfeebled 
 by sickness or clouded by delirium, seems not to have 
 the ability to grasp the truth of salvation. At the 
 very best, we dismiss such penitents with the sad 
 feeling that our hope for them is only a " perhaps." 
 They have been sowing the wind, and we have many 
 fears that they will reap the whirlwind. 
 
 For there is a stern law of requital, which, for good 
 or ill, the past illustrates. " The Lord God of recom- 
 penses shall surely requite." " A man's life comes 
 back upon him." No power but that of the Gospel 
 can arrest the operation of this law, or convert into 
 
174 THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 
 
 helpful chastisements its punitive expressions. Even 
 the holy Apostle Paul bowed his head and accepted 
 meekly the sufferings which he believed that he de- 
 served, because he had persecuted the Church of 
 Christ. His was not an easy Christian life. After he 
 had breathed out threatenings and slaughter against 
 the disciples of the Lord, he himself became ac- 
 quainted with experiences, which he thus described : 
 " Five times received I forty stripes save one. Thrice 
 was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, thrice I 
 suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in 
 the deep. In journeyings often, in perils of waters, 
 in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own country- 
 men, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, 
 in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in 
 perils among false brethren, in weariness and pain- 
 fulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in 
 fastings often, in cold and nakedness." What a ret- 
 ribution ! What a harvest after the sowing of tears 
 and blood ! " This law," it is said,* " keeps things 
 equal. If any man could mingle bitter cups for 
 others, and never be compelled to drain their dregs 
 himself, he would soon become a devil. God shows 
 him that his turn is coming. Every blow he strikes 
 will be re-delivered upon himself ; every pain he in- 
 flicts upon others will sting his own heart ; every 
 
 * Joseph Parker, "Pulpit Notes," p. 65. 
 
THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 175 
 
 harsh word will come back to him ; his mockery, hia 
 pitilessness, his selfishness will return to him, and 
 vex him like a plague commanded of God. All his- 
 tory has shown this." Speaking with the solemnity 
 of one of the ancient prophets, Mr. Lincoln used 
 such words as these in his second Inaugural Address : 
 " Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this 
 mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet 
 if God wills that it continue until all the wealth piled 
 by the bondman's two hundred and fifty years of un- 
 requited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of 
 blood drawn with the lash shall be paid by another 
 drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand 
 years ago, so still it must be said, that the judgments 
 of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." Is 
 it safe then to do wrong? Is a violation of law 
 traced upon the waters, or written on the air, or cast 
 into the ground like seed ? The recompense is cer- 
 tain. God is just. 
 
 But there is another side to the operation of this 
 law, and a side which is most pleasant to contem- 
 plate — " Whosoever shall give to drink unto one of 
 these little ones a cup of cold water only in the name 
 of a disciple, verily I say unto you he shall in nowise 
 lose his reward." " Give and it shall be given unto 
 you • good measure, pressed down, and shaken to- 
 gether, and running over shall men give into your 
 bosom ; for with the same measure that ye mete 
 
176 THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 
 
 withal, it shall be measured to you again." Ho\tf 
 interesting and how instructive are these illustra- 
 tions ! They are the bright gems of the past. We 
 admire them as we observe the respect which is 
 rendered to a useful life, or the sympathy which goes 
 out to an honored benefactor, or the blessing which 
 attends the fidelity of children to parents. There is 
 a gracious return. No investments pay such good 
 dividends as do kind deeds. 
 
 Thus the past repeats itself in the present and out- 
 lines the future. The histories which the Bible con- 
 tains anticipate all possible experiences — the varieties 
 of joy and sorrow, of hope and disappointment, of 
 love and hate. Rachel, weeping for her children, has 
 her counterpart in the mother whose tears were fresh 
 yesterday, and David, lamenting Absalom's rebellion 
 and death, carries the sad heart of a father whose 
 son is a modern prodigal ; Simeon, whose vision greets 
 the infant Redeemer, expresses the joy which is still 
 known when faith beholds Him who is mighty to 
 save, and Mary of Bethany, whose gratitude selects 
 the offering of the costly spikenard, anticipates the 
 devotion which in every age has been constrained by 
 the love of Christ ; Hezekiah, with the letter of his 
 enemy spread out before the Lord, is earthly power 
 taking counsel of omnipotence, and Daniel, kneeling 
 in his chamber with his windows open toward Jeru- 
 salem, is the statesman on his knees in prayer; Jesus 
 
THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE EUTURE. ijy 
 
 looking into the face of the young ruler, and loving 
 him, is the perpetual assurance of God's tender inter- 
 est, and Jesus calmly addressing the widow of Nain 
 is still the hope of many who are in deep grief. The 
 Bible can never lose its interest so long as heart 
 answereth to heart and the experiences of the race 
 are common. 
 
 And we know that in the future — the future of 
 this world, and the future of those other worlds — the 
 two — these principles will still be operative. " He 
 that is unjust, let him be unjust still ; and he which 
 is filthy, let him be filthy still ; and he that is right- 
 eous, let him be righteous still ; and he that is holy, 
 let him be holy still." The development of iniquity, 
 what must that be? The development of holiness, 
 what must that be? Hell and Heaven ! Everlasting 
 punishment and life eternal ! 
 
 3d. The events of the past move on before the 
 present to prepare for the judgment of the future. 
 Those events are awaiting. They must confront us. 
 We shall have to explain them. Our use of the tele- 
 graph gives us some conception of the rapidity of 
 these transmissions. Some time ago a crime was com- 
 mitted in England, whose punishment was promptly 
 secured by the aid of the electric spark. Along the 
 vvires there flashed a message one evening to this 
 effect : " A murder has just been committed at Salt- 
 hill, and the suspected murderer was seen to take a 
 8* 
 
I 78 THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 
 
 first-class ticket for London by the train which left 
 
 S at 7 : 45. He is in the garb of a Quaker.' In 
 
 the compartment of the railway carriage the guilty 
 man sat with his fellow-travellers, who had no idea 
 whatever that he was a murderer. The darkness of 
 the night seemed to be favoring his escape. He 
 reached the Paddington Station in safety, and entered 
 an omnibus, which soon carried him into the intri- 
 cacies of the narrow London streets, where he might 
 expect to hide. He did not know that an officer of 
 the law, in disguise, was riding with him, and con- 
 stantly watching him. Leaving the omnibus at the 
 Bank of England, he crossed street after street until 
 he reacked an obscure lodging-house in Scott's Yard. 
 Harder had the door closed behind him when it was 
 opened by the officer, who had followed him step by 
 step, and the question was asked : " Haven't you just 
 
 come from S ?" The record of the crime had 
 
 preceded him. He was found guilty, and then pun- 
 ished. More rapid than the lightning's flash and more 
 unerring than any methods of telegraphy is the dis- 
 cernment of God. Even our secret sins appear in the 
 light of His countenance. "All things are naked and 
 opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have 
 to do." There is no escape. "Whither," asks the 
 Psalmist, " shall I go from Thy Spirit ? or whither 
 shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend up into 
 Heaven, Thou art there : if I make my bed in Hell, 
 
THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE EVTURE. 
 
 1 79 
 
 behold Thou art there. If I take the wings of the 
 morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 
 even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy right 
 hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness 
 shall cover me, even the night shall be light about 
 me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee ; but 
 the night shineth as the day ; the darkness and the 
 light are both alike to Thee." Thus we live these 
 lives of ours. Each event is sent forward as it oc- 
 curs — the good and the bad alike. The past antici- 
 pates the present and joins the future. The old 
 forgotten self reappears and demands judgment. The 
 entire life awaits each one of us at the bar of God. 
 What an accumulation of happiness as well as of 
 misery! What bright lights upon the horizon as 
 well as heavy clouds ! The entire life is there ; and 
 the soul, the man himself, is steadily advancing to 
 meet his own record. 
 
 An essay of an astronomical character was once 
 written to emphasize the nature of this sublime pos- 
 sibility. It is well known that light moves through 
 space with a uniform velocity, and it is also known 
 that many stars are so distant that thousands of our 
 years would be required for a ray of light to proceed 
 from them on its journey to our earth. Indeed, when 
 we see the light, the star may long ago have been 
 obliterated ; for the light which we see may have 
 left the star before the creation of man. Using this 
 
I So THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 
 
 fact of astronomy, Dr. Hugh MacMillan, in a recent 
 publication,* says : that " the visible record of much 
 that happened on our earth is still travelling by means 
 of light through the regions of space ; as the stars 
 recede, so time recedes with them, and an actual and 
 true representation of any event may be seen in some 
 star. We may be looking unconsciously any night at 
 some orb in the sky from which if we could transport 
 ourselves thither, and were endowed with the neces- 
 sary optical power, we should be able to see our 
 Saviour walking upon the Sea of Galilee, hanging 
 upon the cross, or ascending to Heaven from the 
 Mount of Olives. And passing as swiftly as a ray 
 of light from a star of the twelfth magnitude to our 
 sun, the whole history of the world, from the time of 
 Abraham to the present day, would pass in review be- 
 fore our eyes in the space of a single hour." What 
 a spectacle ! What a conception of the consciousness 
 of God who " shall call to the heavens from above, 
 and to the earth, that He may judge His people ! " 
 
 Then comes memory with its personal announce- 
 ments. It is probable that memory retains all that 
 is given to it. We may seem to forget a great many 
 things which presently appear as our condemnation 
 or acquittal. One of the Books of God is undoubt- 
 edly the memory of man. What a day will that be ; 
 
 * "Two Worlds are Ours," p. 287. 
 
THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 181 
 
 when the dead, small and great, stand before God, 
 and the books are opened ! 
 
 Life is solemn. We can not make it a pastime, or 
 a farce. For even the folly, which trifles with life 
 and opportunity, is impressively solemn. To waste 
 life, to squander splendid opportunities, to flit to and 
 fro like the moth around the candle whose flame is 
 soon to capture and consume the silly one, to degrade 
 intellect by vice, to spend strength in the service of 
 iniquity, — what is all this but a lamentable abuse of 
 the choicest blessings of God ! And if we have 
 grasped the thought of a noble life, if we have be- 
 come possessed of a holy inspiration, if we are moving 
 in harmony with the divine purpose, if we are laying 
 up treasure in Heaven — what is all this but a glorious 
 use of sacred privileges ! , 
 
 But if life is solemn, should we not give heed to the 
 approved lessons of experience? How shall we learn 
 to live if we are not taught, and where shall we find 
 a better teacher than Jesus Christ, who speaks through 
 the experience of centuries? His requirements are 
 few and simple, and they are all good. You will 
 enjoy the remaining years of life more, you will ac- 
 complish more, you will send on to the future more 
 happy events to await your coming, if you recognize 
 Jesus Christ as your Teacher, and become in all things 
 His disciple. Do you question this ? If not, then 
 seek Him while He may be found. 
 
1 82 THE PAST, THE PRESENT, THE FUTURE. 
 
 Then we secure the blessedness of overcoming the 
 condemnation of the past by the grace which Jesus 
 Christ affords in the present, and the glory which He 
 offers for the future. For "there is, therefore, now 
 no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." 
 Where sin abounds, grace does much more abound. 
 Conscious as we are of sin, — and who is not ? — we are 
 also conscious that our Saviour has delivered us from 
 the threatenings of all sin. For His sake we are 
 justified. In His name we are blessed. Through 
 Him we secure the peace of God which passeth all 
 understanding. 
 
 Therefore, His name is upon our lips, as we close 
 this year, and as we look forward to still another. 
 The past awaits us in the future ; but He is able by 
 His grace to triumph over all its condemnations, and 
 having preserved us blameless to present us faultless 
 before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. 
 Come what may, we are safe in Him. For if in the 
 universe there is one abode of perfect purity, of per- 
 fect love, of perfect peace, Jesus Christ has that for 
 His residence, and He has said : " I go to prepare a 
 place for you." " I will come again and receive you 
 unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also." 
 
DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR* 
 
 " O wretched man that I am / who shall delivef 
 me from the body of this deaths " — Rom. vii. 24. 
 
 THIS is the appeal of intelligence rather than the 
 cry of despair. A brave and careful thinker has been 
 considering his own spiritual condition. With the 
 nerve of a surgeon, he has applied the knife of criticism 
 to his thoughts and emotions until he has laid bare 
 the centre of life. There he has observed the fatal 
 nature of sin, whose manifestations he has witnessed 
 in the foibles, the faults, and the crimes of daily con- 
 duct. He is depressed, but not hopeless. The work 
 of reformation is a necessity, and he believes that 
 it may be accomplished. A remedy has been an- 
 nounced. If he can secure it he is confident that he 
 can overcome all his infirmities and maladies, and en- 
 joy the perfect spiritual health which is life eternal. 
 
 It has been suggested that the appeal finds its 
 
 * This and the remaining sermons of the volume are related 
 in the endeavor to exhibit the perfect adaptation of the Lord 
 Jesus Christ to man's spiritual necessities. 
 
 (183) 
 
184 DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 illustration in the ancient custom of chaining a 
 criminal to a dead body. The dead body was chained 
 to the ankle of the criminal, who was compelled to 
 drag it — a loathsome, decaying mass — as he moved 
 from place to place. Under such circumstances, ex- 
 istence itself was torture ; and a most pitiful entreaty 
 was heard in the cry: "Who shall deliver me from 
 the body of this death?" However this may be, 
 such a reference would properly express the humilia- 
 tion and loathing of Paul as he contemplated his 
 sinfulness. He was a noble man. At this period of 
 his life he was in the midst of his most intense 
 activity. His mind was doing its best work. He was 
 the recognized leader of the advanced school of 
 Christian thought. His horizon was broad. Jerusalem 
 and the ceremonial law could not restrain him. He 
 appreciated the universal aspects of Christianity. 
 The philosophy of religion which he announced be- 
 came the faith of the Church, and is still that faith. 
 He was not morbid. There was nothing of the 
 ascetic in his character. He never wrote a sentence 
 without filling it with truth. " Paul of all others," 
 said Colet, one of the Oxford Reformers, " seems to 
 me to be a fathomless ocean of wisdom and piety." 
 Yet — and this is the thing to be considered — here is 
 an emphatic statement from his pen, which declares 
 that spiritual help is a necessity — a positive necessity. 
 He was conscious of the necessity. With all his 
 
DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 185 
 
 advantages — and they were numerous — he was forced 
 to appeal to God for help. 
 
 This experience of the Apostle is calculated to 
 raise a question or two in every mind. When such 
 a man as Paul places upon record an estimate of his 
 own spiritual condition, it is natural that other men 
 should inquire if they are better or worse than he. 
 If his experience is not exceptional, can we escape 
 the conclusion that divine help is a necessity? Do 
 we need it ? If so, why ? 
 
 1st. Spiritual help is needed to furnish every man 
 a correct estimate of himself. Self-knowledge is most 
 difficult of attainment. " In every nature," George 
 Eliot remarks, " there is a great deal of unmapped 
 territory, from which proceed sudden gusts of pas- 
 sion and terrific storms of malice." " Who," asks the 
 Psalmist, " can understand his errors ? " It was the 
 painful result of his personal inquiry that led Paul 
 to make his appeal for help. He had been alone 
 with himself. The discovery of a law in his mem- 
 bers warring against the law of his mind, and bring- 
 ing him into captivity to the law of sin which was in 
 his members, was distressing to him. Here was a 
 conflict whose issue was doubtful. Evil and good 
 were constantly striving for the mastery. The Apostle 
 realized his weakness, and felt that in God alone could 
 he find help. Yet his experience, be it noticed 
 was the experience of a godly man. It was reached 
 
1 36 DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 by him under the illumination of the Divine Spirit 
 Without that illumination he would have been an 
 apologist rather than a confessor. His confession of 
 sin and of the weakness of sin, came in connection 
 with the illumination of the Holy Spirit. Nor is this 
 strange. The dwelling into which no ray of sunlight 
 enters may be considered decent and comfortable, 
 even when its walls are covered with dust and fes- 
 tooned with cobwebs. The occupants may resent 
 the suggestion that they are living in filth and deg- 
 radation. But if that dwelling is flooded with sun- 
 light its true condition is demonstrated. They are then 
 without excuse. " Search me, O God, and know my 
 heart ; try me, and know my thoughts ; and see if 
 there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the 
 way everlasting," is the only prayer that is consistent 
 with sinfulness. We bring ourselves to God in order 
 that we may know ourselves. We wish to know the 
 worst, in order that we may seek help of Him who 
 is mighty to save. It is folly to say, " Peace, peace," 
 " when there is no peace "; and " there is no peace, 
 saith my God, to the wicked." He is not an honest 
 physician who dismisses his patient with the belief 
 that he has some trifling disorder, when he knows 
 that a malignant disease has begun to destroy him. 
 Yet men shrink from the knowledge of the truth con- 
 cerning themselves. They are ready enough to join 
 in the confession of the Litany, which acknowledges 
 
DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 187 
 
 that we are all miserable sinners ; but when the con- 
 fession becomes personal, when it touches individu- 
 ally, man by man, the members of a household, there 
 is hesitancy and silence. It is very easy to repeat the 
 Scriptural expressions — " our righteousnesses are as 
 filthy rags," " we are all as an unclean thing," " I am 
 a worm, and no man " — that is easy ; but it is, indeed, 
 hard to kneel down before God, who searches the 
 heart, and in His presence to say, " Be merciful to 
 me a sinner." Yet this is the confession of good 
 men like Paul ; and we may wonder why it is that 
 we do not feel like joining in such a confession. 
 Certainly we must believe that the most bitter, the 
 most reproachful expressions that have ever been 
 uttered in regard to human nature, have come from 
 servants of God whose lives have been very holy. If 
 I should wish to secure an accurate estimate of the 
 sinfulness of sin, I should not question the inmates 
 of brothels or dens of infamy, but I should visit some 
 devout saint, whose pilgrimage had found a resting- 
 place on the confines of the Better Land. " Fools 
 make a mock at sin," while the saints have discovered 
 that " sin is exceeding sinful." 
 
 This discovery of the saints, which is made through 
 the experience of a holy life, presents two possibili- 
 ties — one of woe, and the other of blessedness. The 
 possibility of woe is the inevitable attendant of sin. 
 Sin means woe. Unless sin is pardoned and cleansed 
 
138 DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 woe is certain. Leprosy means death. The leper 
 must advance to death through the terrible processes 
 of his plague, even if he now carries on his cheek the 
 healthy beauty of the leper's child. There is no cure 
 for leprosy. And sin, if left to itself, if the infallible 
 remedy of the Gospel is not used, must terminate in 
 the woe unutterable, toward which Jesus pointed 
 when He said, " These shall go away into everlasting 
 punishment." I can not see, in reason or in the 
 Word of God, how sin is to be brought to Heaven, 
 nor how a sinner can find his way there, if he rejects 
 the salvation of Jesus Christ. The gate is closed 
 against him, but he has closed it with his own unwill- 
 ing hand : the Lamb's book of life has no record of 
 his name, but he would not permit the angel to write 
 it when he heard the invitation of « his Lord. God is 
 not arbitrary. We can never complain, if our fond- 
 ness for sin brings us under His final condemnation. 
 
 For there is a glorious possibility which waits upon 
 the gracious endeavors of human nature. When we 
 accept the help of God we may forsake sin, we may 
 secure righteousness, we may advance toward Heaven, 
 we may lay hold on eternal life. At once we become 
 conscious of another and a spiritual world. There is 
 such a world, as real as this world of farms and of 
 cities in which we are now abiding for a season ; nay, 
 far more real. For " what," one asks,* " is the tran- 
 
 * Dr. Shedd, " Sermons to the Natural Man," p. 20. 
 
DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 189 
 
 sient reality of these objects, these morning vapors, 
 compared with the everlasting reality of such beings 
 as God and the Soul, of such facts as holiness and 
 sin, of such states as Heaven and Hell ? " The out 
 look of repentance and faith is sublime. No heir- 
 apparent to a splendid throne ever had such an 
 assured prospect as the Christian has. He may look 
 on from the things which are seen to the things which 
 are not seen ; he may realize that his inheritance is 
 incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading, and that it is 
 reserved for him ; he may confidently believe that He 
 who has begun a good work in him will consummate 
 it in the day of Jesus Christ. His experience is pro- 
 phetic. The plant of grace is an exotic whose bloom 
 witnesses to the reality of a celestial Land. Only 
 persevere, Christian, only press on faithfully, only 
 prepare for the crown and the robe and the mansion. 
 God will meet His promise. Faith will become sight. 
 Heaven will prove the happy residence of the Christ- 
 like soul. 
 
 2d. To present the ideal of a perfect life, and the 
 method of its attainment, there is need of divine 
 help. Our ideals are very far from perfect, and even 
 if they do arise before our minds we know not how 
 to make them real. The wisdom of the past, as ex- 
 hibited in the writings of Confucius, Plato, Aristotle, 
 or Socrates, has confessed its inability to form a 
 practical conception of a perfect human life. It was 
 
190 
 
 DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 reserved for Jesus of Nazareth to announce the only 
 complete life that faces with its cordial invitation evc*-y 
 phase of humanity. We are dependent upon Him for 
 our knowledge of this life, as well as for the method 
 of its attainment. He has revealed both, and He 
 communicates both by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Here, then, is a real blessing which we all should 
 welcome. Jesus of Nazareth appeals to the race. 
 There is nothing sectional nor national about Him. 
 He stood forth for the world and for the centuries in 
 such a manner and with such a purpose, that " every 
 man becomes more a man as he becomes more like 
 Him, and that every woman becomes more a woman 
 as she becomes more like Him." Therefore, as Pres. 
 Hopkins* well says: "If by becoming a Christian 
 a man does not become more truly man according to 
 God's conception of manhood, and as He would have 
 him to be, and if in becoming a Christian a woman 
 does not come to be more fully woman according to 
 God's conception of womanhood, and as He would 
 have her to be, then Christianity is a failure. This 
 must be so, for Christ being according to His method 
 the man, the centre of attraction to the race, that 
 law of assimilation must hold by which moral beings 
 are changed into the image of that which they con- 
 template with pleasure; and if there were not that 
 
 ' The Scriptural Idea of Man," p. 133. 
 
DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 I 9 I 
 
 in Christ which would thus bring to its full perfection 
 the proper nature of each, there would be an arrest 
 of progress and failure. " 
 
 When we contemplate this perfect life as our ideal, 
 we instantly realize that it rebukes all other suggested 
 ideals, and its rebukes are so emphatic that it virtually 
 destroys them. Here, in the perfect life of Jesus of 
 Nazareth, the most glorious Being in the universe 
 manifests His condescension. The greatness of 
 humility is announced, the majesty of self-sacrifice is 
 presented, the grandeur of holiness appears. Other 
 ideals magnify strength and wealth and beauty. The 
 soldier, the merchant, the favorite of the drawing- 
 room, these are the common ideals which receive 
 popular admiration, and which stimulate youthful 
 zeal. But, at a glance, we can appreciate their imper- 
 fections. The soldier is Alexander, conquering the 
 world, and then conquered by the wine-cup; or 
 Caesar, marching with victorious eagles from conti- 
 nent to continent, and unable to subdue his own 
 personal ambition; or Bonaparte, deluging Europe 
 with blood, and exhibiting in his household the 
 peevishness and petty jealousies of a spoiled child ; 
 and the merchant is the man whose gains have made 
 his heart stony, whose reputation in the markets is 
 simply the report of his bank account, whose increas- 
 ing wealth knows not the beautiful companionship of 
 increasing charities ; and the favorite of the drawing- 
 
I 9 2 DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 room Is society's queen for a day or a year, whose 
 crown withers and falls as the cheek grows pale, whose 
 applause is hushed as a rival appears, whose name is 
 forgotten before a new generation is recognized upon 
 the stage of life. Alas ! that these should be the 
 ideals. They are not grand nor noble : and they 
 attract most of us only to deceive. For the ordinary 
 soldier will never become a great commander ; and the 
 ordinary merchant will never count his fortune in the 
 millions ; and the ordinary woman will never win the 
 renown of society's queen. Yet we must have our ideals, 
 and they must be practical. Life's problem is too im- 
 portant, too solemn, to be left for its solution to the 
 vain endeavors of an unaided imagination. We are 
 not to expect another opportunity. The problem is 
 before us, and our solution must be handed in when 
 God calls us to render our account. How shall we 
 work ? What is to be our conception of life ? Shall 
 we solve the problem w T ith Jesus of Nazareth ever 
 present, as the ideal of perfection ; or shall we accept 
 other ideals ; or shall we neglect the problem entirely, 
 and live without any consideration? We surely can 
 not live without any consideration. The present is 
 too intimately related to the future. The life that 
 now is conditions that which is to come. We must 
 take thought. No intelligent man can stand at the 
 grave of his friend, or approach the hour of his own 
 death, without considering the requirements of the 
 
DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. i^ 
 
 future. What will be demanded there ? Will our 
 common ideals meet the divine approval ? Shall we 
 hnd that power and riches and beauty receive a coro- 
 nation ? Does God care for these things as men do ? 
 Or is not the conviction borne in upon us irresistibly 
 that the pure in heart shall see God, that glory and 
 honor and immortality await patient continuance in 
 well-doing, that the humble are to be exalted, that the 
 life lost in Christ is to be found in Heaven ? I am 
 confident that this is a very general conviction. It is 
 expressed in the conversation of my fellow-men every 
 day ; and especially do I hear it when they speak to 
 me of any who have just "passed over to the ma- 
 jority, and joined the great nations of the dead." 
 Then we eulogize these Christ-like traits, and com- 
 mend them heartily as deserving our imitation. 
 
