1 11 
 
 \m 
 
BV 4501 .M342 1909 
 Mahan, A. T. 1840-1914 
 The harvest within 
 
THE HARVEST WITHIN 
 
THE 
 
 HARVEST WITHIN 
 
 THOUGHTS ON THE LIFE OF 
 THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 / BY 
 
 A. T. MAHAN, D.C.L., LL.D. 
 
 CAPTAIN, U. S. NAVY 
 AUTHOR OF ** THE INFLUENCE OF SEA POWER,'* ETC 
 
 '< Because I live, ye shall live also." — St. John xiv. 19 
 
 
 BOSTON 
 
 LITTLE, BROWN, AND COMPANY 
 
 1909 
 
Copyright^ igoQy 
 By Alfred T. Mahan. 
 
 All rights reserved 
 Published June, 1909 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY PRESS, CAMBRIDGE, U.S.A. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 AS a man nears the term of life, the question 
 may properly arise whether experience has 
 yielded him results which he should not carry 
 away with him when he dies. It is a question of 
 doubtful answer; for not only are personal inward 
 experiences seldom — almost never — fit subject for 
 communication to others, but even the practical re- 
 sults of such experience, realized in thought and con- 
 clusions, may have little value outside the individual, 
 however decisive their influence upon himself. Self 
 deception in such a matter is easy; the sense of pro- 
 portion is readily lost; one may think too highly of 
 his thoughts as well as of himself. 
 
 On the other hand, the fortunate provision that 
 a man shall carry away with him no possession ex- 
 ternal to himself does not hold in the case of that 
 most profitable of all the assets of living, the fixed 
 and certain practical conclusions, the combined out- 
 come of experience and reflection, which command 
 allegiance and influence conduct. These may have 
 value to fellow-combatants in the battle of life, and 
 this can be assured only by committing them to 
 writing. The effort so to do, moreover, is useful to 
 the person himself^ and that in two ways. First, 
 
vi PREFACE 
 
 he will be forced generally to recognize that his 
 thoughts and conclusions are fragmentary in char- 
 acter; that they need arrangement and coordination. 
 Even though he already realize the supremacy of 
 some particular one among them, the others need 
 to be correctly grouped around that one, in their 
 due relation to each other. Secondly, thus con- 
 fronting admitted principles of action will bring 
 home the shortcoming of conduct, in a manner and 
 to a degree calculated to sober forever any undue 
 self-appreciation. 
 
 One clear duty of old age, whether as regards 
 personal character or unfulfilled purposes, is to 
 gather up the fragments that remain; to redeem 
 lost time and lost opportunity; to utilize what is 
 left of powers which may have begun to fail, and the 
 remnants of thought or knowledge lying still at loose 
 ends. Such economy, which makes the householder 
 to prosper, is still more needful to the life; as the 
 one exceeds the other in importance. Never is this 
 more urgently true than when the time, always 
 short, has become surely scant. 
 
 That which is offered here is literally fragmen- 
 tary, in origin and in essential characteristics; the 
 purely occasional results, yielded to reflection and 
 to experience in the course of life, noted as they 
 occurred. It was the purpose of the author to 
 emphasize this fact by a title: Fragments that Re- 
 main ; but this was found to have been used already 
 
PREFACE vii 
 
 by another writer. The attempt certainly has been 
 made to weave these disconnected thoughts into a 
 coherent whole, presenting a certain sequence of 
 arrangement; but there is in this nothing of the 
 elaboration which inheres in the word "system." 
 The utmost that has been sought is the predomi- 
 nance of a particular thought, which, by a process 
 resembling that of natural selection, has come to be 
 the centre around which all else groups itself, in re- 
 lation and subordination. 
 
 That thought is that man to-day is susceptible of 
 an enthusiasm for Jesus Christ, resembHng, but 
 surpassing, that which has been shown in past times 
 for this or that historical character in many nations; 
 and that this enthusiasm is love, because it is in- 
 spired less by His mighty deeds than by the sense of 
 the excellence of His Person, and by realization of 
 personal relation to Him. In this respect His su- 
 premacy is so absolute and unapproachable that 
 He alone among the sons of men stands the adequate 
 object of affection; not to this nation or that, not 
 to this epoch or the other, but to universal mankind 
 and to every age. The single motive, for the honor 
 of Christ, — or as He put it for Himself, for the 
 glory of God, — is alone full of light. It unifies all 
 action and solves all perplexities. Nothing new ^ 
 No; only always new. 
 
 An expression has been attributed to Napoleon, 
 that the enthusiasm, which was stirred in his armies 
 
Vlll 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 by his presence on a battle field, was still aroused 
 after eighteen centuries by the Name of Jesus 
 Christ, in myriads who had never seen Him; so 
 that for Him too they were ready to die. Whether 
 truly attributed or not, the words are truth; and 
 they are true because He lives now, and His unseen 
 presence is the life of His followers. 
 
 There are many who apply to Christian life the 
 test of our Lord's words : He that hath My Com- 
 mandments and keepeth them, he it is that loves 
 Me. Comparatively, little heed is given to His other 
 saying, which observes the order of true sequence. 
 If a man love Me, he will keep My Commandments. 
 Life is impoverished by the conception which puts 
 work first, love second; for this reverses the order 
 of cause and effect. The riches of Christ are un- 
 searchable; but chief among them is the gift of love 
 for Himself. It is a gift, not an acquisition. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Chapter Page 
 
 I Power i 
 
 II Likeness 56 
 
 III Intercourse 88 
 
 IV Fulfilment 182 
 
 V Hope 248 
 
 THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY ... 263 
 
THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
The Harvest Within 
 
 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 POWER 
 
 THE "Life of the Christian" and "The 
 Christian Life" may seem at first sight to 
 be interchangeable expressions; but they 
 are not. They are indeed closely related, as cause 
 to effect. Yet the distinction is real; and it is not 
 without purpose that The Life of the Christian has 
 been chosen to designate the leading theme of this 
 present writing. 
 
 The Christian Life signifies more exactly what we 
 call in general the conduct of life, — the acceptance 
 of principles, the establishment therefrom of habits 
 and methods, the daily regulating of times and occu- 
 pations, the whole issuing in a series of actions, a set 
 course of life, conformed to the words and example 
 of Jesus Christ. An instance of such systematized 
 life, a model held up to us as an illustration, is the 
 " Christian Year," ordered by the Church for the due 
 and proportioned remembrance, and observance, of 
 the chief historical events in the Life of our Lord 
 Jesus Christ; preeminently those set forth in the 
 
2 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Creeds. By this means the Church keeps the char- 
 acteristic features of that Life, in due order of suc- 
 cession, ever before her members, as the exemplar to 
 which they are to conform their own; this graphic 
 teaching being elucidated and enforced by set prayers 
 and passages from the Word of God, bringing out the 
 full significance of the historical facts. Further, these 
 facts, when confessed by the mouth and embraced 
 by the heart,^ become effectual in the Life of the 
 Christian. Features in the Life of his Lord, mani- 
 festing His power, they are assimilated to, and be- 
 come powers in, the life of the follower, by his union 
 with Him. Thus it is written, "Your life is hid with 
 Christ in God." ^ For the Life of the Christian is an 
 interior condition, of which the Christian Life is the 
 outward expression. The interior condition is that 
 of Faith, and thereby of vital union with Jesus Christ,^ 
 through the appointed joints and bands ;^ a union 
 so complete as to associate, even to identify, us with 
 Him in those historical sequences of His Life which 
 are recited in the Creeds. This union, to use His 
 own simile, is as close and real as that by which 
 the vine-branch shares the root and vigor of the 
 vine.^ 
 
 Lest the nature of this Life of the Christian should 
 be misconceived, it must from the outset be noted, 
 and should be carefully distinguished, that this 
 simile of Christ's does not warrant any pantheistic 
 conception, any idea of loss of personality in a 
 
 * Romans, x, 8-11. ^ Colossians, iii, 3. ^ Galatians, iii, 25-29. 
 ^ Colossians, ii, 19. Ephesians, i, 22-23; ^^y ^^' 
 ^ St. John, XV, 1-6. 
 
POWER 
 
 Divine essence. On the contrary, just because the 
 Life of God is characteristically personal, this Life 
 from Him deriving is personal, increasedly over that 
 which for distinction v^e call the natural life. The 
 branch does not cease to exist, distinct as a branch, 
 because it draws its life from the vine. Thus we 
 have union with Christ in that new human nature of 
 which His Incarnation is the origin and the abiding 
 source; union with Him in His Life of humiliation 
 and obedience, of which His Birth, and acceptance 
 of unsinful human infirmities, are the visible expres- 
 sion; union with Him in His Sufferings, in His 
 Crucifixion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. In 
 such wise are these incidents of His Life realized to 
 those who live in Him, that it can be said of them 
 with exactness, as does St. Paul : crucified with 
 Christ, dead with Christ, buried with Christ, risen 
 with Christ, ascended with Christ.^ Our Lord's 
 simile embraces implicitly all these explicit amplifi- 
 cations of the Apostle, the life of the branch being 
 the extension of the life of the Vine; contingent 
 always, be it remembered, upon abiding in Him. 
 Whatever of virtue — that is, of power — there was 
 in those deeds of Him Who was God as well as Man 
 abides in measure in His followers also; and this 
 power — the dwelling in Christ and Christ in him — ^ 
 is the Life of the Christian, his own in present pos- 
 session, though not his own in origin, in accomplish- 
 ment, nor in maintenance. 
 
 ^ Galatians, ii, 20; vi, 14. Romans, vi, 4-1 1. 2 Corinthians, v, 14. 
 Romans, vi, 2, 3. Colossians, ii, 20; 9-13; iii, i. Ephesians, ii, 4-6. 
 ^ St. John, vi, 56, 57; XV, 4-6. i St. John, ii, 24. 
 
4 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 This derivation of life is as actual as is that of 
 natural life from the line of ancestry preceding it; but 
 it differs in that the gift of natural life is mediate, 
 through man though from God, and, once bestowed, 
 is independent of the human medium; whereas the 
 spiritual life, the Life of the Christian, is immediate 
 in its derivation from Christ, who is the Personal 
 giver, and the condition of dependence is perpetual. 
 Severance is death. St. Paul speaks of this condition 
 as being a new creation, a new man,^ created in Christ 
 Jesus for good works. ^ Or, as St. Peter and St. 
 James write, God has begotten us anew unto a living 
 hope, not of corruptible seed but of incorruptible, 
 by the Word of God which liveth and abideth, that 
 we should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.^ 
 All three but echo the saying of the Master, Except a 
 man be born anew, he cannot see the Kingdom of 
 God.* St. Paul again in a striking passage sums up 
 the matter in these words : I have been crucified with 
 Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ 
 liveth in me; and that life which I now live in the 
 flesh, I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of 
 God, Who loved me and gave Himself up for me.^ 
 
 Here, at the threshold of the Life which is the 
 Christian's, in the word Faith, we meet an impedi- 
 ment over which many stumble, needlessly and even 
 wilfully, groping at noonday as in the night. So it 
 was written beforehand concerning Him and them, 
 
 * 2 Corinthians, V, 17. Ephesians, ii, 13-16; iv, 20-24. Colos- 
 slans, iii, 10, 11. ^ Ephesians, ii, 10. 
 
 ^ I St. Peter, i, 3, 4, 23. St. James, i, 18. 
 
 * St. John, iii, 3. ^ Galatians, ii, 20. 
 
POWER 
 
 I lay in Zion a chief corner stone; and he that be- 
 lieveth on Him shall not be confounded. But unto 
 them which be disobedient, the same stone which to 
 the believing is the head of the corner, becomes the 
 stone of stumbling and the rock of offence.^ For 
 the subject matter of the Faith is a Person, — Jesus 
 Christ.^ Faith is the condition of our union with 
 Him, and through Him with that which He revealed : 
 God the Father, and our true life. Faith is the act 
 by which Man, on his part, lays hold upon the Life 
 which God, on His part, tenders continually to all 
 men.^ Hence, unbelief — towards God — and dis- 
 obedience — to a revealed law of life — are inter- 
 changeable terms, the two sides of the same shield, 
 and the fault common to both is in the will. Let not 
 a violent disclaimer provoke the impatient here to 
 close discussion by the premature assertion that 
 Faith is not a matter of will. Rather let him con- 
 sider whether his own conception of Faith be not 
 responsible for a misapprehension of far reaching, 
 yes, of decisive, consequence. 
 
 For, in considering the Life of the Christian, we 
 must face the facts at once, and perceive that Faith, 
 whereby the Christian lays hold on life, is on the 
 human side an act of the will; and that therefore 
 man is responsible for its presence or absence in 
 himself. There is a Divine side to Faith; but to 
 
 ^ Isaiah, xxviii, i6. i St. Peter, ii, 6-8. St. Matthew, xxi, 42-44. 
 
 ^ Acts, xvi, 31; XX, 21; xxiv, 24; xxvi, 18. St. John, xiv, i. 
 Ephesians, i, 15. Colossians, ii, 5. 
 
 ^ St. John, iii, 17. i Timothy, ii, 4; iv, 10. Titus, ii, 11. 2 St. 
 Peter, iii, 9. 
 
6 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 that God will not be wanting. The full responsibility 
 therefore rests on the man, nor can he shake it by 
 any disclaimer. It remains, whether he will or not. 
 
 Dr. Johnson, as reported by Boswell, has summed 
 up the case with his accustomed shrewdness and 
 point. Speaking of human life in the general, he 
 said, "A man must accept life on the terms upon 
 which it is offered to him." His will must con- 
 form to the conditions as he finds them. In the 
 immediate instance he was talking about drinking 
 wine, as pertinent to both himself and his hearer. 
 He had a strong head, but lacked self-control; if 
 he drank at all he was constitutionally Uable to 
 excess. He accepted the condition, and took refuge 
 in entire abstinence. "Now, the wine on the table 
 has for me no more attraction than for the dog under 
 the table." Boswell had a weak head; in conse- 
 quence was not seldom overcome. He did not ac- 
 cept the condition, and the weakness increased upon 
 him to his destruction. It is the same with any 
 bodily trouble. A man of consumptive tendency, 
 of weak heart, or other infirmity, must accept the 
 condition and order his life accordingly. If not, 
 the condition proves too much for him. In either 
 event, his action is one of his will. What is here 
 noted, of certain particular conditions, is evidently 
 true of all the circumstances, external or internal, 
 environment or heredity, which attend upon any 
 calling or personality. It is true also of those physical 
 conditions which we style loosely the "laws" of 
 Nature; for example, gravitation, and the inability 
 of man's life to exist under water. We have to ac- 
 
POWER 
 
 cept the condition that we cannot safely throw our- 
 selves from a height or into the sea. 
 
 It may be presumed that all who are devotionally 
 familiar with the text and spirit of the New Testa- 
 ment, the Christian Code and Charter, will agree 
 that the decisive condition, upon which the gift of 
 the Life of the Christian is offered to men, is summed 
 up in one expression, "We walk by faith, not by 
 sight." ^ The verb "walk," by a metaphor very com- 
 mon in the Bible, expresses the whole of living, the 
 inner life and the ordered conduct. The condition 
 by which both are to be ruled is "faith, not sight." 
 We may, if we choose, refuse to accept the condition; 
 but in that case we cannot reasonably expect the 
 result. The Life of the Christian, with all its present 
 powers, the powers of the Holy Ghost and of the 
 world to come,^ and with its immense and glorious 
 future, can be received and retained only under the 
 condition that we will discipline our inner motives 
 and order our outward lives, conform our princi- 
 ples and our practices, to the commands of One 
 Whom we have not seen, and with reference to 
 issues of which we have no other assurance than 
 His words, credibly transmitted to us. To do this 
 is an act of Faith ; it is also evidently an act of the 
 will. A man may do it, or may not do it, as he 
 chooses; but in either case he exercises his will, 
 and incurs responsibility. 
 
 It will be recognized, of course, that this state- 
 
 ^ 2 Corinthians, v, 7; iv, 18. Romans, viii, 18-25. See also 
 Hebrews, xi, with special reference to xii, 1-12. 
 ^ Hebrews, vi, 4-6. 
 
8 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ment confronts at once a strong prepossession. The 
 minds of men are possessed beforehand with the 
 impression that because one aspect of Faith is be- 
 lief, intellectual acceptance, therefore that is the 
 whole of Faith. A palpable non sequitur, true, but 
 one endued with all the power of resolute ignorance. 
 Faith is belief; a man cannot believe by an action 
 of the will; therefore a man cannot by using his 
 will exercise faith. So runs the unformulated syl- 
 logism which has resulted in a devastating practical 
 fallacy. 
 
 It win be asked then : If Faith be more than be- 
 lief, what is Faith .? A reply is due, yet categorical 
 definition is impossible; if attempted, an essay of 
 demonstration would be needed in explanation and 
 support. Faith, like light, is complex; it can be 
 analyzed into several components, as the prism re- 
 solves the light of the sun into several colors, each 
 of which possesses its peculiar virtue and its par- 
 ticular influence in the whole result. Primarily, 
 Faith has its subjective and objective aspects. It 
 is on the one hand a faculty, or power, of the man 
 himself; while on the other it is directed towards, 
 rests upon, something external to him. The two 
 correspond, are correlative. Faith appears in one 
 form as a conclusion of the intellect, resting upon ' 
 reasons which fall short of perception by the senses, 
 and to this aspect modern prepossession has sought 1 
 to confine it; but the words "trust" and "con- 
 fidence," closely cognate to Faith, as the etymology 
 of confidence shows, represent phases of Faith which 
 are moral in character. 
 