 This perfect ideal is a revelation. God has given it 
 in the presentation of His Son. We are dependent 
 upon Him for the acquaintance which we have with 
 a perfect life. But this is not all. A perfect life 
 would not be helpful as an ideal if we should be left 
 to our own efforts to realize it. We need to know its 
 method as well. How shall this perfect life be reached ? 
 We can not lift ourselves up to it. We may as well 
 try and clutch the stars. It is far above us and be- 
 yond us. Yet may we hope to apprehend it, and 
 how? Simply by regarding the teachings of Christ. 
 He has made known the way. The method is His 
 
 9 
 
I94 DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 And it is a method so unlike any of the great variety 
 of human suggestions that it carries upon its surface 
 an evidence of its divine origin. Christ is the centt? 
 of a redeemed humanity. By the attractive power of 
 His love He draw=> to Himself in penitence for sin 
 and in faith in His person, the multitude of His 
 disciples. They are united to Him. Then quickly 
 and surely His influence is felt in the reformation ol 
 character. You may question the reality of this in- 
 fluence, as many persons have ; but try it and know 
 for yourself how strong it is. It can take the woist 
 character and subdue every evil passion in it, and then 
 make God's angels the occupants of the very dwelling 
 in which demons once rioted. His is an approved 
 method. It appeals to us all. We really can not 
 live without it. Yet in accepting it we confess that 
 God has been very gracious, that the help is His, that 
 in these last days He has spoken unto us by His Son. 
 3d. We need spiritual help to provide a restraining 
 and regulating force which is able to secure a perfect 
 character. We must have an impulse. Is anything 
 more evident than the fact that men fail to express 
 their moral convictions ? There are, indeed, very few 
 men who do not approve more truths than they ex- 
 press. Mere intellectual knowledge is no security 
 against wrong-doing. Some of the worst criminals 
 of the present day are men who have been careiuiiv 
 trained in morals and religion. The Apostle writes 
 
DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 195 
 
 that the devils are sound theologians ; — " They be- 
 lieve, and tremble." We may assent to every state 
 ment of an elaborate creed, and yet violate every 
 precept of the moral law. It is not easy to do right. 
 The recognition of the excellence of Jesus Christ 
 and the appreciation of His method do not make a 
 man a Christian. A spiritual force is needed. Even 
 after the vessel has been provisioned and after her 
 destination has been determined, the driving power 
 of steam or wind is essential. Let any man try and 
 live the Christian life without dependence upon the 
 grace of God, and what poor success he will have ! 
 He may say to himself : " I understand this perfectly* 
 I can be a Christian. I approve the ideal. I will 
 accept the method. I will begin at once. Day by 
 day I will fight the battle, and I will add one by one 
 these virtues and graces to my character." Now 
 that is an excellent resolution, if it only includes 
 dependence upon the grace of God. But if it does 
 not, it is not much stronger than a transparent bub- 
 ble. The man will try, and he will seem to be doing 
 well. While the undertaking is fresh and new to 
 him he will not falter. Presently, however, he will 
 feel the shock of some temptation, or he will become 
 a little weary, or he will find that his endeavors are 
 not well-balanced. Then he has nothing whatever to 
 sustain him, nothing to fall back upon. His endeav- 
 ors have been mechanical. They have not had any 
 
196 DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 vitality whatever. He is weary of the whole thing 
 And " the last state of that man is worse than the 
 first." He turns back to his old life with a disgust 
 for the religion whose blessedness he has never 
 known. Thus it is that men mistake the shadow 
 for the substance, the symbol for the reality, the 
 form for the spirit. I imagine that there are men in 
 mature life — not a few — who have passed through an 
 experience such as this. They think that they once 
 tested the value of religion, and they can hardly be 
 persuaded that they made a mistake. Yet so it was 
 A sad mistake ! They really had very little contact 
 with the freedom and spirituality of the grace of God 
 that bringeth salvation. If they had become pos- 
 sessed by that grace, if it had inspired and fed and 
 ruled them, they would have rejoiced in its helpful- 
 ness, and would never have ceased to depend upon 
 it. For the grace of God has manifested its power 
 in many ways. It is the grandest of all restraining 
 forces. Temptation can not conquer it. The man 
 who is sustained by God's grace can meet any temp- 
 tation. His strength is not his own. God is with 
 him. He can depend upon God. A holy conscious- 
 ness is his best help. From his closet of prayer he 
 goes out to meet the daily experiences of life, with 
 the blessed assurance that " the Lord knoweth how 
 to deliver the godly out of temptations." There is 
 a divine presence with him. " Thou, God, seest me* 
 
DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 19; 
 
 is a realization which he gladly feels. " When thou 
 passest through the waters I will be with thee ; and 
 through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee , 
 when thou walkest through the fire thou shalt not 
 be burned ; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee," 
 is a promise whose rare meaning opens to his com- 
 prehension as the requirements of life demand. He 
 is ready to confess with Paul : " By the grace of God 
 I am what I am." Ah ! friends, we need this grace. 
 Our temptations are numerous. Life is a constant 
 struggle. Shall we not welcome it when it is so 
 freely offered us by God ? 
 
 Then grace regulates our activities. A well-round- 
 ed character is the consummate expression of grace. 
 From the centre to the circumference, grace acts 
 with divine energy ; from the heart out upon the life, 
 this sacred force manifests its strength and excel- 
 lence. We may become symmetrical and comely 
 and beautiful, if we do not frustrate the grace of 
 God. 
 
 Here is another spiritual necessity. We must be 
 aroused and impelled and strengthened and regu- 
 lated in life ; and grace is the force which takes pos- 
 session of, and thrills, and animates, and subdues, 
 and ennobles us. This is the perpetual miracle of 
 Christianity — a miracle as real and as evidently di- 
 vine as were any of those which brought sight to 
 sightless eyes, and hearing to dull ears, and speech 
 
198 DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 to the dumb, and life to the dead. Those miracles 
 were expressions of the power of one who could 
 speak, and command sight, and hearing, and speech, 
 and life ; and these miracles are also expressions of 
 the power of one who can even now open the spirit- 
 ual intelligence to perceive the glorious realities of 
 righteousness and truth ; unstop the spiritual ear to 
 catch the faintest whispers of a sacred love ; unloose 
 the heart's emotions to sing the praises of Him who 
 died ; bring life out of death to triumph and to reign 
 in glory evermore. Do we need this blessed divine 
 force? Can we truly live without its gracious in- 
 fluence ? 
 
 4th. To announce the consolations and hopes of 
 invisible realities, divine help is requisite. How 
 eager we are for consolation, and how dependent we 
 are upon hope ! Our exposure is constant. No 
 Alpine tourist, threatened at every step by the im- 
 pending avalanche, is more exposed than we are each 
 day. Disaster, reproach, misfortune, sorrow, death 
 seem always to be hovering around us, like the 
 Bedawins of the Desert, who are detected here and 
 there upon the distant hills. The unwary traveller is 
 their victim. They dash in upon the peaceful hours 
 around the camp-fire, or swoop down upon the line 
 of march, or appear at midnight, when sleep has 
 brought repose. How often we remark playfully, 
 yet sadly, that the unexpected is sure to happen ! 
 
DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 199 
 
 Our plans are thwarted, our health fails, our friends 
 die, our lives glide away like the swiftly-flowing 
 stream. " The strong men shall bow themselves." 
 There is no escape, no exemption. This is the com- 
 mon lot of man ; and in one way or another a sense 
 of his dependence must be brought home to all. 
 Happy is he who early learns the lesson, and ever 
 after finds that God is his strength ! 
 
 For God's strength is consolation and hope. He 
 consoles us by giving us an understanding of the sig- 
 nificance of trial ; by opening to our appreciation, in 
 the Holy Spirit's activity, new views of sacred truth ; 
 by drawing us closer to Himself ; by making us to 
 think more of Heaven. His consolations are not 
 weak nor few. They place life in its perspective. 
 They bring out the deep quality of life. The out- 
 ward man perishes, and the inward man is renewed 
 day by day. There is a constant presentation of the 
 powers of life to the refining, spiritualizing presence 
 of God. As the bleacher shakes the skein, whose wool 
 he is seeking to whiten, bringing now one part and 
 then another into contact with the rays of the sun, 
 so affliction stirs the soul in order that God may 
 have complete access to it in every faculty. We 
 have watched this sublime work, which secures per- 
 fection through sufferings. It is rarely beautiful in 
 its progress and in its execution. How often we 
 remark : " What a lovely character ! " when the an- 
 
200 DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 swer comes back, " Yes ! she has been a great suf- 
 ferer." Affliction alone is not good. Misanthropy 
 and despair follow affliction. We become hard and 
 complaining if we are often afflicted. Not so, how- 
 ever, if affliction and consolation are linked together. 
 Then we become submissive and resigned and gentle, 
 and we even venture to say with the Psalmist, " It is 
 good for me that I have been afflicted," or with Paul, 
 " We glory in tribulations also." 
 
 For consolation heralds hope. When God consoles 
 us, we have new evidence that God is near ; and if 
 God is near, then may we hope. God and hope, that 
 is true; no God and no hope, is not that also true? 
 I think that it is. I can not see how the man who 
 has no hope in God can contemplate the future with 
 any satisfaction. He is in the great procession which 
 is hastening on to the grave. He can not stop. One 
 day he must die. Then what is to become of him ? 
 He may say that we do not know, that we can not 
 know, that we need not try to know. But that say- 
 ing is hopeless. There is no light in it. " Whither, 
 oh ! Pilot, are you conducting us through this fog 
 and darkness? What port is before us, and where 
 shall we land ? " And the Pilot answers, " I do not 
 know, I can not know, and I do not try to know." 
 Then the passenger is silent because he feels that he 
 has little hope. We can not, in that way, meet the 
 anxious questioning of the immortal soul. We must 
 
DISTRESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 20 1 
 
 have hope; and God gives us hope in Christ. He 
 is the earnest of another life. His very presence is 
 an unanswerable argument in favor of immortality. 
 We have His testimony to convince us that there is 
 a celestial country. If we believe His words, we shall 
 have no anxiety, but a most comfortable hope. 
 
 " If my immortal Saviour lives, 
 Then my immortal life is sure ; 
 His word a firm foundation gives ; 
 Here may I build, and rest secure." 
 
 We have thus inquired in several directions respect- 
 ing our need of God's help. We have found that 
 without it we can not properly know ourselves, our 
 condition, our danger, and our opportunity, nor can 
 we form a conception of the ideal of a perfect life 
 whose method will also be obscure. We can not, 
 still further, live without the grace which must arouse 
 our endeavors, and then restrain and regulate our 
 characters ; and we shall, indeed, be poor if we have 
 none of God's consolations, none of His hopes to 
 meet our inevitable sorrows and to brighten the 
 shadows of death. Without God's help must not 
 each one of us exclaim, as Paul did, " O wretched 
 man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body 
 of this death ? " There is no escape for us. Life is 
 a mystery, and the mystery becomes tragic as its 
 plot unfolds. 
 
 9* 
 
202 D/STXESS WITHOUT DESPAIR. 
 
 There is a solution. God does not mock us. We 
 may rejoice in Him. He is never distant. His help 
 is pledged. Oh ! let us welcome it ; and with its 
 genial, holy assistance, let us undertake to solve this 
 problem which is intensely personal. 
 
XT 
 
 JESUS OF NAZARETH.— HIS PLACE IN 
 HISTORY. 
 
 " Philip Jindeth Nathanael and saith unto him, 
 * We have found Him, of whom Moses in the 
 law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of 
 Nazareth, the Son of Joseph.' " — John i. 45. 
 
 Philip and Nathanael were devout men. A sin- 
 cere interest in religion strengthened their friendship. 
 They were waiting anxiously for " the consolation of 
 Israel." With ripe intelligence and responsive spirit- 
 uality, they were ready to consider the claims of the 
 Messiah whenever He should appear. The need of 
 divine help was appreciated. It was not necessary 
 that they should argue themselves into the convic- 
 tion that God is able to give a revelation. That con- 
 viction had taken firm hold upon them, and they 
 frequently dwelt with satisfaction upon the evidences 
 of His love, which the inspired writers of the Hebrews 
 had recorded. 
 
 The enthusiasm of John the Baptist's ministry 
 
 reached them in their Galilean homes, and led one of 
 
 them to visit the fearless preacher of righteousness 
 
 (203) 
 
204 JESUS OF NAZARETH. 
 
 Philip — the more impulsive temperament — went 
 down to the fords of the Jordan, where great crowds 
 of people were under the influence of a genuine re- 
 vival of religion: while Nathanael — somewhat more 
 contemplative and retiring- -continued to meditate 
 in the vicinity of his own village upon the signifi- 
 cance of these unusual events. 
 
 Meanwhile Jesus of Nazareth received baptism, 
 and was formally recognized, as " the Lamb of God, 
 which taketh away the sin of the world." Certain 
 acquaintances of Philip were among the first converts. 
 From them he heard of this new Teacher, whom 
 they had already accepted as the Messiah. His re- 
 ligious nature was prepared to respond to the invita- 
 tion, which soon secured his cheerful obedience and 
 made him a disciple. Then as the journey was con- 
 tinued — for they were on their way to Galilee — Na- 
 thanael was discovered in the shade of a fig-tree, 
 where he was resting for meditation, or prayer, or 
 study. Hastening ahead of his companions, Philip 
 surprised his friend with the announcement that he 
 had found the Messiah — the Messiah so eagerly an- 
 ticipated, so exalted in the imagination of every 
 pious Hebrew, so certain to bring deliverance to the 
 Chosen People. Nathanael hesitated. He could not 
 bring himself to accept the Son of Joseph, the hum- 
 ble carpenter of Nazareth, as the fulfilment of the 
 sublime prophecies which God had revealed. He 
 
JESUS OF NAZARETH. 205 
 
 wished to ask a question or two. The faith of Philip 
 might after all be only credulity. He demanded 
 evidence. Yet he was a truly generous man. He 
 did not reject his friend's appeal. There was no 
 ridicule nor contempt in his attitude. He went to 
 meet the Messiah, whom Philip commended ; and in 
 His presence, he quickly learned that God's response 
 to the Messianic predictions is a perfect life. As he 
 looked into the eyes of the Son of Joseph, he saw 
 the Son of God, and his quiet, contemplative spirit 
 rose to the height of a splendid confession, when he 
 exclaimed : " Rabbi, Thou art the Son of God, Thou 
 art the King of Israel." 
 
 The announcement of Philip, with his invitation, 
 must be the counsel of the Christian to every inquir- 
 ing soul. For religious inquiry is met by the life of 
 Jesus of Nazareth. When we become conscious of 
 our need of divine help, we are assured that divine 
 help will reach us through Him. He is the Mediator. 
 " For it pleased the Father that in Him should all 
 fulness dwell "; and " in Him dwelleth all the fulness 
 of the Godhead bodily"; and " of His fulness have all 
 we received, and grace for grace." It is essential, 
 therefore, that we should recognize His presence, that 
 we should believe in His life, that we should become 
 familiar with His story. Some of us are in the po- 
 sition of Philip and Nathanael, who were waiting for 
 the appearance of the Messiah. Shall we not wel 
 
2o6 JESUS OF NAZARETH. 
 
 come Jesus of Nazareth as the Saviour in whom v«e 
 may trust ? 
 
 1st. The man who is convinced that he needs 
 divine help, should be directed to Jesus Christ. 
 When Paul and Silas heard the plaintive appeal of 
 the Philippian jailor, who was sharply convicted of 
 his sinfulness, they urged him to believe on the Lord 
 Jesus Christ. Their reply was prompt and decisive. 
 In one way he could hope to find pardon ; and that 
 was by accepting the mercy of the Saviour, whom 
 Paul and Silas had learned to love. The Scripture 
 narrative says that he accepted their counsel, that he 
 sought the pardon of Jesus Christ, and that he then 
 found "joy and peace in believing." His was a nota- 
 ble experience. So well defined, so clear, and so 
 true to the promise of Jesus, who said : " Come unto 
 me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will 
 give you rest." On the Day of Pentecost, a sermon 
 of Peter led many hundreds of earnest Jews to cry 
 out in alarm, and to inquire : " Men and brethren, 
 what shall we do?" They were not children, for 
 they were mature enough to be pilgrims ; they were 
 not weak and sentimental men, for they required con- 
 siderable argument to persuade them that the spirit- 
 ual emotion which they witnessed in the disciples 
 was not due to an excess of wine. Yet when they 
 were pricked in their hearts by the solemn truths ol 
 Peter's sermon, they were encouraged and comforted 
 
JESUS OF NAZARETH. 207 
 
 as the Apostle pointed them to Jesus Christ. On 
 another occasion, he declared to the Sanhedrin that 
 Jesus Christ occupies a position which is unique, say- 
 ing plainly : " Neither is there salvation in any other : 
 for there is none other name under Heaven given 
 among men, whereby we must be saved." The same 
 conviction governs the writer of the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews, when he records the blessed truth that 
 Jesus Christ is " able also to save them to the utter- 
 most that come unto God by Him "; and John, the 
 beloved disciple, is of the same mind, for his Epistles 
 contain many expressions of abiding confidence in 
 the ability of the Saviour; "The blood of Jesus 
 Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." " This is 
 the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, 
 and this life is in His Son." 
 
 With similar confidence the Christian life of the 
 centuries has met the unbelief of the world. The 
 best results have always attended the commendation 
 of Jesus Christ. Infidels have scoffed at such a refer- 
 ence of the spiritual anxieties and fears of mankind : 
 and yet the reference has been made, and is still made, 
 and the desired blessing has been known. The teach- 
 ing of experience is emphatic on this point. The 
 adaptation of Jesus Christ is established. Just as we 
 have come to believe that light is adapted to the eye, 
 and sound to the ear, and oxygen to the lungs, and 
 truth to the intellect, and friendship to the heart, so 
 
208 JESUS OF NAZARETH. 
 
 have we reached the conviction that Jesus Christ 
 meets and satisfies the deep religious longings of the 
 soul. A child born and reared in the depths of some 
 dark cavern would not appreciate your descriptions 
 of the glorious sunlight, of the song of birds, of the 
 tonic of the atmosphere. He has eyes, but he can not 
 be said to see ; he has ears, but he can not be said to 
 hear ; he has lungs, but he can not be said to breathe. 
 Let him come to the surface, and stand upon the solid 
 earth, and behold the beauty of nature, and enjoy the 
 singing of birds, and fill his lungs with the delicious 
 air of the hills, — then may he know how carefully 
 God has adapted one part of His creation to another. 
 Thus, as Dr. Channing once remarked,* experience 
 teaches us that there is " a consciousness of the adap- 
 tation of Christianity to our noblest faculties ; a con- 
 sciousness of its exalting and consoling influence ; of 
 its power to confer the true happiness of human 
 nature, to give that peace which the world can not 
 give: which assures us that this is not of earthly 
 origin, but a ray of Everlasting Light, a stream from 
 the fountain of Heavenly Wisdom and Love." This 
 is our best intelligence on a subject whose importance 
 is vital to us. We meet one another with these 
 spiritual needs. Christianity does not create them. 
 They are innate. Just because we are members oi 
 
 ♦Works, Vol. III., p. 135. 
 
JESUS OF NAZARETH. 2 0g 
 
 the human race, we have them. What shall we do ? 
 To whom shall we turn ? We can not laugh them 
 down. They are too firmly established within us. 
 We dare not mock them with frivolity. They are 
 too solemn. We can not neglect them. They will 
 not cease to make themselves heard. How then shall 
 we treat them ? What shall we say ? Will education 
 answer? Will science and art and literature quiet 
 the awakened conscience ? Will the names of Hum- 
 boldt and Cuvier, of Raphael and Leonardo, of Milton 
 and Shakespeare cheer the inevitable gloom of a 
 dying hour? Has not the name of Jesus Christ fre- 
 quently brought peace to king and to peasant, to 
 philosopher and to child, as the realities of eternity 
 have oppressed the soul ? Yes ! we are safe with this 
 counsel. I do not hesitate to direct you to Jesus 
 Christ. If you find Him, you find hope and comfort 
 and joy, which will sustain you always. 
 
 2d. Jesus Christ occupies a position in the world 
 which is braced by prophecy and history. I believe 
 that there are many persons who have an exceed- 
 ingly vague conception of the reality of the life of 
 Jesus Christ. To them He seems remote, and even 
 mythical. They are sorry that He is not now upon 
 the earth, teaching in some neighboring town, so that 
 they could go to Him, and look up into His face, and 
 hear His voice, and thus become convinced that He 
 is a Saviour. The fact that He was in Judea and 
 
2 io JESUS OF NAZARETH. 
 
 Galilee more than eighteen hundred years ago does 
 not appear to satisfy the demands of faith. Yet He 
 said to the doubting Thomas, whose faith was de- 
 pendent almost entirely upon sight : " Because thou 
 hast seen me thou hast believed : blessed are they 
 that have not seen and yet have believed." The faith 
 of sight is good, but the faith of testimony is better. 
 A Saviour who is present to grasp the hand of the 
 despairing Peter, and thus to rescue that ardent 
 disciple from a watery grave, is a helpful Saviour ; but 
 a Saviour who is invisible to the eye, " whom having 
 not seen ye love, in whom though now ye see Him 
 not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable 
 and full of glory," is really more helpful. For He, 
 by the agency of the Holy Spirit, is " a Christ whom 
 no distance can remove, whom the sick man can have 
 in his chamber, the prisoner in his dungeon, the exile 
 in his place of banishment, the martyr in his fires : 
 present to the heart, more present than looks or 
 words, present where the eye is blind and can not see 
 Him, and the ear is deaf and can not hear Him speak." 
 This is the position which He desires to occupy. He 
 is not a local divinity. His aid is not limited by time 
 nor place. " I am with you alway, even unto the end 
 of the world," is the promise which greets the aspira- 
 tion of each individual soul in the Arctic regions or 
 at the Tropics, in the first century or in the last. I 
 once asked that most devout of our American poets 
 
JESUS OF NAZARETH. 2 1 1 
 
 —Dr. Ray Palmer — to describe to me the state of 
 feeling under which he composed his hymns ; and he 
 answered promptly that a vivid consciousness of the 
 reality of sacred things t3ok possession of him, and 
 that then the hymns appeared to form themselves. 
 As an illustration of his thought, he repeated a few 
 lines of the hymn beginning: 
 
 " Jesus, these eyes have never seen 
 
 That radiant form of Thine, 
 The veil of sense hangs dark between 
 
 Thy blessed face and mine. 
 I see Thee not, I hear Thee not, 
 
 Yet art Thou oft with me ; 
 And earth hath ne'er so dear a spot 
 
 As where I meet with Thee." 
 
 " Now, that hymn," he continued, " as I was meditat- 
 ing upon our dear Lord's sympathy, in the quiet of 
 my study, came into my mind, and I had nothing to 
 do but to place it upon paper." We may almost envy 
 the good man his possession of such a vivid conscious- 
 ness, and yet we are not to despair of equalling it 
 ourselves. For it is within our reach. We may en- 
 joy this spiritual estimate of the Saviour, and then 
 He will no longer be remote and mythical to us, but 
 we shall find Him " a very present help in trouble." 
 
 How shall we feel our way back into the presence 
 of Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of Joseph? What 
 silken cord can we find which will conduct us through 
 the intricate labyrinth of living and dead civilizations. 
 
2 1 2 JESUS OF NAZARETH. 
 
 until we reach the imperial years of ancient Rome 
 and walk the streets of old Jerusalem ? Can we hope 
 to obtain a clear estimate of the life which Mary nur- 
 tured and Pilate surrendered to crucifixion, whose 
 lustre has brightened with each passing century and 
 whose influence has raised humanity to a position 
 which is prophetic of a glory still reserved ? 
 
 There is in the world at present, an institution 
 which is called the Church, and a collection of writ- 
 ings which is called the Holy Scriptures. There is, 
 also, a distinctive mode of life which bears the name 
 Christian. No one will question either of these state- 
 ments. One end of a threefold cord is within our 
 reach — the Church is a reality, the Bible is a reality, 
 Christian life is a reality. And these three realities 
 are as intimately related as the three threads of a 
 cord. They are all of a very early origin. Yester- 
 day will not explain them, nor the day before. They 
 were in the world when Charlemagne received from 
 Leo III. the iron crown of the Western Empire, 
 and even when Constantine established his capital on 
 the shores of the Bosphorus. By the consent of all 
 intelligent historians they were known when Nero 
 made Rome hideous by his debaucheries and crimes ; 
 and even when Tiberius ended his miserable career 
 at Misenum in the year 37, there was a church, and 
 there were Christians to witness to the reality of 
 Jesus Christ the Saviour. Then, too, a portion of 
 
JESUS OF NAZARETH. 213 
 
 the Bible — the Old Testament — was in existence ; 
 and evangelists and apostles were soon to announce 
 the New Testament, as the Gospels and Epistles, 
 which now constitute a sacred canon, came from their 
 hands. I have led you along a beaten path in our 
 progress over the centuries to this very early date. 
 The best scholarship is our guide. We can meet a 
 Church and Christians in the year 37, and a Church 
 and Christians and a large part of the New Testa- 
 ment before the death of Nero in the year 68. 
 
 Our guide, moreover, has conducted us across the 
 broad Atlantic, between the Pillars of Hercules, over 
 the blue waters of the Mediterranean, and into the 
 country of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. If we must 
 look to Runnymede to discover the beginnings of 
 English liberty ; if we must look to Wittenberg to 
 locate the beginnings of the Reformation ; if we must 
 go to Philadelphia to see the cradle of American In- 
 dependence, we must visit the Holy Land to find the 
 birth-place of Him whose presence is the only intelli- 
 gent explanation of the Church, of Christian life, of 
 the New Testament. The land and the Book agree 
 perfectly. With an open Bible the traveller visits the 
 scenes, ever to be memorable through their associa- 
 tion with the life. The Jordan stills flows tumult- 
 ously from its fountain spring on Hermon to the dull 
 and lifeless waters of the bitter sea ; while Hermon 
 still lifts its snow-capped head above the heights of 
 
2 1 4 JES US OF NAZARE TH. 
 
 Lebanon to guard, as a lonely sentinel, the interests 
 of hill and dale. Nazareth nestles as of old on the 
 side of a peaceful, gentle slope ; and Bethlehem wel- 
 comes her shepherds as in days when David kept the 
 flock of Jesse. Olivet greets each sunrise, and from 
 its summit sends tidings, in the glory of a bright 
 illumination, that Jerusalem may prepare to honor 
 the coming day ; and the Holy City preserves, with 
 an unconscious fidelity, many of the localities which 
 the reverence of devotion will always cherish. The 
 land is a study. We may rebuild its towns and 
 cities, repeople its dwellings and streets, and move 
 among the men and women who were the compan- 
 ions of Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph. 
 
 For He, we may rest assured, must explain the 
 origin of the Church, of the Christian life, the New 
 Testament. " Shall we be told," asked Theodore 
 Parker,* " such a man never lived ; the whole story 
 is a lie ? Suppose that Plato and Newton never 
 lived ; that their story is a lie ? But who did their 
 works and thought their thought ? It takes a New- 
 ton to forge a Newton. What man could have fabri- 
 cated a Jesus? None but a Jesus." We may be- 
 lieve then that He lived. Indeed, we can not help 
 believing this sublime fact. Interpret the New Tes- 
 tament as we may, sift its narratives with the violence 
 
 'Discourse of Religion," p. 294. 
 
JESUS OF NAZARETH 2 1 5 
 
 of a most reckless criticism, and we must still believe 
 that He lived. The main facts of His life are gener- 
 ally accepted. He was here among men. A life, rich 
 and bountiful, had its residence in Judea and Gali- 
 lee. The simple narratives of the evangelists acquaint 
 us with its principal events. For, as the author of 
 the familiar essay on " The Christ of History,"* re- 
 marked many years ago, " It is abundantly demon- 
 strable that the evangelists, instead of embodying a 
 conception of their own minds, must have witnessed 
 the life which they describe, never could have con- 
 ceived it unless they had first witnessed it, and were 
 able to represent it in the manner they have done, 
 only because it had actually passed under their imme- 
 diate and frequent observation." 
 
 While Joseph of Nazareth, with Mary, his espoused 
 wife, were in Bethlehem, the child Jesus was born. 
 They had gone to their ancestral town because they 
 were of the house and lineage of David, to be en- 
 rolled in a census which had been ordered by the 
 Emperor Augustus. Jewish law, to which the Ro- 
 mans paid respect whenever they could do so without 
 inconvenience, insisted that names should be entered 
 in the respective family towns. Thus it came to pass 
 that a proclamation of a heathen ruler combined with 
 the national zeal of a God-fearing race to make pos« 
 
 * Page 24. 
 
2i6 JESUS OF NAZARETH. 
 
 sible the fulfilment of an ancient prophecy. Foi 
 Micah had designated Bethlehem as the birth-place 
 of the Messiah ; and the Jews interpreted his proph- 
 ecy aright when they insisted that no other town 
 could lay claim to this distinction. Soon after His 
 birth the babe was carried to Egypt to escape the 
 wrath of King Herod, who had learned that great 
 expectations were associated with the birth of a babe 
 in Bethlehem. Then, when Herod was dead, Joseph 
 and Mary returned with Jesus, and made their home 
 in Nazareth, where the boy " increased in wisdom 
 and stature and in favor with God and man." There 
 is no reason for believing that He was unlike other 
 boys, except in the perfect freshness, purity, and 
 beauty of His young life. He was with His mother, 
 whose heart was filled with strange hopes concern- 
 ing Him, and with Joseph, whose daily toil brought 
 him into contact with the tools and the workmanship 
 of a carpenter's shop. Theirs was a religious home. 
 The Holy Scriptures were explained, and the devout 
 psalms of the Hebrews were sung. Questions were 
 encouraged and answers were patiently given. If 
 there were other children there, and such seems to 
 have been the case, then Jesus had the companion- 
 ship of brothers and sisters ; and thus, even in His 
 early life, His presence was expressive of the sacred 
 ness of the family. Nazareth had its synagogue, 
 and the household of Joseph could not have neg- 
 
JESUS OF NAZARETH. 2 1 7 
 
 lected the public worship of their fathers. The great 
 festivals in Jerusalem also received their respectful 
 attention ; and at twelve years of age the boy was 
 permitted to join the caravan of pilgrims who went 
 up to the Holy City to the Passover. There He 
 seemed to discover a wonderful capacity for religion. 
 He drew to Himself, with magnetic power, the learned 
 doctors of the Temple, who were astonished at His 
 understanding and answers. But He was not unduly 
 forward. Quietly submitting Himself to His mother, 
 He went back to Nazareth, where eighteen years of 
 His important life were passed in simple, humble 
 labor. He entered the carpenter's shop, and did 
 His work, day by day, for the people of the village. 
 This — let us not fail to grasp the thought — was a most 
 instructive part of His career. Greatness, surpass- 
 ing greatness, is His by universal consent. He out- 
 ranks the most illustrious of the sons of men. Yet 
 He passed a large part of His life upon the earth in 
 the ordinary work of a mechanic. He was a poor 
 man up to the last, without dwelling and without 
 purse. Thus He has ennobled labor and dignified 
 poverty, and given His approval to a quiet, unobtru- 
 sive life, which meets each day's duties in the fear of 
 God. 
 