POWER 
 
 Again, Faith is susceptible of growth, Hke any 
 other faculty. On the intellectual side, it may be 
 increased by the accumulation of evidence, or by 
 deeper reflection; it will even gather vigor by sim- 
 ple abiding in the assurance in which it began, ^ un- 
 consciously, as a plant grows. On the moral side, 
 confidence and trust, in one's self or in Another, 
 can develop under repeated experiences, which are 
 the external or objective sustenance of Faith; or 
 they do so by repeated exercise, which is an internal 
 effort of the will. Thus it was charged as a moral 
 fault against the Israehtes in the wilderness, that, 
 though they had seen the works of God, had had 
 experience of Him, they had not known His ways; ^ 
 had not, as we say, profited by their experience, so 
 as to perceive with the mind and obey with the will. 
 
 It is unreasonable to expect that the faith in which 
 a man first comes to Christ, and accepts Him as Lord 
 and Master, should have reached already the full 
 power of belief expressed in the word "Conviction," 
 which is the ripened harvest of Faith on the intel- 
 lectual and moral sides. Conviction, both in common 
 usage and by derivation, conveys an idea stronger 
 than that of a certainty possessed. A convinced man 
 does not so much possess, as is possessed by, "con- 
 quered'' {con-vinco) by, the belief which he holds. 
 The first disciples followed Christ, when their faith 
 was by His own definition less than a grain of mustard 
 seed.^ It was inadequate as yet to full moral effect 
 
 ^ Hebrews, Hi, 14. 
 
 ^ Hebrews, iii, 7-12. Numbers, xiv, 11, 12, 20-24. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xvii, 19-21. St. Luke, xvii, 5, 6. 
 
10 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 upon life; intellectually, it was for the time incapable 
 of understanding His plainest speech; but it none 
 the less held the germ of the mighty works of the 
 Faith which revolutionized Europe, and will yet rev- 
 olutionize the world. 
 
 The confidence, the trust, of a little child is prob- 
 ably the completest illustration of Faith on its moral 
 side.^ It is unreasoning, and in so far defective; yet 
 it is not unreasonable, for, however unconsciously, 
 it rests upon experience, usually of the conduct, the 
 "works," of a person whom the child knows. As a 
 rule, an infant shrinks from those whom it does not 
 know, of whom it has no experience. Doubtless, 
 we all throughout life trust persons, but other con- 
 siderations enter and modify. The confidence is 
 not simple, single-eyed, as is that of a child. The 
 child does not know what the person will do next, 
 nor whither he is taking him at any particular mo- 
 ment; like the father of the faithful, "he goes out, 
 not knowing whither he goes." ^ This manifests the 
 power of Faith over action ; but does not supply the 
 reasonable basis for a full grown man to trust a 
 Person whom he has not seen, before he has experi- 
 ence of Him. The faith of the child befits the child; 
 but the man not only must, but should, put away 
 childish things. Yet what a loss of comfort and of 
 strength that putting away means we all know, and 
 what a weary way to travel back to reach once more 
 the child's trust in the Father. To know Thee, 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xviii, 3; xix, 14. St. Mark, x, 15. St. Luke, 
 xviii, 17. 
 
 ^ Hebrews, xi, 8. Acts, vii, 2-5. 
 
POWER II 
 
 the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom Thou has 
 sent, ^ is in chief measure a matter of experience, 
 Hke that of a child's. 
 
 With these two examples before us, viz., the growth 
 of the Apostles' faith and the realized completeness 
 of a child's trust, — upon which his future as well as 
 present depends, — together with the power over 
 action which Faith in both instances shows, we have 
 at once the motive for effort and the guide as to its 
 direction and reasonable expectations. A man need 
 not demand of himself at the beginning more than 
 the less than the grain of mustard seed. The Apostles 
 followed Christ, not because they saw in Him what 
 Christians now believe, nor yet for purely unselfish 
 reasons. "What shall we have therefor.?"^ was 
 doubtless a question with the Twelve, and not with 
 St. Peter only. Yet, with all the loss and doubts 
 and uncertainties revealed by the question, they 
 nevertheless had made a definite choice, moral in 
 character and resting upon reasons. They had for- 
 saken all and followed Christ, had made a choice 
 between Him and seeming self-interest; and that 
 choice was motived by the recognition, however im- 
 perfect and dim, of a character, of a Person,^ of Him. 
 These two — the choice and the Person — are the 
 chief elements of religious faith. 
 
 We may, therefore, without great probable error, 
 and for present purposes, define Faith as being in 
 its beginnings a moral choice, resting upon confidence 
 in a Person, and carried into practical action, to which 
 
 ^ St. John, xvii, 3. ^ gj.^ Matthew, xix, 27; xx, 20-24. 
 
 ^ St. John, vi, 66-69. 
 
12 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 intellectual certainty is subordinate in place and may 
 be subsequent in time. Thus St. Paul writes, If thou 
 shalt confess with thy mouth Jesus as Lord, and 
 shalt believe in thy heart that God raised Him from 
 the dead, thou shalt be saved ; for with the heart man 
 believeth unto righteousness.^ Here also appeal may 
 confidently be made to the conditions upon which 
 the Life of the Christian is offered. From the 
 Master Himself come the words. If any man willeth 
 to do God's will, — will "walk" in the sense above 
 defined, — he shall know the doctrine, whether it 
 be of God, or whether I speak of Myself.' Moral 
 choice, to do God's will, results ultimately in knowl- 
 edge, a condition of the intellect. Yet not of the 
 intellect only; there is heart knowledge as well as 
 brain knowledge. There is a knowledge also which 
 escapes analysis, the one accurate account of which 
 is embraced in the word "conviction," a knowledge 
 directly ministered to man by the Spirit of God. So 
 also in moral choice the intellect enters, discerning good 
 from evil; but that which chooses the good is the will. 
 But, it may be replied. This is a natural process; 
 many men thus choose good and reject evil without 
 being Christians, with no claim or thought of a 
 living union with Christ by Faith. Undoubtedly. 
 Christianity — which is Christ — denies not the 
 good that is in man. He came to fulfil,^ not only the 
 Law and the Prophets, the best that man knew be- 
 fore His time, but whatsoever else of good is found 
 in man and through man. A Christian may in no 
 
 ^ Romans, x, 9, 10. ^ St. John, vii, 17. 
 
 5 St. Matthew, V, 17-20. 
 
POWER 13 
 
 wise presume to contemn those who follow righteous- 
 ness as they understand it, nor to speak lightly of 
 their good deeds. Nevertheless, the Christian may 
 not be backward to affirm that there is a better way, 
 — a best way — which alone will fulfil all this, even 
 as Christ does the Law and the Prophets; and that 
 they who by their own neglect (which is their own 
 will) do not choose that best way, fall short of the 
 life which is God's gift to the Christian. They fall 
 short of its powers, and may fall short of its rewards, 
 by incurring the responsibility of an erring moral 
 choice. The commands of Christ are not fully 
 obeyed, the deeds He commands are not perfectly 
 done, if they are done on their own merits merely and 
 not in devotion to Him. 
 
 The moral or spiritual value of acts depends upon 
 the motive. A man may discipline his body to make 
 it a fitting instrument in God's service, or he may do 
 the same to win a match. To substitute self-approval, 
 walking by the sight of one's own eyes or judgment, 
 for the approval of God, which is to walk by faith, 
 involves a radical change of motive. Though the act 
 remain identical, its spiritual significance is altered, 
 and therewith its spiritual worth. The term "sight" 
 applies as exactly to any form of simple self-depend- 
 ence as it does to the evidence of the senses on which 
 Science bases its conclusions. Dr. Johnson justly 
 remarked that even ** religious exercises, if not per- 
 formed with an intention to please God, avail us 
 nothing. As our Saviour says of those who perform 
 them for other motives, *They have their reward.'^ " 
 ^ St. Matthew, vi, 1-18. 
 
14 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 The words of St. Paul, "They who run in a race run 
 all, but one receiveth the prize," ^ ^pply exactly to 
 the competition of motives in the same person. If 
 the supreme motive be Christ, the reward will be one; 
 if self-approval, or other lawful motive, another; if 
 unlawful, a third. 
 
 The highest moral achievement is not the will to 
 follow righteousness, nor yet the following it. The 
 supreme moral choice is to follow righteousness 
 because it is the expression of God's Being and 
 God's Will. Faith has to do with a Person; it is the 
 choice of good because it is God's good. In nothing 
 was more conspicuous the downward tendency of 
 a recent falling from faith than when the man said, 
 of the Sermon on the Mount, " These things I accept, 
 not because Christ said them, but because they com- 
 mend themselves to my conscience, to my own moral 
 sense." It would be difficult to phrase more patheti- 
 cally the distinction between human righteousness 
 and God's righteousness; a phase of that which St. 
 Paul teaches in his antithesis of Faith and Works. 
 
 Faith, therefore, is the choice of good in devotion 
 to God. There is herein a fullness of life and of 
 joy which exalts the creature as no following of 
 righteousness for its own sake, or as satisfying one's 
 own conscience can do; because the ground for 
 satisfaction is shifted from the pleasing of self to 
 the pleasing of God, from self-approval to God's 
 approval. The reasonableness of this must be man- 
 ifest to any who will discard prepossession and 
 recognize human nature as it is, — the conditions 
 ^ I Corinthians, ix, 24-27. 
 
POWER 
 
 upon which our common life is offered to us. What 
 we need in life is not only a right choice and effort. 
 We need also fullness, power; and in human Hfe, 
 as we know it historically, there is no force so uni- 
 versal and supreme as that of devotion — love 
 
 to a person. Where it enters there enters a fullness 
 of motive and of energy to which naught else com- 
 pares. "It is lord of all." That it is often tran- 
 sient; that it is often aroused by an unworthy 
 object; that it is itself too often defiled with baser 
 impulses, — all these deductions only emphasize the 
 more its might, in that even when alloyed or de- 
 based it remains supreme. We may think it were 
 better otherwise; but, Johnson again, there it is, 
 one of the conditions — the greatest — on which 
 even our common life is offered us. Give to love 
 permanency, intrinsic purity of motive, growing 
 intensity, and a worthy object, and there is added 
 to the life of man a wealth, not of happiness only, 
 but of power; and not of power only, but of a self- 
 purifying agency which by its own action continu- 
 ally exalts character by subjecting self. And let 
 it be remembered, as a leading factor in the Chris- 
 tian argument, that this love is not merely a human 
 love for God, but the "love of God"; that is, 
 God's own love, made ours in our measure by our 
 vital union with Jesus Christ. As man grows spir- 
 itually, God's love, almighty, pure, enduring "to 
 the end," ^ is wrought in man and becomes his own. 
 Consider what God's love is, as manifested to us; 
 not in its fullness, intrinsically, for that we cannot 
 
 ^ St. John, xiii, i. 
 
1 6 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 fathom, since it has the measure of infinitude. The 
 love of the Father to the Son, of the Son for the 
 Father, of Each to and from, the Holy Spirit, as 
 told to us, might be open to the retort which our 
 Lord addresses to mankind : Thou lovest Him who 
 loves Thee;^ but, to use St. Paul's expression, God 
 commendeth His own love towards us, in that, 
 while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. While 
 we were enemies. He spared not His own Son, but 
 delivered Him up for us all.^ In Creation, God has 
 found the opportunity and the occasion for mani- 
 festing love to the unthankful and to the evil ^ — to 
 His enemies. Nor can we measure the greatness 
 of that love, because we imperfectly realize the re- 
 pulsiveness to God of Sin, in which consists the 
 enmity to Him.^ 
 
 We therefore may give ungrudging admiration 
 to the strong man who fights his life's battle, and 
 runs his life's course in the pure moral choice of 
 righteousness for righteousness' sake; finding in 
 self-approval sufl&cient support and sufficient re- 
 ward; hoping nothing from the future, believing 
 nothing concerning God, fearing nothing. But 
 when we shall have exhausted recognition of so 
 grand a heroism, are we bound not to admit that 
 there is something grievously lacking, not to the 
 man's joy, — a motive he might himself reject, — 
 but to the fullness of his life, which means the full- 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, V, 43-48. 
 
 ^ Romans, v, 8, 10; viii, 32. ^ St. Luke, vi, 27-36. 
 
 * Romans, viii, 7. Ephesians, ii, 2-4. Colossians, i, 21. St. 
 James, iv, 4. 
 
POWER 17 
 
 ness of his service as well ? No such hero has ever 
 existed who in devotedness of life has exceeded 
 multitudes of the Cross-bearers, from the Leader 
 down through His host of followers. What we 
 specifically admire in these instances, few relatively 
 to those offered by Christian Faith, is not the achieve- 
 ment nor the self-denial, to which the annals of 
 Christendom furnish innumerable parallels, but the 
 heroism which has done so much for naught. But 
 it is a needless heroism, a wasted heroism, and 
 a great falling short. The heroism had to be put 
 forth, because the power which God would supply 
 has been rejected. The man's being, which is chief 
 among his duties to his fellows, is abnormally de- 
 veloped; heroism beyond what was required of 
 him, the power of love for God eschewed. The 
 faculty for that love has dwindled by neglect; the 
 love is lacking which by the purity of its motive, 
 the worthiness of its object, the increasing power it 
 derives from that object, not only fulfills the man's 
 being but thereby fulfills also his power. "As the 
 man is, so is his strength." Shall our admiration 
 belie our intelligence and call this one-sided result 
 success in a fruitful sense .? As well contend that 
 an abnormal power of hearing were well purchased 
 by a total loss of sight. 
 
 For, love for One thus worthy furnishes a motive 
 and a power with which, for unremitting force, no 
 passion for self-development can vie. No motive 
 that terminates in self, not even the passion for per- 
 fection, can in this respect equal the impulse which 
 seeks Another's honor. Moments cannot but come 
 
1 8 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 when the question will arise: "Is it worth while 
 thus to punish the natural self for the welfare of 
 the ideal self?" We have a striking instance, of 
 a celebrated French author of chaste life, in his old 
 age condoning as venial the gross faults from which, 
 in virtue of early prepossession or of temperament, 
 he had kept his prime. In the face of his own 
 record he esteemed it a light matter to sacrifice con- 
 tinence to pleasure. Could this be so to a man who 
 sees in sin deadly offence, less to his own self-respect 
 than to one beloved .? Contrast the conclusion of 
 St. Paul: Your bodies are temples of God, mem- 
 bers of Christ; will you defile them ? ^ The ques- 
 tion closes discussion. 
 
 In the choice between self and self, what account 
 is to be rendered in moments of passion or depres- 
 sion } The answer is not lacking to one who loves 
 Another. Failures and sins may befall him, — there 
 is none that sinneth not;^ but the bitterness is not 
 in the injury to his own person, to his self-respect, 
 but in the wrong to Him he loves. That in his own 
 estimation he sins, is his avowal that the reason for 
 good has remained unchallenged through all; a 
 reason not only satisfying to the intellect, for that 
 it should be admitted the plea for self-exaltment 
 may be, but satisfying as well to the heart, out of 
 which are the issues of life. 
 
 In the strong necessity for loving with which we 
 find ourselves constituted, man does not fulfill his 
 
 *• I Corinthians, iii, i6, 17; vi, 15-20. Compare St. John, ii, 
 19-22. 
 ^^ I St. John, I, 8. Romans, iii, 9, 10, 23. St. James, iii, 2. 
 
POWER 19 
 
 being till he thus loves worthily One worthy of his 
 love. No doing takes the place of being; nothing 
 one does can be a substitute for what one is. Works 
 are as nothing to loving.^ This loving, receiving 
 from God and giving back to God is The Life of 
 the Christian, because it is pre-eminently the Life 
 of Christ, Who is his life. In this strong necessity 
 for loving adequately, loving worthily some one 
 worthy of love, doubtless lies something of the mys- 
 tery of the Trinity, of the Divine Nature in the like- 
 ness of which God has created man. As requisite 
 to the fullness of His Being, which Being is Love, 
 even the Father needs that which is relatively ex- 
 ternal to His Person and yet commensurate to His 
 Infinity. An object thus worthy can be presented 
 to Him only in One who "is the express Image of 
 His Person." ^ 
 
 In a recent American novel, of much charm and 
 interest, one of the characters, apparently doubtful 
 concerning the existence of God, states as his as- 
 piration the high standard of excellence which he 
 finds himself capable of conceiving. But is that 
 sufficing.? — I do not say ^'sufficient." Does such 
 a subjective conception present that externality to 
 self which love must find in order to act fully, to 
 fulfill itself.? So to limit aspiration is, essentially, 
 to love self; to find self-satisfaction in having 
 reached a self-erected standard, — a caricature of 
 conscience. The human mind may frame the 
 
 * Revelation, ii, 2-4. i Corinthians, xiii. 
 