 We can see Him at the age of thirty, as He bids His 
 mother " good-bye," and starts out upon His sublime 
 mission. There is a stir in the land. John the Bap. 
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JES US OF NAZARE TH. 2 1 c 
 
 the Jews, whose venerated traditions He weakened 
 or destroyed, became violent in its opposition. They 
 could not endure His presence. At every step they 
 opposed Him. Soon the cross and the sepulchre put 
 an end to His activity ; and His name, covered with 
 reproaches, was the ridicule and scorn of Jerusalem. 
 Then to His disciples came the helpful, inspiring 
 consciousness that He had arisen from the dead. 
 This they believed with an intensity of faith, which 
 no persecutions could weaken, no hardships destroy 
 no time efface. It became the faith of Christendom, 
 quickening intelligence, enlarging activity, sustaining 
 perilous undertakings in the interests of humanity, 
 undermining old forms of superstition, and illumin- 
 ing the horizon of each century with a celestial ra- 
 diance. We accept it now ; and while we believe in 
 " Jesus and the resurrection," we can speak to every 
 anxious, troubled thought with a divine assurance ; 
 we can guide every perplexing inquiry with a divine 
 leadership ; we can soothe the agony of death and 
 relieve the gloom of the grave with a divine hope. 
 The fact — so grandly evident — that Jesus Christ has 
 appeared is the basis of our strength, our courage, 
 our endurance, and our peace. 
 
 And this fact stands not alone like some solitary 
 minaret, tall, slender, and unsustained. Both proph- 
 ecy and history brace it securely — prophecy, which 
 has its records through many centuries, and which 
 
220 JESUS OF NAZARETH. 
 
 demands a fact like this ; and history, whose great 
 foundation-stones are the events which are asso- 
 ciated with this fact. It may seem hard to believe, 
 and yet it is harder not to believe. Criticism is easy, 
 and often cheap, but no criticism may hope to re- 
 move from the moral world this central Sun of 
 Righteousness, whose control is evident in the in- 
 creasing order of the spheres. 
 
 3d. Prophecy and history unite in commending 
 Jesus Christ as the Mediator, through whom divine 
 help is secured by man. We are not careful to ex- 
 plain, now and here, how this help reaches us through 
 the mediation of Jesus Christ. The fact alone is for 
 present emphasis. You and I need help. We need 
 it sorely. We are directed to Jesus Christ. He is 
 evidently a real personage. Through Him God's 
 help is to reach us. For Paul, who is an acknowl- 
 edged leader of Christian thought, has said : u There 
 is one God. and one mediator between God and men, 
 the man Christ Jesus." His mediation touches us 
 on the one hand, and God on the other. When we 
 submit to Him. we discover the blessedness of par- 
 don, of sustaining grace, of a life which takes hold 
 upon eternity. And all this is divine. Meeting the 
 approved conditions, we secure the desired result. 
 A holy life, strong and capable, solicits us. That 
 life is within our reach. We may behold its excel- 
 lence. We mav consider its method. We mav ac- 
 
[ES US OF NAZARE TH. 2 2 1 
 
 cept its aid. Prophecy and history unite in giving us 
 a life. What gift so excellent ? A life. What gift 
 so encouraging? A life. What gift so divine ? Help 
 is sent us by God through a life. A life, which was 
 lived upon our own plane ; a life of simple, familiar 
 virtues and graces; a life of absolute perfection which 
 knows no decay, only expansion forever ; a life whose 
 service is self-sacrifice, and whose honor is humility ; 
 a life which confronts with its rebukes every form of 
 prodigality, and which cheers with its promises faith- 
 fulness of every form ; a life whose daily blessing is 
 the divine approval, and whose ultimate coronation 
 is perfect resemblance to the Lord. Oh ! what a 
 gift is this ! Can we reject it ? Are we willing to 
 plod along in our own living without a glimpse of 
 this sacred life, without a purpose to secure its ex- 
 cellence ? God forbid ! We are, indeed, a favored 
 people. Our opportunity is sublime. We should 
 embrace it. For we may fail of riches — most men 
 do ; and of honors, there are few who gain them ; 
 and of ease, life may be toil to the end ; and of 
 health, sickness may be our heritage ; and of pleas- 
 ure, sorrow may never leave us while we continue 
 here ; but oh ! let us not fail of this life which God 
 offers to us through Jesus Christ. 
 
 And to this end, begin now, in humble penitence 
 for sin and simple confidence in the grace provided, 
 and live forever with Jesus Christ as Saviour ; for He 
 is Prophet, Priest, and King. 
 
222 I'S OF XAZARE TH. 
 
 My friends, when Philip addressed Nathanael and 
 urged him to inquire personally of Jesus. Christian 
 history had hardly written the first sentence of the 
 
 record which now fills the libraries of the world. A 
 day or two of a sacred friendship — that was all — was 
 back of his entreat}-. Ye: Xathanael regarded the 
 invitation, and his inquiry became his salvation. We 
 come now with a similar urgency to commend to you 
 a Saviour who has approved Himself in all parts of 
 the world, in every generation, unto ever.- age. class. 
 and condition. Will you not look to Him as a Saviour 
 and seek the help that you need, through His gra- 
 cious intercession ? 
 
XII. 
 
 THE GRACIOUS WORDS.— WHAT WERE 
 THEY? 
 
 "And all bare Him witness, and wondered at thi. 
 gracious words which proceeded out of His 
 mouthy — Luke iv. 22. 
 
 WHEN Jesus entered the synagogue of Nazareth 
 on the Sabbath of His memorable discourse, He was 
 instantly recognized as the Rabbi whose teaching 
 had been received with enthusiasm in many parts of 
 Galilee. Since He had gone out from His home, He 
 had visited John the Baptist and had spent forty days 
 in the Desert ; He had selected a few disciples and 
 had exhibited His power at Cana, where water was 
 converted into wine ; He had made an impression 
 upon the Jews of Jerusalem, to whom He had for- 
 mally presented Himself as the Messiah, and He had 
 continued His labors in Judea after His Messianic 
 claims had been rejected by the leaders of the Chosen 
 People ; He had returned through Samaria into His 
 own country, where His voice had been heard in 
 many synagogues. With an established reputation 
 with a recognized popularity, He came back to Naza- 
 
 (223) 
 
224 
 
 THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 reth, and promptly responded to the desire of His 
 townsmen that He should address them. The roll 
 of the prophecy of Isaiah, which contained the second 
 Scripture lesson of the day, was placed in His hands, 
 and after He had selected a passage in what is now 
 known as the 6ist chapter of that sublime revelation. 
 He began to read. When He had read but one sen- 
 tence of the prophecy, He paused, rolled up the 
 parchment, handed it to the attendant, and sat down. 
 These actions were indicative of His intention to 
 speak. Instantly every eye was fixed upon Him. 
 
 To the amazement of His hearers, He said that the 
 venerated prophecy, which so evidently anticipated 
 the appearance of the Messiah, was fulfilled by His 
 presence, and that it was His mission to bless the 
 poor, to cheer the afflicted, to give liberty to the 
 captive, and knowledge to the ignorant, and freedom 
 to the slave, and thus to introduce the year of jubilee. 
 These startling announcements were followed by an 
 exposition of the truth of Redemption, which led 
 that audience of Nazarenes through many varieties 
 of intense feeling. At first they were charmed by 
 His manner ; then they became curious as they ob- 
 served His composure, and associated His claims 
 with His very humble station in life ; soon they 
 wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out 
 of His mouth ; then they began to whisper questions 
 to one another, which were expressive of jealousy : 
 
THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 225 
 
 at last their wrath over His assumptions could not 
 be restrained. They denounced Him openly. With 
 the vehemence of a mob they rushed upon Him, 
 drove Him out of the synagogue, hurried Him to a 
 rocky eminence near by, and prepared to cast Him 
 down headlong. But He escaped their violence, and 
 crossing the hills to Capernaum established His resi- 
 dence in that friendly city. 
 
 This sermon, preached in the synagogue of Naza- 
 reth, announced the idea which He continued to 
 elaborate and enforce. What that idea is, and what its 
 applications are, may be known by any disciple who 
 studies the teaching of Jesus. The record of that 
 teaching, as it is found in the Gospels, is easily under- 
 stood. Within the compass of a small tract, His 
 words may all be contained. An hour or two will 
 suffice for their reading. But no one can estimate 
 their influence ; no one can sound their depths ; no 
 one can measure their expansive possibilities. They 
 have met each new life with a pertinent lesson ; they 
 have addressed each new social condition with their 
 counsel and hope ; they have exhibited an adaptation 
 to every phase of human need ; they carry the prom- 
 ise of everlasting blessedness in the perfection of 
 eternal life. What, then, is this important teaching? 
 What did He say? 
 
 1st. In His teaching, Jesus Christ insisted upon 
 the necessity of a personal union with God. The 
 
226 THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 conception of this sacred union was the central idea 
 of His teaching. He recognized the fact, so pain 
 fully evident, that there has been a rebellion which 
 has separated God and man. Man draws away from, 
 and defies the authority of, God. He does not wish 
 to retain God in his knowledge. If he could have 
 his own way, he would dispense with God entirely. 
 u The carnal mind is enmity against God." How 
 frequently endeavors have been put forth to con 
 struct a theory of creation, of natural and moral 
 order, which shall contain no recognition of God ! 
 How often a bitter resistance is encountered when 
 the authority of God is emphasized and the de- 
 mands of His Word are pressed upon the conscience ! 
 Yet why should man hate God, why should man 
 shrink back from God, why should man hesitate to 
 welcome cordially every overture on the part of God ? 
 God is infinitely glorious, and the truest dignity of 
 life must be associated with the blessedness of receiv- 
 ing Him. The question should never arise — and but 
 for sin it would never arise — as to my willingness to 
 be the friend of God ; for there is another question 
 of far greater moment to me, which brings me to 
 inquire as to God's willingness to be my friend. Sin 
 alone can answer for this unbelief. But for the sepa- 
 rating, repelling influence of sin, every man would 
 turn to God as naturally and promptly as the flowers 
 turn to the sun. Sin, however, awakens prejudices, 
 
THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 227 
 
 misunderstandings, bitterness of feeling, so that the 
 gracious Father of us all is neglected and even hated 
 by the children whom He blesses every day. How 
 many men there are upon our streets — good men as 
 the estimate of the world goes — who never recognize 
 God in prayer or praise ! They are engrossed with 
 the cares of business. The consciousness of God has 
 gone out of their lives. They will tell you what 
 they do not believe about God, and yet they seldom 
 arrange the thoughts which are indicative of a posi- 
 tive belief in His power and love. Surely they are 
 not united to God ! Whatever advantages may be 
 realized from union with Him, they are unable to say 
 that they possess them. Life moves swiftly to its 
 close ; opportunity ceases to extend its invitations. 
 The last word is spoken. The realities of an eternal 
 state must be met without hope in God. Why should 
 this be so ? What excuse can be given for neglect 
 like this ? Is it not a fearful evidence of the sinful- 
 ness of sin that goodness and purity and holiness and 
 love in God are rejected by a weak, feeble mortal, 
 who is dependent in every hour of his life, and who 
 is rapidly hastening to the tomb ? 
 
 With an insight which itself is an argument in 
 favor of His divine origin, Jesus Christ pointed to 
 this estrangement between God and man as the 
 deep-seated cause of all present difficulties. He did 
 not grope His way to this profound estimate. It was 
 
2 2 S THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 announced at the beginning of His public ministry. 
 When He entered upon His career He began to pro 
 claim the presence of the kingdom of God. and the 
 consequent necessity of repentance. This kingdom, 
 it has been said, " is the reign of God in men,, when the 
 Father of minds shall be known, loved, and revered 
 by His children. It is the reign of righteousness, 
 purity, truth, love, and peace, the universal reception 
 and dominion among men of all true, just, holy. 
 generous, and divine principles. It is the highest 
 stage of religious, moral, intellectual, social, and in- 
 dividual cultivation. It is the noblest development 
 possible on this earth of all the attributes and capa- 
 bilities of humanity. It is spiritual victory after the 
 battle of thousands of ages. It is the triumph of 
 good and of God over moral and physical evil." 
 
 In His prayer of intercession, Jesus Christ evidently 
 reviews His work. The leading features of that work 
 are enumerated as the basis, or ground, of the plea 
 which He presents on behalf of all Christians. We 
 discover, at once, His central idea. Again and again 
 in the course of the prayer He refers to the union 
 which He has established between God and man, as 
 well as to His desire that this union may extend until 
 it shall include a countless multitude, " that they all 
 may be one ; as Thou. Father, art in me, and I in 
 Thee, that they also may be one in us ; that the world 
 may believe that Thou hast sent me." 
 
THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 229 
 
 To make this sublime idea a possibility, it was 
 essential that man should be made acquainted with 
 God. God's character must be known, God's pur- 
 pose must be appreciated, God's love must be an- 
 nounced, if man is to be united to God. For no man 
 of himself imagines that God really wishes to be his 
 friend, that God is willing to accept him just as he is, 
 that God is seeking him with an intensity of solici- 
 tude which is the marvel of revelation. The prev- 
 alent feeling is that a man must fix himself up to 
 appear before God, that he must make himself better, 
 that he must do something to merit the divine favor. 
 Jesus Christ brushed away every one of those misty 
 conceptions about God, to reveal the clear outlines of 
 the Father's benignant countenance. He exhibited 
 God's interest in a sinful race, and made very evident 
 God's desire to have man united to Him. He gave 
 the assurance of God's willingness to impart His own 
 life to the soul of the penitent believer. He taught 
 the language of a prayer, whose first sentence, " Our 
 Father, which art in Heaven," is the announce- 
 ment of splendid possibilities. He brought God out 
 of the dimness of obscurity into the reality of daily 
 iife, from the hills and the caves and the oceans, where 
 the superstitions of mythology had fixed the resi- 
 dences of many divinities, into the cities, the homes, 
 and the hearts of our race, from the attitude of a 
 dreaded, avenging Nemesis to that of a considerate 
 
330 THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 loving friend. God stands with outstretched hands 
 of welcome, with tender entreaties of solicitude, with 
 gentle persuasiveness in every appeal, to call to Him- 
 self a guilty, weak, and helpless race. We have the 
 assurance that He desires us ; and we have the added 
 assurance that we are capable of meeting Him, of 
 enjoying His love, of being thus united to Him. 
 
 All this is included in the teaching of Jesus Christ. 
 He has made us acquainted with God, and He has 
 made us acquainted with ourselves. Then He has 
 still further explained the method of this most desir- 
 able union, by what He has said respecting His own 
 death. For that death has removed every obstacle 
 which has stood in the way of our acceptance, and it 
 makes to us all a most influential appeal. Never 
 does God's love seem so strong as when we contem- 
 plate its manifestation in the death upon the cross, 
 and never does His appeal seem so tender as when we 
 hear it from the lips which uttered the agonizing cry : 
 "My God, my God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" 
 11 Assuredly," observes one of the foremost men of 
 our times,* " no other had ever conceived of a personal 
 God, of an infinite power, with a pure and awful 
 holiness of spirit, yet careful of the humblest, mind 
 ful of the meanest, and with the temper of uttei 
 self-sacrifice for the welfare of others paramount in 
 
 * Dr. R. S. Storrs. 
 
THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 23 1 
 
 Him ! " Yet this was the idea of Jesus of Nazareth, 
 these were "the gracious words which proceeded out 
 of His mouth." Union with God is possible ; union 
 with God is necessary ; union with God is the sublime 
 consummation of every noble hope. 
 
 2d. In His teaching, Jesus Christ announced a per- 
 sonal union with God as a seed-truth, which opens to 
 influence every condition of life. There are a few 
 truths which are of universal application. The natural 
 world is affected in every smallest atom by the prin- 
 ciple of gravitation, and the spiritual world is intimate- 
 ly related to the sublime truth of man's union with 
 God. This truth touches the characters, the fortunes, 
 the destinies of human beings in all the wide range 
 of diversified personal interests. It has convictions 
 for the sinner and consolations for the saint ; it has a 
 strong, helpful hand for the weak, and most cordial 
 relief for the distressed ; it breaks the fetters which 
 bind the slave, and suggests a solution of the many 
 problems which arise between strength and feeble- 
 ness ; it anticipates a golden age, whose quiet pros- 
 perity will be the reign of love, and prepares for a 
 celestial residence which knows sin only as a memory. 
 The great Teacher understood Himself when He re- 
 fused to be diverted from its proclamation. He was 
 wiser than His generation, in which there were many 
 learned men, who were seeking to establish theories 
 of government and social order. They would have 
 
232 
 
 THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 been glad to have heard from Him upon the subjects 
 of pressing interest. The Roman Empire had recently 
 come into existence, — would He favor an Empire or a 
 Republic ? An elaborate revenue system was opera- 
 tive, would He approve its methods, or could He sug- 
 gest one better? Intemperance was a common and 
 a destructive vice, would He advance any special 
 counsels on the use of intoxicating drinks ? Slavery 
 was prevalent, would He advocate emancipation ? 
 The rich were very rich and the poor were very poor, 
 would He advise a redistribution of property, the 
 enactment of corn laws, any regulation of wages? 
 Judaism was regarded as an exclusive national re- 
 ligion, would He outline a new religious policy, with 
 a complete organization, an elaborate ritual, a pre- 
 scribed code? A great variety of religions were 
 recognized in the different parts of the world, would 
 He consider this diversity in His announcements of 
 the truth ? The preeminent greatness of Jesus Christ 
 was manifested in His self-restraint, in what He did 
 not say. He had not been a pupil of any famous 
 school, nor had He been a man of cities, where thought 
 is broader than it is in provincial towns, nor had He 
 travelled into foreign parts to study the customs and 
 needs of his fellow-men. He was a Nazarene ; and 
 Nazareth was renowned for illiberality and narrow- 
 ness of spirit. Yet when He began to teach He an- 
 nounced a truth, which is the germ of even' important 
 
THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 233 
 
 truth, whose influence touches individual or social 
 life. This truth He grasped firmly. Nothing could 
 shake His hold upon it. He appreciated its character, 
 and He was convinced that He could best do His work 
 as a teacher by insisting upon its importance. His 
 was the prophet's vision. He saw the interests of life 
 in their true relation. Consequently He often seemed 
 to be conservative and timid when the enthusiasm of 
 His admirers found Him unwilling to rush into the 
 political arena or to head a popular revolt. He, how- 
 ever, was wiser than they. They would have had 
 Him strike a blow, which would have wounded or 
 bruised some monster of tyranny or vice, while He 
 was resolutely preparing to destroy the monster. For 
 the truth of union with God when once accepted, 
 would inevitably break up venerable systems of super- 
 stition, of slavery, of social oppression, inasmuch as 
 the prevalence of this union would make men con- 
 siderate and forgiving, gentle and kind, and thus, by 
 securing a new life in the individual soul, would intro- 
 duce " the new heavens and the new earth wherein 
 dwelleth righteousness." In this He was not wrong. 
 Experience has approved His wisdom. He leads the 
 teachers of the world, because He has presented the 
 one truth which can regenerate society. " Suited 
 alike," says Dr. Geikie,* " for the peasant and the 
 
 *" Life of Christ.' 
 
234 THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 prince, it cared nothing for outward position, or the 
 changes of states or nationality, but sought only to 
 meet the wants and longings of man, in the inner in- 
 finite world of the heart and spirit which no Herod 
 could reach. Recognizing all good wherever found, 
 it gladly drew to itself all that was true and pure, and 
 rejoiced to ally itself with the gifts which dignify 
 human nature. The friend of man, it saw in every 
 soul a pearl, hidden or visible, and ennobled every 
 honorable human calling by enlisting it in the service 
 
 of God The sweet fancy of the Portuguese 
 
 mariner, who, after rounding Cape Horn amidst storm 
 and terrors, found that the ocean on which he had 
 entered lay as if hushed asleep before him, and 
 ascribed its calm to the glittering form of the South 
 ern Cross shining down on it, was to be turned into 
 fact, in the stillness of the hitherto troubled soul 
 under the light of the Star of Bethlehem." 
 
 It will not be amiss to exhibit briefly the splendid 
 possibilities which attend this idea of Jesus Christ. 
 Consider, then, how amply it meets every require- 
 ment of personal salvation. Sin has separated the 
 soul from God. The soul is lost in view of this sepa- 
 ration. For without God no soul can realize the bless- 
 edness of the eternal Home. Heaven is a locality 
 and also a state. Unless the state harmonizes with 
 the locality, there can be no joy in Heaven. An un- 
 reconciled sinner in Heaven would be more out of 
 
THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 235 
 
 place than a pardoned saint in Hell ; for the saint in 
 Hell might find some ministry of relief to engage his 
 sympathies ; but the sinner in Heaven would know 
 not what to do. It is worse than folly for any one to 
 cherish the hope that he will somehow find a place in 
 Heaven, if he continues to neglect God while here upon 
 the earth. We must be in the heavenly state, if we ex- 
 pect to enjoy the heavenly locality. When we accept 
 God's gracious invitation, we repent of sin and re- 
 ceive His pardon. Then we become united to Him 
 by faith and love ; as truly and vitally united as the 
 branch is united to the vine, or the body to the head. 
 This is what Jesus said : " If a man love me he will 
 keep my words, and my Father will love him, and 
 we will come unto him, and make our abode with 
 him." This is the beginning of Christian life. Ob- 
 serve its pure spirituality. It is not dependent upon 
 officiating priest, nor upon sacramental grace, nor 
 upon places, orders, nor seasons. The life begins in 
 each soul whenever and wherever God is made wel- 
 come. The relation is personal. Each for himself 
 must become united to God. As we sit here in the 
 sanctuary we are divided in view of this relation. 
 Some of us have accepted God, and some have 
 not. While we continue here we may quietly yield 
 to God and rejoice in His salvation, and may carry 
 hence, as we go out, a new hope. No father can do 
 this great work for his child ; no husband can make 
 
236 THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 his wife receive God ; no friend can repent and be. 
 lieve for his friend. Each for himself. Just as we must 
 die alone, so must we enter into this divine life alone. 
 Then the progress of the Christian life announces its 
 order in the teaching, which says : " He that abideth 
 in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much 
 fruit." Christian fruitfulness appears in the virtues 
 and graces of the Holy Spirit — the " love, joy, peace, 
 long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, 
 temperance" of a godly life. Here we find the best 
 preparation for the service of earth and the glory of 
 Heaven. He who is the best Christian will be the best 
 citizen. Social life demands the activity of the laws 
 which Christianity proclaims. When men are under 
 the control of these laws they will be personally 
 righteous, and their intercourse will be the beautiful 
 expression of the power of a divine life. I do not 
 believe that we shall witness the loathsome degrada- 
 tion of intemperance when men are united to God, 
 nor do I expect then to hear the plaintive cry of the 
 slave ; I do not believe that the weak will be neg- 
 lected when men are united to God, nor do I expect 
 then to hear of wars and rumors of wars : I do not be- 
 lieve that the class distinctions, which seem like great 
 chasms in our civilization, will be apparent when men 
 are united to God, nor do I expect then to hear the 
 indifference of prosperity and the curses of adversity 
 frr»m the sides of this chasm. My faith is strong that 
 
THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 237 
 
 the idea of Jesus Christ is adequate to this work. 
 That idea has already asserted itself, and the bright 
 est pages of history are covered with the records of 
 its accomplishments. We need more faith. I am 
 ashamed, as I observe the weakness of our faith — 
 the weakness which resorts to so "many human de- 
 vices to assist the omnipotence of the Gospel. This 
 Gospel is a vigorous Samson, without any of the folly 
 of Manoah's son. But what could the vigorous Sam- 
 son have done, if timid Israelites had bandaged his 
 limbs for safety, had put a crutch under his arm to 
 help him walk, and had loaded him with a giant's 
 armor to increase his efficiency ? No ! no ! we err 
 sadly when we do not trust the Gospel ! Jesus 
 Christ trusted it. Are we wiser and better than 
 was He ? I should be glad to witness a crusade 
 against oppression and iniquity which would be con- 
 ducted on His plan, with His idea. It may be well 
 to advocate temperance, but there is a more funda- 
 mental advocacy, and that is union with God ; it may 
 be well to denounce slavery, but slavery is doomed if 
 union with God becomes a reality ; it may be well to 
 insist upon honesty, but every virtue and every grace 
 will bloom if union with God becomes the seed of a 
 new life. Christianity is positive morality. It dis- 
 misses the chill and barrenness of winter by intro- 
 ducing the warmth and verdure of spring. 
 
 To this far-reaching idea Jesus Christ gave His 
 
238 THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 life. He was one of the few teachers who have an- 
 nounced seed truths ; i. e., truths which open and 
 germinate and bear fruit through the centuries. His 
 truth has this characteristic : it is the most sublime, 
 the most comprehensive, the most practical of all 
 known truths. 'Two worlds are considered by it. 
 Two conditions wait upon its instruction. It meets 
 us here in sin and misery, and it establishes us there 
 in holiness and felicity ; it contemplates a millennium 
 of peace upon the earth and endless ages of loving 
 service in Heaven. Compared with it, what shall be 
 said of the destructive godlessness which fills the 
 atmosphere with fire and smoke ; or the placid ag- 
 nosticism which confesses inability to believe in God, 
 angel, or spirit ; or the prevalent worldliness which 
 burns the candle of opportunity to the socket and 
 dies in darkness ? With Christ's idea how shall we 
 compare these many ideas which are current in re- 
 view or on platform ? They are negations, His idea 
 is a clear statement ; they condemn us to hope- 
 lessness, His idea encourages effort ; they debase our 
 spirituality, His idea is instinct with glory and honor 
 and immortality. We may safely teach His teaching 
 to our children ; we may safely go upon the street 
 with it and make it known to the multitude ; we may 
 safely cherish it for our dark and lonely days. Union 
 with God ! It is the polar star whose mild light con- 
 ducts the mariner over life's troubled sea. 
 
THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 239 
 
 3d. In His teaching, Jesus Christ made Himself 
 prominent by soliciting a love whose significance is 
 appreciated in this personal union with God. This is 
 one of the most remarkable features of His teaching. 
 He did not carry the dignity of great age, for He was 
 a young man when He completed His work. He 
 did not enjoy the approval of the great Rabbis, like 
 Gamaliel, for He was rejected by the principal men 
 of the Jews. Yet with His youth and His humble 
 station in life, He ventured to call His hearers to 
 Himself, and to assure them that they would become 
 united to God by believing on Him. What would 
 have been thought of Socrates if he had concluded 
 his addresses to the young men of Athens, by saying 
 constantly : " Believe on me. Accept me. Love me. 
 He that hath seen me hath seen the Father ! " Yet 
 this is precisely what Jesus of Nazareth said, and the 
 call from His lips seems quite appropriate. " And I, 
 if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men 
 unto me." There is here a prominence of self, and 
 yet He was the most unselfish of all beings. His 
 self, so beautiful, so attractive, so refreshing in its 
 response to penitence and love, is magnetic. We feel 
 its solicitations. It is the persuasiveness of the sun's 
 rays which lifts the limpid water-drops from stagnant 
 pool and bog. We yield to His appeal, and behold 
 we are united to God. " Bertrand," said Bonaparte * 
 
 * "Conversations at St. Helena." 
 
240 THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 to the favorite officer, who was the companion of his 
 exile, " what a proof of the divinity of Christ s 
 With an empire so absolute, He has but one single 
 end — the spiritual amelioration of individuals, the 
 purity of the conscience, the union to that which is 
 true, the holiness of the soul. Christ speaks, and at 
 once generations become His by stricter, closer ties 
 than those of blood — by the most sacred, the most 
 indissoluble of unions. He lights up the flames of 
 a love which prevails over every other love. The 
 founders of other religions never conceived of this 
 mystical love, which is the essence of Christianity, 
 and is beautifully called charity." Then, for a mo- 
 ment, the emperor was silent. Soon he resumed the 
 conversation and said : " Bertrand, if you do not per- 
 ceive that Jesus Christ is God, then I did wrong in 
 making you a general." 
 
 The wisdom of this method which Jesus Christ 
 adopted has been generally commended. His idea — 
 union with God — was too abstract for popular appre- 
 ciation. " Men need a leader, an example, a person, 
 to whom they can look as a centre of attraction." 
 He meets that need. He secures a personal love. 
 Then He opens to the experience of His disciple 
 the hidden depths of that love which contain this 
 precious union with God. It is with His love some- 
 what as it is with the sacred love of marriage, whose 
 significance can not be known at the bridal, but 
 
THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 241 
 
 which finds its interpretation through years of mu- 
 tual helpfulness, sympathy, and service. So is it 
 with the love of Jesus, of which we hear so much. 
 Beginning with the simplicity of a child's faith, it 
 advances to the maturity of an affection like that 
 which Paul commended when he said that it " passeth 
 knowledge." He solicits our love in order that He 
 may unite us to God. He is near and visible. We 
 can behold Him and hear Him speak. It is not diffi- 
 cult to accept His outstretched hand. Then He 
 leads us to a consciousness of God which becomes 
 the strength and comfort and joy of our souls. 
 
 There will be little or no dispute that Jesus Christ 
 is the greatest teacher of the world. He has spoken 
 the wisest and best word on the important questions 
 of life and destiny. Whatever mysteries may con- 
 front us — and I need not to be reminded of the mys- 
 teries, they announce themselves — we may feel sure 
 that the man who conforms his faith and conduct to 
 the teaching of Jesus Christ will be prepared to meet 
 any event of the future beyond the grave. If there 
 is no future, as some tell us, then he will lose noth- 
 ing, for he will never be conscious of the disappoint- 
 ment to his hopes, and he will have the satisfaction 
 of leading a sober, righteous, and godly life while he 
 is with his fellow-men. But if there is a future, as 
 the Word of God declares and our own conscious- 
 ness affirms, then he will gain everything. For the 
 
242 
 
 THE GRACIOUS WORDS. 
 
 welcome, the crown, and the mansion are promised 
 unto those who have confessed Jesus Christ in the 
 experiences of their earthly lives. 
 
 Therefore there is real joy in learning of Him — 
 joy in hearing Him say, "Thy sins be forgiven thee ; 
 go in peace "; joy in welcoming the love which He 
 offers so freely to every trusting disciple ; joy in 
 realizing that God is a Father who pities them that 
 fear Him ; joy in knowing that sin is to be outgrown 
 and that holiness is to be the abiding life ; joy in 
 listening to the gentle whispers of the Holy Spirit ; 
 joy in experiencing the grace which brings chastise- 
 ment out of trial ; joy in the hope that strife and 
 confusion, jealousy and division will not always deso- 
 late the earth ; joy in the fair prospect of a celestial 
 residence, whose walls are sometimes visible, whose 
 seraphic anthems are sometimes heard, whose em- 
 ployments are pure and sweet and blessed, and whose 
 radiance, effulgent day and night, is the glory of God 
 and of the Lamb. 
 
XIII. 
 
 THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST.— WHAT 
 DID HE DO? 
 
 " And the one of them, whose name was Cleopas 
 answering said unto Him, Art Thou only a 
 stranger in Jerusale7n, and hast not known 
 the things which are come to pass there in 
 these days ? 
 
 "And He said unto them, What things ? And 
 they said unto Him, Concerning Jesus of Naz- 
 areth, which was a prophet mighty in deed 
 and word before God and all the people : 
 
 " And how the chief priests and our rulers deliver- 
 ed Him to be condemned to death, and have cru- 
 cified Him. 
 
 " But we trusted that it had been He which should 
 have redeemed Israel ; and beside all this, to- 
 day is the third day since these things were 
 done. 
 
 " Yea, and certain women also of our company 
 made us astonished, which were early at the 
 sepulchre ; 
 
 **And when they found not His body, they came % 
 saying, that they had also seen a vision of 
 angels, which said that He was alive. 
 
 " And certain of them which were with us went 
 to the sepulchre, and found it even so as the 
 women had said ; but Him they saw not*' — 
 Luke xxiv. 18-24. 
 
 THE work of Jesus Christ is very completely out- 
 lined in the reply of Cleopas. For three years that 
 work has interested the people of Judea and Galilee 
 
 (243) 
 
244 THE WORK 0F JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 It has just culminated in the strange death upon the 
 cro c s, and in the stranger rumors of the resurrection. 
 Public sentiment is divided. The essential features 
 of the work can not be denied, and yet there are 
 many explanations of its significance which are men- 
 tioned with approval. 
 
 Cleopas and his friend are disciples of Jesus Christ. 
 They have just left Jerusalem, where they have be- 
 come familiar with the events of the last few days. 
 On the way to Emmaus, they naturally talk together 
 of all these things which have happened. They can 
 not understand them. With intense admiration and 
 devotion they have accepted Jesus Christ as the 
 Redeemer of Israel. His teaching has commended 
 itself to their intelligence, and His actions have 
 seemed to be expressive of unlimited power. Yet 
 in the crisis of His career, in the hour when His tri- 
 umphal entry into the Holy City has been celebrated, 
 He has tamely surrendered Himself to a band of sol- 
 diers, and has been crucified. They are perplexed. 
 No one stands ready to explain the apparent contra- 
 diction. For what shall be said of the Redeemer of 
 Israel, who, having exhibited resources adequate to 
 the deliverances of the Chosen People from the Ro- 
 man yoke, has expired upon a cross? 
 
 In their distress, these friends meet a stranger, 
 who asks the reason of their sadness. The reply oi 
 Cleopas presents the general estimate of the Master's 
 
THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 24$ 
 
 work which obtains among His disciples ; for he 
 promptly answers that they are troubled concerning 
 Jesus of Nazareth, whom they have recognized as a 
 prophet, and as a revelation of God, whom they have 
 followed to Golgotha, and who is said to have arisen 
 from the grave. Within these four particulars the 
 entire work is comprehended. Cleopas is intelligent. 
 We shall not go astray if we accept him as our guide 
 and institute our inquiries in the directions thus in- 
 dicated. 
 
 1st. Jesus Christ discharged the duties of a prophet. 
 The great law-giver, Moses, predicted this activity 
 when he said to the Hebrews : " The Lord thy God 
 will raise up unto thee a prophet from the midst of 
 thee, of thy brethren, like unto me ; unto Him ye 
 shall hearken." In his address to the people of 
 Jerusalem, who were assembled in the porch that is 
 called Solomon's, Peter insisted that this prediction 
 had met its fulfilment in the work of Jesus Christ. 
 As Cleopas remarked, He was " a prophet mighty in 
 deed and word before God and the people." In His 
 work, the prophetical order, which had received such 
 honor from the labors of many illustrious men, 
 reached its culmination. The long line of prophets, 
 extending from Moses to John the Baptist, found a 
 leader in Jesus Christ. They all anticipated His 
 coming. Without His work they could not exhibit 
 the wisdom nor the truthfulness of their messages. 
 
246 JESUS OF NAZARETH. 
 
 He was essential to them, as they were preparatory 
 to Him. They were the shadows, and He was the 
 substance ; He was the gold, and they were the drafts 
 upon the treasury ; they were the types, and He was 
 the antitype. 
 
 The duties of a prophet were threefold. He was 
 a narrator, as when he made known, in his own way, 
 facts that were familiar ; he was also an expounder, 
 as when he interpreted events ; he was, moreover, a 
 seer, as when he looked into the future and announced 
 its mysteries. The pen of the historian was in the 
 hand of Moses, for he wrote the history of the Exo- 
 dus, which occurred under his leadership. He fre- 
 quently explained to the Hebrews the truths which 
 God revealed, and thus he was a preacher of right- 
 eousness. Besides, he had visions, and was acquainted 
 with God's purposes, so that he was able to make 
 predictions. Thus he met all the duties of a prophet. 
 In like manner Jesus Christ accomplished His great 
 work. Very frequently He referred to the history 
 of the past. With simple narratives He interested 
 the common people in the records of the Old Testa- 
 ment Scriptures, bearing thus His testimony to their 
 divine origin. For it is generally agreed among 
 scholars, that when He made mention of the Scrip- 
 tures, He held in His hand the books which we now 
 possess as our Old Testament. These books were 
 reverenced as the Word of God. Their contents 
 
THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 247 
 
 were carefully studied. The thought of Christendom 
 gives to the entire Bible — the Old and the New Testa- 
 ments — no more respect than the Hebrews gave to 
 the Old Testament alone. What, then, shall be said 
 of the attitude of Jesus Christ toward these venerated 
 writings? Did He indorse that veneration? Did 
 He ever play fast and loose with the statements of 
 these ancient books? Did He refuse to make use 
 of the more difficult portions, such as the story of 
 Jonah, or the incident of Lot's wife? Did He explain 
 such references and statements, which were generally 
 accepted as historical, by reducing them to myths, 
 legends, fables, or allegories ? No ; He was sincere. 
 There was no duplicity in His nature. He was just 
 as honest in His indorsement of the Old Testament 
 as a Christian minister is supposed to be in his in- 
 dorsement of the entire Bible. When you enter a 
 Christian sanctuary, and are urged by a minister of 
 religion to search the Scriptures, and are told that 
 these Scriptures are God's Word, you can hardly fail 
 to carry away the conviction that he who has been 
 addressing you holds to the general Christian belief 
 respecting the inspiration or divine authority of 
 these books. If he does not, then you certainly must 
 expect that he will say so ; and if he does not, then 
 you will naturally look to see him withdraw to some 
 other fellowship, where he can speak his own views 
 candidly, and without the restraints which honesty 
 
248 THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 imposes For honesty does impose restraints, which 
 make it impossible that one should use the advan- 
 tages of the Christian sanctuary to destroy the faith 
 of the Christian Church. When I find that critics, 
 so free and bold as Matthew Arnold * always is, 
 agree with more conservative and learned scholars in 
 recognizing our Old Testament as the Hebrew canon 
 of the first century, I am confirmed in the opinion 
 that I am reading now the sacred writings that Jesus 
 Christ read ; and when I observe his reverence, his 
 acceptance of the general opinion as to their inspira- 
 tion, I am satisfied, yes, and more than satisfied, to 
 study them as the revelation of God. 
 
 The prophetical expositions of Jesus Christ brought 
 to the surface the deep spiritual truths of the Old 
 Testament. In this part of His work He did not 
 announce new truths. It was His aim to expound, 
 to enforce, to vitalize the truths which were concealed 
 in the mines of the ancient revelation. Just as the 
 miner digs into the hills to bring out the gold which 
 may pass current as coin of the realm, so he labored 
 to make effective the truths which men had passed 
 by in ignorance, or perverted to the base uses of their 
 traditional superstitions. God taught the Hebrews 
 by means of object-lessons, and yet the object-lessons 
 covered the great principles of redemption, which 
 
 * " God and the Bible.' 
 
THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 249 
 
 hold good for all time. One may teach a class of 
 children with beads and pictures the very same prin- 
 ciples that a class of adults will learn in formal state- 
 ments. Some of the children will grasp the princi- 
 ples and will then throw away the beads and pictures, 
 while there will always be grown-up children who will 
 be using beads and pictures without any reference to 
 the principles. This was the case with Rabbinism 
 when Jesus Christ appeared. He enunciated the 
 principles of righteousness, and in so doing He deliv- 
 ered the people from the bondage of the traditional 
 object-lessons. It is certainly strengthening to faith 
 to find that the magnificent tree of New Testament 
 instruction, whose branches brush the clouds, while 
 they also touch the earth within reach of the weakest 
 intelligence, strikes its roots into the soil of a venera- 
 ble past ; that God, who *' at sundry times and in 
 divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers 
 by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto 
 us by His Son." 
 
 Then when we consider Jesus Christ as a seer, we 
 discover that to His vision the entire future was 
 open. He has outlined the world's history to the 
 end of time, and has given suggestions of the life of 
 the eternal ages. No predictions can equal His. 
 Many generations of saints have rejoiced as they 
 have entered into a realization of His promised bless- 
 edness. Every word of His that touches the earth 
 
 ii* 
 
250 THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 and the earthly life, has been approved by a wise and 
 happy experience. So far as mankind have journeyed 
 here in the flesh, so far His guide-book has met each 
 requirement of the way. May we not trust it, there- 
 fore, in what it announces of the progress within the 
 veil, in what it says about death and Heaven, in what 
 it assures us of a welcome and an eternal home ? 
 
 Thus the work of Jesus Christ was that of a 
 prophet. " The common people heard Him gladly." 
 He was greater than John the Baptist, who was 
 greater than Isaiah, or even Moses. He magnified 
 this office, already splendidly exalted. Truth flowed 
 from His lips. The past, the present, and the future 
 were of interest to Him. He spake as never man 
 spake. His words of wisdom and of grace maintain 
 their freshness and efficiency, and each new genera- 
 tion finds counsel and help in hearing Him. 
 
 2d. Jesus Christ commended Himself as a revela- 
 tion of God. In all ages men have been eager to 
 know God. Sometimes this eagerness has been the 
 curiosity of philosophical speculation, and then again 
 it has been the endeavor of the convicted soul. But 
 it has always been witnessed. Religion — and relig- 
 ion has to do with man's conception of God — has a 
 secure place in human life. Every race, every nation, 
 every tribe on the globe has a religion. It was Plu- 
 tarch* who said that " If you will take the pains to 
 
 * " Morals." 
 
THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 251 
 
 travel through the world, you may find towns and 
 cities without walls, without letters, without kings, 
 without houses, without wealth, without money, with- 
 out theatres and places of exercise ; but there never 
 was seen, nor shall be seen by men, any city without 
 temples and gods, or without making use of prayers, 
 oaths, divinations, and sacrifices for the obtaining of 
 blessings and benefits, and the averting of curses and 
 calamities." " Canst thou by searching find out God ? " 
 asks Zophar, the Naamathite, of Job, whose lament 
 is heard in the cry, " Oh, that I knew where I might 
 find Him! that I might come even to His seat!" 
 As Paul passed through the streets of classic Athens, 
 he observed an altar with this inscription : " To the 
 unknown God "; and as we meet our fellow-men in 
 the familiar intercourse of daily life, we read in their 
 spiritual destitution their personal need of God. It 
 was Thomas Erskine,* of Linlathen — a man who 
 breathed the purest spiritual atmosphere, and one 
 whose life was in close fellowship with God — it was 
 Thomas Erskine who met the shepherd on the High- 
 land hills, and asked gently, " Do you know the 
 Father?" and who in after-years on those same hills 
 met the same shepherd and heard from him the greet- 
 ing : " I know the Father now." From him we have 
 the beautiful answer to the question : " What is the 
 
 * " History of Church of Scotland," Stanley. 
 
252 THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 effect of revelation to us ? " " It is the disclosure to 
 us of our true relations to God and to one another, 
 as when an exile, after long years' absence, returns 
 home and sees faces which he does not recognize. 
 Then one in whom he can trust comes, and says, 
 1 This aged man is your father ; this boy is your 
 brother, who has done much for you ; this child is 
 your son.' " " Show us," said Philip, as they sat 
 with Jesus around the table of the Passover, " show 
 us the Father, and it sufficeth us." Then Jesus said, 
 " Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast 
 thou not known me, Philip ? He that hath seen me 
 hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then 
 show us the Father ? Believest thou not that I am 
 in the Father, and the Father in me ? The words 
 that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the 
 Father that dwelleth in me, He doeth the works. 
 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father 
 in me ; or else believe me for the very works' 
 sake." 
 
 This was His attitude. He claimed to be a revela- 
 tion of God. Never do we find Him associating His 
 disciples with Himself in these more intimate rela- 
 tions thus sustained. He could say, as no other being 
 could : " I and the Father are one." He could pray 
 to God as no one else could, and could refer to " the 
 glory which I had with Thee before the world was." 
 He could speak as no one else has dared to speak, of 
 
THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 253 
 
 the characteristics of the divine nature, which make 
 God approachable and bring Him very near to man. 
 
 We can hardly fail to mention the word which is 
 inevitably associated with the statement of this sub- 
 lime fact. We do not hesitate to announce our faith 
 in a veritable incarnation, although we shall refuse to 
 be driven to undertake an explanation of this supreme 
 mystery. Jesus Christ was a revelation of God, be- 
 cause as the eternal Word He became flesh and dwelt 
 among us. This was His claim. '* I came forth from 
 the Father and am come into the world ; again I leave 
 the world and go to the Father." He can not be 
 classified with mortals. He is above us, far, far above 
 us. His life is radiant with a divine illumination. 
 His presence is a testimony, which is as convincing as 
 the greeting of the sun. He establishes His own 
 claims. His personal character is the argument which 
 His enemies can not meet. Either He was deceived, 
 and His exalted wisdom and practical good sense for- 
 bid the supposition : or else He was a deceiver; and 
 this old reproach of the Jews has long since ceased 
 to be heard ; or else He was sincere and intelligent ; 
 and the verdict of criticism has written " perfect " 
 above His name. If His was the perfect character, 
 then we can not keep back the homage which belongs 
 to Him as a revelation of God. 
 
 At once we are led to a recognition of what we are 
 accustomed to call " the supernatural." Here is a 
 
254 THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 person who is human, and yet more than human : here 
 is an interposition from the spiritual realm : here is the 
 presence of God in the life of man. This should not 
 startle us. A belief in God carries with it, of neces- 
 sity, a belief in such a possibility. Who will dare to 
 say that God can not become incarnate ? 
 
 It was to establish His claims before the people that 
 Jesus Christ performed miracles. He presented Him- 
 self, and announced His claims, and then did many 
 wonderful works. The miracles, be it remembered 
 are not to be separated from His life and teaching 
 He was not a miracle-worker, and nothing else ; nor 
 was He pre-eminently a miracle-worker. His miracles 
 were the confirmations of His claims. But there are 
 many who object that the miracles, as reported, are 
 the burdens of His claims. There is a general impres- 
 sion that the Gospel narratives are rather loaded than 
 sustained by these accounts of miracles. Consequent- 
 ly the endeavor has been put forth to get rid of the 
 miracles entirely by reducing these plain accounts to 
 legends or myths, which had their birth in the imagi- 
 nations of credulous disciples. As to this we may say 
 that considerable time is required for the formation, 
 or development, of legends or myths. They are 
 growths from the seeds of truth. Every legend or 
 myth covers some truth. Now we know that the 
 Gospel narratives were in existence within a few years 
 after the death of Jesus Christ. There was not time 
 
THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 255 
 
 enough between His death and the appearance of the 
 Gospels for the formation of these miraculous stories. 
 Then, too, the recital, as we find it, is easy and 
 natural. The miracles are described just as ordinary 
 events are. They have their appropriate places. 
 There is no appearance of an endeavor to multiply 
 them. They are dignified and commanding, never 
 foolish and puerile. " Rabbi," said Nicodemus, " we 
 know that Thou art a teacher come from God : for no 
 man can do these miracles that Thou doest except 
 God be with him." In that sentence the place and 
 value of miracles is very clearly stated. " A teacher 
 come from God " presents himself. His character is 
 approved. His teaching is acceptable. Now let him 
 do some wonderful thing, let him still a tempest with 
 a word of command, let him rebuke sickness, let him 
 restore the dead. Is it unreasonable to ask him to 
 do such things ; is it unreasonable to expect him to 
 do them ; is it unreasonable to believe that he has 
 done them ? Most certainly it is, if the whole case 
 is prejudged by definitions of what is reasonable, and 
 what is miraculous. For example, in a volume of 
 essays quite recently published, I meet this statement : 
 " Reason tells us that a miracle — understanding by a 
 miracle a breach of the laws of nature — is impossible ; 
 and that to think it possible is to dishonor God ; for 
 the laws of nature are the laws of God, and to say 
 that God violates the laws of nature is to say that He 
 
256 THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 violates His own nature." Now that is a strong 
 statement in its conclusion if its premise is sound. 
 But if the premise is unsound the conclusion is 
 worthless ; and the premise is the clause so artfully 
 inserted, " understanding by a miracle a breach of the 
 laws of nature." But that is just what many of us do not 
 understand. A miracle is an unusual and extraordinary 
 use of nature's laws. But until we are perfectly ac- 
 quainted with those laws we have no right to say that 
 the stilling of a tempest by the word of such a person 
 as Jesus Christ is a breach of the laws of nature. We 
 are constantly contending with nature's laws. Our 
 mechanical devices are almost all intended to defy or 
 subdue certain laws of nature. And shall we say 
 that an intelligence like that of Jesus Christ may not 
 work with these laws or even above them to accom- 
 plish desirable results ? When we are able to antag- 
 onize force with force, and to exert our puny strength 
 in so many ways, shall we refuse to believe that He, 
 so glorious in His personality, did not give sight to 
 the blind, hearing to the deaf, health to the sick, and 
 life to the dead ? 
 
 Accepting Jesus Christ as a revelation of God, how 
 interesting His life-work appears ! The knowledge 
 which we all crave is presented to us. So far as we are 
 able to appreciate Him we may now know God. He 
 is as Jesus was : and Jesus was as He is. Purity, con- 
 sideration, benignity, love, are the divine character- 
 
THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 25; 
 
 istics in which we rejoice. The babes in the dear 
 Master's arms are lessons which have brought comfort 
 to many troubled hearts, as there has arisen anxiety 
 concerning God's interest in children ; the pardon 
 which met the penitence of publican and harlot is 
 still bringing hope to the wayward and dissolute ; the 
 encouraging presence in the sick-room has brightened 
 many a weary hour of pain ; the command which was 
 exhibited over death and the grave is heard in every 
 Christian cemetery, with its announcements of life and 
 resurrection. " Jesus Christ, the same yeste <day and 
 to-day and forever." We know now that " like as a 
 /ather pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them 
 that fear Him." Our hearts are open, our ears are 
 attentive. God is, henceforth, our " exceeding joy." 
 3d. Jesus Christ died upon the cross as a ransom 
 for sin. " The Son of Man came not to be minis- 
 tered unto, but to minister, and to give His life 
 a ransom for many." That life bore steadily on to 
 the cross. Not more surely do the waters of Lake 
 Erie press on to the Falls of Niagara than did the 
 career of Jesus Christ advance to the crucifixion. He 
 came to suffer, and to die. The 53d chapter of Isaiah 
 was a prediction, which it was necessary for Him to 
 fulfil. He lived always in the shadow of the cross. 
 His life would have been incomplete, and His teach- 
 ing would have been valueless, if both had not been 
 crowned by death. The tragical event, which Jewish 
 
258 THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 wrath had contrived as the extinction of His influence, 
 became its impulse. From that memorable hour on 
 Calvary, when the " It is finished " of His dissolution 
 was heard, His name has been sacred, His memory 
 has been cherished, His truth has won respect and 
 confidence, and His love has dominated every affec- 
 tion. Stricken, pale, bleeding, dead, He still pos- 
 sesses a magnetism, which draws to His cross peni- 
 tence and sorrow, tenderness and sympathy, aspira- 
 tion and hope. The crown of thorns is the symbol 
 of universal authority, and the despised cross is the 
 recognized throne of the King of Glory. A wonder- 
 ful work, consummated by a shameful death ! A 
 spotless life, securing its triumph through crucifixion ! 
 A sublime teaching, finding its interpretation in 
 agony and blood ! Yet this we meet, as we consider 
 the work of Jesus Christ. He lived to die, and in 
 dying made His life illustrious forever. 
 
 But why? And the question presses. Why did 
 He die? His death was not an accident; nor was 
 it simply a martyr's death. It has a more profound 
 significance. It was a ransom — " to give His life a 
 ransom for many." He died to reconcile us to God. 
 He was a sacrifice, but a voluntary sacrifice. He 
 freely and cheerfully gave Himself on our behalf. 
 The principle of substitution, so widely illustrated in 
 the universe, found its culmination in His death. 
 We may not represent this glorious sacrifice as a vie* 
 
THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST, 259 
 
 lent, compulsory wreaking of vengeance upon an in- 
 nocent person. For Jesus Christ gave Himself to 
 the death upon the cross in order that He might re- 
 deem sinners. His was the heroism of the mother 
 who loves not her life unto the death, when she 
 bends over the form of the plague-stricken child ; or 
 the heroism of the sailor who leaps into the sea to 
 rescue a drowning comrade ; or the heroism of the 
 soldier who volunteers for duty in the forlorn hope. 
 " For the joy that was set before Him, He endured 
 the cross, despising the shame." We may not hope 
 to penetrate this mystery of mysteries, so as to un- 
 derstand it perfectly. We may say many things 
 about it, but we can not say all. A complete theory 
 of the atonement is as impossible as a complete 
 theory of God's nature and attributes. We know 
 that the death of Jesus Christ looks in a Godward 
 direction, and meets the demands of God's moral 
 government. We know also that it looks in a human 
 direction, and secures penitence and faith through 
 the activity of the Holy Spirit. We know still fur- 
 ther that it influences the angels, as it exhibits to 
 them the redemptive love of God. But no man can 
 tell us how all this is. We can know the facts ; it is 
 very doubtful if we can know their philosophy. 
 
 Yet what a fact this is ! Here is a race which is 
 in need of divine assistance, and here is a Saviour 
 who has died in the place of sinners. He shed His 
 
2<5o THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 blood on our behalf. He has endured the sufferings 
 which we deserve. He offers us pardon and ever- 
 lasting life upon the one condition of faith. Only 
 believe, and all condemnation will be removed ; only 
 believe, and your name will be written in the Lamb's 
 Book of Life ; only believe, and the Holy Spirit will 
 renew and sanctify you ; only believe, and Jesus 
 Christ will be your intercessor; only believe, and 
 Heaven's joys will meet earth's expectations at the 
 boundary line called death ! Precious faith ! Glorious 
 hope ! A vista opens before the pardoned sinner 
 which brings to view the triumph of the Saints ! 
 