 ^ Hebrews, i, 1-3. 2 Corinthians, iv, 4. Colossians, i, 15. 
 
20 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 thought, though it cannot grasp the idea,^ that the 
 force of God's "I am " ^ may be such that the con- 
 sciousness betokened by that Name may pass into 
 begetting;^ "the very image of His substance"* 
 thus receiving "Hfe in Himself," ^ co-eternal with 
 the Father, constituting within the Godhead the 
 distinction which has been defined as one of Per- 
 sons, Each receiving from the Other love, and to 
 that Other giving back love. Thus there should 
 always have been the Son when the Father was; 
 but a human consciousness cannot endue its concep- 
 tion of itself with that exteriority, that separate ex- 
 istence, which is real enough to elicit even human 
 love in its fullness. In sum, man needs that which 
 only God can supply, not merely a standard for 
 attainment but an adequate object of devotion. 
 
 That we might the more certainly find this object, 
 with clear assurance of mind and of heart, Christian- 
 ity affirms that God has manifested Himself to us 
 in a perfect human life. The Man Who led this Life 
 is the near object of Faith. By Him we draw near 
 to God;^ for in Him we see the reality which corre- 
 sponds to, and fulfils, our highest conception of a 
 supreme excellence; more than fulfils, as the excel- 
 lence of God exceeds the compass of man's mind. 
 
 ^ To understand the meaning of an expression by no means 
 implies power to comprehend that meaning, even in finite matters. 
 We understand the expression " a thousand millions," but who can 
 image to his mind that number of units ? 
 
 ^ Exodus, iii, 13-15. 
 
 ^ St. John, i, I, 2, 14, 18; iii, 16, 18; i St. John, iv, 9. 
 
 * Hebrews, i, 3. ^ St. John, v, 26. 
 
 ® Hebrews, iv, 14-16; vii, 18-19, ^5; x, 19-22. Ephesians, ii, 18. 
 
POWER 21 
 
 He becomes to us our standard for attainment, our 
 perfect example, all sufficing to our nature's demand 
 for One to love. 
 
 Jesus Christ is all this, all that the word " motive" 
 impHes; but He is more. There is in Him, in His 
 Being, that which can be transmitted to us as power; 
 a vital force, which, springing from Him, Who has 
 the life in Himself,^ can be communicated to us, who 
 in ourselves have not life ^ but only the possibilities 
 thereof. So it is written of Him, specifically, "the 
 last Adam became a life-giving Spirit." ^ Thus the 
 very love wherewith we love Him is communicated 
 to us, depends on this union with Him. Communi- 
 cated by communion, allied words; communion in 
 its widest sense; of intellect, of heart, of speaking 
 and of hearing, of asking and of teaching, of reciprocal 
 affection. Of this interchange, — "I in you and you 
 in Me," ^ to use His own words, — the Holy Com- 
 munion, the Supper of the Lord, is the highest ex- 
 pression and continuous channel. It is the perpetual 
 transmission of the Life of Christ Himself This 
 again, in repeated definition, is The Life of the 
 Christian, — a life hid with Christ in God. Motive 
 and Power; in these comprehensive words, which 
 admit, and indeed in the end require, large expansion, 
 we have what Jesus Christ is to us. 
 
 Whereby shall we know this I The question is 
 fair; for in order that Christ may be to us all this. 
 He makes upon us demands, the grounds for which 
 
 ^ St. John, V, 26. ^ Ibid., vi, 53 (Revised V.). 
 
 ^ I Corinthians, xv, 22, 45-49. Romans, v, 14, 15. 
 * St. John, XV, 4-7; vi, 56. 
 
22 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 it is prudent to inquire. His yoke is easy and His 
 burden is light; ^ but they are easy and Hght only by 
 comparison with those of which He relieves us, and 
 to them who by obedience have learned to bear 
 and in Him have received strength. To forsake all 
 and follow Him, to bring every thought into captiv- 
 ity to Christ,^ are no light sacrifice, no small effort. 
 The beginnings are hard, the continuance is hard, 
 the surrenders are great. The reward is distant, 
 though it does not all lie beyond the grave. Those 
 who have tried Him assure us of the truth of the 
 promise, and such evidence, the testimony of ex- 
 perience, is much, but it is a testimony of things 
 unseen, though felt; it cannot be demonstrated to 
 an inquirer. Experience is not transferable; and 
 ere we accept the witness of others to that which we 
 cannot test before we have made our surrenders, it 
 is reasonable that we ask for evidence which can be 
 brought to the bar of such judgment as we now 
 possess. 
 
 A treatise on Christian evidences is not here in 
 place nor in question. What is here wanted is a 
 reasonable assurance for a practical action; for the 
 moral choice called Faith; for taking the step of 
 complying with Christ's requirements in order 
 thereby to obtain His promise, — The Life of the 
 Christian.^ In considering such reasons as will be 
 offered, we should first remember three things. 
 
 I. Evidence is not proof. Evidence is the circum- 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xi, 29, 30. ^ 2 Corinthians, x, 5. 
 
 3 St. John, iii, 16; v, 21-24, 40; vi, 39, 40, 54; x, 7-16, 27, 28; 
 xi, 25, 26. 
 
POWER 23 
 
 stance, or circumstances, presented to a person with 
 a view to establishing in his mind the assurance that 
 a certain statement is true, or that a certain thing has 
 happened. If the conviction is produced, the evi- 
 dence becomes proof to the particular man; to an- 
 other person it may not produce conviction, and 
 hence to him is not proof. Conviction therefore 
 depends in part upon the person, — his habit of 
 mind, the prepossessions of his will, his candor, 
 power of perception, of weighing evidence. For this 
 reason even scientific men, who deal with things which 
 can be tested by the senses, may and do disagree 
 as to the explanation of those things. Their convic- 
 tions, derived from the same facts, differ as to the 
 origin or manner by w^hich the facts come about. To 
 one man they indicate one thing, to another another; 
 while a third may content himself with saying, "I do 
 not know." Accordingly, in considering Christian 
 evidences, much will depend upon the manner of 
 man the hearer is, the spirit in which he approaches 
 the question, his willingness to use necessary means 
 prescribed by Christ, such as prayer. Herein again 
 we see the outcropping of a real responsibility. So 
 lofty is the ethical standard set by Christ, so perfect 
 the beauty of His Character as narrated to us, that 
 one ought to wish that He might be shown to be 
 that which He claims, and we need : the perfect 
 object sought by love ; the Unseen God made mani- 
 fest in the flesh ; the fulfillment, not merely of ethical 
 aspiration, but of the heart's need to adore a Person, 
 The inquirer must bring with him, not credulity 
 indeed, but good will towards a great good. 
 
24 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 2. Evidence which would be quite inadequate to 
 hang a man, or to condemn him to imprisonment, 
 may be sufficient to justify action; nay, to compel 
 action. Life abounds in situations where men must 
 make a choice, must act in one direction or another, 
 upon imperfect information. This, again, is one of 
 the conditions upon which even our common daily 
 life is offered to us. In such cases the decision reached 
 is essentially an act of faith, of belief; of conviction, 
 more or less assured, that the situation, so far as 
 indications go, demands the action (or inaction) 
 taken. 
 
 But note that, when such imposed conclusion is 
 reached, there follows often the need of a very high 
 moral exertion, of an act of the will; that, namely, 
 of giving one's self over to be possessed by the decision, 
 to act as though it were certainty. Alternatives and 
 hesitations are to be dismissed out of mind. This 
 is Faith, even when exercised in other than religious 
 matters. It is conspicuously required in military 
 conduct, where the unknown quantities are gravest, 
 most appalling. It is a high military virtue, to which 
 in its perfection few attain; one chief factor in mili- 
 tary success or unsuccess. In this is seen an instance 
 of the kinship between the standards of the soldier 
 and the Christian. It is no misnomer to speak of 
 Christianity as militant. 
 
 3. To this the Christian is bound to add that the 
 conviction which we call Faith depends also upon 
 the cooperation of God ; or, as we say, of the Holy 
 Ghost. Faith is a gift from God ; ^ but it is a gift 
 
 ^ Ephesians, ii, 8, 9. St. John, vi, 44-46, 65. 
 
POWER 25 
 
 which will certainly be given to any one who ap- 
 proaches with a candid wish to give himself to Christ, 
 upon reasonable evidence of the truth of His Being 
 and Message.^ In Faith there is God's part and 
 man's part. The man must be willing to accept the 
 condition upon which the Life of the Christian is 
 offered: "We walk by Faith, not by sight." He 
 must be willing, that is, to act upon a conclusion 
 which falls short of absolute demonstration, but 
 which is to him reasonably probable; and as Hfe 
 passes he will be content with an assurance that grows 
 with years and with "walking," — the assurance from 
 experience, — for which in the end he may be able to 
 give no other account than that it has been wrought 
 in him. It is upon religious experience that the 
 clear and penetrating intellect of Pascal ultimately 
 based belief, as does Science upon experiment and 
 observation. 
 
 The demand for Faith may seem unreasonable, 
 but on the contrary it has the noblest reason. Con- 
 sider that the object which Christ has proposed to 
 Himself is the deliverance of man's nature from the 
 power of sin, a power known to us all by our experi- 
 ence of the evil which is in us. His Name shall be 
 called Jesus — Saviour — because He shall save His 
 people from their sins? Such deliverance — which 
 in common phrase we name salvation — cannot be 
 effected by coercion, nor by bribery. Could the full 
 ultimate suffering and degradation, to which sin in 
 the long ages will conduct us, be manifest to our 
 eyes, our free will would be coerced; God would 
 ^ St. John, vii, 17. ^ g^. Matthew, i, 21. 
 
26 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 become to us as the human persecutors who times 
 without number have trodden down rebellious wills 
 by terror of immediate consequences. In like man- 
 ner, could the excellences of Heaven be seen as 
 we see now the objects of earthly ambition, man's 
 will might be bribed to struggle for the reward, as it 
 now is for earthly enjoyment, power, fame, or wealth. 
 In either such case, choice, if the word be not a mock- 
 ery, would not be between right and wrong, — that 
 is, moral, — but between personal well and ill being. 
 The punishment and the reward have indeed both 
 been revealed; but to faith, not to sight. He who 
 does not accept the testimony of Christ has of them 
 no assurance, does not believe in them. He who ac- 
 cepts believes, not because he has seen, but because 
 he believes Christ's word. And even to the believer, 
 in the general, the expectation of the reward and 
 punishment is one of the least of the motives that 
 sway. This is shown by the small practical effect 
 the fear of hell has produced upon men who none 
 the less had a very real belief in it. It has influenced 
 but little the course of history. Men's wills practically 
 have been free to choose right or wrong, unsoHcited 
 by the issues of eternity. It was only fair, and there- 
 fore necessary, that these should be revealed, for 
 they are a part of the decision. Accordingly, Christ 
 Himself has revealed them in striking phrase, yet 
 not in such wise as to coerce or bribe the will, but to 
 leave it free to act by Faith in making moral choice, 
 which choice is Himself. Follow Me.^ 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, iv, 18-22; x, 38; xvi, 24. St. John, xxi, 
 19-22. 
 
POWER 27 
 
 Moreover, let it be remembered that while the will 
 is thus left free to choose, under the sole impulse of 
 Faith in Christ, there is not any lack of demonstra- 
 tion concerning the merits of the conduct of life, of 
 the Christian pattern, the Life of Christ, in Christ, 
 and for Christ, which each man is to choose or to 
 reject. Its excellence is evident to all men, acknowl- 
 edged by all. It is only concerning the motive to it 
 that uncertainty is so far permitted that man may 
 bring thereto, to the service of God, the offering of a 
 free heart; free from motives lower than those of 
 Faith and Hope and Love. 
 
 Thus freedom is secured to man in his highest and 
 purest choice, which is not that between good and 
 evil for himself, but between Christ and Self. This 
 is a choice between Persons and between Wills; 
 which shall be the Master, which shall control the 
 life. As Christ while here on earth veiled His Divine 
 personality under the likeness of man's flesh, so now 
 that Personality, the motive of choice, continues 
 veiled except to the eye of Faith. Not to a faith with- 
 out reason, nor without reasons; but which yet 
 remains Faith, because its reasons fall short of that 
 ocular, positive demonstration, to which the Bible 
 accurately applies the contrasted physical term, — 
 Sight. ^ Belief without reasons is not faith, but credu- 
 Hty. Belief upon demonstration of the senses is not 
 faith, but sight, — perception and acceptance of a 
 scientific fact.^ Faith has reasons, although they 
 
 ^ 2 Corinthians, iv, 18; v, 7. St. John, xx, 24-29. 
 ^ Sight in its broad sense covers all the organs of perception by 
 which phenomena are recognized. 
 
28 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 are reasons which fall short of ocular demonstration ; 
 but it possesses also conviction, by the working of the 
 power of God upon the faculties of man. He that 
 believeth hath the witness in himself, writes St. John.^ 
 The Holy Ghost shall bear witness of me,^ said our 
 Lord. The highest historical expression of faith, 
 St. Peter's ''Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living 
 God," elicited the Master's comment: Blessed art 
 thou, Simon Bar- Jonah ! for flesh and blood (the 
 senses or the brain) have not revealed this unto thee, 
 but My Father which is in Heaven.^ 
 
 St. Peter had reasons, and he besides had con- 
 viction. The reasons were the human side of his 
 faith; he had chosen Christ, lived with Christ, com- 
 muned with Christ, and pondered what he saw and 
 heard. Such a procedure constitutes a chain of 
 conduct and of growing perception, conscious or 
 subconscious, tending towards an inference. It 
 is watchfulness, seeking, observing, learning, ex- 
 periment; the due use of means; in method cognate 
 to that of science. St. Peter had, more or less, ful- 
 filled the conditions of the moral choice. He had 
 "walked" with Christ; and to him came the re- 
 ward — perception and conviction, a revelation 
 from God. Here are stated the two sides of Faith ; 
 and that in respect of what is, and must ever re- 
 main, the briefest and yet most consummate expres- 
 sion of the Faith of the Christian, the foundation 
 stone, the seed-root, in the Life of the Christian. 
 Let it be observed that "Blessed" is a condition of 
 
 ^ I St. John, V, 10. ^ St. John, xv, 26. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xvi, 15-17. St. Mark, viii, 27-29. 
 
POWER 29 
 
 reception, not of achievement; passive, not active; 
 though doubtless bestov^ed in recognition of past 
 action. 
 
 The Christian of to-day has also his reasons. 
 They are not the result of personal observation, sus- 
 tained throughout the Redeemer's life on earth, as 
 was the case v^ith St. Peter. Yet they are strictly 
 analogous; not the same, but like. Instead of ob- 
 servation, they rest upon testimony, as does every 
 historical fact anteceding the personal observation 
 of any generation living upon earth. Like St. Peter, 
 though not in the same way, Christians of to-day 
 have "walked" with Christ; not as he did, seeing 
 His actions, but having felt His call they have walked 
 with Him in the story of His Life, which they have 
 studied day by day, till known, not by mind only, 
 but by heart. They have not heard His Voice, as 
 St. Peter daily did; but they have read what He 
 said, and pondered the beauty of His precepts, the 
 ethical perfectness of which has compelled the 
 homage even of a disobedient world. We have not 
 seen the works, concerning which the Christ Him- 
 self ere His Death said, "If I had not done among 
 them the works that none other man did, they had 
 not had sin;" ^ but we have the evidence of the 
 one subsequent surpassing exhibition of the Power 
 that wrought those works, — His Resurrection from 
 the dead. 
 
 These are our reasons : His Life, His Words, His 
 Resurrection. Concerning these, the first two are 
 as one; His Words are the echo of His Life. Out 
 ^ St. John, XV, 24. 
 
30 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 of the abundance of the heart the mouth indeed 
 speaketh;^ but of Him we have the record that 
 what He taught, He did. So lofty are His teach- 
 ings, so perfect the standard, that the most sub- 
 stantial, though untenable, criticism upon them is 
 that they pass the possible for man. Yet His Life 
 witnesses that man has once reached the standard; 
 and His Life is the Life of the Christian, the Power 
 which worketh in us,^ carrying the assurance that 
 in the end the follower shall attain where His Master 
 led. "Every one that is perfected shall be as His 
 Master." ^ It may require eternity to complete the 
 process, to which certainly no compass of man's 
 life on earth is sufficient. 
 
 In such a prospect is there nothing that demands 
 of the hearer a desire to believe .? a desire to find 
 such an One, to know such an One, to love such an 
 One } a. desire to be like Him, not because we shall 
 have pleasure in our own perfection, but because 
 our perfection shall please such an One as He is, 
 and do works for God and man such as He wrought ^ 
 Can we without fault consider as indifferent the 
 estabhshing with Him the relations of mutual affec- 
 tion, which shall introduce into our lives steadfast 
 power, such as that of which we see certain limited 
 illustrations continually reflected in imperfect human 
 nature ? The love of mother for child, of wife for 
 husband, of daughter for parent, who so unhappy 
 as not to have seen something of the power and 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xii, 33-37; xv, 18. St. Luke, vi, 45. St. James, 
 iii. 2-12. 
 