 4th. Jesus Christ arose from the sepulchre. Ten- 
 derly they drew the nails from His hands and feet, 
 gently they lowered His body from the cross, care- 
 fully they wrapped His form in the finest linen, and 
 then, with bowed heads and aching hearts, the dis- 
 ciples carried the precious remains to the sepulchre 
 of Joseph of Arimathea. Pilate had granted this 
 permission, after he had learned from the Roman 
 centurion that life was extinct. No one in Jerusalem 
 believed that He was then alive, that He had merely 
 swooned. The Scribes and the Chief Priests went 
 home at sunset, with the satisfaction that they had 
 disposed of a very troublesome person, and the dis- 
 ciples gathered in an upper room to talk of their 
 common disappointment. A seal was placed upon 
 the stone that secured the sepulchre, and a guard of 
 
THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 261 
 
 soldiers was stationed to watch. Thus the hours of 
 the Sabbath dragged themselves wearily along, and 
 the morning of the first day of the week appeared. 
 Faithful women are at the city's gate before the 
 rising of the sun, and when the gate is open they 
 hasten to the sepulchre. There a surprise awaits 
 them. The sepulchre is empty. An angelic voice is 
 heard. Tidings of a resurrection are given. The 
 greeting of the Master is soon received. They are 
 thrilled with joy. Despair gives way to astonishment, 
 and astonishment to faith, as " He showed Himself 
 alive after His passion, by many infallible proofs, 
 being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the 
 things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." They 
 believed that He had arisen. Their faith was com- 
 manding. Nothing could shake it. A new impulse 
 was given to life ; a new direction was given to en- 
 deavor. " Jesus and the resurrection " became the 
 theme of the preaching which was presently heard 
 in the Temple of Jerusalem, in the groves of pleas- 
 ure-loving Antioch, on the streets of brilliant Corinth, 
 in the splendid palaces of Rome, on the decks of 
 Mediterranean corn-ships, by the camp-fires of the 
 Danube, on the shores of distant Britain. The intel- 
 lect of the ancient world was stimulated to its grand- 
 est efforts by the thoughts which were thus present- 
 ed, and the heart of humanity felt the warmth of a 
 sweet, balmy inspiration, as this divine presence was 
 
262 THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST, 
 
 recognized above the grave. Death conquered ! The 
 grave despoiled ! Life and immortality brought to 
 light ! Every cheering, every comforting announce- 
 ment presented ! Every expectation, every hope 
 made real ! Belief quickened endeavor. The possi- 
 bilities of the resurrection became the constraint of 
 holiness. Men destroyed their idols and began to 
 worship in the Spirit. Lust was crucified, in order 
 that the new life of purity might arise from this death 
 to sin. Brotherhood was cultivated in view of a 
 common relation to God in Christ. Sympathy was 
 pronounced to the sorrowing, and the pencil of resig- 
 nation covered the walls of the catacombs with the 
 hopeful confidences which made martyrdom a splen- 
 did triumph. 
 
 Such — in our imperfect representation — was the 
 work of Jesus Christ. He accomplished His work, 
 " and then a cloud received Him out of their sight." 
 Shall we, my friends, despise this work ? God forbid ! 
 In so doing, we would utter our own folly ; we would 
 discover our own shame ; we would declare our own 
 condemnation. Shall we then trifle with it? The 
 interest is too serious. It concerns us vitally. Shall 
 we neglect it ? One may starve in a land of plenty, 
 and perish with hunger while he has in his hand an 
 invitation to a banquet. Shall we accept it ? Then 
 will there come to us the sweet consciousness of its 
 excellence, as we find our estimate of His work by 
 
THE WORK OF JESUS CHRIST. 263 
 
 using the fruits thereof, by enjoying the grace 
 which He presents. " Oh, taste, and see that the 
 Lord is good." Come in humility and accept the 
 work of Jesus Christ; make Him your prophet, for 
 He can teach you ; make Him your priest, for He 
 can atone and intercede for you ; make Him your 
 king, for He can rule, protect, and enrich you. Thus 
 through His work, you may leave the old and wretched 
 life of sin and enter into the life of holiness, which 
 has the promise of endless years. For " this is life 
 eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true 
 God, and Jesus Christ, whom Thou hast sent/ 
 
XIV. 
 
 THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 " What think ye of Christ? Whose Son is Hef 
 — Matt. xxii. 42. 
 
 WHO is Jesus Christ ? There can be no doubt that 
 He once lived in Judea and Galilee. Many of His 
 discourses have been preserved, and the universal tes- 
 timony of good and wise men is, that they contain 
 the truths which are essential to the formation of 
 character. His work has also commanded attention. 
 Its significance has been carefully examined, and its 
 influence has been traced into a great variety of indi- 
 vidual and national experiences. History has as- 
 signed Jesus Christ the first place among the leaders 
 of thought whose activity has made them the bene- 
 factors of the race. His fame is secure. Time can 
 only add to the homage which He has already re- 
 ceived. The Gospel faces the future with the fresh- 
 ness and promise of youth. When its consummation 
 has been realized then will be known the importance 
 of His mission, who " brought life and immortality 
 to light." 
 
 But who is He ? The old question presents itself 
 (264) 
 
THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 265 
 
 for an answer to every inquiring, anxious soul. Con- 
 scious of need, deeply conscious of sin and the con- 
 demnation of sin, the soul is directed to Jesus Christ. 
 His presence is a reality. The tones of His voice 
 reach the ear with comfort, and the assurances of 
 His work arouse hope. He speaks of pardon, and 
 He certainly lives and dies with reference to sin. 
 Yet all this may be of the past. Inspired men have 
 lived, and then have disappeared entirely. Miracles 
 have been performed, and the miracle-workers have 
 gone the way of all the earth. Must He — great as a 
 prophet, great as a worker of miracles — be associated 
 with Moses and Isaiah, Elijah and Elisha? If so, 
 He can not be a present Saviour, " able also to save 
 them to the uttermost that come unto God by Him." 
 
 Many years ago an honored teacher * remarked in 
 my-hearing that there can be but four answers to the 
 question, who is Christ ? Either He is only man, 
 or else He is only God, or He is neither, or He is 
 both. Each of these four answers has been up for 
 consideration, and upon each one of them the formai 
 judgment of Christendom has been pronounced. Our 
 task, therefore, will be quite simple, as we pursue 
 our inquiry along a beaten path. 
 
 1st. Jesus Christ is man. His human nature is 
 perfect. Human nature in its perfection has the 
 
 * Prof. R. D. Hitchcock. 
 
266 THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIS i . 
 
 elements which are found in the male and the 
 female characters. These two related and com- 
 plementary characters form human nature. " Our 
 common humanity was created male and female." 
 " In the day that God created man, in the like- 
 ness of God made He him ; male and female cre- 
 ated He them : and blessed them, and called their 
 name Adam, in the day when they were created." 
 The careful statement of the Book of Genesis, a 
 statement which has the precision of scientific lan- 
 guage, should be remembered in the consideration of 
 the manhood of Jesus Christ. His manhood was a 
 complete humanity. The strength and vigor of the 
 male and the gentleness and beauty of the female, 
 were illustrated by His life and conduct. He was 
 stern and uncompromising in the presence of sin, and 
 He was tender and sympathetic whenever He en- 
 countered sorrow ; His terrific denunciations of the 
 Pharisees were mingled with His lamentations over 
 the fate of Jerusalem ; His heroic advance to the 
 agony of Golgotha was associated with His appeal 
 to the disciples to watch with Him in Gethsemane. 
 Manly force and womanly compassion met in Him. 
 As His humanity was superior to all racial distinc- 
 tions, so that He is adapted to every continent and 
 every age, it also touched life at every point of the 
 complete social circle. He may not be separated 
 from any experience. No child may say that the 
 
THE PEASON OF JESUS CHRIST. 267 
 
 man of Nazareth has nothing in common with child- 
 hood, because humanity embraces every interest of a 
 child, and He was human. A woman may not say 
 that the Son of Man can not present to her an ideal, 
 because humanity includes every interest of a wom- 
 an, and He was human. Robertson performed a 
 great service when he announced this Scriptural truth 
 as the best defence against the errors of Mariolatry.* 
 " Think of Christ only as the masculine character 
 glorified by the union of Godhead with it, and your 
 Christianity has in it an awful gap, a void, a want, 
 the inevitable supply and relief to which will be Mari- 
 olatry, however secure you may think yourself, how- 
 ever strong and fierce the language you now use. 
 Men who have used language as strong and fierce 
 have become idolaters of Mary. With a half-thought 
 of Christ, safe you are not. But think of Him as the 
 divine-human being in whom both sides of our double 
 being are divine and glorified, and then you have the 
 truth which Romanism has marred and perverted into 
 an idolatry pernicious in all ; in the less spiritual wor- 
 shippers, sensualizing and debasing." 
 
 That Jesus Christ was man was the general opin- 
 ion of His disciples and of the early Church. The 
 disciples clasped His hand, and heard His voice, and 
 caught the pleasant greeting of His eye. With Him 
 
 * Serrions, Vol. II., " The Glory of the Divine Son.' 
 
268 THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 they shared their food. They observed that He was 
 hungry and thirsty and weary and faint. From in- 
 fancy He had developed naturally into childhood, 
 and from childhood into mature life. " Jesus," as 
 the evangelist has said, " increased in wisdom and 
 stature, and in favor with God and man." He was 
 tempted. He suffered. He prayed for help in times 
 of sore distress. He felt the pains of crucifixion. 
 His blood flowed from wounded hands and feet and 
 side. He met death, and came under the power of 
 death. The New Testament writers all agree with 
 the Apostle John, who expresses his mature convic- 
 tions in such forcible words as these : " That which 
 was from the beginning, which we have heard, which 
 we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked 
 upon, and our hands have handled of the word of 
 life." 
 
 The importance of a correct estimate of the hu- 
 manity of Jesus Christ can not fail to impress the 
 mind. " Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus 
 Christ is come in the flesh is not of God." If His 
 humanity was only a seeming, a pretence, as certain 
 members of the Church of the second and third cen- 
 turies declared, then He can not be a Mediator. For 
 the Mediator between God and men is the man Christ 
 Jesus. He comes very near to us, and is thus ap- 
 proachable. He illustrates the glorious possibilities 
 of our humanity, and is thus an example to us all 
 
THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 269 
 
 He magnifies the law by His perfect obedience. He 
 gives up His life as a ransom in order that we may 
 be delivered from the bondage of sin. Whatever else 
 He may be, Jesus Christ is man. Thank God ! we 
 have a glorious ideal ! There is a Jewish proverb 
 which says that " the secret of man is the secret of 
 the Messiah." " To know ourselves," remarks Prof. 
 H. B. Smith,* " we must know Christ, and to know 
 Christ is to know ourselves. Just as one born a 
 poet does not know the full stores of his own imagina- 
 tion until he has read Homer, Dante, Milton, and 
 Shakespeare ; just as the sculptor does not know his 
 gift in art until he has gazed entranced upon the 
 matchless products of Greek and Roman statuary ; 
 just as the young painter, when standing before the 
 breathing canvas that revealed to him all the power 
 of the pencil, cried out in wonder, ' I too am a paint- 
 er ': so the human soul may gaze on all other forms, 
 linger on all other impersonations of thought and feel- 
 ing, and explore all art and science, but, until it 
 stands face to face with the Lord of the race, the 
 Saviour of the lost, it can not feel all the height and 
 depth of human woe and of human love, all the soul's 
 boundless capacities, its supreme destiny." There- 
 fore we rejoice in this acquaintance with the Son of 
 Man. His earthly life meets us so cordially in our 
 
 * " System of Theology," p. 384. 
 
2jo THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 despair. We are encouraged by it to such heroic en- 
 deavors. It answers so many questions. It announces 
 so many prophecies. " As for me/' and the Psalmist 
 was weary and sad, when he took his harp and raised 
 his plaintive song, which bore him on the wings of 
 hope, " As for me, I will behold Thy face in right- 
 eousness ; I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy 
 likeness "; and John, with clearer, riper knowledge, 
 comforted himself, cheered his old age at Ephesus, 
 and brightened the faith of each new Christian gen- 
 eration by recording his belief that we are now the 
 sons of God, and that when Christ shall appear we 
 shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 
 " Like Him " in the perfection of our humanity, " like 
 him " in the radiant glory which humanity secured 
 when He triumphed ! 
 
 2d. Jesus Christ is God. Familiarity with this 
 statement should not be permitted to weaken its 
 force. It is certainly a wonderful statement. The 
 perfect humanity of Jesus Christ exalts Him far 
 above all other human beings who are affected by the 
 degrading influences of sin. But His divinity places 
 Him upon the throne of God. Can we make such a 
 statement ? Are we justified in assigning the Son of 
 Mary to such a sublime position in the universe ? May 
 we look up to Him with adoring reverence and love, 
 even while we sympathize with His sorrows and grieve 
 over the misery of His earthly life? 
 
THE PERSON OF JES US CHRIS T. 2 7 1 
 
 The verdict of Christendom has been in favor of the 
 complete divinity of Jesus Christ. This is an im- 
 portant fact which should have great weight with the 
 present generation of inquirers. The probabilities 
 are in favor of a verdict which has commanded the 
 assent of Christendom, by entering into the great 
 creeds, by stimulating the successful missionary activ- 
 ity, by becoming the theme of devotional literature. 
 The creeds of Christendom, Roman, Greek, Protest- 
 ant, agree in their recognition of Jesus Christ as the 
 Son of God. The heroic missionaries, like Paul, 
 Columba, Xavier, Brainerd, Livingstone, Patteson, 
 have carried this faith in their hearts, and have felt 
 the warm impulses of its constraining love amid the 
 hardships and persecutions of their devoted service. 
 The devotional literature of the church, which is the 
 life-blood of theology, has exhibited this dependence 
 upon one who may be regarded as 
 
 "The Lamb of Calvary, 
 Saviour divine." 
 
 Christendom has been a patient student of the Bible. 
 Keen and discriminating intellects have searched the 
 Scriptures. The antagonisms of unbelief have assailed 
 and must destroy every weak and indefensible posi* 
 tion. The Council of Nicaea in the fourth century was 
 a veritable Waterloo. When Athanasius, the young 
 deacon of Alexandria, held the line of battle on be- 
 
272 THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 half of " the faith once delivered to the saints, ' the 
 forces of Arius, who denied the divinity of Jesus 
 Christ, were repulsed and driven from the field. " The 
 creed of Arius was torn up, and the fragments strewn 
 upon the floor of the council-chamber; and with but 
 two dissenting voices their own creed was giv^n to 
 the world." This creed, with modifications in its 
 forms of statement, but without any change in its 
 essential truths, has since commanded a cordial as- 
 sent. We respect it now. Our advance is with the 
 column which has enrolled the martyrs, the confessors, 
 the missionaries, and that multitude which no man can 
 number, whose robes have been washed and made 
 white in the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 Led thus into the presence of the Apostles and 
 Evangelists, we find that their writings justify the in- 
 terpretation which they have received. We have their 
 writings, and are competent to judge for ourselves. 
 In these writings they constantly refer to Jesus 
 Christ as to one who existed with the Father before 
 He appeared upon the earth. "God sent forth His 
 Son." " The Word was with God, and the Word was 
 God." " Being in the form of God, He thought it not 
 robbery to be equal with God." " He is before all 
 things, and by Him all things consist." " All things 
 were made by Him." Then, moreover, to Him they 
 freely apply divine titles, as when John says, " This 
 is the true GoJ and eternal life "; or when Paul says, 
 
THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 273 
 
 " Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning 
 the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed 
 forever"; or when Thomas, the doubter, is brought 
 to the confession, " My Lord and my God "; or when 
 Peter says, " Sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord "; 
 or when Jude speaks of the condemnation which rests 
 upon certain who persist in denying " our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." These godly men, who are contend- 
 ing so earnestly with superstition and idolatry, do not 
 hesitate to present Jesus Christ as the object of wor- 
 ship. Thus Paul declares his belief that " at the name 
 of Jesus every knee should bow .... and that every 
 tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the 
 glory of God the Father." Luke says that " the dis- 
 ciples worshipped Him." The prayer of the dying 
 Stephen is a direct appeal for His assistance : " Lord 
 Jesus, receive my spirit." John, in the visions of the 
 Apocalypse, sees something of the worship of Heaven, 
 and recognizes Jesus Christ as the recipient of thanks- 
 giving and praise, and glory and honor. 
 
 We are permitted to pass from the presence of the 
 Apostles and Evangelists into the presence of our 
 Lord himself. We may question Him. His claims 
 may be considered. He speaks of Himself without 
 reserve. For example, when He addresses the learned 
 men of the Jews He says : " I and the Father are 
 one." Instantly a charge of blasphemy is heard. 
 With one consent the Jews condemn Him, saying in 
 
2; 4 THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 their accusation : " Thou being a man, makest thyself 
 God." Does He deny the justness of their charge ? 
 Does He retract or alter His statement ? Not in the 
 least. On the contrary, He repeats it ; and with 
 such emphasis that He is obliged to flee in order to 
 escape their violence. Then when He is arrested and 
 brought as a prisoner before the Sanhedrin, what is 
 His attitude ? Is He disconcerted ? Does He appear 
 at all like a fanatic or a deceiver? Is He hesitant? 
 There is an awful stillness as the High-Priest arises 
 and calls upon Him to speak decisively and honestly. 
 " I adjure Thee by the living God that Thou tell us 
 whether Thou be the Christ, the Son of God ? " The 
 words are well chosen. They admit of a positive de- 
 nial, or as positive an affirmation. Which shall it be ? 
 Life is sweet. Deception has never marred the speech 
 of Jesus. What will He answer? Will He prove true 
 to His record? In this supreme moment will He 
 establish or destroy the beautiful fabric which He has 
 built to shelter the needy souls of men ? We may 
 trust Him. His courage does not fail. Calmly He 
 answers : " Thou hast said. Nevertheless I say unto 
 you, hereafter shall ye see the Son of Man sitting on 
 the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of 
 Heaven." Can you ask for more ? Would you have 
 Him state His divinity more clearly? Can you hope 
 to brush away His claims, or to read any other meaning 
 into His words? " The Hi^h-Priest rent his clothes, 
 
THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 275 
 
 saying, He hath spoken blasphemy: what further 
 need have we of witnesses ? behold now ye have heard 
 His blasphemy: what think ye? They answered, 
 and said, He is guilty of death/' Then as they led 
 Him to Pilate, the Roman governor, they had but one 
 ground of complaint to urge against Him, saying, in 
 their wrath : " He ought to die, because He made 
 Himself the Son of God." But with Pilate He was 
 silent. He accepted the judgment of their complaint. 
 The charge was true. He could not and He would 
 not deny it. For this He submitted to the scourging, 
 to the persecution, to the cross, and to the shame of 
 a culprit's death. 
 
 The value of this testimony, which Jesus Christ 
 gave concerning Himself, will be greatly affected by 
 our estimate of His character as man. If His 
 character awaits this testimony as a princely life 
 awaits a coronation, then we must be confirmed in 
 the belief that He is, indeed, the Son of God. And 
 such, my friends, is the case. The testimony of Jesus 
 Christ is sustained by His own self- consciousness. 
 That self-consciousness itself is an argument, positive 
 clear, and convincing. Who has ever searched the 
 hidden depths of the humam heart as He has? Whc 
 has ever urged repentance for the least sins as He 
 has ? Who has ever rebuked hypocrisy as He has r 
 And yet, discover, if you can, the first evidence in His 
 speech of a consciousness of personal gilt ; find, ii 
 
276 THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 you can, a single instance which will warrant the 
 remark that He felt the necessity of repentance. 
 Then observe the dignified composure of His hu- 
 mility, which utters itself in the frequent "/ say unto 
 you," and which never associates the disciples w T ith 
 Himself on the plane of their common relation to the 
 Father — "My Father" often, "your Father" often, 
 "our Father" never. For the prayer which He 
 gave as the model of all prayer, was for the use of 
 the disciples and not for His own use. Advance to a 
 consideration of His announcements concerning His 
 work and invitations, concerning His wisdom and 
 power. Hear Him as He pronounces authoritatively 
 the forgiveness of sins ; contemplate the day of judg- 
 ment, and remember that He has said that He is to 
 occupy the throne. Read the history of Christianity, 
 and find its outlines in the predictions which fell from 
 His lips. This argument, elaborated carefully in an 
 essay by Professor Van Oosterzee, of Utrecht," can 
 not be answered in the light of history. The per- 
 sonal consciousness of Jesus leads as directly to His 
 divinity as the soft touch of a gentle hand, the 
 friendly ministry of compassionate interest, the holy 
 solicitude of earnest endeavor do to a heart which is 
 sanctified by grace. "That this wonderful image of 
 Christ depicted in the Gospels" — I quote from the 
 
 * Princeton Review, July, 1 8 
 
THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 277 
 
 essay just mentioned — " should have been invented 
 by men so very far inferior to the ideal they shaped, 
 is psychologically absurd and altogether unimagin- 
 able. He who degrades the Lord — for so in fact we 
 ought to call it — who degrades Him into being a 
 once crucified Jew, living now merely in the grateful 
 recollection of mankind and in probable immortality, 
 like any other deceased martyr — he debases not 
 merely Christ's whole manifestation, but the whole 
 history of the Christian Church in its birth and 
 growth to an obvious absurdity. To such an ab- 
 surdity, I, for my part, prefer a mystery, which as 
 mystery, even when revealed, can never be fully ex- 
 plained. I prefer this not only in the name and for 
 the sake of faith, but quite as much in the name and 
 for the sake of sound, reasonable common sense and 
 of true and trustworthy science." 
 
 These claims of Jesus Christ were securely but- 
 tressed, as we know, by His miracles, especially by 
 the miracle of His resurrection. He was " declared 
 to be the Son of God with power, according to the 
 spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead." 
 The miracles did not stand alone, nor did His life 
 stand alone. The miracles and the life were inti- 
 mately associated. The life announced the miracles, 
 and the miracles were the natural expressions of the 
 life. When the life is carefully studied, the miracles 
 do not seem strange ; and when the miracles are con 
 
278 THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 sidered, they are seen to be in harmony with the life. 
 Very early in His public ministry, Jesus gave the 
 promise of His resurrection ; and from that hour, 
 until the morning of the first day of the week, which 
 witnessed His triumph over the grave, His life was 
 as much in preparation for that supreme event as the 
 silent winter-work of nature, in buried root, in tender 
 sapling, or in spreading oak, is in preparation for the 
 efflorescence of the spring. The life without the 
 resurrection would have been incomplete — a failure, 
 indeed. But with that glorious fact to consummate 
 it, it appears in the finished beauty of absolute per- 
 fection. 
 
 Thus His divinity is established in Christian 
 thought — Jesus Christ is God. Infinitely exalted, 
 He receives the adoring worship of saints and angels. 
 All power is given unto Him in Heaven and in earth. 
 He has a right to command. He is able to promise. 
 No word of His will ever fail. No trusting soul, 
 looking to Him for help and salvation, will find that 
 He can not or that He will not grant the blessing of 
 eternal life. 
 
 3d. Jesus Christ is both God and man. " They 
 shall call His name Emmanuel, which, being inter- 
 preted, is, God with us." He stands by Himself. 
 There is no other being like Him in the universe. 
 We have found that He is man ; we have found, also, 
 that He is God. We must conclude, therefore, that 
 
THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 279 
 
 He is the God-man. And this conclusion need not 
 startle us. It is mysterious, but only more mysteri- 
 ous because less familiar than the union of soul and 
 body, which constitutes a human being. We know 
 that a human being has a physical, a fleshly organiza- 
 tion ; and we know, also, that he has an immaterial, 
 a spiritual organization. Through the union of the 
 two, human life discovers its capabilities. The phys- 
 ical organization can not think and love and choose, 
 nor can the spiritual organization hunger and thirst 
 and faint and die. But when both are united, the 
 human life, thus resulting, may suffer and enjoy, may 
 work and play, may serve God and honor His holy 
 name. This distinction has always been recognized, 
 and the possibilities of this union determine the 
 methods of education. Socrates replied to his 
 friends, who warned him of the threats of his ene- 
 mies : " They may kill me, if they can catch me." 
 He did not mean that he would seek safety in ordi- 
 nary flight, but that he — the spiritual organization — 
 was beyond the reach of his persecutors. In like 
 manner, Jesus encouraged His disciples by saying : 
 " Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able 
 to kill the soul." 
 
 " Why then should it be thought a thing incredible 
 with you," that God should become incarnate ? Hu- 
 manity needs an incarnation. Our race is crushed 
 and ruined by sin. In God alone is our help. Wh) 
 
28o THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 should He not bring help? He made us for Himself, 
 and we have rebelled against Him. Is there any 
 reason why He should not endeavor to restore us? 
 Does God dishonor Himself when He considers our 
 needs? Have the promptings of love no response 
 in His pure nature ? May we not accept Him, if He 
 draws near to us in the person of Jesus Christ? I 
 search in vain for a reason why the incarnation may 
 not be accepted, if it is adequately sustained by evi- 
 dence. I propose no philosophy of this great mys- 
 tery, just as I am satisfied to live without a philosophy 
 of the union of a true body and a reasonable soul in 
 every human being. I can trust and love my friends 
 without being an anatomist, or a metaphysician. 
 Philosophy is not an essential of faith. Faith rests 
 upon evidence; and philosophy seeks to know the 
 causes, or reasons, or methods of things which do ap- 
 pear. We may believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, 
 because He is God and man, and may find that He is 
 a perfect Saviour ; and yet, we may not be able to 
 answer one of a thousand questions, which may be 
 asked concerning Him. For as the God-man, Jesus 
 Christ, meets us on the level of common life, and 
 conducts us to God, the Father; He speaks con- 
 fidently of the divine purposes, because He came 
 forth from God, and represents our interests at the 
 Court of Heaven, where He is our Advocate ; He 
 sheds His blood as the propitiation for the sins of the 
 
THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 28 1 
 
 whole world, and His sacrifice is infinitely meritorious 
 in view of His divinity ; He becomes the first-fruits 
 of them that sleep in death, the wave-sheaf of an 
 abundant harvest of resurrection triumphs ; He is 
 the last Adam, the life-giving spirit of a redeemed 
 race, which is to bear the image of the heavenly ; 
 He is the supreme Judge, to whom every record must 
 be submitted, and who is co pronounce the final sen- 
 tence upon every soul ; He is the king with many 
 crowns, whose praise shall never cease, whose au- 
 thority will ultimately secure complete recognition, 
 whose benediction is the joy of the Lord. 
 
 Consequently there is no invitation like that which 
 He presents to the weary, sin-laden soul : " Come 
 unto me, and I will give you rest." For the invita- 
 tion is charged with divine energy, as well as with 
 human sympathy ; and it pledges a rest, which can 
 never, never disappoint. In that invitation, God 
 speaks. The promise can be made effective. Oh! 
 how often has it opened to yield its treasures of 
 blessedness ! Then there is the assurance of His con- 
 stant presence, which the divinity makes real. " I 
 am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," 
 is a pretty sentiment, but nothing more, unless Jesus 
 Christ is divine. The Hebrew viceroy of Egypt 
 gathered his kinsmen about his bed, as he was dying, 
 and said to them : " I die, and God will surely visit 
 you." He used no such language as the Saviour did 
 
282 THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 and yet he was a man of pre-eminent distinction. Jesus, 
 however, with few attendants, with no extended repu- 
 tation, pronounced in favor of His own universal 
 presence, a presence which time can not affect, and 
 distance can not render impossible ; a presence, which 
 lighted the apostolic age and which is the cheering 
 reality of this modern age. " I am with you alway." 
 A glad announcement to cheer the lonely Christian 
 here, as he maintains his hopeless defence against the 
 savage Arabs of the Soudan, and a sweet welcome to 
 greet him, as his devoted spirit is set free from the 
 body and enters into the eternal home. " I am with 
 you alway." A precious assurance, which becomes 
 the companion of stormy ocean voyages, when the 
 sea is tempestuous and death rides upon the waves. 
 " I am with you alway." A soft pillow, on which the 
 head may rest and find repose, when fever and pain 
 awaken every distressing sensation of the nerves ! 
 " I am with you alway." A constant reproduction of 
 the scenes in Capernaum, where His teaching met so 
 cordial a reception ; of the scenes in Bethany, where 
 His visits were eagerly anticipated and as eagerly en- 
 joyed ; of the scenes in Jerusalem, where He gave to 
 worship a definite and spiritual significance ; of the 
 scenes in the Garden and around the cross, where He 
 endured His agony and surrendered His life. Jesus 
 Christ is He who liveth and was dead, and behold 
 He is alive for evermore. 
 
THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 283 
 
 Do we need a Saviour? And why? Have we sins 
 to be forgiven ? Are we conscious of an estrangement 
 from God ? Do we look for glory, honor, and im- 
 mortality? The Saviour is here. Jesus Christ is the 
 Saviour. In every particular, He meets the require- 
 ments of salvation. Shall we accept Him? If so, 
 we shall quickly know that there is joy and peace in 
 believing. 
 
 Do we need a friend — a friend who will never die, 
 a friend who will never leave us, a friend upon whom 
 we may rest our anxious hearts in every time of 
 trouble? Jesus Christ is such a friend. He meets 
 the children in their infancy; and the old men find 
 that He is with them even to the end of life. Quick 
 to respond, generous in His adaptation, cordial in 
 sympathy, Jesus Christ has ever commended His 
 friendship. 
 
 Do we need an intercessor? Are we sometimes 
 conscious that death leads on to judgment ? Can we 
 plead for ourselves? Have we any merits which God 
 will approve? Jesus Christ is an intercessor. Our 
 humanity, glorified, indeed, but still marked with the 
 imprints of the crucifixion, is an eloquent appeal, and 
 His perfect divinity, recognized by all in Heaven, is 
 an irresistible advocacy. 
 
 Am I wrong in commending to you Jesus Christ, 
 the Son of God, the Son of man ? Will you err if 
 you welcome Him and make His salvation your con- 
 
284 THE PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 fidence ? No ! Customs change. States and nations 
 decline and fall. The tides of life ebb and flow. 
 But the blessed sun which shone upon the patriarchs 
 still shines upon our paths, and the pale moon brings 
 her welcome night by night. The old is ever new. 
 Those things that can not be shaken must remain. 
 Above the strife of tongues, above the angry war of 
 words, above the mists of speculation, above the 
 gloomy fogs of infidelity, Jesus Christ, the Saviour, 
 maintains His calm dignity. He is gracious still. 
 With outstretched hands, He addresses human need. 
 To weariness, to weakness, to anxiety, to despair, He 
 says " come." And behold in coming, one and all 
 find peace. 
 
XV. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 "But these are written that ye ?night believe that 
 Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, a?id that be- 
 lieving ye might have life through His name" 
 — John xx. 31. 
 
 It was toward the close of the first century that 
 John, "the disciple whom Jesus loved," undertook to 
 record his impressions of the Master's life and work. 
 He was then an aged man. For many years he had 
 been a witness of the progress of the Gospel, as the 
 new faith had marched out through the gates of Jeru- 
 salem to establish a residence in Ephesus, Corinth, 
 and Rome. Evangelists and apostles had left to the 
 churches numerous writings, which presented interest- 
 ing facts and explained important doctrines. These 
 writings were preserved with unusual care. A rever- 
 ence like that which guarded the Hebrew Scriptures 
 was paid to them. In the public worship of each 
 Lord's day they were read and expounded ; and in the 
 more familiar worship of the Christian household their 
 contents were considered by parents and children. 
 John had observed their influence. His home was at 
 
 E.phesus. " The care of all the churches " occupied 
 
 (285) 
 
286 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 his time. He was the survivor of the intimate com- 
 panions of Jesus Christ. No one else remained. His 
 memory was stored with precious incidents, which 
 should not be allowed to pass away with his departure. 
 He could speak. Why should he not write? In 
 writing, however, what should he select ? What 
 method or aim should govern him ? He looked out 
 upon the churches, and recognized the needs of Chris- 
 tians. To what particular need should he address 
 himself ? The antagonism of Judaism and of heathen- 
 ism was intensely bitter. How should he prepare the 
 best defence against it ? There were many desperate 
 endeavors to undermine the faith. In what way could 
 he hope to strengthen his brethren in the Lord? 
 
 With a wisdom which commends itself to every 
 age, John undertook to confirm faith rather than to 
 assail error. He knew that the confirmation of faith 
 is the destruction of error, that a pure and holy life in 
 Christ is a refutation of the argument of infidelity, 
 that the brightness of noonday is the best answer to 
 the gloom of midnight. Consequently he chose a 
 practical method, and adopted a plan which exhibits 
 the influence of Jesus Christ upon life. " He selected 
 from the treasury of his recollections," Godet re- 
 marks,* " a certain number of traits which he commit- 
 ted to writing, in order that the Church, whilst sharing 
 
 * " Commentary on Gospel." 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 287 
 
 his faith in the Messianic and divine character of 
 Jesus, might partake of the life which he himself had 
 found through faith in that name." 
 
 Thus his writing was governed by a purpose which 
 should govern all religious writing. The Gospel is 
 not principally a system of doctrines, but a method of 
 life. Its doctrines, every one of them, have relations 
 to life. They produce life as their fruit. This was 
 the conviction of the aged apostle, whose experience 
 had covered so many eventful years ; and with this 
 conviction to guide his pen, he wrote that " ye might 
 believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and 
 that believing ye might have life through His name." 
 That he was wise in holding himself strictly to this 
 grand purpose will be evident if it is remembered 
 that: 
 
 1st. The activity of Jesus Christ finds its ultimate 
 expression in character and life. " I am come," He 
 said, " that they might have life, and that they might 
 have it more abundantly." Again He said : " I am 
 the living bread which came down from Heaven : if 
 any man eat of this bread he shall live forever, and 
 the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give 
 for the life of the world." This announcement of our 
 Lord aroused the indignation of the Jews, who said 
 among themselves: " How can this man give us His 
 flesh to eat ? " Then came the reply, so emphatic 
 and plain that its meaning should not be questioned : 
 
288 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 " Verily, verily I say unto you, except ye eat the flesh 
 of the Son of Man and drink His blood, ye have no life 
 in you. Whoso eateth my flesh and drinketh my 
 blood hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the 
 last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood 
 is drink indeed. He that eateth my flesh and drinketh 
 my blood dwelleth in me and I in him. As the living 
 Father hath sent me and I live by the Father: so he 
 that eateth me, even he shall live by me. This is that 
 bread which came down from Heaven : not as your 
 fathers did eat manna, and are dead : he that eateth 
 of this bread shall live forever." This reply instantly 
 discovers the relation which our blessed Lord sustains 
 to life. He declares solemnly that He is positively 
 esstrtial to life. Without Him there can be no life. 
 " Ye have no life in you." Then He insists that there 
 must be an acceptance of Him and His work, which 
 resembles the eating and drinking of bread and wine. 
 " Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man, and drink 
 His blood, ye have no life in you." Besides, He some- 
 what interprets His work when He presents it as food 
 and drink, inasmuch as food and drink must be adapted 
 to the nature of him who is to receive them. His 
 flesh is meat indeed, because His body has been 
 broken for us in the crucifixion ; and His blood is 
 drink indeed, because that blood has been shed. The 
 language is highly figurative, and yet the truth is not 
 concealed. Without difficulty we grasp it. Its sig. 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 289 
 
 nificance becomes evident as we examine it. We shall 
 not be superstitious, and believe that we may eat the 
 veritable body and drink the real blood of Christ : nor, 
 on the other hand, shall we reduce this most important 
 announcement to an unmeaning commonplace. In 
 one of his sermons Dr. Arnold * remarked that " as it 
 would be mere folly to suppose that Christ meant us 
 to eat His flesh and blood, so it is not doing full 
 justice to His meaning if we lose sight of this main 
 truth that He is indeed to be the food of our souls : 
 their daily and their main support, without whose 
 nourishment they can not live in health "; and Dean 
 Stanley, in his " Christian Institutions," \ has said that 
 this "is one of those startling expressions used by 
 Christ to show us that He intends to drive us from 
 the letter to the spirit, by which He shatters the crust 
 and shell in order to force us to the kernel. " " It is 
 as if He said, ' It is not enough for you to see the out- 
 ward face of the Son of Man, or to hear His outward 
 words, or to touch His outward vesture. That is not 
 Himself. It is not enough that you walk by His 
 side, or hear others talk of Him, or use terms of affec- 
 tion and endearment towards Him. You must go 
 deeper than this : you must go to His very inmost 
 heart, to the very core and marrow of His being.' " 
 Hence the prompt recognition of the fact that the 
 
 * Sermons, Vol. I., Serm. 24. t Page 94. 
 
 13 
 
290 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 kingdom of God is within you is all-important ; and 
 it is quite as important that there should be a recog- 
 nition of the nature of that kingdom which is " right- 
 eousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost ": and 
 still further that " righteousness, peace, and joy in the 
 Holy Ghost " are life, and life eternal should be as 
 evident as are the ordinary conditions of physical well- 
 being. When, therefore, Jesus Christ appears to 
 establish the kingdom of God, when He labors so 
 faithfully to make that kingdom real, we can not 
 escape the conviction that the aim of His activity is 
 character and life. He refused to head a rebellion 
 against the authority of Rome ; He made no efforts 
 whatever to build up a great establishment of social 
 order; He did not even outline a form of government 
 for His Church. One thing was needful : character; 
 and its expression must be renewed and sanctified. 
 A new man must appear. Through the energy of 
 character the will of God must gain supremacy in the 
 earth. Everything is made to bear upon this supreme 
 result. The tree is to be known by its fruit. If the 
 fruit of the Spirit, " love, joy, peace, long-suffering, 
 gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance," 
 constantly appears, then His activity realizes its aim. 
 This was the understanding of Paul, whose splendid 
 nature was so grandly affected by Christ, when he 
 wrote, as he did to the Galatians : " I am crucified 
 with Christ : nevertheless I live : yet not I, but Christ 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 291 
 
 Iiveth in me : and the life which I now live in the flesh 
 I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me 
 and gave Himself for me." He knew nothing of doc- 
 trines which were designed to be used as intellectual 
 toys ; he could not find in any portion of the activity 
 of our Lord a single feature which was not of practical 
 service to him. His was a Christian character from 
 its centre to its circumference ; and, as a conse- 
 quence, his was a Christian life from the hour of its 
 new birth to the hour of its triumph. Nor was he 
 mistaken in his use of the Gospel. Experience has 
 approved his estimate. Character and life still wait 
 upon man's acceptance of the activity of our Lord. 
 Bring any man, however degraded, to that accept- 
 ance, and you will quickly observe the transformation 
 which grace effects. No power can equal it. Its aim 
 is as direct as is that of the arrow, when it is shot by 
 a skilful archer. Conscience is smitten by its deadly 
 shaft. Alarm is felt. A cry is heard. An answer of 
 hope is given. Consecration is witnessed. The be- 
 ginning of better things introduces the endless life of 
 peace and holiness. 
 
 Character and life, my friends, are worth saving. 
 Every interest of our social order depends upon them. 
 If character is corrupt and life is immoral, social order 
 will be unstable and pernicious. Even Heaven would 
 find its beauty and harmony destroyed by the presence 
 of unholy character and vicious life. Christ came to 
 
292 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 save the lost ; and His salvation contemplates the 
 perfect character and the spotless life which carry 
 their own prophecies of perpetual, undying, glorious 
 development. And this is what we crave. Death is 
 dreadful. Yet the physical translation into life and 
 immortality, often called death, is the chief of bless- 
 ings. We are unclothed in order that we may be 
 clothed upon ; we are absent from the body in order 
 that we may be present with the Lord. That trans- 
 lation is not death. Death is sin, the limitation of 
 sin, the defilement of sin, the hopelessness of sin. 
 " The wages of sin is death : but the gift of God is 
 eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord." "This 
 is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, 
 and this life is in His Son." When the redeemed of 
 all the ages are secure in Heaven ; when the last soul 
 has entered into the complete enjoyment of the per- 
 fect life that is known there ; when every harp is in 
 tune, and every voice melodious, and the song of 
 saints and angels blends in harmony, then shall be 
 known the exceeding riches of God's grace in His 
 kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 
 
 2d. Character and life are determined by a central 
 principle and a law of development. At the centre 
 of every character there is a definite principle ; and no 
 life develops without reference to some special law. 
 The principle is like the point of crystallization, 
 around which nature forms her beautiful workman- 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 293 
 
 ship ; and the law is like the method of growth, which 
 appears in vegetable and animal structures. The 
 central principle will determine the character, and the 
 law of development will determine its progress. There 
 are mean, selfish characters, and their central principle 
 is some contemptible, petty motive ; and there are un- 
 fruitful, useless lives, and their law of development is 
 that of the upas tree ; then there are rich, noble char- 
 acters, and their central principle is consecration to 
 some holy service ; and there are brave, helpful lives, 
 and their law of development is that of the oak. 
 There are colorless characters, and positive characters, 
 and attractive characters, and repulsive characters, and 
 satanic characters, and godly characters. But in every 
 case the character will correspond with its central 
 principle. When that is known the character will be 
 known. Let any man come forward and announce 
 his ruling purpose, and you will quickly form an ac- 
 quaintance with the man. Some one has said that 
 " character builds an existence out of circumstance. 
 Our strength is measured by our plastic power. 
 From the same materials one man builds palaces, 
 another hovels; one warehouses, another villas. 
 Bricks and mortar are mortar and bricks until the 
 architect can make them something else. Thus it 
 is that in the same family, in the same circumstances, 
 one man rears a stately edifice, while his brother, 
 vacillating and incompetent, lives forever amid ruins 
 
294 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 The block of granite which was an obstacle in the 
 pathway of the weak becomes a stepping-stone in the 
 pathway of the strong." 
 
 One of the most searching and helpful questions, 
 therefore, is the inquiry as to the central principle. 
 This is a question which many persons never raise. 
 They appear to be drifting on the current of life 
 rather than to be making intelligent and steady prog- 
 ress in a definite direction. How many of us, my 
 friends, could answer satisfactorily if we should be 
 asked, What are you living for? We might reply 
 that we are living to have a good time ; and we 
 should have to blush in making the reply, because 
 pleasure can not be regarded as a noble, supreme 
 end ; or we might reply, that we are living to succeed 
 in business ; and that reply would indicate a low esti- 
 mate of the value of life, for business success is a 
 means to usefulness, to enlarged opportunity, but it 
 is not to be sought for its own sake ; or we might 
 reply, that we are living to make a great name, and 
 that reply would outline our disregard of ease, of 
 comfort, even of friendship, of everything that stands 
 in the way of ambition ; or we might reply, that we 
 are living to serve God, to obey His commandments, 
 to make our fellow-men acquainted with His love; 
 and that reply would find its confirmation in the 
 purity, the humility, the energy of a Christian life. 
 I do not think that most men would like to face the 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 2 g$ 
 
 teal central principle of their lives. Self-examination 
 is never an agreeable task. We like to compliment 
 ourselves. The superficial elements or features of 
 life are those which flatter us. We turn very will- 
 ingly to receive the greeting of our good deeds, such 
 as they are ; but we are not so ready to sit down to 
 a solitary, closet conference with ourselves, and there 
 to look fairly and honestly at ourselves. Such times 
 admit of no deception. The good deeds are apt then 
 to hang their heads and to slink away in shame. They 
 know that they are not genuine. So many inferior 
 motives have entered into their composition, that 
 they are not pure expressions of a sacred love. 
 " When I would do good," writes the apostle, " evil 
 is present with me." Back of the good deeds are the 
 motives, more retiring, and yet willing to submit to 
 an examination. They are dismissed one by one ; 
 for, alas ! too many of them are selfish or base. Then 
 come the central principles, the supreme choices, 
 which are quickly classified as for and against God. 
 Some are apologetic, some are plausible, while one 
 alone insists upon the demand that " thou shalt love 
 the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy 
 soul and with all thy mind." This great central 
 principle is uncompromising. It must assert itself 
 supremely. From the decision of the will, it expects 
 to rule the affections, the desires, and the appetites, 
 so that " your whole spirit and soul and body may be 
 
296 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ." How is it with you, my friend, in 
 respect to the central principle of character? You 
 are a man of the world, you answer. Yes ! but are 
 you not a man of God ? You are a man of business. 
 Yes ! but are you not a man of God ? You are a man 
 of the farm or the workshop. Yes ! but are you not 
 a man of God ? You are a man of books. Yes ! but 
 are you not a man of God ? Each one of us may 
 profitably institute a day of judgment for himself, 
 and thus may anticipate the final decisions of that 
 great day when ye shall " return and discern between 
 the righteous and the wicked ; between him that 
 serveth God and him that serveth Him not." Those 
 decisions will be based upon character, and the cen- 
 tral principles of character will assuredly determine 
 them. How important, therefore, that the central 
 principle be the supreme choice of God ! How im- 
 portant that this principle be made effective, while 
 the character is still unformed ! The child should 
 be urged to love God ; for very early in life we may 
 discover the beginnings of a consecration which will 
 eventually grow up into him in all things, which is 
 the head, even Christ. If we believe in growth — and 
 who does not ? — by all means let us believe in spirit- 
 ual growth ; and if we believe in the necessity of a 
 holy life, by all means let us encourage every child 
 to trust God's Word and to accept the providence 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 297 
 
 and grace which a kind Heavenly Father offers. 
 Child-life — sweet, fresh, buoyant — is a blessed reality. 
 I should be sorry for the Gospel, or for our estimate 
 of it, if Christian child life — bright, winsome, happy, 
 loving — should ever fail of a cordial recognition. 
 When is a child too young to love the Saviour? I 
 do not know. But I am persuaded that there are 
 many men among us here to-day, who would now be 
 rejoicing in a good hope through grace, if the consid- 
 erateness of their lives years ago had been a welcome 
 to the Saviour. It was not expected that a child 
 should become a Christian. A child was kept at a 
 distance. The fruit of the tree of life was too often 
 propped up beyond the reach of the little hands. As 
 a consequence, many a childish question was silenced, 
 and many a childish aspiration was checked. The 
 Gospel was preached from Mount Sinai instead of 
 from the Mount of Beatitudes, and the thunder and 
 lightning and fire and smoke terrified not a few 
 youthful souls, who might have been won by the 
 gentle voice of our blessed Lord. We need not try 
 to improve upon His method. If He said, "Suffer 
 the little children to come unto me"; who are we 
 that we dare to say that no little child can be a true 
 disciple? Well has it been said "that the same grace 
 of God that can recover a man from the error of his 
 ways, if applied early enough and with proper con 
 stancy, can keep the boy from straying into ways of 
 13* 
 
298 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 error. The boy that has religious character enough 
 to admit of his being ungodly, has religious charactei 
 enough to admit of God's grace keeping him godly. If 
 a child is far enough along to go astray, he is far enough 
 along to have God's grace keep him from going astray." 
 3d. The central principle and the law of develop- 
 ment which Jesus Christ makes real, restore the order 
 of nature as God's supremacy is recognized in the 
 beauty of holiness. The order of nature is the per- 
 fect type. Perfection was lost by the Fall. It ap- 
 peared again in the humanity of Jesus Christ ; and is 
 to reappear in the holiness of His disciples. Then all 
 that was lost will be found again. The celestial city, 
 the abode of tried virtue, will more than match the 
 excellence of Eden, the abode of innocence ; the per- 
 fect man in Christ will be superior to the first man, 
 Adam, who was created in the divine image. Herein 
 is discovered the glorious triumph of redemption. 
 Where sin abounds grace does much more abound. 
 The restoration which our Lord Jesus Christ accom- 
 plishes is life, and life eternal ; " according as His 
 divine power hath given unto us all things that per- 
 tain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge 
 of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue : 
 whereby are given unto us exceeding great and prec- 
 ious promises : that by these ye might be partakers of 
 the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that 
 is in the world through lust." 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 299 
 
 The Christian life which Jesus Christ aims to origi- 
 nate and then to develop, has its central principle 
 and its law. The fruits of the Spirit are not hung 
 upon it, as toys are hung upon a Christmas-tree 
 They are the natural products of growth. As the 
 life grows these fruits appear. " I have chosen you 
 and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth 
 fruit." " Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear 
 much fruit : so shall ye be my disciples." " As the 
 branch can not bear fruit of itself, except it abide in 
 the vine : no more can ye except ye abide in me." 
 " He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same 
 bringeth forth much fruit." Union with the Lord is 
 evidently recognized here as the central principle of 
 character and life ; and that union is one of faith and 
 love. He presents Himself as the object of faith. He 
 asks us to accept Him. If we comply with His re- 
 quest He takes possession of our souls. Henceforth 
 He is to be Supreme Master and Lord. We are no 
 longer our own. Recognizing His authority, we re- 
 joice that He may express in us His holy will. As a 
 divine Saviour He has received our allegiance. We 
 wish Him to do for us, and with us, as seems good to 
 Him. Our attitude is one which we would not sus- 
 tain toward any other being. For while we might 
 possibly confide in the sagacity of some one else, we 
 could not feel sure of His love ; or while we might 
 trust the love, we could not rest satisfied with the 
 
300 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 sagacity. But with Jesus Christ, who has lived for us, 
 and died for us, and who is now interceding for us, we 
 can have no distrust. He deserves our implicit con- 
 fidence, and He is able to reward it. Just as we are 
 He welcomes us ; and then He aims to renew us 
 daily, to inspire a holy ambition, to rebuke pride, to 
 refine us, to spiritualize every motive, so that He may 
 " present us faultless before the presence of His glory 
 with exceeding joy." Here, then, at the centre of 
 character is a grand principle, " which is Christ in you, 
 the hope of glory." We may refer to it constantly. 
 It admits of numerous applications. Every other 
 principle may be subordinated to it. As in education 
 the man should always be superior to the specialist, so 
 that the manhood of the physician, the lawyer, the 
 scientist, the minister is more evident than any skill, 
 or learning, or eloquence that may be possessed by the 
 individual : in like manner, in life, the Christian should 
 control the merchant, the farmer, the mechanic, every 
 pleasure and every business. In the providence of 
 God my work may be here or there, but by the grace 
 of God, I am to do it as a Christian. " Brethren," 
 writes Paul to pleasure-loving Corinth, " let every 
 man wherein he is called, therein abide with God." 
 We are not so much in need of place or opportunity 
 as we are of fidelity. We need to appreciate the 
 divine estimate of fidelity. Life is the essential thing, 
 — rich, noble, holy life. The Christian is to manifest 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 301 
 
 such life in every place and under all circumstances. 
 First the Christian, and then the physician, the law- 
 yer, the scientist, or the minister. Down through all 
 the pursuits of life, down into every variety of char- 
 acter, the love of Christ is expected to manifest its 
 control ; so that men in every station, in every rank 
 in every vocation will exhibit its power. 
 
 " And so the Word had breath and wrought 
 With human hands the creed of creeds, 
 In loveliness of perfect deeds, 
 
 More strong than all poetic thought : 
 
 " Which he may read that binds the sheaf, 
 Or builds the house, or digs the grave, 
 And those wild eyes that watch the wave 
 In roarings round the coral reef." 
 
 To assist in the formation of character and the 
 guidance of life, Jesus Christ gives us a law of de- 
 velopment. This development — Christian living — is 
 to proceed from the germ of consecration. It is by 
 the expanding of that germ that we realize the beauty 
 of holiness, or life eternal. To inform us, and also 
 to encourage us, we are given this law. It consists of 
 three terms, — an example, distinct rules, and an in- 
 spiration ; and it is administered through the personal 
 agency of the Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ himself is 
 the example. The endeavor is to be like Him. This 
 endeavor is a rebuke and an encouragement — a re- 
 buke of pride and sensualism, and an encouragement 
 
302 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 of all that is lovely and of good report. How many 
 follies we should escape, how many evils we should 
 avoid, how many services we should render, how man)) 
 virtues and graces we should apprehend if we should 
 always look to Christ ! How would He do under 
 circumstances like these ? What pleasures would He 
 approve? In what pursuits would He join? Then 
 comes the sweet consciousness that we are gradually 
 resembling Him, that we are more charitable, that the 
 world has less of a hold upon us, that we are caring 
 more for Heaven. " Not as though I had already 
 attained, either were already perfect, but I follow 
 after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I 
 am apprehended of Christ Jesus." We have seen this 
 resemblance. Christ-like men and women are not un- 
 known. The model is reproduced in the holy living 
 of Christian lives. 
 
 I can not enumerate the rules which have been 
 given. You will find them in the Bible. Every 
 Christian needs the Bible. As he becomes familiar 
 with its sacred truths he finds that they are all in- 
 structive and helpful. A Christian without interest 
 in the Bible should be as rare as a navigator without 
 interest in the charts of the ocean, or as an astronomer 
 without interest in the tables of celestial geography, 
 or as a magistrate without interest in the statutes of 
 the commonwealth, or as a child without interest in 
 news from home. The Bible rewards study. It may 
 
THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 303 
 
 seem to be a book of mysteries, but the intelligence 
 of the Holy Spirit will make those mysteries plain, 
 and will thus present them, one by one, as the truths 
 of life. 
 
 To stimulate endeavor, to quicken and to energize 
 spiritual life, we have the inspiration of love. " The 
 love of Christ constraineth us." That love is a prec- 
 ious reality. The Holy Spirit keeps it warm and 
 influential. More and more does it discover its ex- 
 cellence as experience ripens. This love knows no 
 disappointments, but many surprises. For while it 
 enters with forgiveness, and announces pardon to 
 the penitent soul, it is constantly opening new pos- 
 sibilities and revealing new prospects, until, at last, 
 it stands beside the gate of Heaven and receives 
 the ransomed of the Lord, to the perfect joy of 
 life with God. Then the soul is completely filled 
 with the divine fulness ; then the fellowship, inter- 
 rupted by sin and restored by grace, makes God a 
 friend as well as a Ruler, a companion as well as a 
 king. " And they heard the voice of the Lord God 
 walking in the garden in the cool of the day." Such 
 was the communion of Eden. " Therefore are they 
 before the throne of God, and serve Him day and 
 night in His temple ; and He that sitteth on the 
 throne shall dwell among them." Such is the com- 
 munion of Heaven. Life is capable of a divine fellow* 
 ship. Only through life may we hope to be prepared 
 
304 THE CHRISTIAN LIFE. 
 
 to enter into the many mansions in the Father's house 
 " Out of self, into Christ, up to glory/' are the three 
 steps of this divine progress. Christian character, 
 Christian life, and Christian immortality are insep- 
 arably united. 
 
 It is to confirm and to develop faith that the Lord's 
 Supper invites us. This Supper, instituted by our 
 divine Lord and Saviour, is one of the strongest 
 evidences in support of His life and work. Without 
 Him it can not be explained. Into His gracious pres- 
 ence it conducts us. We are convinced anew that 
 Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Then, according 
 to His own promise, we find that He communicates 
 Himself to us, by the Holy Spirit, in the sacred bread 
 and wine, and that we are fed and cheered as we thus 
 receive Him. Life discovers its richness and blessed- 
 ness. We sit together in heavenly places in Christ 
 Jesus, and enjoy a foretaste of that communion which 
 the saints around the throne are realizing constantly 
 This is life, true life, life worthy of endless duration. 
 God bring us all to the experiences of this holy life, and 
 to His name shall be praise forever ! 
 
XVI. 
 
 LEAVEN.— THE INFLUENCE OF JESUS 
 CHRIST. 
 
 " Another parable spake He unto them : * Tht 
 kingdom of Heaven is like unto leaven which 
 a woman took and hid in three measures of 
 meal, till the whole was leavened! " — Matt. 
 xiii. 33. 
 