 ^ Ephesians, i, 17-20. ^ St. Luke, vi, 40. 
 
POWER 31 
 
 sweetness these bring into life ? shown not in feel- 
 ing merely, but in action in its most strenuous form, 
 endurance through good and ill. And in what rest 
 that power and sweetness ? Not in being loved, 
 but in loving. Not in the self, even in the form of 
 self-perfection, but in Another, even in Him Who 
 loved him and gave Himself for him,^ — the full story 
 of the Cross from His birth to His rising again. 
 
 Hereunto Faith points us; and it is with the pre- 
 possession towards such a condition, of loving such 
 a Being, with the desire to believe, that a man should 
 approach the crucial question of the Resurrection of 
 Jesus Christ; the one supreme evidence conceded 
 to the senses, the evidence of Sight, upon which the 
 two chief Christian leaders, St. Paul and St. Peter, 
 rest the foundation truth of Christianity.^ That 
 truth is, that Jesus Christ is the Son of God with 
 Power, so proclaimed by the Resurrection from the 
 dead.^ Between the life of Sight based upon the 
 evidence of the senses, and the life of Faith resting 
 in things unseen, the Resurrection of Jesus Christ 
 stands, laying a hand on each, bridging the chasm, 
 even as the two natures. Divine and human, are 
 joined in His Personality, which lays hand on God 
 and Man, uniting them by an unseverable bond; 
 the Daysman whom Job in his trouble sought in 
 vain.* 
 
 It is morally right, and incumbent upon each 
 man, that he should consider this assertion can- 
 didly, according to the powers of reason possessed 
 
 ^ Galatians, ii, 20. ^ Acts, ii, 22-32,- xiil, 30-37. 
 
 3 Romans, i, 4. * Job, ix, 32, 33. 
 
32 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 by him; that the desirableness of the result should 
 not be permitted to blind his judgment or force his 
 convictions. But his deliberation must be gov- 
 erned by the recognition that the issue at stake is 
 not one of merely speculative curiosity, but of im- 
 mediate vital importance to the individual and to 
 the race. It is not morally permissible to main- 
 tain an attitude of indifference towards statements 
 such as the following : that there not only has been, 
 but is now, risen from the dead, actually existent as 
 a working Power among men, such an One as we 
 know Jesus Christ to have been; that we can enter 
 into relations with Him of loving and being loved; 
 that He may be, at our will, a present factor of 
 almighty power in our lives. Indifference is for- 
 bidden; for the result of Faith has been to the 
 race of Man great and beneficent. Upon the truth 
 of these propositions, demonstrated to them, mil- 
 lions of men through nineteen centuries have rested 
 their conduct of life; not merely dying in hope, but 
 living in devotion, in self-surrender. The motive 
 and purpose of life has been summed up to them 
 in the loving words, "To be with Christ;" ^ here 
 in spirit and in struggle, — "Whom, having not 
 seen, ye love," ^ hereafter in present sight and 
 closest service. Love such that not even for that 
 present sight would they quit His work below be- 
 fore He calls. "To depart and be with Christ is 
 far better," says St. Paul. "Nevertheless, to abide 
 in the flesh is more needful " for the work Christ 
 wants of him, and he is content to wait. 
 
 ^ Philippians, i, 23. ^ i St. Peter, i, 8. 
 
POWER 33 
 
 To them who have learned thus to regard Jesus 
 Christ, the promises have meant not a Hfe of glori- 
 fied ease, such as a luxurious imagination has pic- 
 tured Heaven, but the introduction into their being 
 of a motive force, the power of love, issuing from 
 God in Christ, in the strength of which there shall 
 be wrought in them a love to Him which shall ac- 
 complish His great purpose, for which He died; 
 even likeness to Him, which is perfection. "I count 
 all things but loss," says St. Paul, "for the excel- 
 lency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord ; for 
 Whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do 
 count them but dung, that I may win Christ, and be 
 found in Him; . . . that I m^y know Him, and the 
 power of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of 
 His sufferings, being made conformable unto His 
 death, if by any means I might attain unto the res- 
 urrection of the dead;" ^ that is, unto likeness to 
 Him glorified. When I shall wake up after Thy 
 likeness, I shall be satisfied with it.^ 
 
 Not indeed that we, so weak to bear, may affect 
 carelessness about environment, indifference to the 
 surroundings, whatever they be, that constitute 
 Heaven ; that we should think scorn of that pleasant 
 land ; ^ but that, above all, that whereunto we are 
 supremely called is to love God, to enter into pos- 
 session of a faculty which in its inevitable outcome 
 constitutes the greatest happiness and the utmost 
 motive of which God or man is capable. God is 
 Love; the follower of Jesus Christ also shall be 
 
 * Philippians, iii, 8-1 1. ^ Psalm, xvii, i6 (Psalter). 
 
 ^ Psalm, cvi, 24 (Psalter). 
 
34 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 love. God in His measure, which is infinite; man, 
 each according to the measure of his personaHty 
 and service, as star difFereth from star in glory. 
 This is our living hope, unto v^hich, to use the words 
 of St. Peter, we are begotten by the Resurrection of 
 Jesus Christ.^ 
 
 The Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 
 as transmitted to us by those who assert that they 
 saw Him, that they did eat and drink with Him after 
 He rose from the dead,^ although wrought by Spir- 
 itual Power, is a fact in the physical order. It was 
 tested, so the witnesses report, by the senses of sight, 
 hearing, and touch. It must be clearly kept in mind 
 that the Apostles of Jesus Christ led their laborious 
 and hazardous lives, ending for the most part in 
 death by violence for His sake, and laid the founda- 
 tions of the mighty edifice of Christianity which 
 endures to this day, not in the strength of certain 
 opinions, which they believed, but in the assurance 
 that they themselves had repeatedly seen Jesus 
 Christ, risen from the dead. "Witnesses of His 
 Resurrection" is their one commission, and the 
 key note of preaching for the Church they founded 
 in His Name.^ This their assertion is from its nature 
 historic fact, — or falsehood ; but unlike most his- 
 toric incidents of the past, the truth of it is not to us 
 morally indifferent. Upon its truth or falsity, as it 
 appears to us, we must make a moral decision; 
 
 ^ I St. Peter, i, 3. 
 
 2 Acts, X, 41. St. Luke, xxiv, 41-43. St. John, xxi, 12-15. 
 
 3 Acts, i, 8, 22; ii, 24-36; iii, 15; iv, 2, 10, 20, 33; v, 30-32; 
 X, 38-43; xiii, 29-39; xvii, 3, 31; xxiii, 6; xxiv, 15, 21; xxvi, 6-8, 
 22, 23. 
 
POWER 35 
 
 whether to accept Christ, with all the promises in- 
 volved in His being what they said, of which His 
 Resurrection is the offered proof, or to reject Him 
 as being no more than a man of consummate excel- 
 lence of character, long since dead, to whom we 
 owe naught beyond a tribute of admiration. Thus 
 rejected. He can no longer add to life anything 
 beyond the usefulness of His teaching; which, more- 
 over, possesses no authority beyond our own ap- 
 proval. Where it appears extravagant or faulty, it 
 can thus carry no weight of authority due to the 
 Person of the teacher. 
 
 If what has before been said as to the Life of the 
 Christian, its present power and its future promise, 
 be accepted as a just statement of Christian teaching, 
 the choice here to be made, dependent upon the 
 acceptance or rejection of the Resurrection, is no mere 
 matter of personal predilection. It is the acceptance 
 or rejection of a personal excellence, to be wrought 
 in the character, not to be had on any other terms 
 than those proffered by Christ. And character is 
 destiny. As the man pronounces his decision, he 
 chooses the better or the worse. He is not choosing 
 or rejecting a personal advantage, even though that 
 advantage be Heaven; he is choosing or rejecting 
 Jesus Christ, and with Christ the only power able 
 to fulfil in his personality the purpose for which God 
 brought him into being. There is no other way. 
 There is none other name under Heaven given among 
 men whereby we may be saved; ^ and that name, — 
 Jesus, Saviour, — let it be kept clearly in view, was 
 ^ Acts, Iv, 12. 
 
36 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ascribed to Him because He should save His people 
 from their sins.^ His name expresses His Office; to 
 those who will receive Him, His Office insures His 
 mission. To them gives He power to become the 
 sons of God.^ 
 
 In the failure to recognize the extreme solemnity of 
 this decision, a failure which takes no account of the 
 moral element, but sees in it merely an intellectual 
 process of weighing evidence and striking a balance, 
 involving no responsibihty for consequences, such as 
 we see to follow upon other mistakes in life, we may 
 probably find the explanation of much indifference, 
 under the specious guise of tolerant opinion, among 
 the nominally Christian, as well as among the unbe- 
 lieving; but should the Christian be tempted, by the 
 misleading term "tolerance," to condone the non- 
 belief — rather than unbelief — which the majority 
 of mankind show towards the Christian message, he 
 should recognize that tolerance of that character is 
 not the attitude of his Exemplar. While ever mani- 
 festing towards the individual the infinite patience 
 of the Godhead, Christ's word is clear concerning 
 the general fact of indifference, of non-belief. "The 
 light is come into the world," and failure to recognize 
 it proceeds ultimately from the w411, in which resides 
 the moral value of action, or non-action; "men love 
 darkness rather than light, because their deeds are 
 evil." These conditions, united in His phrase, con- 
 stitute His judgment, which is associated to them, 
 and pronounced explicitly by Him: "He that be- 
 lieveth not hath been judged already [by the very 
 ^ St. Matthew, i, 21. ^ St. John, i, 12, 13. 
 
POWER 37 
 
 fact of that unbelief], because he hath not beheved 
 on the Name of the only-begotten Son of God. And 
 this is the judgment, that the light is come into the 
 world," etc. Let it be noted, too, that these stern 
 words follow directly upon that declaration which 
 has ever been considered the fullest compact expres- 
 sion of the Gospel message of Divine Love : God so 
 loved the World that He gave His Only-Begotten Son, 
 to the end that all that believe in Him should not 
 perish, but have eternal life.^ 
 
 Indifference reproduces, is but another result, of 
 the standpoint which sees in Faith merely an intel- 
 lectual condition, without moral factor. In conse- 
 quence, considering the evidence of the Resurrection 
 to fall short of absolute demonstration, liberty is felt 
 to reject the fact, without any consideration of the 
 moral element involved in the rejection. And this 
 is doubly serious ; because the testimony to the Resur- 
 rection is sufficient, intellectually, to establish any 
 ordinary historical incident. Rejection proceeds not 
 on the ground of evidence defective in itself, but of 
 evidence considered defective to prove so extraordi- 
 nary, so unparalleled, an occurrence. As an intel- 
 lectual proposition, therefore, rejection rests upon 
 the inference that that which never has happened 
 in any other observed instance, or which is contrary 
 to those sustained sequences of cause and effect 
 known to us as the laws of nature, cannot have hap- 
 pened in a particular instance. While admitting the 
 tremendous force of prepossession founded upon an 
 experience believed to be unvarying, it must never- 
 * St. John, iii, 16-21. 
 
38 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 theless be said that this position is untenable; it is a 
 non sequitur. That which never has occurred may 
 occur. This Earth has endured for — let us say — 
 milHons of years ; yet it is untenable to affirm that 
 it may not one day — to-morrow — be dissolved. 
 From time to time the skies above us bear witness 
 to our eyes of catastrophes, to which such dissolu- 
 tion of our planet would be but an incident. In the 
 stars themselves appear signs that there impends ever 
 over this planet the possibility of a consummation by 
 fire, such as was predicted by Christ and His apostles. 
 Or, if the force of prepossession, engendered by 
 this too soHd Earth, prevent our feeling the possi- 
 bility of this proposition concerning 'its future, let 
 us ponder for a moment an ever present mystery of 
 the past, — the origin of the material Universe as re- 
 vealed to us by the telescope. Concerning this there 
 are two possible conceptions, one of which is inevit- 
 ably true. I, the Universe, although in perpetual 
 change, has always existed, has had no beginning; 
 or, 2, it came into existence, not necessarily in its 
 present development, but under some form or other, 
 at a definite period, however remote. Of these two, 
 the first makes upon imagination a demand to which 
 it is unequal; a circumstance which by no means 
 proves that the conception is untrue. The second, 
 summarily stated, means that at one instant the 
 Universe was not, while at a near subsequent instant 
 it was ; not indeed as we now see it, but in some state 
 of origin. Now our imagination can place us be- 
 tween these moments; and having done so, as we 
 gaze on absolute void, what more unlikely, antecedent 
 
POWER 39 
 
 to experience, than that it should be filled with mil- 
 lions of suns and their satellites. Yet there they are, 
 however improbable such creation might appear to 
 a human mind existing before it. Antecedently to 
 experience, the exceptional resurrection of a human 
 body from physical death is not more improbable than 
 either conception of the Universe. Either is unparal- 
 leled by aught else known to us. Yet the Universe 
 exists; a fact intrinsically more marvellous than 
 even the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Well might 
 St. Paul ask. Why should it be thought incredible 
 to you that God should raise the dead .? ^ 
 
 This insufficiency of the intellectual reason for 
 rejection makes necessary for decision to take into 
 account the moral element — the moral witness — 
 involved in rejecting the Resurrection, and therewith 
 Christ Himself. And this the more so, because the 
 intellectual argument, the appeal to the intelligence, 
 is extremely strong, when once the argument of im- 
 possibility is put aside. It may be asserted, with a 
 probability scarcely falling short of absolute certainty, 
 that the undeniable historic fact of Christianity, as 
 now existing before our eyes, has no other historic 
 origin than the particular incident of the Resurrection 
 of Jesus Christ. True or false in itself, the Apostles 
 base upon it alone their mission to mankind. To 
 them it is not, as to us it must be, a matter of the 
 testimony of others. It is one of personal experience 
 at first hand. They themselves have seen, heard, 
 touched, conversed, eaten, and drunk with Him 
 risen; not once or twice, but repeatedly. 
 ^ Acts, xxvi, 8. 
 
40 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Let there here be clearly kept in mind the dis- 
 tinction between the matter of fact of the Resurrec- 
 tion itself, and the other matter of fact that the 
 Apostles believed, asserted, that they had witnessed 
 it. Their assertion, coupled with the fact that on 
 the strength of their belief they dared the dangers 
 they did, lived, labored, and died for the truth of it, 
 and on this conviction established a system which 
 to this day endures substantially unaltered, in teach- 
 ing and influence, having in the meantime shaped 
 the lives of millions of individuals and the standards 
 of the nations we call Christian, — all this indeed is a 
 strong argument that the Resurrection did occur, as 
 stated. As an argument it thus has value; but as a 
 fact, an historic fact, or series of facts, it is entirely 
 distinct from the Resurrection itself. That the 
 Apostles so asserted and so acted is one statement, 
 be it true or false ; that Christ did rise again is another 
 and separate statement. It is possible to believe the 
 first and reject the second; although in such case it 
 is reasonable to demand some other equally adequate 
 explanation. 
 
 Again, it must be noted that the assertions and 
 actions of the Apostles in this respect are wholly 
 within the sphere of ordinary historical evidence. 
 What they said and did, and whether they so said 
 and did, are to be judged by the same canons of 
 criticism that apply to the sayings and doings of any 
 other characters in history. There is in these nothing 
 of what we call the supernatural. The Apostles 
 affirm as true something supernatural; but their 
 affirmation itself is in the natural order, and on that 
 
POWER 41 
 
 score the statement that they made it presents no 
 difficulty to acceptance. Thus considered, there 
 can be little question that conviction of the Resur- 
 rection, by men who believed themselves to have had 
 intercourse with the Risen Christ, was the determina- 
 tive factor in the preaching of Christianity, — or 
 rather of Christ; for the term Christian and its deriv- 
 atives are posterior to the first preaching that Jesus 
 is the Christ. The Apostles preached Christ Cruci- 
 fied and Risen; and they so preached Him because, 
 and only because, they believed they had seen Him 
 Risen. They give no other reason, no other explana- 
 tion; and when brought to the bar of Jewish judg- 
 ment allege no other justification for the preaching 
 which subverted Judaism by fulfilling it, and which 
 revolutionized the world of Roman and Greek civili- 
 zation, to which we are the heirs. Such a fact, his- 
 torically as assured as any other fact of the same 
 period, is one strong argument that the other fact, 
 that of the Resurrection itself, occurred, substantially 
 as stated. It is one great argument among several. 
 I do not propose to enter in detail into the other 
 arguments for the actuality of the Resurrection, — that 
 Christ's Body did not see corruption, neither His 
 Spirit remain in Hades; that the two were united 
 again on the third day. The affirmation of the 
 Resurrection is nothing short of this double state- 
 ment. Succinctly, these other arguments are: i, 
 the teaching of St. Paul; and, 2, the narratives of 
 the incidents attending the Resurrection, as given 
 in the four Gospels. It is apposite here to introduce 
 a remark : that we have in the History of Christianity 
 
42 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 two related sets of events, between which there is 
 an evident chasm that requires to be bridged. We 
 have the story of Christ's Life and Teaching, up to 
 and including the Crucifixion and Death. We have 
 further the preaching of the first Apostles, the 
 Twelve and St. Paul, and the entire subsequent 
 history of Christendom, continuous in progress to 
 this present day. Between the two lies a gulf; for 
 such it is — apart from the Resurrection. 
 
 Sown in weakness, are the facts antecedent; 
 raised in power, are the facts subsequent. A Teacher, 
 lovely in character, wise with an inscrutable wisdom, 
 in which tenderness and insight compete for pre- 
 eminence; heroic in temperament, but expressly 
 disclaiming all resort to force for propagating His 
 teaching; a small band of followers, irresistibly 
 attracted and bound by a personality, the beauty 
 and power of which inspire wild hopes, but imper- 
 fect comprehension; faint gleams of perception 
 from time to time, as in St. Peter's confession, flash- 
 ing through a mist of perplexity as to what it all 
 actually means; a gradual gathering of gloom and 
 adverse powers, predictive of failure; arrest, trial, 
 execution of the Leader; the destruction of every 
 formulated expectation, as well as of the vague 
 anticipations of some great temporal revolution 
 which should set Jesus upon the throne of Israel; 
 Himself forsaken by His followers, who, now that 
 He whose Person united them has been apparently 
 destroyed, scatter every man to his own, to their 
 accustomed occupations, as we all do in this sorrow- 
 ful world when one dear to us has been taken away. 
 
POWER 43 
 
 The fishing scene in St. John's Gospel ^ reproduces 
 in miniature the exact outcome of the death of 
 Christ, had He not risen; a result precisely parallel 
 to those recalled by Gamaliel.^ On Friday the 
 ministry of three years had ended in disaster and 
 ignominy. "We trusted that it had been He which 
 should have redeemed Israel;" ^ but He is dead, and 
 the old authorities, the Roman Pontius Pilate, Herod, 
 the chief priests and rulers of Israel, remain in full 
 possession of all that power which Jesus was ex- 
 pected to assume. 
 
 Hope had departed. Despite their love to Him, 
 the Apostles had not risen to the assurance of His 
 Resurrection. He had foretold it to them; but like 
 other sayings it was for the time too hard. The 
 first message brought of it was to them as an idle 
 tale.^ By their own admission, they had not per- 
 ceived in their own scriptures the predictive assur- 
 ance that the Christ must first suffer death, and 
 yet not be holden of it.^ This dejection, hopeless in 
 outlook, is historical fact, and perfectly natural. 
 Equally historical is the fact that seven weeks later 
 this cowed band of a dozen men, backed only by 
 a scant hundred followers,® men and women, mostly 
 
 * Chapter xxi. ^ Acts, v, 36, 37. ^ St. Luke, xxiv, 21. 
 
 * Ihid.^ xxiv, II. ^ Ihid.^ xxiv, 22-26. St. John, xx, 9. 
 
 ® The conversion of the three thousand at Pentecost may be 
 alleged against this reckoning; but it must be remembered that at 
 that early stage those only could be counted on who had endured 
 through the trials of Holy Week and Good Friday. The Apostles 
 within one week had heard the Hosannas of Sunday followed by 
 the "Crucify Him" of Friday. Many, probably, of the three 
 thousand had echoed both cries. 
 
44 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 nameless, confront to their faces the rulers who had 
 slain their Master; defy the authority, the ruthless- 
 ness and power of which had been shown in the 
 Crucifixion, — power based upon a fanatical popu- 
 lace, — and tax both mob and rulers with the crime 
 of shedding innocent blood, — even the blood of 
 the promised Messiah. They fill Jerusalem with 
 their doctrine, and boldly impute this Man's blood 
 to the Chief Priest and his associates.^ 
 
 Their explanation of this change is that He who 
 had died upon the Cross had risen from the dead; 
 that He had been with them for forty days, giving 
 instruction for their future course; that He had 
 "ascended into the heavens" some ten days before, 
 commanding them to defer any action till there 
 should come upon them that which He called " Power 
 from on high." ^ The one determinative feature 
 of all this is the Resurrection; the remainder is 
 detail, however important; nay, however essential. 
 The Resurrection is their one explanation; the 
 rest is accessory. Here it is proper to add to the 
 testimony of the Twelve the other witness, — St. 
 Paul. If Christ be not risen, then is our preach- 
 ing vain ; your faith is also vain, and they who have 
 fallen asleep in Christ have perished. ^ If Christ 
 be dead. Death, so far as appears, is an eternal 
 sleep.* Here Christian Faith takes its stand, not in 
 desperation but in assurance. 
 
 ^ Acts ii, 22-24; iii, 13-15; iv, 8-1 1, 13, 18-21; v, 27-33, 4°" 
 42; vii, 51-60. 
 
 ^ St. Luke, xxiv, 49. Acts, i, 8. ^ i Corinthians, xv, 12-19. 
 ^ Ibid., 32. 
 
POWER 45 
 
 The Resurrection is the only explanation the 
 Apostles gave to link their past of overthrow, dis- 
 may, and utter hopelessness with their present of 
 enthusiastic triumph, courage, and confidence of 
 victory. From this beginning of their preaching 
 to the present state of Christendom the historic 
 chain of events is without break; and it also is 'in 
 the purely natural order, so far as outward mani- 
 festation is concerned. No other historic explana- 
 tion has been given than that Christ rose again. 
 Many theories have been put forth to account for 
 the imposing series of events and influences which 
 has been manifested in the history of the Christian 
 Faith, despite its numerous remissnesses; but they 
 are only theories. I do not herein affirm that they 
 are not true; I say only they are not historical. 
 They do not rest on evidence, but on surmise, how- 
 ever ingenious. They remain unimpeached only 
 by denying the one historical evidence available, — 
 the account of the Apostles ; the statements of those 
 who were the prime agents in the great transaction 
 of starting Christianity on its course, and who for 
 motive, and power, and authority, alleged but one 
 fact, — that they were eye-witnesses of His Resurrec- 
 tion. Many men have died for their opinions. It 
 is unusual to find twelve men ready to die for the 
 truth of one and the same event, of which each one 
 professes to be an eye-witness, when they know all 
 along that they have not seen it. 
 
 That history has no other explanation than this 
 for the recovery of the followers from the stunning 
 eff'ect of the Master's overthrow and death, — a 
 
46 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 recovery from which all subsequent Christian his- 
 tory proceeds as a river from its source, — is to me 
 the most imposing proof of the truth of their asser- 
 tion. A stupendous fact requires of explanation that 
 it be adequate. The Resurrection by itself alone 
 is adequate to the great result; and it alone is as 
 an explanation historical. It is not easy to over- 
 state the weight of two such factors, — adequate and 
 absence of alternative, — in passing judgment upon 
 the truth of any event in history. 
 
 The existence of the Christian Church in that 
 broadest sense, "the blessed company of all faithful 
 people," ^ divided though they miserably be on 
 minor points, but one nevertheless in the common 
 faith in the Person of the Risen Christ, one in the 
 common hope of His ultimate victory, one in the 
 common love for His Person, prompting activities 
 of love to mankind for His Name's sake, which 
 activities, unceasing from the beginning, would at 
 any moment, and above all now, fall with a crash 
 to the ground could it be believed that Christ had 
 not risen; such a fact, such a Church, continuous 
 through all after time in motive and in act, is a 
 clearer and a nearer light than even the written 
 Gospels. No criticism, higher or textual, can im- 
 peach its existence or its meaning. Through the 
 ocean of human story it flows on, like the Gulf 
 Stream through the Atlantic; the waters seem the 
 same, but the current has a power and an aim which 
 are distinct and all its own. After every deduction for 
 human frailties, the Church is, as is the mighty river 
 ^ Post-Communion Prayer (Prayer Book). 
 
POWER 47 
 
 in the sea, in the world, not of the world; possessing- 
 its own purpose, its own motive, its own life; sus- 
 tained evermore by the mysterious source from 
 whence it is drawn — "the working of God's mighty 
 power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised 
 Him from the dead."^ 
 
 But conviction inspired by this twofold considera- 
 tion by no means dismisses lightly, or as merely 
 cumulative, the detailed accounts given in the 
 Gospels. These derive greater consequence, as 
 historical evidence, from considerations too often 
 neglected; a neglect the more singular because 
 these considerations gain manifold from the modern 
 critical attitude towards the New Testament writ- 
 ings. It is claimed that these writings are to be 
 subjected to the same tests and sifted with the same 
 thoroughness as any other documents, the posses- 
 sion of which we confessedly owe to human instru- 
 mentality. The candid Christian cannot but admit 
 instantly the correctness of this claim on the part 
 of the earnest inquirer. Not until doubt has ended 
 in acceptance, in the confession that Jesus Christ 
 is the Son of God, do these writings acquire to the 
 man that further force which contemporaries recog- 
 nized in the Master. He spoke as one having au- 
 thority;^ as one whose "I" dominated hesitation, 
 refuted doubt, and compelled allegiance.^ In due 
 measure the like quality passes into the recorded 
 words of those whom He "sent, as the Father sent 
 
 ^ Ephesians, i, 19, 20. ^ St. Matthew, vii, 28, 29. 
 
 3 Ibid., V, 21, 22, 27, 28, 31, 32, ZZ* 34, 38, 39> 43> 44- St. John, 
 vii, 46. 
 
48 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Me." ^ They also have authority, they command, — 
 after acceptance of the Resurrection, but not before. 
 But this reasonable and admitted claim to criti- 
 cize carries with it consequences not sufficiently 
 heeded. Were the very words of the documents 
 dictated immediately by an infallible witness, to 
 whom the human writer served only the purpose 
 of a pen, we should expect and must find a record 
 corresponding to the qualities of the presumed 
 Author; absolute coherence, entire freedom from 
 error and contradiction. The Master told the dis- 
 ciples that the Old Testament Scriptures testified 
 of Him, and reproached them with the dullness 
 that failed to discern that witness, ^ which they 
 and we now can see after that He has opened our 
 eyes. The New Testament evidently likewise so 
 testifies of Him; on its very face it bears that reason 
 for its composition, and it bears no other. But the 
 writers once and again themselves admit, though 
 incidentally and without parade of fact, that they 
 have followed customary human methods in the 
 collection of data, or in the expression of opinion; 
 in short, that they are open to criticism. Under 
 these circumstances, imperfect and apparently con- 
 flicting statements, such as are found in the narratives 
 of the Resurrection, are not indeed better for such 
 imperfection, but they are consistent with, and bear 
 the stamp of, all human experience of honest evi- 
 dence, let the thing witnessed to be what it may. 
 
 ^ St. John, xvii, i8; xx, 21-23. St. Matthew, xxviii, 19, 20. 
 Acts, ix, 15, 16. Galatians, i, 11-17; ii, i, 2, 6-9. 
 
 ^ St. Luke, xxiv, 25-27, 44-48. St. John, v, 39, 46, 47. 
 
POWER 49 
 
 Hence, the Inference is fair that the evidence has 
 not been tampered with, but given to the best of 
 the writer's abihty. It has not been made to undergo 
 the digestive process called harmonizing, — a process 
 perfectly correct and admirable, provided it does 
 not deal in suppression or perversion of inconvenient 
 fact or statement. But while the witnesses thus 
 collated vary among themselves in details, which 
 may not always be capable of easy reconcilement 
 with one another, they agree upon the central fact 
 that the Lord had risen again and was seen by His 
 disciples. Within this category of proof, though ex- 
 ternal to the four Gospels, and therefore an addi- 
 tional corroboration, should here be mentioned 
 St. PauFs summary of the eye-witness yet available 
 when he wrote: "He was seen of Peter; then of 
 the Twelve; after that He was seen of above five 
 hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part 
 remain unto this present; afterwards He was seen 
 of James; then of all the Apostles. Last of all He 
 was seen of me also." ^ 
 
 One hesitates here to pass over, undeveloped, the 
 chain of assurance reported in the speeches of St. 
 Peter and St. Paul in the Book of the Acts ; ^ still 
 more the continually recurrent evidence throughout 
 the epistles of St. Paul that the truth of the Resur- 
 rection underlay all his thought and all his teaching; 
 that his whole career of self-sacrifice rested on that 
 one certainty. The conversion of St. Paul, having 
 in view the character and antecedents of the man, 
 — his heredity and environment, — is the nearest 
 
 ^ I Corinthians, xv, 5-8. ^ Ante, p. 34; foot-note. 
 4 
 
50 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 approach that Western civihzation presents to the 
 conversion of a high-caste Brahman of mature years; 
 an absolute surrender of the most cherished traditions, 
 of the most intensely prized class distinction and 
 privilege, of social and religious sympathies. It 
 rested on the certainty that he had himself seen the 
 risen Christ; a certainty confirmed to him by the 
 testimony, just cited, of numerous others v^ho also 
 had so seen Him on other occasions. 
 
 A developed treatise on Christian evidence is not 
 my theme; nor am I fitted for it by scope of knov^- 
 ledge, or by antecedents. What I seek is to establish, 
 by suggestion, a reasonable assurance for a practical 
 step, for men such as I myself am. The great mass 
 of men must, hke myself, confess that for one reason 
 or another, training or occupation, v^e are not fitted 
 here to sit in the seat of the teacher. But all, again 
 like myself, must determine v^hether they v^ill accept 
 or reject Christ. 
 
 I have a life with Christ to live ; 
 
 But, ere I live it, must I wait 
 Till learning can clear answer give 
 
 Of this or that book's date? 
 
 I have a life In Christ to live ; 
 
 I have a death in Christ to die ; 
 And must I wait till science give 
 
 All doubts a full reply ? ^ 
 
 There is no middle path. Non-acceptance is rejec- 
 tion. He that is not with Me is against Me.^ 
 
 * John Campbell Shairp. One could wish that the author, 
 instead of "must I wait," had written "dare I wait." 
 ^ St. Matthew, xii, 30. St. Luke, xi, 23. 
 
POWER 51 
 
 True, He said also, He that is not against Me is with 
 Me; ^ but this "not against" was not a neutral but a 
 positive attitude, that the man will not withstand 
 Christ; and the man who will not resist will by 
 Christ be taken into possession. The Christian 
 scheme provides no place for neutrals, for them who 
 are neither hot nor cold.^ 
 
 The attempt here has been to bring the decision 
 concerning accepting Christ as Master and Lord, 
 with all the change of heart, life, and conduct therein 
 implied, — upon which acceptance depends the Life 
 of the Christian, — into line with the decisions we 
 all continually have to make in life; decisions based 
 upon knowledge which falls short of demonstration, 
 upon a weighing of conditions, some of which are 
 known, while others can only be estimated, perhaps 
 even only surmised. That all men repeatedly so act, 
 and are compelled so to act, in the management of 
 temporal affairs, is a fact of experience too common 
 for insistence. A sufficient reason for leaving some 
 of the elements of the Christian decision so far in 
 doubt is to be found in the necessity of leaving man's 
 will substantially free to make or to refuse the moral 
 choice. Much is assured. The loftiness of the Chris- 
 tian standard, exemplified in Christ, and that He 
 promises attainment to His followers, is admitted. 
 The main incidents of His life, teaching, and death 
 are as certain as any other historic facts. The general 
 record of the teaching of the Apostles, that they pro- 
 claimed that Christ is the Son of God, with Power, 
 witnessed by the Resurrection from the dead, of 
 
 ^ St. Mark, ix, 38-41. ^ Revelation, iii, 15, 16. 
 
52 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 which resurrection they were eye-witnesses, is equally 
 certain. That the letters of St. Paul breathe the 
 Resurrection throughout, as a fact demonstrated to 
 him by ocular evidence and confirmed to him by the 
 testimony of others; that upon it he, a contemporary, 
 threw to the winds a cherished past, and counted all 
 of it, and all other things present and to come, " as 
 dung if he might but win Christ," is manifest. It is 
 likewise evident that, in each of the eighteen centuries 
 that have elapsed since Christ's death, thousands of 
 men and women — "a great multitude which no 
 man can number, of all peoples, kindreds, nations, 
 and tongues," have done the same for His Name, 
 in the faith of His Resurrection, and are so doing at 
 this day. This also is matter of history to any who 
 will inquire. That no other explanation worthy of 
 the name historical exists to account for the change 
 which passed over the Apostles from Friday to Sun- 
 day — a change only less extraordinary than the 
 Resurrection itself — this too is sure. The Resur- 
 rection alone is only so far certain as this cumulative 
 historical testimony may make it to those who cannot 
 be eye-witnesses. Having in view the promise, of a 
 perfect spiritual nature to be wrought in man, — 
 nay, also, of the redemption of the body from the 
 bondage of corruption,^ — with the peace and joy 
 naturally ensuant upon such a new nature, the 
 matter for decision is whether the evidence is suffi- 
 cient to justify the attempt. 
 
 This on the side of Self; and the Gospel of Jesus 
 
 Christ, in its simple and unaffected recognition of 
 
 * Romans, viii, 18-25; vii, 24, 25. i Corinthians, xv, 42, 43. 
 