 THE familiar process of bread-making presents a 
 beautiful illustration of the influence of Jesus Christ. 
 His influence affects the individual and social life of 
 the world, as the leaven which the housewife used 
 affected the measures of meal. She selected a sub- 
 stance which was distinct from, and yet adapted to, 
 the nature of the meal ; and the influence of Jesus 
 Christ is a blessed reality which is distinct from, and 
 yet adapted to, the nature of man. Man must receive 
 it as a precious gift of God, which he is able to ap- 
 propriate. When he does so he may appreciate its 
 power. The leaven was placed in intimate contact 
 with the meal ; and this divine influence must take 
 possession of the heart, in order that it may produce 
 its effects upon character and life. It always works 
 from the heart to the character and thence to the life. 
 The meal was moistened and heated before the leaven 
 
 (305) 
 
306 LEA VEN. 
 
 discovered its activity, just as the heart must be quick- 
 ened and stimulated by the Holy Spirit,, if the in- 
 fluence of Jesus Christ is to make itself felt. That 
 influence is often present when no response whatever 
 is given to its appeals ; and then again its presence is 
 joyfully recognized and its good work begins. The 
 Holy Spirit can prepare for its reception. But without 
 that preparation the sacred influence of the Redeemer 
 would be as impotent as leaven in measures of dry 
 meal. Silently the leaven permeated the measures of 
 meal in which it had been placed, until the whole was 
 leavened : and the assurance is given that the influence 
 of Jesus Christ will reach to even* portion of human 
 nature, ■* spirit and soul and body," and to every in- 
 terest of social life. The triumph is to be complete. 
 Thus a very simple process of the domestic economy 
 appears with instructive analogies, which have refer- 
 ence to the progress of the kingdom of God. 
 
 But while these analogies are so evident that they 
 can hardly escape detection, there is one which is 
 dependent for its announcement upon the labors of 
 the chemist. More than a century ago the discovery 
 was made that " leaven is a mass of active, living cells, 
 each about the 3000th of an inch in diameter, per- 
 forming within itself all the functions of life, and 
 multiplying by self-division." * " These minute cells,' 
 
 ■■ MacMillan, " Two Worlds are Ours." p. 15 
 
LEA VEN. 307 
 
 chemistry tells us. "which constitute living matter in 
 almost its simplest condition, grow and propagate 
 with inconceivable rapidity ; a single cubic inch of 
 leaven, during the heat of fermentation, containing 
 upwards of eleven hundred and fifty-two millions of 
 them." With this understanding, the thought of the 
 parable instantly gains in energy and beauty. All 
 that has been said of its analogies remains true, and 
 now it is possible to add this pervasive, life-imparting, 
 life-distributing conception of the divine influence. 
 That influence is to diffuse itself by becoming at each 
 new point of contact a centre of life. What then is 
 the influence? How are we to explain it? Is there 
 a science of the Gospel, which enables us to trace the 
 influence of Jesus Christ as it makes itself felt in every 
 least particular of life ? Our definition of this in- 
 fluence may properly be given in the language of 
 God's Word. Therefore, we may say that : 
 
 1st. The influence of Jesus Christ is "the grace of 
 God that bringeth salvation." " By the grace of God 
 I am what I am," writes Paul, " and His grace which 
 was bestowed upon me was not in vain ; but I labored 
 more abundantly than they all ; yet not I, but the 
 grace of God which was with me." In this clear ex- 
 pression of his dependence upon divine grace, the 
 apostle indicates the source of all spiritual life. He 
 is aware that he is entirely destitute of spiritual life 
 intil he receives the grace of God. Spiritual life can 
 
308 LEA VEN. 
 
 not be aroused by any process of spontaneous gener- 
 ation. It must be imparted as the grace of God is 
 bestowed. The alkaline plains of the American desert 
 do not burst out into fertility unless the water of 
 irrigation reaches them. Water is the essential con- 
 dition of fertility. From the snow-capped mountains 
 whence the streams are called by the warmth of the sun, 
 the water is conducted by the inventive skill of man 
 into the heart of the desert. There it makes its pres- 
 ence known in the verdure of the meadows, in the fra- 
 grance of the gardens. The grace of God is the water 
 of life, whose contact with human nature means the 
 renovation of every thought, of every affection. The 
 penitent thief, to whom the grace of God came with 
 hope in a dying hour on the cross, discovered instantly 
 the faith which was thus aroused. That faith was the 
 beginning of a holy walk and conversation. Without 
 it there could have been no readiness whatever to ac- 
 company our Lord as He entered Paradise ; while 
 with it there was a preparation for the enjoyment of 
 the life around the throne. " Grow in grace," is a 
 command which recognizes the necessity of possessing 
 grace. Unless, therefore, we receive the grace of God 
 we surely can not hope to develop that grace. Culture 
 is not a substitute for grace, nor is morality. Grace 
 is distinct. It must be distinguished from all human 
 excellence. A gracious experience and a gracious life 
 have their origin in the sincere acceptance of grace 
 
LEA VEN. 309 
 
 Consequently the judgment of the world is not God's 
 judgment. He demands grace. He looks for grace. 
 The world applauds strength and beauty and pomp. 
 It has little consideration for grace. Looking on the 
 outward appearance, the world estimates character by 
 conduct. Looking on the heart God considers the 
 real issues of life. A man of wealth once invited a 
 friend to go with him to the roof of his house that he 
 might see his possessions. Waving his hand toward 
 the west, he said: "All that is my estate." Then 
 pointing in another direction, he added : " That 
 splendid farm is mine." Again directing attention 
 to a large house, he continued : " And that too is 
 mine." Quietly his visitor heard him, and then point- 
 ing to a little village among the trees, remarked : " In 
 that village there is a woman who can say more than 
 all this." " Indeed," was the instant response, " what 
 can she say ? " " Why, sir, she can say l Christ is 
 mine.' " Thus it comes to pass that the poor of this 
 world are often rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom 
 which God hath promised to them that love Him. 
 Grace exhibits a few of its advantages and blessings 
 in this life ; but in the life which is to come it yields 
 the treasures of immortality in Heaven. 
 
 For Paul associates the everlasting life of the saints 
 with the triumph of grace when he writes to the 
 Ephesians : " God who is rich in mercy, for His great 
 love wherewith He loved us, even when we were dead 
 
310 LEAVEN. 
 
 in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ ; by 
 grace ye are saved ; and hath raised us up together, 
 and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ 
 Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the 
 exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward 
 us through Christ Jesus." Those endless ages of the 
 eternal day will witness no dependence upon human 
 merit, will hear no boasts of man's good deeds. 
 There will be a sincere consciousness that the grace 
 of God has begun and is continuing the good work 
 which makes possible a sinner's residence in Heaven. 
 Grace is the influence of Jesus Christ, as it is applied 
 to the heart by the Holy Spirit. This influence may 
 be traced to the love of God. " God so loved the 
 world that He gave His only begotten Son." Grace 
 is God's love. But the love of God is not always 
 grace. There is a love which shines in every ray of 
 sunlight, which sparkles in every dew-drop, which 
 smiles in every flower, which speaks in every song of 
 bird, which is written upon the rocks, which sustains 
 the ordinary life of man. This love is divine good- 
 ness, or benevolence, rather than the grace of God. 
 Grace is redemptive love, love which is tinged with 
 the blood of a priceless sacrifice, love which reaches 
 us by way of the manger and the cross, love which 
 exhibits God's regard for justice in the atonement of a 
 voluntary substitute, love which provides for the com- 
 plete justification of a penitent sinner, love which is 
 
LEA VEN. 3 1 1 
 
 the unmerited favor of God who wishes to save, love 
 which is pressed upon our acceptance by the Holy 
 Spirit. The love of God which has ever been His 
 purpose to redeem is grace ; the love of God which 
 was expressed by our dear Lord when He lived and 
 suffered and died, is grace ; the love of God which is 
 now making real and effective the work of Jesus 
 Christ, is grace. Grace is a comprehensive term. It 
 is love, and yet it is more than love, or rather it is 
 love divinely conditioned by sacrifice. Reaching our 
 hearts and gaining possession of them, it makes the 
 influence of Jesus Christ an absolute control. "We 
 love Him because He first loved us." His perfect 
 life secures our admiration ; His teaching commends 
 itself; His work becomes our only confidence; His 
 Spirit is a sweet and blessed inspiration. " We count 
 all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge 
 of Christ Jesus our Lord." Self-denial becomes the 
 law, whose obedience is spiritual happiness. We wish 
 in all things to submit entirely to the will of God. 
 That will is infinite wisdom and infinite love. We 
 rest in it, and by and by we rejoice in it. Faber has 
 not gone beyond the truth of Christian experience in 
 his song : 
 
 " I worship thee, sweet will of God ! 
 And all thy ways adore, 
 And every day I live I seem 
 To love thee more and more. 
 
312 LEAVEN. 
 
 Thou wert the end, the blessed rule 
 
 Of our Saviour's toils and tears ; 
 Thou wert the passion of His heart 
 
 Those three and thirty years. 
 And He hath breathed into my soul 
 
 A special love of thee, 
 A love to lose my will in His, 
 
 And by that loss be free." 
 
 Can you not appreciate the splendid possibilities 
 which wait upon our acceptance of such a divine in- 
 fluence? This is a life-imparting power. Christ's 
 presence is a real presence. He lives in the hearts of 
 His disciples, and there He makes His presence 
 known. Is anything too hard for Him? Can He 
 make His way against every obstacle? Most as- 
 suredly ! There lives not the man whose nature He 
 can not subdue; and there is no institution which He 
 is unable to transform by grace. Only give Him the 
 opportunity; only welcome His influence ; only make 
 His authority supreme, then await the results with 
 patient faith, with holy 'expectation. For the spring- 
 time of life will surely come, and after that the sum- 
 mer ; and the golden age of social order will find its 
 solidity and permanence in the love of man, which is 
 a response to the grace of God. 
 
 2d. " The grace of God that bringeth salvation '" 
 enters into the soul of man to produce in his life the 
 Christian graces. The grace of God is not the Chris- 
 tian graces, although it may be said to be the material 
 
LEAVEN. 313 
 
 out of which those graces are formed. Between the 
 grace of God and the Christian graces there is always 
 a human life. This human life receives the grace, 
 appropriates it, and then expresses it in the graces. 
 A luscious peach, so fresh and juicy, may be said to 
 be composed of the acids and alkalies of the earth, 
 the oxygen and nitrogen of the atmosphere, and the 
 oxygen and hydrogen of water. Yet who does not 
 know that the peach-tree is essential to the produc- 
 tion of a peach? These inorganic substances, many 
 of them invisible, are received by the tree through 
 roots and leaves, and are then assimilated. Pres- 
 ently the peach appears. Without these substances 
 there would be no peach, and without the peach-tree 
 there would be no peach. In like manner grace is 
 dependent upon human life for the production of the 
 graces. No one can see the grace of God until it 
 appears as the graces. Then it is evident. For, as 
 our Saviour said, " By their fruits ye shall know 
 them." " Men do not gather grapes of thorns nor 
 figs of thistles." A most instructive experience con- 
 firms the testimony of God's Word, which assures us 
 that the Christian graces are evidences of His grace. 
 Grace in the heart will produce the graces in the life. 
 These graces, if we may accept the enumeration of 
 the Apostle Peter, are the essential elements of the 
 best life. Indeed, without them no life can be even 
 respectable. The general agreement of public scnti- 
 14 
 
3H 
 
 LEA VEN. 
 
 ment demands the presence of these elements to some 
 degree at least. For what is life if it has no recogni- 
 tion of that counsel which urges that you should 
 " add to your faith virtue ; and to virtue knowledge ; 
 and to knowledge temperance ; and to temperance 
 patience ; and to patience godliness ; and to godli- 
 ness brotherly kindness ; and to brotherly kindness 
 charity"? The ethical philosopher meets the Chris- 
 tian teacher on the common ground of the necessity 
 of these requirements, although he often fails to ap- 
 preciate the method of grace which can make these 
 requirements real. His method is apt to be one of self- 
 restraint, or of self-discipline. He does not employ a 
 divine influence which brings a holy, life-imparting 
 energy into contact with evil, and which originates 
 and develops holiness to take the place of sin. The 
 remark is often made that the reformation of a drunk- 
 ard can never be accomplished without the grace of 
 God. Drunkenness produces such debasing effects 
 upon the whole nature. Its tendencies are so brutal- 
 izing. By it conscience is seared. Sensibility of every 
 sort is destroyed. The outlook appears to be hope- 
 less. Yet, as one who has experienced the drunk- 
 ard's misery, has remarked, " Many who know that 
 they have lost the control of themselves by too 
 frequent indulgence, are anxious to conquer the 
 habits they have contracted, have made resolutions to 
 amend their ways, have been successful in battling the 
 
LEA VEN. 
 
 315 
 
 evil in their own strength for a while, but have finally 
 yielded again to temptation, and at each attempt 
 losing more of their self-respect, they have advanced 
 further on the road to self-indulgence, and sunk 
 deeper into the mire. And yet, they exclaim to 
 themselves, ' What would I not give could I relinquish 
 this terrible habit of intemperance forever ? ' ,: There 
 is no power of self-restraint. The will has become 
 enfeebled. To cease from all intemperance and to 
 stop there is to exorcise the demons and to leave the 
 nature of the man empty. That will not do. Human 
 nature can not exist as a vacuum. Its cravings must 
 be met and satisfied. The grace of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ is competent to supply the need. His presence 
 is not only a sentinel to announce the approach of a 
 sinful and dangerous appeal, but also a cheering and 
 companionable friend to enlist the sympathies and to 
 sustain the affections and to strengthen the will. 
 Soldiers always behave well in camps and on battle- 
 fields if they know that a beloved officer is observant. 
 This is an accepted principle. The grace of God em- 
 ploys it. " Christ in you the hope of glory," is the 
 best temperance pledge. Let the reclaimed drunkard 
 realize his dependence upon Christ. Let him appre- 
 ciate his own weakness. Let him pray constantly for 
 strength. Let him welcome the beneficent, cheering 
 witness of the Spirit with his spirit that he is a child 
 of God. 
 
316 LEAVEN. 
 
 But we are instructed to address every other vice 
 with this same method. It is successful with one, and 
 it has been successful with all. Drunkenness yields 
 to it, and so does violence, and so does pride, and so 
 does selfishness. It is destructive only that it may 
 be constructive. It kills only to bring to life again. 
 There is no one of us who has an evil habit which 
 is beyond the recognition of the influence of Jesus 
 Christ. That influence considers the foibles as well 
 as the faults of character, and aims to secure the pas- 
 sive graces as well as those that are active. Its ideal 
 is the perfect man, " the measure of the stature of the 
 fulness of Christ "; and it works toward that ideal as 
 patiently as nature works toward the attainment of 
 typical beauty. I need not tell you, for you are as 
 wise in this as I can be, that if you sincerely accept 
 the grace of God, if you freely surrender to its author- 
 ity, you will begin a progress which, like the path of 
 the just, will shine brighter and brighter away on to 
 the perfect day. Before you is a the prize of the 
 high calling of God in Christ Jesus." You will carry 
 with you, this sacred influence, the pledge of your 
 ultimate sanctification. You will find support in 
 every hour of weakness, comfort in every hour of sor- 
 row, joy in every hour of calm experience, and hope 
 in the supreme hour when death is announced. If I 
 could believe that ye all among whom I have gone 
 preaching the kingdom of God, have received the in- 
 
LEA VEN. 
 
 317 
 
 fluence of Jesus Christ, the grace of God ; if I could 
 feel confident that ye would never frustrate that 
 grace ; if I could hope that ye, my friends, would per- 
 mit it to manifest its strength and beauty in your 
 hearts and lives, I would require no prophetic fore* 
 sight, no vision of inspired seer to disclose the years 
 opening before you and leading to the city of God. 
 Your conflicts and your victories would be evident,, 
 your afflictions and your consolations would appear, 
 your prosperity and your refinement would manifest 
 themselves. Those years would be crowded with 
 patient, self-denying services. They would exhibit 
 your considerateness, your enlarging intellectual and 
 moral capacity, your holy aspiration, your delight in 
 God, your preparation for His presence, your de- 
 parture to be with Christ, which is far better. I fear 
 not the future, if it is a future filled with Christ. 1 
 am ready to trust any life to the years that lie before 
 us, if the life is hid with Christ in God. 
 
 3d. The Christian graces, in their present manifes- 
 tations of strength and beauty, encourage the en- 
 deavors which aim to secure the Redeemer's triumph. 
 We must make the confession, for truth demands it, 
 that we have never given the grace of God a fair op- 
 portunity, either in our own lives or in the social life 
 of the world. We seem to be afraid to trust God's 
 grace. Numberless appliances have been invented, 
 by well-meaning persons, to help the grace of God 
 
3 1 8 LEA VEN. 
 
 With our lack of faith they are perhaps essential ; but 
 when the day of a strong faith comes to us we shall 
 cast them all aside, as the stripling David did the 
 armor of King Saul, that he might use his sling in de- 
 pendence upon the God of Israel. And why should 
 we not have faith ? The grace of God is not a sug- 
 gestion of yesterday, with which we are asked to ex- 
 periment. It has been in use for centuries, and its 
 successes have been recorded by many historians. 
 Individual and social life can exhibit evidences of the 
 power of divine grace, which should silence every 
 criticism. Here is Paul, a man of magnificent pro- 
 portions, and he yielded himself entirely to the control 
 of grace : and here is Augustine, whose brilliant career 
 was ennobled and enlarged after Ambrose had taught 
 him to appreciate the influence of Jesus : here is 
 Anselm, who crossed the Alps, and made his way at 
 last to the See of Canterbury, an Italian becoming 
 thus the primate of Britain, and realizing at every 
 step of his progress the sanctifying control of our 
 blessed Lord : here is Bernard of Clairvaux, whose 
 Christian manhood made the rude hut which he oc- 
 cupied the centre of Christendom, whence, in the 
 name of Christ, he rebuked kings and prelates, and 
 where he preached a Gospel whose magnetism drew 
 princes and courtiers to a holy life : here is John 
 Knox, whose stern, heroic nature was worth more 
 than an army to any cause, surrendering promptly 
 
LEA VEN. 
 
 319 
 
 and entirely to the demands of grace : here is Ruther 
 ford, whose persecutions witnessed to the reality of 
 sustaining grace, so that he was able to call his gloomy 
 prison " Christ's palace in Aberdeen ": here is Baxter, 
 announcing through grace the " Saint's Rest ": and 
 Jeremy Taylor, writing " The truth as it is in Jesus," 
 concerning " Holy living" and " Holy dying ": here 
 is Luther, stripping from the tree of life the fungus 
 growths of ages of worldliness and superstition ; and 
 here is Bunyan, sending forth his pilgrim to journey 
 on to Heaven with the strength and direction of 
 grace: here is Wesley, organizing a spiritual cam- 
 paign, whose victories have planted the cross in almost 
 every land : and here is Chalmers, solving the problem 
 of pauperism, with the assistance of grace : here are 
 the abodes of cannibalism, transformed by grace into 
 Christian homes : and here are the amenities of life, 
 possessed by nations once savage, to whom the grace 
 of God has come. 
 
 I might ask you to consider the influence of Jesus 
 as it has affected child-life, and you would be com- 
 pelled to visit the nurseries and the schools, in which 
 the Gospel is now moulding the coming generation ; 
 I might ask you to consider its influence upon 
 woman's life, and you would quickly acknowledge 
 that the Christian nations of the world give to woman 
 the only estimate at all approaching her natural 
 rights ; I might ask you to consider its influence 
 
320 
 
 LEA VEN. 
 
 upon slavery, and you could hardly fail to acknowl 
 edge that the Epistle to Philemon states the prin- 
 ciple which has loosened the fetters of the slave 
 until they have fallen from his limbs ; I might ask 
 you to consider its influence upon criminals, and you 
 would become interested in the good work which 
 was inaugurated by John Howard and Elizabeth 
 Fry ; I might ask you to consider its influence upon 
 war, and you would surely take notice of the prev- 
 alence of arbitration, as well as of the desire to miti- 
 gate the severity of war; I might ask you to con- 
 sider its influence upon toleration, and you would be 
 obliged to account for the deliverances of the Berlin 
 Conference respecting intercourse with the Congo 
 territory. " The peculiarity of Christ's teachings in 
 regard to political matters," a thoughtful writer re- 
 marks, " was that He left them entirely on one side, 
 but threw in a principle into human society which 
 was destined in after ages to overthrow or modify all 
 existing institutions and governments." He was in 
 no haste. Long periods of gradual improvement were 
 evident to His prescience. The leaven hid in the 
 measures of meal required time for its complete ex- 
 pression. So we wait, and yet we wait with patient 
 expectation. The present and the past are the earn- 
 est of the future. Our Christian optimism is not 
 credulity. We do not believe that 
 
LEA VEN. 
 
 " Somehow good 
 Will be the final goal of ill ' 
 
 321 
 
 we do not expect to awake to the realization that we 
 have suddenly reached Utopia ; we are not anticipat- 
 ing the millennium to-morrow or the next day. Noth- 
 ing of the sort. Grave evils confront us. The social 
 questions which demand a solution will all be an- 
 swered before " the new Heavens and the new earth 
 wherein dwelleth righteousness " shall appear. We 
 may agree as to this, even if we can not agree as to 
 the best methods of solving the questions. For 
 Christian civilization can never rest satisfied until the 
 poor are considered, until the weak are protected, 
 until opportunity is afforded. We shudder when 
 we hear the explosion of dynamite, but what shall 
 we do ? Shall we redouble our guards and immure 
 ourselves in splendid palaces as the Russian Czar has ? 
 Shall we refuse to go out, and to look upon our 
 fellow-men, and to inquire how they are living, and 
 what they need ? Christ says : " Go, and I will go 
 with you." But this means contact, and contact 
 means insult, and insult precedes violence, and vio- 
 lence may end in death. Yet " it is enough for the 
 disciple that he be as his Master, and the servant as 
 his Lord." In His name He bids us approach our 
 fellow-men. With His grace He commands us to 
 rescue them. Into their lives this grace will enter 
 to make itself felt as the power of God unto salvation 
 14* 
 
322 LEAVEN. 
 
 Why should we hesitate? Is the Church feeble in 
 numbers, in wealth, in intelligence, in social influ- 
 ence ? Far from being feeble, we fear that her great 
 strength is a source of weakness, because strength 
 begets self-confidence. In the United States alone, 
 the Church enrolls more than ten million communi- 
 cants in a population of fifty millions. And who 
 does not know that the wealth of the Church, and the 
 intelligence of the Church, and the social influence 
 of the Church have never been equalled ? Has our 
 Lord any message to His Church ? Does He speak 
 to you, my friends, who are looking forward to years 
 of service? When the Church was very small — 
 some five hundred strong — He said, as He contem- 
 plated the conquest of the world, " Preach the 
 Gospel." That was all. "Preach the Gospel." 
 Would He say so now? Has He, think you, lost 
 confidence in the power of His graces? Would He 
 devise some new measures? No! He desires the 
 Christian graces, and nothing but the grace of God is 
 competent to their production. Let us sympathize 
 with Him ! Let us depend more than we do upon 
 God's grace ! Let us use it more faithfully ! 
 
 What, then, is the need of the present ? I answer, 
 unhesitatingly, a firm confidence in the influence of 
 Jesus Christ; a confidence that traces His influence 
 to its source in the heart of God ; a confidence that 
 believes in His ability and readiness to make Himseli 
 
LEA VEN. 323 
 
 felt in every life and in every community; a con- 
 fidence that holds firmly to the Holy Spirit's intelli- 
 gent, pervasive, invincible activity. Men need the 
 Gospel. Society needs the Gospel. Not philosophy, 
 not speculation, not any form of words, but the Gos- 
 pel of the grace of God which once conquered the 
 Roman Empire, and which has since given us the 
 Protestant Reformation. Let us believe this with 
 sincere and effective belief. 
 
 Again I ask, what is the need of the present ? And 
 I answer promptly, that all Christians should use the 
 influence of Jesus Christ ; that they should use it in 
 the formation of their own characters and in helpful 
 work for others. For believe me, my friends, when 
 I say, that there is nothing that you can do for a 
 human being which will prove so helpful to him as 
 to lead him to accept the grace of God. When the 
 grace of God is universally accepted and as univer- 
 sally manifested, there will be no communism, no 
 nihilism, no dynamite, no drunkenness, no pauperism, 
 no stealing, no lying, no murder, no cruelties, no 
 wars. Then peace will be the hum of cheerful in- 
 dustry, and love will be the bond of social union, 
 and comfort will be known at every fireside, and 
 prayer will be heard in all lands, and the Redeemer 
 will come again to visit His people, and there will be 
 a long season of happy, safe, holy prosperity. 
 
 Once more I ask, what is the need of the present ? 
 
324 LEAVEN. 
 
 And I answer gladly, hope. The Gospel promises 
 have been confirmed already. God will not forget 
 His word. He has met it faithfully in many ways. 
 We may hope, and thus await the triumph. 
 
 Two historical incidents may serve to emphasize 
 the truth which we have been considering. In the 
 tenth century it was announced to the world that 
 Vladimir, the Grand Duke of Russia, was proposing 
 to change his religion. Instantly ambassadors ap- 
 peared at court to represent the advantages of many 
 different religions. The cautious monarch, however, 
 decided to send his own ambassadors to visit the 
 nations, and to consider the characteristics of the re- 
 ligions in the homes of those who held to them. 
 At Constantinople, and in the ancient church of St. 
 Sophia, the splendid service of the Greek Liturgy 
 captivated them, and they returned to declare that 
 they had " felt as if in the presence of the Angels of 
 Heaven." Vladimir accepted their report ; and he 
 and his court were thereupon baptized in the waters 
 of the Dneiper. Then using his autocratic authority, 
 he commanded his subjects to be baptized, and they 
 obeyed him ; he compelled his armies to accept Chris- 
 tianity and the soldiers were enlisted under the ban 
 ner of the cross. Thus the Gospel, in a few years, 
 secured a formal recognition, while, alas, its spiritual 
 power, its liberty, its purity of thought and action 
 were little known. Russia is still Cossack, although 
 
LEAVEN. 325 
 
 nearly nine centuries have passed since the baptism 
 of the Grand Duke. A formal recognition of the 
 Gospel was not the hiding of the leaven in the 
 measures of meal. 
 
 Let us go back a few hundred years, and then let 
 us stand upon the Irish coast and observe a little 
 company of resolute men who are launching a rude 
 vessel on the waters of Loch Foyle. They have no 
 swords, no spears, no instruments of war, and yet 
 they are soldiers. A few seeds, a net, and some food 
 constitute their cargo, although we must not fail to 
 mention the copy of parts of the Holy Scriptures 
 which they have placed in a wallet of skin. They 
 are all young men of education, and they all know 
 the grace of God. Columba, an Irish nobleman, is 
 their leader, and they have resolved to carry the 
 Gospel to the heathen tribes beyond the sea. The 
 wind is fair. Their spreading sail soon bears them 
 to an island, from which, as they can see their native 
 land, which they have resolved to leave out of sight, 
 they depart to settle at last among the hills of Iona. 
 Here they began their work of preaching. The 
 neighboring tribes — rude and idolatrous — were visit- 
 ed, and to them the unsearchable riches of Christ 
 were made known. Their busy pens multiplied 
 copies of the sacred writings, which they placed in 
 the hands of the people. Learning that Brude, a 
 powerful king of the Picts, had refused to receive 
 
326 LEA VEN. 
 
 them, Columba approached the closed gate of his 
 fortress, singing, as he advanced, the 45th Psalm. 
 The gate was opened. The missionary was admitted. 
 His message was heard. The Gospel found a place 
 in the hearts of the tribes, where its manifestations 
 in character and life have given to the world the 
 splendid history of the Church of Scotland. No 
 formal recognition of Christianity has made that his- 
 tory. It has been a tribute to the subduing, elevat- 
 ing power of the grace of God. 
 
 The contrast is instructive. May we learn the 
 lesson, and prove our intelligence by our fidelity to 
 the influence of Jesus Christ ! " For Christ," said 
 the great apostle, " sent me not to baptize, but to 
 preach the Gospel "; and the Master himself declared 
 that " the kingdom of God cometh not with observa- 
 tion," " for behold the kingdom of God is within 
 you." 
 
 " Now unto Him that is able to do exceeding 
 abundantly above all that we ask or think, according 
 to the power that worketh in us, unto Him be glory 
 in the Church, by Christ Jesus, throughout all ages 
 world without end. Amen." 
 
XVII. 
 