POWER 53 
 
 man's nature as God has constituted it, makes no 
 pretentious claim to an altruism which places Self 
 wholly out of court. The Lord Jesus, intending the 
 most sublime self-sacrifice that heroic love has ever 
 made, did not disdain the appeal to His hearers : 
 What shall it profit a man ? ^ Jesus Christ Himself 
 "for the joy that was set before Him endured the 
 Cross, despising the shame." ^ But what was the 
 joy set before Him.? What "the joy of his Lord" 
 into which also shall enter "the good and faithful 
 servants".?^ To accomplish the Father's will; to 
 redeem His brethren, mankind. "My meat is to do 
 the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work."* 
 "And this is the will of Him Who sent Me, that 
 every one that beholdeth the Son and believeth on 
 Him should have eternal life; that of all which He 
 hath given Me I should lose nothing." ^ "He shall 
 see of the travail of His soul and shall be satisfied. 
 By knowledge of Himself shall my righteous Servant 
 make many righteous; for He shall bear their iniqui- 
 ties." ^ But all the same, the Gospel does point Self 
 ever to that its noblest fulfilment, nay, its sole ful- 
 filment — in Another. The exquisite attraction of 
 the Message is that it holds up before us such a Per- 
 son as Jesus Christ to love, fulfiUing thereby the final 
 demand of pure human nature to find its only pos- 
 sible satisfaction in loving One worthy ; thus meeting 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xvi, 24-27. St. Mark, viii, 34-38. St. Luke, ix, 
 21-26. 
 
 2 Hebrews, xii, i, 2. ^ St. Matthew, xxv, 21-23. 
 
 * St. John, iv, 32-34; V, 30; vi, 38. St. Matthew, xxvi, 39, 
 42; xi, 25-27. St. Luke, x, 21. 
 
 ^ St. John, vi, 39, 40. ^ Isaiah, liii, 10-12 (Revised V.). 
 
54 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 the passion to adore, the loftiest and mightiest affec- 
 tion latent in humanity. 
 
 "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all 
 men unto Me." ^ And so Christ Crucified, lifted up 
 upon the Cross, is the Christ perfected for the wor- 
 ship of man. The human death of Christ excludes 
 — not from memory, veneration, or imitation, but — 
 from rivalry, even His human life, which it com- 
 pletes, fulfils, crowns. It is the ultimate expression 
 of a love which commands allegiance and enables 
 return. I determined to know nothing among you, 
 says St. Paul, save Jesus Christ, and Him cruci- 
 fied,^ As the life of obedience, begun, perhaps, in 
 anxiety about self — What shall it profit .f* — pro- 
 ceeds in communion by the appointed means, gradu- 
 ally, step by step, unperceived as is many a radical 
 change while in progress, the lawful appeal to self- 
 interest fades away like a night vision. The lower 
 motives of this temporal life, or of heaven, or of hell, 
 drop out of sight. Little by little the Cross rises from 
 the earth, and the Person of the Crucified, lifted up 
 to the eyes of the believer above contact with that 
 which stands for this present world, concentrates 
 devotion upon Himself. That we may in time render 
 to Him, in utmost measure, that which He has given 
 for us, our all in return for His all, becomes the hope 
 for which we can wait in patience, however arduous 
 and gradual the fulfilment.^ To please Him, to be 
 found in Him, having the righteousness which is not 
 our own ^ but His, abiding within us and upon us, 
 
 ^ St. John, xii, 24-26, 32, 33. ^ i Corinthians, ii, 1-6. 
 ^ Romans, viii, 24, 25. * Philippians, iii, 9. 
 
POWER 55 
 
 even as the Life of the Christian is not his own, but 
 the Life of Jesus Christ abiding in Him, character 
 transformed ^ by the power of His Life and Resur- 
 rection, — to attain all this becomes the motive of the 
 Christian's life. We have known Christ after the 
 flesh; we shall know Him so no more. Old things 
 have passed away; all things are become new.^ 
 
 In these words of St. Paul ring out again his 
 triumphant cry concerning the resurrection of man : 
 Sown in weakness, raised in power. The early stir- 
 rings of self-interest, the hesitating choice, the dim 
 starlight of faith, feeble in themselves, yet bear 
 within them the immortal quality of the Life from 
 which they spring. In virtue of that Life they work 
 upward, as does a sown seed, until they issue in the 
 fullness of the harvest. The faint streaks of dawn 
 lead on to the rising of the Sun of Righteousness,^ to 
 the love for the Christ, to the assurance of the Spirit.* 
 Thus is verified afresh the Master's saying, "Except 
 a grain of wheat fall into the earth, and die, it 
 abideth by itself alone; but if it die it bringeth forth 
 much fruit." ^ The fact of His Resurrection, realized 
 once for all in history, is realized again in the spiritual 
 life of the Christian, as it already has been by his 
 faith; and as it shall be hereafter in his mortal body, 
 which shall rise again ^ as did that of Christ. 
 
 ^ Romans, xii, 2. ^2 Corinthians, v, 16, 17. 
 
 ^ Malachi, iv, 2. St. Luke, i, 78. Ephesians, v, 14. 2 St. Peter, 
 i, 19. 
 
 * Romans, viii, 14-17. Galatians, iv, 6. i St. John, v, 10. 
 
 ^ St. John, xii, 24. 
 
 ^ I Corinthians, xv, 12-19. i Thessalonians, iv, 13-17. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 LIKENESS 
 
 THE Resurrection of Jesus Christ is chief 
 among the evidence for His claims upon us, 
 upon our acceptance of His Mission; for 
 thereby He is declared to be the Son of God with 
 Power. ^ But this function of evidence is not the only, 
 nor the principal, relation of His Resurrection to the 
 Life of the Christian. The first necessary thing in 
 drawing near to God is to beheve; and evidence 
 therefore is first in order, but not consequently first 
 in importance. Love is greater than Faith ; ^ and 
 as the Life of God is love, so the derived life of the 
 Christian is also love. 
 
 The Power that worketh in us to this end, of love^ 
 perfected, is the self-same Power which raised up 
 Christ from the dead. Thus St. Paul writes to his 
 converts : I pray unceasingly for you, that God may 
 give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in Him; 
 that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, 
 and what the greatness of His Power towards us who 
 believe, according to the working of that mighty 
 Power which He wrought in Christ, when He raised 
 Him from the dead, . . . and put all things in sub- 
 jection under His feet.^ And again. That I may 
 
 * Romans, i, 4. Acts, xiii, 32, 33; xvii, 31; xxvi, 23. 
 ^ I Corinthians, xiii, 13. ^ Ephesians, i, 16-20. 
 
 56 
 
LIKENESS 57 
 
 know Him and the Power of His Resurrection.^ 
 To us, therefore, the Power which raised Christ from 
 the dead is the same that will work in us, if we will, 
 and will put all things under our feet, by conforming 
 our characters to that of Him, "Whom to serve is to 
 reign." ^ Likeness to Him is the promise to us.^ 
 
 Conformity is the reflection of love. We all, says 
 St. Paul, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror 
 the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same 
 image.^ That ye be likeminded, of the same mind,^ 
 is his frequent exhortation to his converts ; for such 
 a state is the expression of a common love for the 
 one Master. Thus, also, in each successive act of 
 the Creation,^ it is said that God pronounced it 
 "good," — that is, conformed to the Will of the 
 Creator; while of the crowning of the creative 
 work, it is afHrmed that God created man in His 
 own image.'' He thus expressed His love to man 
 
 ^ Philippians, iii, lo. 
 
 ^ Collect for Peace, Morning Prayer : *' Whose service is per- 
 fect freedom" is a paraphrase of the Latin original, "Whom to 
 serve is to reign." 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, x, 25. St. Luke, vi, 40. Ephesians, iv, 13-16. 
 I St. John, iii, i, 2. 
 
 * 2 Corinthians, iii, 18. Compare Romans, xii, 2. 
 
 ^ Romans, xii, 16; xv, 5. i Corinthians, i, 10. 2 Corinthians, 
 xiii, II. Ephesians, iv, 1-3. PhiHppians, i, 27; ii, 2; iii, 15-17; 
 iv, 2. I St. Peter, iii, 8. 
 
 ® Genesis, i. It may conduce to clear thinking to recall that 
 Creation, the bringing the Universe into being, from nothing, 
 differs in idea as in reality from the successive modifications of 
 matter, also loosely styled creation, through which, by whatever 
 name described, that which was without form, and void, has pro- 
 gressed or evolved to present conditions. 
 
 ^ Genesis, i, 26, 27. 
 
58 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 by the highest gift that a creature can receive. As 
 man in turn learns truly to love God, he neces- 
 sarily seeks to be conformed to God, by following 
 the example and teaching of Jesus Christ, the one 
 perfect Man, Who is to us the revelation of God's 
 character, and of what He wills us to be. God has 
 predestined us, who so desire, to be conformed to 
 the image of His Son, that He might be the first-born 
 among many brethren.^ Everyone that is perfect 
 shall be as his Master.^ In the creature, the char- 
 acteristic which works towards such conformity is 
 Obedience. '* If a man love Me, he will keep my 
 words." ^ As creation was the expression of God's 
 life and love, so obedience in outward act is the 
 expression of the hidden Life of the Christian, and 
 of the love to the Creator, and to^His creation, in 
 which that Hfe manifests itself. The essence of 
 obedience being in the will, it is less an outward act 
 than a living principle. 
 
 Hence, consideration of the Life of the Christian 
 may not be limited merely to its source, and its 
 abiding dependence, which were the leading theme 
 of the preceding chapter. It is necessary also to 
 dwell upon its characteristics; upon the powers, 
 faculties, qualities, which are the attributes of the 
 inward Life itself, and in which likeness to its Ori- 
 ginal will be traced. We must consider likewise 
 the outward manifestations of these in conduct, and 
 in observance of the ordinances commanded by 
 God; of the sacraments, prayer, communion with 
 
 * Romans, viii, 29. ^ St. Luke, vi, 40. 
 
 ^ St. John, xiv, 15, 23, 24. 
 
LIKENESS 59 
 
 God in His Word, the assembling ourselves together 
 for the united worship upon which our Lord has 
 pronounced the peculiar blessing of His Own im- 
 mediate presence.^ These are acts of obedience, 
 the word which in itself sums up the spiritual pur- 
 pose by which man draws near to God, in the truest 
 sense of increasing conformity to His Being and His 
 Will. 
 
 The wilful absence of any of these outward marks 
 of spiritual character is symptomatic of an imper- 
 fect obedience, of an inward disease, perverting 
 the will. This it is which is so ominous in the dis- 
 position of many in our day to forsake "the assem- 
 bling of ourselves together" ^ in the houses of God; 
 a disposition which carries with it the neglect of 
 the sacraments of life. Not merely does this ignore 
 a commonplace of human experience, that all good 
 purposes and works are forwarded by meeting 
 together for a common object, inciting and confirm- 
 ing one another; but in its neglect of Christ's teach- 
 ing and example, and of all Christian tradition, it 
 is a symptom of obedience sapped by self-pleasing, 
 of wilful nonconformity to the likeness of Christ, 
 Who frequented habitually both temple and syna- 
 gogue.^ How thus shall we draw nigh to God .? 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xviii, 19, 20. 
 
 ^ Hebrews, x, 25. The whole passage is worth quoting, because 
 it embraces the rationale of all public assemblies : Let us hold fast 
 the confession of our hope, that it waver not; and let us consider 
 one another, to provoke unto love and good works. Not forsaking 
 our own assembling together, as the custom of some is, but 
 exhorting one another, and so much the more, as ye see the day 
 drawing nigh. ^ St. Luke, iv, 16. 
 
6o THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Indeed, in these outward observances Is found 
 the first and the easiest exercise of obedience; and, 
 because easiest, therefore that which it is most 
 culpable to withhold. The perfect conformity of 
 the spirit which brings every thought into captivity 
 to Christ ^ is the result only of a long discipline. 
 Even of the Christ Himself, Who was without sin, 
 it is written that, though a Son, He learned obedience 
 by the things which He suffered; and, though 
 already spotless in His human nature, was thus 
 made perfect.^ So we find in the Gospel accounts 
 of the supreme test of obedience, obedient unto 
 death,^ in the closing days of His humiliation, the 
 distinct marks of progress, from perfection to per- 
 fection, as star differs from star in glory. 
 
 For, in the effort to conform the will of man to the 
 purpose of God, those who have had to undergo 
 great trial, or have reflected upon the question of 
 temptation, or trial, in general, will have no diffi- 
 culty in recognizing three stages. There is, first, 
 submission, in which the will gets no further than 
 " putting itself under" the Will of God ; willing, yes ; 
 but feeling, though repressing, the contrary human 
 impulse, the shrinking from suffering which is in- 
 separable from human nature. This finds expression 
 in the first entreaty of Jesus Christ in Gethsemane : 
 
 ^ 2 Corinthians, x, 5. 
 
 ^ Hebrews, v, 7-9. Dean Goulburn, in his " Thoughts on Per- 
 sonal Rehgion," uses here an apt simile. A flawless block of marble 
 is perfect in the sense of being without defect; but it becomes per- 
 fect in quite another sense when, under the discipline of the chisel, 
 it realizes the thought of the sculptor. 
 
 ^ Philippians, ii, 8. 
 
LIKENESS 6 1 
 
 " My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass away 
 from Me: nevertheless, not as I will, but as Thou 
 wilt." ^ Then the will, if it remain constant, advances 
 inevitably to acquiescence. The contrary impulse, 
 to recoil, disappears ; the spirit lies quiet — the root 
 idea of acquiescence — under God's dealing with 
 it. So the humanity of our Lord in its faithful 
 struggle advances in perfect conformity. In the 
 interval between His first and second petitions the 
 "let this cup pass from Me" drops away. "My 
 Father, if this cannot pass away from Me, except 
 I drink it. Thy Will be done." ^ 
 
 « O Lord, my God, do Thou Thy Holy Will ! 
 I will lie still. 
 I will not stir, lest I forsake Thine arm, 
 
 And break the charm 
 Which lulls me, clinging to my Father's breast, 
 In perfect rest. *' 
 
 The highest perfection this, I have somewhere read, 
 to which the human spirit can attain. Yet, having 
 before us our Lord's experience, there is clearly a 
 further reach, which has been reahzed not by Him 
 only, though by Him supremely, but by many of 
 His followers ; ^ in their measure thus made like 
 unto Him. Later, in that night of spiritual struggle 
 and spiritual victory, we read, "Jesus, knowing all 
 things that were coming upon Him, went forth." * 
 "Arise, let us be going; he that betrayeth Me is at 
 hand." ^ For what purpose ? Himself to take, by 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxvi, 37-39. ^ Ihid., xxvi, 42. 
 ^ Hebrews, ii, 10-13. ^ St. John, xviii, 4. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxvi, 46. 
 
62 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 His own free act, with His own hand, the cup offered 
 to Him. This is acceptance, the active exercise of 
 the will, transcending the passive. By His own 
 voluntary act He "takes to" Himself — which is 
 what acceptance means — all of doing and of suffer- 
 ing which "the cup" signified to Him. What that 
 full significance was we do not know; but, whatever 
 it was, we do see that the embracing it was no longer 
 the Father's will only, but the human will also of 
 the Sufferer Himself No more is it simply "Thou 
 wilt"; it has become "I will." The human will, 
 which throughout temptation has suffered, though 
 without flinching, no longer submits only, no longer 
 lies quiet only, but rises to perfect conformity, to 
 perfect oneness, with the Divine. The Lord Jesus 
 has learned spiritual obedience to its uttermost, and 
 so is made perfect. 
 
 It is expedient to note that this perfect spiritual 
 obedience, this acceptance, is to be traced at earlier, 
 but less urgent, stages of our Lord's human career; 
 for we are not to think of the incidents in the garden 
 as being, in this respect, more than the full develop- 
 ment, under extreme trial, of that which existed in 
 Him all along. Being tried. He suffered ; ^ and in 
 Gethsemane suffered supremely because of the near 
 approach, possibly the actual beginning, of the spir- 
 itual agony in which His life of sorrows culminated. 
 But, while this end was still relatively distant, and 
 He in comparative safety, we read : When the time 
 came that He should be received up. He steadfastly 
 set His face to go to Jerusalem.^ That is, of His 
 * Hebrews, ii, 17, 18; iv, 14-16. ^ St. Luke, ix, 51. 
 
LIKENESS 63 
 
 own will and act He accepted the doom He foresaw, 
 and went forward to meet it.^ A similar indication 
 of will exerted actively is found in His power, and 
 refusal, to summon angels to deliver Him ; ^ with 
 which collate the refusals of the Temptation in the 
 Wilderness.^ 
 
 Nothing is ever lost, or, can be lost, really, to a will 
 that thus gives itself to God. The material loss, — 
 of a person dear, or of something valued, — the hard 
 hit to the affections or to the circumstances, may be 
 beyond the man's power to prevent; but in the 
 truest and highest sense of possession, in ability to 
 surrender to God, nothing can take them away. 
 However irretrievably gone materially, the will, by 
 loving acceptance of the fact, retains the power to 
 lay them before God's throne, freely dedicated to 
 Him, — consecrated. So they remain the man's 
 in the truest sense; treasures in Heaven, where 
 neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, nor death be- 
 reave, nor thieves break through nor steal. ^ There 
 he shall find them. 
 
 In these successive stages of conformity, it is not 
 merely fanciful to see, in a figure, the Resurrection 
 itself. In submission, the human will has died — 
 unto itself — like the grain of wheat cast into the 
 earth. ^ Like the sown seed, and the buried body, 
 it lies quietly, in the intermediate stage of seeming 
 passivity, and in acceptance has risen again to the 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xvi, 21. St. Mark, x, 32-34. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxvi, 53, 54. 
 
 ^ Ihid.y iv. Also, St. John, xii, 27, 28. 
 
 * St. Matthew, vi, 19-21. Compare Ibid.^ x, 39; xvi, 25. 
 
 ^ St. John, xii, 24, 25. 
 
64 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 glory and abundance of the harvest, to the posses- 
 sion of itself in that fullness of power, and of con- 
 formity to the Will of the Creator, in which consists 
 the glorious liberty of the sons of God.^ Sown in 
 weakness, raised in power.^ 
 
 From this illustration in the Life of the Lord 
 Himself, that which in any case would be ante- 
 cedently probable may be assumed as certain : 
 that the obedience of the Christian, like all mani- 
 festations of created life known to us, will have be- 
 ginning, growth, and only ultimate fullness. Nor 
 is it uninstructive to remark that the healthy progress 
 of the natural man depends upon the practice of 
 obedience. Obedience in the child is the first stage 
 in wholesome development; and, as life advances, 
 obedience to the laws of right and of nature, by 
 which the man is surrounded, is the unavoidable 
 condition for reaching the utmost of accomplish- 
 ment permitted by his natural faculties. But to 
 do this happily, as well as successfully, conformity 
 must be that of the accordant will, not merely of 
 sullen act. 
 
 It may be noted also, as an expression of the mind 
 of Christ, that the first three clauses of that Prayer, 
 which by preeminence we call the Lord's, correspond 
 to these successive stages in His progress to a per- 
 fected obedience. 
 
 I. Hallowed be Thy Name. God's Name is the 
 
 expression of His Being and of His Will. In the 
 
 Lord's Prayer the particular expression of that 
 
 Being and that Will is in the address, "Our Father." 
 
 * Romans, viii, 21. ^ i Corinthians, xv, 43. 
 
LIKENESS 65 
 
 So the Son, by His first petition in Gethsemane, 
 "O my Father," etc., expresses fihal submission to 
 the Will of Him Whom He has named Father. 
 His human will hallows the Name, Father, by sub- 
 mitting to the paternal command piously,^ and 
 therefore faultlessly; but it is still reluctant to the 
 suffering. It obeys, not yet because in the highest 
 sense accordant, but because it thus hallows the 
 Name, Father.^ 
 
 2. Thy Kingdom come. The Kingdom of God 
 may come in manifestation outward or inward; but 
 it is fulfilled only when God is completely enthroned 
 in the will of the creature. Such complete enthrone- 
 ment implies more than submission, as the rule over 
 willing subjects is mightier than that over those 
 whose wills are coerced, even though it be by them- 
 selves. Hence the Kingdom of the Father comes in 
 fullness only when the human will has progressed 
 from submission to accord. It is no longer reluctant. 
 This, as has been seen, is the case in the second 
 petition of Gethsemane, in which the instinct of 
 recoil is stilled, and God's Kingdom has come in 
 power, because with full acquiescence. 
 
 3. Thy Will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven. 
 It seems scarcely necessary to insist that the "doing" 
 of the Father's Will means something more than 
 
 * I have used the word "pious" in its strict, but almost disused 
 sense of reverence and affection for a parent. In the Epistle to the 
 Hebrews (v, 7), the King James version reads (marginal) that 
 "He was heard for his piety." The Revised Version reads "for 
 His godly fear." The two are equivalent, provided, in the second, 
 due emphasis is laid on "godly." 
 
 ^ Collate with St. Matthew, xxvi, 38-42. St. John, xii, 27, 28. 
 
 5 
 
66 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 mere acquiescence, however perfect. "To do" is 
 active. But should any doubt remain, in that the 
 precise v^ords "Thy Will be done" v^ere used by 
 our Lord in the garden to express, first, submission, 
 and, second, acquiescence, it will be removed by 
 the qualifying clause, "As it is in Heaven." Whether 
 this be understood of God Himself, or of the holy 
 angels, or of both, the Will is "done" by action; as 
 when our Lord, in His going forth to meet His 
 enemies, by that act Himself took up the Cross, and 
 did the Will. "My Father worketh even until now, 
 and I work;" ^ while for the angels, "are they not 
 all ministering spirits, sent forth to do service ?" ^ 
 
 For many centuries these three petitions of Jesus 
 Christ have gone forth from the public worship of 
 the Christian Church, and from Christian believers 
 in the privacy of their closets, and how small at first 
 thoughts seems the result! "Where is the promise 
 of His coming " ^ in the hearts and wills of men ? 
 Where is the conformity, where the obedience ? 
 How dim the likeness to the Master, even in the 
 best ! The inadequacy of the apparent reply to the 
 volume of verbal prayer is to be attributed primarily 
 to the feebleness, the unreality, the unexpectancy, 
 of those who have used it; but it also may be that 
 our unexpectancy, or, as Jesus Christ would call it, 
 "unbelief," has not been on the lookout to note the 
 evidences of answer where they are to be seen. 
 
 * St. John, V, 17. 
 
 ^ Hebrews, i, 14. Those famiHar with the Bible will not need 
 references for the many active missions committed to the angels. 
 ^ 2 St. Peter, iii, 4. 
 
LIKENESS 67 
 
 The Name of God has been hallowed, is now hal- 
 lowed, His Kingdom has already come, in large 
 measure, in the reverence and recognition accorded 
 to Jesus Christ, Who is the express Image of the 
 invisible God.^ 
 
 Answer has come, in unbeliever as well as in be- 
 liever. The words of John Stuart Mill, echoed 
 by many a heart, "Nor, even now, would it be easy, 
 even for an unbeliever, to find a better translation of 
 the rule of virtue from the abstract to the concrete, 
 than to endeavor so to live that Christ would approve 
 our life," ^ may fairly be considered by Christian 
 faith as a response to the prayer, "Hallowed be Thy 
 Name." For a name surely is hallowed, when such 
 veneration to Him Who bears it is attributed by 
 one who is at once an unbeliever in His Divine 
 Nature, and yet representative of the lofty ideals 
 of men of good will. The words quoted are the 
 echo, distant and faint it may be, the reflection, 
 real though dim, of His own phrases : I — My Per- 
 son and My teaching — am the Way; I am the 
 Truth; not, unhappily, of that further word of 
 power to the believer, — I am the Life.^ To the 
 Christian this hallowing of the name of Jesus Christ 
 is the fulfilment, doubtless unconscious, of the full 
 final step of hallowing the Name, the Being, of 
 Him, of Whom the Lord Jesus is the brightness 
 of His Glory, the express Image of His Person. 
 "He that [thus] hath seen Me, hath [in like manner] 
 
 ^ Hebrews, i, 3. St. John, xii, 45; xiv, 7-1 1. Colossians, i, 15. 
 ^ Three Essays on Rehgion. New York, H. Holt and Co., 
 1878, pp. 254-5. ^ St. John, xiv, 6. 
 
68 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 seen the Father." ^ "He that confesseth the Son 
 hath the Father also." ^ We may hope that they 
 who so hear and so follow are of "My sheep." ^ 
 
 So likewise the prayer, "Thy Kingdom come," 
 is herein fulfilled; for this word of Mill's expresses 
 the dominion, the kingship, in the realm of morals, 
 commonly conceded to Jesus Christ by men of 
 lofty and righteous purpose. His authority is 
 recognized freely, not only over men's consciences, 
 but over their reason, in that sphere where decision 
 is made between right and wrong. His reason pene- 
 trated to the roots of human motive and conduct, 
 and thence formulated for men the loftiest standards, 
 which His life exemplified and imposed. Thus He 
 entered into a Kingdom which is not only over the 
 heart but over the intellect. The order of the peti- 
 tions, and of the answers to them, is logical. I. The 
 hallowing of the Name, the recognition of excellence. 
 2. The coming of the Kingdom, the recognition of au- 
 thority. 3. The doing of the Will, — not yet per- 
 fected. The blade, the ear, then the full corn in 
 the ear;^ the harvest for which He and we still 
 wait. 
 
 Another well-known name, of one once a believer 
 in revelation, but who has since lost that faith, may 
 be cited in recognition of the supreme moral ex- 
 cellence and intellectual originahty of Jesus Christ. 
 It is not too much to claim that the words to be 
 quoted both hallow the Name of Jesus, and recognize 
 in Him an authority at once boundless and endless. 
 
 ^ St. John, xiv, 7-9. 2 I St. John, ii, 23. 
 
 ^ St. John, X, 2-16. * St. Mark, iv, 26-29. 
 
LIKENESS 69 
 
 Goldwin Smith in a quite recent letter ^ says : " My 
 present conception of the historical relation of Chris- 
 tianity and its Founder to humanity and human prog- 
 ress does not seem to me to be so different from what 
 it was half a century ago as, when I came to compare 
 the two, I expected to find it. In those days I be- 
 lieved in revelation. But my argument [then] was 
 not from revelation, but from ethics and history. The 
 undertaking of Christianity [which is Christ] to con- 
 vert mankind to a fraternal and purely beneficent 
 type of character, and enfold men in a universal 
 brotherhood, baffled and perverted although the 
 effort has been in various ways, appears to have no 
 parallel in ethical history. Nor does the Christian 
 character, or the effort to create it, depart with behef 
 in dogma." 
 
 This last sentence affirms the still existing influence 
 of the character and teaching of Jesus Christ over 
 men who do not accept His Divine Personahty. The 
 Christian may well doubt whether such influence 
 would continue, merely through its appeal to the 
 moral sense and to the intellect, if the Faith, on which 
 the Master laid such stress, should depart wholly from 
 the earth, surrendering thus the Power from above 
 which is ministered to man through faith ; whether, 
 in short, the vitality of the Christian Church, as the 
 leaven of the mass,^ may not be essential to the un- 
 doubted influence of the Christian standard upon 
 men of good will, who yet do not believe. None 
 
 ^ New York " Sun," January 20, 1907, ** New Faith linked 
 with the Old." 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xiii, ^^. 
 
70 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 the less, the admission of this abiding influence is a 
 demonstration that the Lord's Prayer, " Hallowed 
 be Thy Name, Thy Kingdom come, Thy Will be 
 done," echoed through the centuries by His follow- 
 ers, has not fallen wholly to the ground, even among 
 those alien to His fold. 
 
 The words already quoted related to their writer's 
 standpoint of to-day. The writing of a half-century 
 before, which he alludes to, and cites, was in part as 
 follows: "The type of character set forth in the 
 Gospel history is an absolute embodiment of love, 
 both in the way of action and affection, crowned by 
 the highest possible exhibition of it in an act of the 
 most transcendent self-devotion to the interest of the 
 human race. This being the case, it is difficult to see 
 how the Christian type of character can ever be left 
 behind by the course of human development, lose 
 the allegiance of the moral world, or give place to a 
 newly emerging or higher type. This type, it would 
 appear, being perfect, will be final. ... In a moral 
 point of view, in short, the world may abandon 
 Christianity, but it never can advance beyond it. 
 This conclusion is not a matter of authority, or 
 even of revelation. If it is true, it is a matter of 
 reason, as much as anything in the world." He then 
 "went on to dwell on the freedom of the Christian 
 type of character, as embodied in the Founder of 
 Christianity, from peculiarities of nation, race, or 
 sex, which might have derogated from its perfection 
 as a type of pure humanity." 
 
 From the standpoint of the writer of these words, 
 there is conceded to Jesus Christ a singular original- 
 
LIKENESS 71 
 
 ity in the realms both of morals and of intellect.^ Of 
 intellect, in that He conceived and taught such a 
 standard of human excellence; of morals, in that He 
 exempHfied in His life and character, even to the 
 utmost of self-sacrifice, the ideal v^hich He set forth. 
 This teaching and this example were reahzed in the 
 midst of surroundings so far unfavorable as in no 
 wise to account for them, and so to lessen the claim 
 to originality. True, as He himself said, "He came 
 to fulfil the law and the prophets" ^ — His predeces- 
 sors; but the fulfilment appeared to the immediate 
 hearers to be but destruction in another form.^ No 
 deduction therefore need be made from His suprem- 
 acy as original, which is but another way of expressing 
 His dominion over character and thought; His ex- 
 cellence and His authority. 
 
 Moreover, this willing, nay, this enthusiastic, 
 eulogy from an unbeliever in His Power and Godhead 
 attributes to this dominion of Jesus Christ finality 
 and universality. It adopts, though in other words, 
 the profession of the Nicene Creed: "Of His King- 
 dom there shall be no end." Man, it is said, may 
 progress indefinitely, but he cannot overpass the 
 example and the teaching which are the standard of 
 
 ^ After writing this, and when verifying the quotation already 
 made from J. S. Mill, I came across the following words, the cor- 
 roboration by that distinguished thinker of the statement in the text. 
 ** About the Hfe and sayings of Jesus there is a stamp of personal 
 originality combined with profundity of insight which . . . must 
 place the Prophet of Nazareth, even in the estimation of those who 
 have no beHef in his inspiration, in the very first rank of the men 
 of subHme genius of whom our species can boast." 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, v, 17-19. 
 
 3 St. John, xi, 47-53. Acts, vi, 13-15. 
 
72 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Christ's Kingdom over the hearts and wills of men. 
 "This can never lose the allegiance of the moral 
 world." So, too, for universality, all mankind are 
 embraced as possible subjects of the kingdom; 
 able, if they will, to conform themselves to the stand- 
 ard, to be like Him. The words quoted, as to the 
 freedom of Christ's character from national or racial 
 peculiarities, gathering every type within its scope, 
 echo the prophecy in Daniel; which, whatever its 
 date, was surely anterior to Christ. "There was 
 given Him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that 
 all the peoples, nations, and languages should serve 
 Him : His dominion is an everlasting dominion which 
 shall not pass away, and His kingdom that which 
 shall not be destroyed." * The Christian disciple 
 in a later age adopts these words : "Worthy art Thou, 
 for Thou wast slain, and didst purchase unto God 
 with Thy Blood, . . . men of every tribe, and tongue, 
 and people, and nation, and madest them to be unto 
 our God a kingdom and priests." ^ According to 
 the flesh, Jesus Christ was a Jew, and His own im- 
 mediate mission to the Jews only; ^ but He was also 
 such that, in the new man, which He revealed by 
 teaching and example, even in Himself, there cannot 
 be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, 
 barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman, male or 
 female : ^ but Christ is all, and in all.^ 
 
 The Name is surely hallowed, the Kingdom 
 surely come, when even they, who see in the King 
 
 * Daniel, vii, 13, 14. ^ Revelation, v, 9; vii, 9. 
 ^ St. Matthew, XV, 24-26. Romans, xv, 8. 
 
 * Galatians, iii, 28. ^ Colossians, iii, 11. 
 
LIKENESS 73 
 
 only a man like themselves, can speak as we have 
 just read. But the children of the Kingdom, in pro- 
 fession at least, they that call themselves by the name 
 of Christ, fail to appreciate not only such signs of 
 His having received His own among those who by 
 choice remain without, but also the abundant evi- 
 dence in the Christian ranks of the many lives, the 
 records of which, in likeness to His, are the manifesta- 
 tion that the Kingdom is come indeed in power. If 
 Christian citizenship is in Heaven,^ where, so to say, 
 is Christian patriotism, that regard is paid only to 
 the ignoble elements of our own lives and surround- 
 ings, or to the seeming failures of to-day, while there 
 is neglect to note with exultation the great names and 
 acts which illumine the past and the present; the 
 history of the heavenly kingdom set up on earth for 
 the saving of the peoples ? 
 
 If the Epistles of St. Paul are read attentively, or 
 the history of the early centuries studied, it is im- 
 possible to think that those times so differed from 
 ours that the Church then had Httle or no cause to 
 mourn for many professed believers who had sinned 
 and not repented. Yet, now that those days have 
 passed away, the glory that marked them is clearly 
 seen. Doubtless, it is well that each generation, for 
 its own humbling, keep its own shortcomings ever 
 in mind; but humility is one thing, dejection another. 
 The honor of the King demands the continual mem- 
 ory of the manifestations of His Power, in the holy 
 lives and mighty deeds which have hallowed His 
 Name, shown forth His Kingdom, carried out His 
 * Philippians, iii, 20. 
 
74 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Will. What earthly state drops out of mind its great 
 names ? Alfred of England, St. Louis of France, our 
 own Washington and Lincoln, are but the most 
 conspicuous in their several nations of the many 
 heroes, to recount whom "time would fail," as said 
 the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews concerning 
 the champions of the Faith among his own people; ^ 
 whom the Church of Christ also claims as of His 
 Kingdom and hers. 
 