 "OUT OF SELF, INTO CHRIST, UP TO 
 GLORY."— THE FUTURE WITH JESUS 
 CHRIST. 
 
 " If any man serve me t let him follow me ; and 
 where I am, there shall also my servant be ; 
 if any man serve me, him will my Father 
 honor." — John xii. 26. 
 
 To serve is to follow, and to follow is to enter into 
 the joy of the Lord. Service requires an intimacy of 
 fellowship, which is the vital union of Christ and the 
 Christian ; and a divine leadership is a safe conduct 
 from earth to heaven. No one can serve who is un- 
 willing to deny himself and to take up his cross daily; 
 and no one can follow who hesitates to go with Christ 
 even to death and the grave. " He that loveth his 
 life shall lose it ; and he that hateth his life in this 
 world shall keep it unto life eternal." God is not 
 arbitrary. " Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he 
 also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of 
 the flesh reap corruption ; but he that soweth to the 
 Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." " The 
 inheritance of the saints in light" is the natural expres- 
 sion of a love which brings hope to penitence. " Strait 
 
 (327) 
 
328 THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 is the gate and narrow is the way," and the pilgrim- 
 age ends when the city is reached. The servant who 
 follows the Master day by day is preparing to share 
 with the Master the glory of a higher service. Holy 
 character waits upon the discipline of service. " The 
 recompense of the reward " is bestowed upon those 
 who are able to appreciate it. 
 
 Thus the future life of the Christian is the perfect- 
 ing of his present life with Christ. Death is a great 
 event, but in reality it is not so great an event as 
 conversion ; for conversion is the beginning of that 
 spiritual life whose expansion is to continue forever. 
 That life comes to the hour of death as the heir 
 reaches the period of his majority, or as the scholar 
 approaches the day of his graduation. New respon- 
 sibilities announce themselves. Under new condi- 
 tions grace discovers its excellence. Beyond the 
 material and the visible, this mortal puts on immor- 
 tality. There is no loss, except the welcome loss of 
 sin ; no forgetfulness, except the forgetting of every 
 unworthy and disturbing memory; no inaction, no 
 torpor. Life is still real and earnest. The intellect 
 is alive, and eager in its pursuit of truth ; the heart 
 is warm, and happy in its attachment to all that is 
 pure ; and the will knows no conflict of choices, for 
 every choice is subordinated to the love of God. The 
 earthly has given place to the heavenly. Where Christ 
 is, there also His servant is. 
 
THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 329 
 
 When Frederick Denison Maurice — a man whose 
 spirituality was intensely keen and appreciative- 
 approached the hour of his departure, he quietly 
 remarked to the friends who stood around his bed : 
 " I am not going to Death, I am going into Life." 
 Then, with a benediction upon his lips, he closed his 
 eyes and ceased to breathe. Of such a departure he 
 had himself said : " As men watch the last breath of 
 a dear friend, they seize his language ; they feel that 
 they have a right to it. They say, A moment ago 
 he was mortal, and now he is free. It has been but 
 a twinkling of an eye, and what a change has come ! 
 Though the decaying, agonized frame is lying calm 
 and at rest, he who spoke a few minutes before did 
 not derive his powers of speech, any more than the 
 celestial smile, which still remains on the clay from 
 that clay." 
 
 When he heard of this translation, the Dean oi 
 Wells, Dr. Plumptre, expressed himself most beauti* 
 fully in these simple lines : 
 
 " He, too, is there ! and can we dream 
 Their joy is other now than when 
 They dwelt among the sons of men, 
 As walking in the eternal gleam ? 
 
 " We know not, but if life be there 
 
 The outcome and the crown of this ; 
 What else can make their perfect bliss 
 Than in the Master's work to share ? 
 
330 THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 " Resting, but not in slumbrous ease, 
 Working, but not in wild unrest, 
 Still ever blessing, ever blest, 
 They see us as the Father sees." 
 
 This conception of the future life rests upon the 
 assurances of the divine Word and upon Christian 
 consciousness. The divine Word reveals it, and 
 Christian consciousness — another word of God — an- 
 nounces, in many a sure prophecy, the bright, cheer 
 ful hopes which make it easy " to depart and to be 
 with Christ." 
 
 The word of the Lord Jesus Christ promises to 
 the Christian a blessed immortality in Heaven. A 
 moment's reflection would convince any one that 
 Jesus Christ announced a life after death, and that 
 He associated that life with the life of the present. 
 From the first hour of His public ministry to the 
 last, He was engaged in an endeavor to persuade 
 men that death does not end all, and that a peaceful, 
 happy existence awaits those who prepare for it by 
 faith in Him. He was never betrayed into anything 
 like sentimental expressions, nor did He ever attempt 
 to gratify an idle curiosity. With firmness and em- 
 phasis the truth was spoken, while His silence was 
 always eloquent. 
 
 The truth, as He presented it, is a declaration of 
 the important fact that there is a distinct place into 
 which the righteous enter when they die. He refers 
 
THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 331 
 
 to this place when He says to the penitent thief, 
 " To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise ": when 
 He speaks of Lazarus, who was carried by the angels 
 into Abraham's bosom : when He announces the com- 
 ing of many from the East and West, who shall sit 
 down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob in the king- 
 dom of Heaven : when He discourses upon the many 
 mansions in His Father's house, and upon the prep- 
 arations which He proposes to make to receive His 
 disciples : when He pronounces His benedictions, and 
 calls the righteous to inherit the kingdom prepared 
 for them from the foundation of the world. These 
 references may be regarded as figurative. Yet they 
 are interpreted by the plainest statements respecting 
 life. How frequently our Lord gives the promise of 
 eternal life ! How fond He appears to be of dwelling 
 upon the significance of life ! Life, as He regards it, 
 is evidently spiritual perfection. Human nature is at 
 its best when it has this life eternal. Such life is not 
 known here, and yet we have the earnest of it even 
 now. It is a life which requires a residence, and that 
 residence is Heaven. " Father," you can hardly fail 
 to recall the precious language of the intercessory 
 prayer, " I will that they also whom Thou hast given 
 me be with me where I am : that they may beJwld my 
 glory which Thou hast given me : for Thou lovedst 
 me before the foundation of the world." What can 
 be made of such an entreaty if it has no reference to 
 
332 THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST 
 
 the condition of the disciples after death ? Our Lord 
 was just ready to close His work. In a few days He 
 would return to His throne. Can we understand 
 Him if we refuse to recognize His desire for the com- 
 panionship, close and intimate, of those whose love 
 He has won ? "Where I am there ye may be also," 
 is His promise. Does He mean what He says? If 
 so, is not His meaning evident ? Has the Church been 
 mistaken in accepting these pledges ? Shall we begin 
 now to erase from the tablets which record the faith 
 of the departed all these precious words of the 
 Redeemer? Must we read anew that triumphant 
 challenge to death and the grave which Martha of 
 Bethany heard as Jesus approached her brother's 
 sepulchre ? Can we reduce that splendid declaration 
 of immortal blessedness which has sustained the faith 
 of all the Christian centuries to a mere announcement 
 of spiritual revival ? Lazarus was dead. He had 
 been dead four days. The broken-hearted Martha 
 greeted the arrival of Jesus with the half-complaining 
 exclamation : " If Thou hadst been here my brother 
 had not died." Jesus replied instantly : " Thy bro- 
 ther shall rise again." Then Martha answered : " I 
 know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at 
 the last day." Now what had Jesus to say ; what did 
 He say? He was in the presence of a sorrowful 
 woman. How did He meet her confidence? Jesu? 
 said unto her : " I am the resurrection and the life 
 
THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 333 
 
 He that believeth in me, though he were dead, 
 yet shall he live, and whosoever liveth and believeth 
 in me shall never die." Certainly He could not have 
 wished to convey the impression that the believer will 
 never come under the power of physical death ; for 
 He himself felt that power and yielded to it. He 
 must have looked on to the future life, which is 
 entered through physical death as a gateway. In 
 view of His own life and work He was able to promise 
 deliverance and triumph to His disciples. 
 
 We shall not readily relinquish our hold upon " the 
 truth as it is in Jesus " respecting immortality. We 
 need this truth. Ours is a world of sickness, of death, 
 and of graves. " Friend after friend departs." We 
 crave knowledge of the future. After death, what ? 
 Up to the boundary line we advance with the gifted 
 spirits whose presence has made life desirable, and 
 then our farewells are spoken. A frail, decaying 
 body is left to us, sightless, speechless, pulseless. 
 And is that all ? Where is the gifted spirit ? Tell 
 me not that we must be satisfied to remain in igno- 
 rance. We can not be satisfied. Yonder man, whose 
 friends are all around him, in health and vigor, may 
 think that he is satisfied. But let death touch the 
 cheek of that lovely daughter: let the grave open 
 to receive the form of that idolized son : and then 
 venture, if you dare, to talk about annihilation or 
 ignorance. No ! No ! the pressure of a practical ex- 
 
334 THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 perience is recognized in the wistful, anxious cry for 
 knowledge. Is there another life ? What are its 
 conditions ? How is its blessedness secured ? 
 
 To this cry the promises of the Lord Jesus Christ 
 are a response. His presence is assuring. We know 
 that He is faithful and true, and we also know that 
 He came down from Heaven. Just as in our ordinary 
 journeys to distant parts of the earth, we accept the 
 testimony of credible witnesses ; just as we should not 
 hesitate to sail forth from the secure harbors upon a 
 trackless ocean in expectation of reaching another 
 continent of which we have heard ; so in this supreme 
 journey we accept the statements of the Son of Man 
 concerning Heaven and the course thither. We be- 
 lieve what He says. We believe that He speaks 
 advisedly. He has told us earthly things, and His 
 speech has been confirmed ; may we not believe when 
 He tells us heavenly things ? 
 
 The prophecies of a Christian life demand for 
 their fulfilment a residence with Christ Jesus our 
 Lord in Heaven. Every life presents its own proph- 
 ecies. The living epistles, known and read of all 
 men, are covered with predictions of future blessed- 
 ness or misery. Not more evident are the prophecies 
 of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Malachi. Judas Iscariot 
 went to his own place when his wretched caieer of 
 treachery had been cut short by suicide. There was 
 but one place for which he had prepared himself 
 
THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 335 
 
 The hypocrisy of his attendance upon the Master 
 could not conceal the cunning and duplicity of his 
 wicked heart. He was a bad man from the begin- 
 ning, and he grew worse instead of better as the years 
 advanced. Without a radical change — a change 
 which would have been indicated by his sincere pen- 
 itence — he could not have made his way to Heaven. 
 On the other hand, Stephen's life was an anticipation 
 of the joy of Heaven. He was a heavenly evangelist, 
 even when he contended with the learned men of the 
 synagogues. " Looking steadfastly on him they saw 
 his face as it had been the face of an angel." A holy 
 constraint was advancing him toward the perfect life 
 which Heaven knows. His spiritual vision was clari- 
 fied. He seemed to be out of the body before death 
 released him. " He being full of the Holy Ghost, 
 looked up steadfastly into Heaven, and saw the glory 
 of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, 
 and said : ' Behold, I see the heavens opened and the 
 Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.' " 
 His happy experience was not exceptional. It has 
 been shared by many of our Lord's disciples. The 
 prophecy of the saintly life has discovered its fulfil- 
 ment, and the veil has been lifted with an assured 
 confidence that Heaven is not far away. The Eng- 
 lish Laureate, with a poet's truthful insight, has ap- 
 preciated this prophetic attitude of holiness, and has 
 sung of those 
 
336 THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 " To whom was given 
 The joy that mixes man with Heaven ; 
 
 " Who, rowing hard against the stream, 
 Saw distant gates of Eden gleam, 
 And did not dream it was a dream : 
 
 " But heard by secret transport led, 
 Ev'n in the charnels of the dead, 
 The murmur of the fountain head. 
 
 ■" Which did accomplish their desire, 
 Bore and forbore, and did not tire, 
 Like Stephen, an unquenched fire." 
 
 Oh ! that we might be led to consider these proph* 
 ecies ! They are surely most impressive. Heaven is 
 not entered by accident. No happy chance will trans- 
 port the sensualist from his cups and his revelry to 
 the marriage supper of the Lamb ; no process of de- 
 velopment will bring the infidel to rejoice in the 
 worship of our divine Redeemer; no sentimental 
 clemency will open the gates of pearls to welcome 
 men who have lived and died without reference to 
 the essential work of grace. "Ye must be born 
 again." The new birth of the Holy Spirit establishes 
 the character which has " its fruit unto holiness and 
 the end everlasting life." 
 
 For the Christian life is a reality. We may judge 
 of its quality ; we may test its method ; we may dis- 
 cover its foundation. The foundation is Jesus Christ, 
 inasmuch as the Christian life rests upon His person 
 
THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 337 
 
 and work. He is beneath all Christian life. " Other 
 foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is 
 Jesus Christ." As in the erection of a house, the 
 foundation is indicative of the strength, the dura- 
 bility, and the general form of the structure, so is it 
 in the Christian life. If a man proposes to build a 
 shelter for cattle, he does not lay the substantial 
 foundations that he uses when he prepares to build 
 a home for his family. When he is providing a per- 
 manent home, his foundations are massive. As his 
 means allow, so he provides for the future. Jesus 
 Christ, as a foundation, is secured freely. No one is 
 so poor that he is unable to establish his life on this 
 best foundation. He may depend upon the salva- 
 tion, which his Lord has provided. He may commit 
 himself unreservedly to this divine Protector. Here 
 is his confidence for time and for eternity. You may 
 destroy a structure by fire, by .tempest, by violence, 
 and yet the foundation will remain ; and from the 
 foundation, the structure may rise again. But when 
 the foundation is gone, all is gone. This is what 
 Paul meant when he said that "the fire shall try 
 every man's work of what sort it is "; and that there 
 are some who "shall be saved, yet so as by fire." 
 Careless building upon the true foundation is pos- 
 sible. There may be a Christian beginning without 
 a proper Christian progress. One may accept the 
 Saviour, and then become very worldly. If so, the 
 *5 
 
338 THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 life-work will prove a loss. The trial by fire will con 
 sume the gold, the silver, the precious stones, the 
 wood, the hay, the stubble, and nothing will be left 
 but the foundation. That means salvation ; but not 
 the abundant entrance which should be secured into 
 the Heavenly kingdom, not the carrying into Heaven 
 of the treasures of a well-spent life. Occasionally 
 we meet with this phase of experience, when we find, 
 at death, that a neglected, abused Christian hope, a 
 hope which was cherished, perhaps, in early life, re- 
 vives and asserts itself. God does not disregard it, 
 as its presence becomes evident ; but we know that 
 it fails to meet His cordial approbation. 
 
 For the foundation indicates the plan of the struc- 
 ture. There are living stones in the quarry of the 
 Divine Word, which may be built up into a spiritual 
 house. These living stones are all accessible. The 
 Divine Word is within our reach. We may, each 
 Christian for himself, shape these living stones, and 
 lay them, course by course, upon the foundation. 
 What are we building? Why ! a holy temple to the 
 Lord, in which the melodious symphonies of sancti- 
 fied praise shall never cease to be heard, in which the 
 truths of salvation shall be proclaimed with the elo- 
 quence of a devout activity, in which the presence of 
 the Holy Spirit shall be manifest, as love and peace, 
 mercy and faith, resignation and aspiration, are lumin- 
 ous from the light within. God calls no man to erect 
 
THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 339 
 
 a banqueting-hall as a place of revelry, nor an ex- 
 change as a mart of commerce, nor a dungeon in 
 which he may seclude himself. The architecture of 
 the earth responds to many demands of selfishness 
 and pleasure and business. Not so with the archi- 
 tecture of Heaven. There the demand is unique. 
 The one, essential requirement is " holiness, without 
 which no man shall see the Lord." Each life, in its 
 personal building, must meet this requirement, and 
 thus render glory to God. When I watch the patient 
 workmen who here upon this sloping hill-side and in 
 yonder valley express such a variety of thoughts in 
 stone and timber, as they provide homes for the 
 people, I wonder if they, and those for whom they 
 labor, remember that there is "a house not made 
 with hands, eternal in the Heavens," whose architect 
 is God, whose foundation is Jesus Christ, whose plan 
 and specifications are contained in the Bible, whose 
 ultimate purpose is that it may be " a habitation of 
 God through the Spirit." Carefully do they build 
 these homes, which soon must be vacated. With no 
 restraint of industry and sacrifice does love provide 
 for the comfort of the precious household, which may 
 not hope to be long united. It is well ! God bless 
 these homes ! God honor those who bring to them 
 the best of offerings! But oh? let us not forget that 
 there is another house, which is not of this building. 
 Oh ! let us not fail to build the holy temple, which is 
 our house from Heaven ! 
 
340 THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 . The reality of the Christian life is so evident that 
 we require no extended argument in support of it. 
 We know natural flowers when we see them ; and 
 even if we are sometimes deceived, for a moment, by 
 the skilful imitations of art, we soon discover our 
 mistake. The Queen of Sheba, it is said, tested the 
 wisdom of Solomon by placing before him real and 
 artificial flowers, and asking him to decide ; and the 
 ever-ready king determined the matter by inviting to 
 his aid a swarm of bees. Children recognize the dis- 
 tinction between a Christian and a non-Christian life ; 
 so do the poor, so do all plain people. There is no 
 denial until the modern philosopher is reached, 
 whose refined, speculative, critical spirit is almost 
 equivalent to a paralysis of all sensibility. Differing 
 in its supreme choice, differing in its method, differ- 
 ing in its results, the Christian life is an exotic. The 
 seed of its planting, the cutting from which it springs, 
 has been brought from another clime. Heathenism 
 has not produced this life, nor has Mohammedanism. 
 The virtues and graces of false religion are like the 
 rare flowers of the century plant, not like the roses 
 of Sharon, or the lilies of the valley. Occasionally 
 you meet them. The starred names of that history 
 are very few. But it is not so with Christian life. 
 This appears whenever faith and love are manifest ; 
 and as faith and love are the universal offer of the 
 Gospel, they appear constantly. The Spanish Jesuits 
 
THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 341 
 
 found upon the Isthmus of Panama a singularly 
 beautiful orchid, whose flower was a delicate white 
 cup, in which rested the form of a dove with out- 
 stretched wings. They instantly named it " Espiritu 
 Santo," — " The Holy Ghost." To their vivid imagina- 
 tion it seemed like a plant from the Garden of the 
 Lord. The true flower of the Holy Ghost is a Chris- 
 tian life — pure, spotless, refined, spiritual, devout — 
 upon the branch which has sprung from the Rod 
 out of the Stem of Jesse, and whose aspiration, like 
 the spreading wings of a dove, is the earnest of a 
 desire to fly away and be at rest. Is there no cor- 
 respondence to this desire ? Is there no rest which 
 may meet these divinely inspired aspirations? Is 
 man at his best — and man is surely at his best when 
 his thought and affections go out after holiness and 
 Heaven — a delusion and a cheat? The eye was 
 made to see, and there is beauty all around ; the ear 
 was made to hear, and sounds innumerable bring it 
 satisfaction ; the intellect was made for truth, and 
 truth is present to reward its thought ; the heart was 
 made for love, and friends respond to love's magnetic 
 charms. Can it be true then that " a soul that's born 
 of God " is mocked and doomed to bitter disappoint- 
 ment in its expectations of Heaven? Are these 
 expectations vain and worthless ? They meet the 
 promise of our divine Lord. Was He, too, mistaken? 
 " If in this life only we have hope in Christ," a splen* 
 
342 THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 did thinker once remarked, " we are of all men most 
 miserable." He could not endure the possibility 
 His vigorous mind revolted against its gloom and 
 despair. For he quickly met the demands of faith 
 in the bold announcement : " Now is Christ risen 
 from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them 
 that slept." There can be no such disappointment. 
 " Let God be true." When He has, by the Holy 
 Spirit, aroused us from the deadly lethargy of sin, 
 when He has quickened and inspired us, when He 
 has spoken to us, by His Son, with reference to the 
 future life, and has led us to prepare for its high and 
 noble satisfactions, can it be that He will plunge us 
 at death into vacuity? 
 
 Then another prophecy — and perhaps a more sure 
 word of prophecy — appears in the incomplete prog- 
 ress which an earthly life secures — " Not as though 
 I had already attained, either were already perfect." 
 We hardly begin to live the Christian life when we die. 
 Our best endeavors are, after all, experiments. Some 
 one has said* that "a tree rises from its seed, it in- 
 creases for many years, it is beautiful to the eye, it 
 yields fruit, it furnishes shade. If it were to remain 
 here forever it could do nothing worthier or better. 
 It has attained perfection as a tree. So an animal 
 reaches in a short time the limit of its powers. ... 
 
 * Pres. Hopkins, " Moral Science,'' p. 288. 
 
THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 343 
 
 It is perfect as an animal But no one can say 
 
 that man reaches here his perfection. The philos- 
 opher who has traversed the circuit of human knowl- 
 edge and has pitched his tent upon its outposts, 
 not only does not approach the limits of knowledge, 
 but what is important, he does not find his powers 
 burdened or embarrassed by the knowledge already 
 acquired. On the contrary, every advance which he 
 makes gives, and from the nature of the powers must 
 give, new light and strength to make further ad- 
 vances ; and when old age comes he only feels him- 
 self more l like a child gathering pebbles on the shore 
 of the great ocean of truth.' " " So also, and more 
 so, is it with the good man making progress in good- 
 ness. His path is like the shining light. Shall it 
 shine more and more unto the perfect day, or shall 
 it go out in darkness ? Or shall he be left the only 
 fragmentary being, as if God had completed every- 
 thing else, and had failed in His grandest undertak- 
 ing, as if He had, indeed, made him not the glory, 
 but the jest and riddle of the world ? " What Chris- 
 tian life can fail to appreciate the force of this argu- 
 ment ? Who is not continually " reaching forth unto 
 those things which are before" ? We know that we 
 can do better, that we can be better, and we firmly 
 believe that the better opportunity lies beyond. 
 
 And is it not true that the Christian life witnesses 
 to the reality of a growing desire to be very near to 
 
344 THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 Christ ? Is not this the chief desire of every devoted 
 Christian ? The grand apostle, to whom we so often 
 turn for instruction, said once : " For to me to live is 
 Christ, and to die is gain." Then he added : " I am 
 in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart and 
 to be with Christ, which is far better." He rejoiced 
 in Christ. His soul was thrilled at every remembrance 
 of his Saviour's love. He was eager to know Christ 
 better, and to love Him more. Consequently he had 
 to check the ardor which looked eagerly toward the 
 departure, whose open vision would be the face of 
 Christ. We may share his expectation. There can 
 be no Heaven to the Christian without Christ. This 
 earth becomes heavenly when Christ becomes real. 
 The holy hours, which emphasize the nearness of His 
 sacred presence, are simply anticipations of that end- 
 less day when we shall be like Him and see Him as 
 He is. 
 
 His presence alone is the pledge of Heaven's bless- 
 edness — " I go to prepare a place for you." That is 
 enough. We may rest upon that promise. Do you 
 ask me what Heaven's life is ? I can only reply that 
 it is life with Christ. Do you press me with your 
 questions and inquire respecting locality and occupa- 
 tion ? I can only answer that it is where Christ is, 
 and that we shall rejoice in the occupation that He 
 appoints. We are to be welcomed, not as guests, to 
 stay a few days and then to depart, but as brethren to 
 
THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST 345 
 
 abide forever in our Father's house on high. We 
 need have no fears. The Christian life, here and 
 now, is awake to every bright and noble impulse to 
 every cheerful recognition, to every holy service. Do 
 you suppose, can any one suppose, that the Christian 
 life in its perfection will be dull and stupid and in- 
 ane, without sympathy, without recognition, with- 
 out activity, with a ceaseless round of psalms and 
 hymns? There is no warrant for the supposition. 
 Christ-likeness forbids it. The perfection of living 
 is wrapped securely in the announcement that " we 
 shall be like Him." Oh, the rapture of that experi- 
 ence ! Oh, the inspiration of that sublime hope ! Tell 
 us, ye angels, who are sent forth as ministering 
 spirits, that we shall be like Christ ! Tell us, ye 
 saints, who are already safe before the throne, that 
 we shall be like Christ ! Turn the shining light of 
 that splendid realization upon our defilement and 
 sin. Consume our wickedness. Burn away the dross 
 of worldliness. Refine every enduring quality. Set 
 us free from all the corruption of this present life. 
 Grant, O God, that the Holy Spirit may never leave 
 nor forsake us, but preserving us blameless may 
 present us faultless before the presence of Thy glory 
 with exceeding joy ! The consummation of Chris- 
 tian life is realized ; the many prophecies are at last 
 fulfilled ; grace has ripened into glory. God be 
 praised ! a sinner has become a saint ! 
 15* 
 
346 THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 " O, then what raptured greetings 
 
 On Canaan's happy shore, 
 What knitting severed friendships up, 
 
 Where partings are no more ! 
 Then eyes with joy shall sparkle, 
 
 That brimmed with tears of late, 
 Orphans no longer fatherless, 
 
 Nor widows desolate." 
 
 Yes, brethren and friends, Jesus Christ is central to 
 all hope of the future. Every speculation must yield 
 to the confident assurances of His Word and work. 
 When we recognize Him as Redeemer and Lord, we 
 have a reasonable hope of immortality. How per- 
 suasive, therefore, is His appeal ! How momentous 
 are the consequences of faith ! I am permitted to 
 offer you all eternal life in Him. Your days on earth 
 are numbered. In a brief time you will have passed 
 away to be known here no more forever. Life can 
 not be long, even if it reaches the utmost limit. We 
 must pass from these familiar scenes and avocations. 
 Shall we go with hope ? We may. The opportunity 
 is ours. God grant that no one of us may reject it 
 and thus lose eternal life. 
 
 And if we inquire concerning the best preparation 
 for the eternal life in Heaven, we shall be urged to 
 keep near to Jesus Christ. He is the Master and we 
 are the servants. In His service we shall find the 
 needed discipline. When we are ready for the heav- 
 enly occupations, He will promote us ; when we can 
 
THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 347 
 
 serve Him better there than here, His call will be heard 
 Let us then be faithful — faithful in our loyalty, faith, 
 ful in our daily walk and conversation, faithful in 
 ever} 7 least service, and He will give the crown o* 
 life. 
 
 With increasing feebleness of body, but with no 
 abatement of spiritual intelligence, Anselm, the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury, awaited the summons of his 
 Lord. For many months he was carried in a litter 
 as he went to meet his appointments, and thus he 
 was admonished that the end was near. On Palm 
 Sunday, in the year 1109, he was advised that he 
 would probably celebrate Easter in Heaven and not 
 on earth. " It seems so," he answered, " and I shall 
 gladly obey His summons ; yet I should also feel 
 grateful if He would vouchsafe me a longer time with 
 you, and permit me to solve a question in which I 
 feel a lively interest on the origin of souls." " On 
 the Tuesday evening his words became unintelligi- 
 ble." Before daybreak, at the time of the cathedral 
 service, one of his attendants read to him from God's 
 Word the Scripture : " Ye are they which have con- 
 tinued with me in my temptations, and I appoint unto 
 you a kingdom, as my Father hath appointed unto me, 
 that ye may eat and drink with me in my kingdom.'' 
 As he heard these sweet assurances, Anselm bowed 
 his head upon his breast, and his breathing became 
 labored. The brethren were called. " They lifted him 
 
348 THE FUTURE WITH JESUS CHRIST. 
 
 from his couch, laid him on the floor on sackcloth and 
 ashes, and knelt around him in silent prayer. As the 
 day dawned on the 2 1st of April, he fell asleep in 
 Jesus." 
 
 " So fades a summer cloud away ; 
 
 So sinks the gale when storms are o'er; 
 So gently shuts the eye of day ; 
 So dies a wave along the shore." 
 
MAR 18 1902 
 
 MAR. 22 1902 
 
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