 It was the very evils and miseries of their genera- 
 tion that brought into action the qualities of these 
 men. Did they find in their times, or among their 
 own countrymen, that general following, that faith- 
 ful support, the failure to obtain which is freely 
 cited as the dishonor of the Church of Christ now .? 
 Nay, when the full flower and perfect example of 
 Christian life and character was her6 on earth, did 
 He so draw in His train the "world" of His day.? 
 "The Light came into the world, and men loved the 
 darkness rather than the Light." ^ "He came unto 
 His own, and His own received Him not." ^ "How 
 often would I have gathered thy children together, 
 and ye would not ! " * 
 
 Again, with eye ranging down the future centuries 
 to our own, the tender irony of Christ searches out 
 one of the cheap delusions of to-day as to the winning 
 of mankind to Him : "Verily, verily, I say unto you. 
 Ye seek Me, not because ye saw signs, but because 
 ye ate of the loaves, and were filled.^^ ^ It is good that 
 men be filled, and healed; Christ filled them and 
 
 * Hebrews, xi, 32. ^ St. John, iii, 19. ^ Ihid.. i, li. 
 
 * St. Matthew, xxiii, 37. ^ St. John, vi, 26, 27. 
 
LIKENESS 75 
 
 healed them. These are marks attending His com- 
 ing/ whether in Person, or in His Church, or in 
 individual followers. They have never been lacking, 
 least of all to-day. To take only one portion of the 
 Mission Field, the Far East, Christian Missions, 
 other than Roman Catholic, maintain in China, 
 Japan, and Korea over 400 hospitals, which within 
 the year have ministered to over a million sufferers. 
 There are also over 3,000 educational establishments, 
 with near 90,000 under tuition.^ This is not matter 
 for boasting; those most closely interested know too 
 well how reproachfully short this provision falls of 
 the urgent demand upon Christians to be up and 
 doing in their Lord's Name. Nevertheless, in origin 
 and practice these institutions are not for gain. 
 They are the act of Christian benevolence, chiefly 
 foreign, accessories to the principal motive of preach- 
 ing Jesus Christ and His Kingdom; imitating herein 
 the example of Him Who "went about teaching 
 in the synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xi, 2-5. St. Luke, vii, 18-23. 
 
 ^ The exact figures, by the latest statistics available, are: 
 Hospitals and dispensaries, 430; patients, 1,126,341. Educa- 
 tional institutions, from colleges to day schools, 3,301; pupils, 
 88,635. The Roman Catholic Missions would doubtless greatly 
 increase these numbers. There is believed to be little or no 
 foreign effort of similar character, except for the usual object of 
 remuneration. The Japan Year Book for 1908-9, the editor of 
 which is a non-Christian, says: It is a significant fact that by far 
 the greater part of private charity work, of any large scope, 
 is conducted by Christians, both natives and aliens; and that 
 the part played by Buddhists in this direction is shamefully out 
 of proportion to their number. As to Shintoists, they are priv- 
 ileged, in popular estimate, to keep aloof from matters of this 
 kind. 
 
76 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and 
 of disease." ^ But men brought to Christ simply as 
 a means of bettering their state, who will follow the 
 Church that they may be better warmed and filled, 
 will turn again and rend her, as the Jews of His day 
 crucified Christ, for all His mighty works. 
 
 This is no reason, indeed, that the Church should 
 do one work of benevolence the less. As St. Bernard 
 replied to the devil, who would have him stop preach- 
 ing, lest he be made vain by his success, "I neither 
 began for thee, neither will I cease because of thee." 
 The Church cares for the bodies of men, because 
 Christ so gave her the example, — that she may be 
 like Him; as ingratitude stopped not Him, neither 
 may indifference deter her; but to expect the world 
 to be converted by these means is futile. After the 
 days of Constantine, when the Church had loaves 
 to give, the world flocked to her, with the principal 
 result of obscuring, under a chaos of selfishness, the 
 selfless devotion which has never failed to exist within 
 her, and which alone has kept her alive; for it has 
 been the result of the Power of God in action, even 
 as was Christ's Resurrection from the dead. 
 
 In this hidden^ Power, manifested in the multi- 
 tudes of her believing children, faithful in heart and in 
 effort, however far they have fallen short of perfec- 
 tion, the Church of God has from the beginning been 
 to the Earth as salt,^ preserving, and with its flavor 
 pervading the mass in which it rests concealed; 
 energizing also, as leaven* in a lump. With clear 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, iv, 23. ^ Colossians, iii, 3, 4. 
 ^ St. Matthew, v, 13. * Ibid., xiii, t^;^. 
 
LIKENESS 77 
 
 recognition of all shortcoming, individual and cor- 
 porate, there should ever be coupled, for God's glory 
 and our own heartening, the remembrance of the 
 glorious past and promising present. Could all the 
 stars be blotted out from the firmament of heaven, 
 and in the blank spaces left be set a like memorial 
 for each departed faithful servant of Christ, the skies 
 v^ould recover their brilliancy; and we could con- 
 ceive Almighty God again, as of old, leading the father 
 of the faithful from his tent to the open night, saying, 
 "Behold the fulfilment of the promise, *So shall 
 thy seed be;' as the stars of heaven for multitude, 
 and as the sand by the seashore innumerable." ^ 
 
 The stars which Abraham with his unaided vision 
 saw would not suffice for those who have laid down 
 their lives for Him in Whom they beheved; nor those 
 which the telescope reveals for them who, likewise 
 unseen, have followed with equal fidehty, though 
 not to a martyr's death. The illustrious roll, the 
 historic testimony, of those who have fallen in the 
 forefront of this battle of the ages, stretches in long 
 sequence from the deacon Stephen, who followed 
 close upon his Master's footsteps in time, closer still 
 in likeness. "Father, forgive them," the Leader; 
 "Lord, lay not this sin to their charge,"^ the fol- 
 lower's dying cry. In our own day, within fifty 
 years, two at least of the leaders of the host. Bishops 
 Patteson and Hannington, taking their lives in their 
 hands, as did the Twelve and the Master, have met 
 death in the islands of the Pacific, and in Africa, 
 
 ^ Genesis, xv, 5, 6; xxii, 17. Hebrew, xi, 8-12. 
 ^ Acts, vii, 59, 60. 
 
78 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 from those whom they sought to win to Christ; and 
 a decade has not passed since several Christian mis- 
 sionaries with thousands of their Chinese converts fell 
 steadfast victims to their devotion to His service. 
 
 Truly, Christians have cause to be proud of 
 their nation, and of its past. That past and this 
 present are the night time of the Faith. The Sun of 
 Righteousness ran His course and set upon the world; 
 but we know that He shall rise again. Meantime, 
 this generation has, not only above but around, these 
 tokens of the fulfilment of His Word and Work, — 
 the leading of His stars. There still are those who 
 have borne, and are bearing, trial intolerable to the 
 habits of civihzation, harder than the momentary 
 bitterness of death, except as sweetened by love; 
 love to the Master and for His sake to His brethren.^ 
 There lives now, and for near ten years has lived, 
 within the Arctic circle, at Point Hope, an American 
 physician, latterly in deacon's orders, alone among 
 the rude natives, and often disgusting surroundings 
 incident to barbarous life in bitter cold. There has 
 but lately passed away an English bishop, who, while 
 a priest in his early thirties, was sent, on his own 
 volunteering, to the same peoples in Arctic Canada. 
 His correspondence tells, rarely and uncomplainingly, 
 of what the refined white man had to undergo; but 
 for forty years — "unto the end — he endured," 
 dying among the people he had come to love, at 
 the last not for Christ's sake only, as men love 
 those whom they have helped; helped not merely 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxv, 40. St. Mark, iii, 33-35. St. John, xx, 17. 
 Hebrews, ii, 11-18. 
 
LIKENESS 79 
 
 spiritually, though that first, but, again hke the 
 Master, they, as do missionaries in all parts, carried 
 with the message of the Kingdom and the King the 
 teaching and the healing with which He in the olden 
 time went about in Galilee/ 
 
 "We count them happy which endured." ^ The 
 judgment is that of Christianity, of Christ; ^ not of 
 the world. Yet how true it is. We connect the name 
 of Washington with Boston, Trenton, Yorktown; 
 we speak with vague approval of "the times that 
 tried men's souls," having that taking phrase coined 
 ready to our use. But was not Washington greater, 
 nobler, when holding together his beaten, ragged, 
 shoeless, dirty army through that bitter, squahd 
 winter at Valley Forge than when he received the 
 sword of Cornwallis ? Were not his troops more 
 illustrious in those months of endurance than when 
 their surrendered opponents filed out before them 
 and laid down their arms .? Doubtless, many men 
 for diverse motives have willingly endured manifold 
 sufferings; but the distinguishing mark in the self- 
 devotion above cited, which exceeds even the high 
 type of self sacrifice for one's own country, — for, 
 after all, that is one's own, — is that it has been ex- 
 ercised for others : for Christ, to make Him known 
 to those for whom He died, and to bring to them 
 the relief of His civilization. 
 
 These, however, are but more eminent instances 
 of a self-sacrificing devotion to the spread of the 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, iv, 23. 
 
 ^ St. James, v, 11. i St. Peter, iii, 14; iv, 12-14. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, v, 10-12; x, 22; xxiv, 13. 
 
8o THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Gospel, which is in daily continuous action by ever- 
 increasing numbers; in endurance Hke to their 
 Exemplar. They are not merely instances, but 
 illustrations, which can be multiplied, of that which 
 is called the missionary spirit, of likeness realized to 
 Christ, the first missionary; Who was "sent," as 
 He in turn "sent" the Twelve and St. Paul,* and 
 by His lasting commission ^ has been "sending" His 
 servants even until now. In emptying Himself of His 
 Divine Glory, taking upon Him the form of a ser- 
 vant,^ He set the example which they in their meas- 
 ure have striven to follow, emptying themselves of 
 most that men count dear, that in so doing they 
 may be like Him. To us, who have seen these 
 fulfilments of the promise to Abraham, the meaning 
 is that of the firmament itself, — All these things 
 hath My hand made.* As the celestial universe 
 bears witness to the Power behind it, so these Hves, 
 patterned consciously upon that of Jesus Christ, 
 testify to the inward working of the Power of Him 
 who died and rose again. 
 
 Nor is it in such conspicuous manner only that the 
 power of God and of Christ is manifested, — to the 
 believer. Who among us, who has sought himself 
 to pattern his life upon Christ's example, has not 
 known many another, whom the world knew not, in 
 whom could be clearly seen the working of that Power 
 which is the Life of the Christian .? The glory of 
 God, and of the Kingdom, is shown as truly in such 
 
 ^ St. John, XX, 21. Acts, ix, 15, 16; xxii, 21; xxvi, 15-18. 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxviii, 18-20. ^ PhiHppians, ii, 5-8. 
 
 ^ Isaiah, xl, 26; li, 6; Ixvi, i, 2; Acts, vii, 49, 50. 
 
LIKENESS 8 1 
 
 as in the deeds of the noble army of martyrs. But 
 to recognize them one must be, in some part at least, 
 " not of the world." ^ Whether it be a simple want of 
 sympathy, of common aims and feelings, or whether 
 it be lack of the spiritual gift to the "new man, 
 which after God is created in Christ Jesus," ^ it 
 remains that the world does not recognize these 
 followers of Christ, because it knows not Him.^ 
 They are there in abundance, evidences of the Life 
 of the Christian, of the Power that worketh ; but to 
 note them there must be likeness, the seeing eye of 
 sympathy. The promise, "When He shall appear 
 we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is," * 
 is a statement of correlatives; if vision promotes 
 likeness, likeness enables vision. If in measure like 
 Him, we shall recognize Him, whenever and however 
 He comes. Accordingly, Jesus Christ said to a group 
 of men, who were listening to Him attentively : "Why 
 do ye not understand My speech ? Because ye cannot 
 hear My Word. . . . He that is of God heareth the 
 words of God : for this cause ye hear them not, be- 
 cause ye are not of God." ^ For perception there 
 must be an inward correspondence; otherwise, " see- 
 ing, ye will not perceive, and hearing ye will not 
 understand." ^ 
 
 The attitude towards Christ, the appreciation 
 which a man gives to Christ Himself, the same — 
 not other — will he give to those who are Christ's.^ 
 
 ^ St. John, XV, 19-24; xvii, 14-16. 
 
 ^ Ephesians, ii, 9, 10; iv, 23, 24. Colossians, ifi, 9, 10. 
 ^ I St. John, iii, i. * Ihid.^ iii, 2. 2 Corinthians, iv, 3-6. 
 
 ^ St. John, viii, 43-47- 
 
 ® Isaiah, vi, 9, 10. St. Matthew, xiii, 13. '^ St. John, xv, 17-21. 
 
 6 
 
82 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 If he sees in Christ nothing which compels his alle- 
 giance, he naturally cannot appreciate the inferior 
 degrees of excellence, in those who, whether near or 
 far, in obscurity or in the bright glare of conspicuous 
 achievement, are following in the Master's footsteps. 
 So Goldwin Smith, in the letter before cited, appreci- 
 ating the moral excellence of Christ, sees that "the 
 efforts to realize His character, being carried on 
 under all the various moral and intellectual condi- 
 tions attaching to particular men, will produce an 
 infinite variety of characters, personal and national; 
 ranging from the highest human grandeur down to 
 the very verge of the grotesque." The recognition of 
 moral excellence carries the recognition of the moral 
 results in other men; but, revelation being rejected, 
 there can be of course no appreciation of the Divine 
 Power in Christ, and consequently none of its 
 working in those who are Christ's. 
 
 Unless we keep in mind the attitude of the world 
 of His day towards Christ, it would be surprising 
 how far blindness towards present conditions can go. 
 Many decades ago, Guizot, in his lectures on the 
 History of Civilization, thought necessary to caution 
 his hearers and readers against depreciation, and 
 even skepticism, on the subject of disinterestedness. 
 In this connection he cited the quixotic — as it would 
 appear to many — mission of St. Boniface to the 
 Frisian pagans, who rewarded his devotion by knock- 
 ing him on the head. The wisdom of this world will 
 see herein only the folly of preaching; not knowing 
 Christ, it cannot commend the self-sacrifice of His 
 servant. Commonplace though the remark may be, 
 
LIKENESS 83 
 
 if we would accurately measure the significance of 
 the world's continuous attitude towards Christianity, 
 we must remember that nothing is narrower than 
 self-interest, nothing blinder than lack of sympathy. 
 Nowhere is missionary effort more bitterly antago- 
 nized than by nominal Christians in missionary fields; 
 from none comes more enthusiastic endorsement 
 than from those who, though not missionaries, have 
 watched the work, having themselves the mind of 
 Christ. I remember once, mentioning the life and 
 martyrdom of Bishop Patteson, a bystander ejacu- 
 lated, "What a shocking waste of a man's life!" 
 Doubtless, he would have said the same of Boniface, 
 and of Christ Himself, in His day. Yet the story of 
 the Pacific Islands vindicates the disciple and his 
 fellow-workers, as the history of Europe does their 
 Lord. 
 
 Max Miiller, as a student of Comparative Religion, 
 has said that the mark of a living religion is its mis- 
 sionary spirit. Certainly it is true that any system 
 of thought which has life must seek to propagate 
 itself; be dynamic, not merely static; and so mis- 
 sionary effort indicates life in the body. The rapidly 
 increasing volume of such effort put forth by Chris- 
 tianity, and the bitterness of antagonism excited, 
 less among the heathen than in Christian lands, 
 alike testify to the working of inward motives 
 and of hidden powers, on the one hand and on the 
 other. The battle between Christ and the rulers of 
 the darkness of this world ^ increases in intensity. 
 
 ^ St. Luke, xxii, 53. St. John, xii, 31, 32; xiv, 30; xvi, 11. 
 Ephesians, vi, 10-20. Colossians, ii, 15. 
 
84 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Whatever may be said of the general Christian mo- 
 tive, it cannot by candid men be ascribed to self- 
 interest, narrowly interpreted. At worst, it is the 
 propaganda of a strong conviction; but of that con- 
 viction the only account is the Cross and Resurrec- 
 tion of Jesus Christ; His Person and His Mission. 
 As it was in the beginnings, so is it now; Jesus 
 Christ, Him crucified and risen again, is both message 
 and motive. The first Apostles preached Jesus and 
 the Resurrection : ^ the Personality and Mission, 
 implied in the Name, and the fact and meaning of 
 the Resurrection. The two comprise the summary 
 of Christian teaching : on the moral side, the Person, 
 the object of love; on the intellectual, the Resurrec- 
 tion, as the evidence. 
 
 To the believer, of course, the growing activity is 
 proof of the working of His Power, which wrought 
 in the Resurrection itself. But this present working 
 has brought prominently to light a very extraordinary 
 feature in the history of Christianity; one that 
 should, and possibly may, convince the world by the 
 means which the Lord prayed.^ The aroused pur- 
 pose to spread the Kingdom of Christ has brought 
 Christian men to realize, as never before, how truly 
 they are one in all the great essentials of the Faith. 
 If, formally, the Body of Christ shows divisions, 
 upon lines which, however important otherwise, are 
 clearly secondary; if, in a formal sense, we are de- 
 barred from the Apostle's assertion, "there is one 
 Body;" we none the less can take up exultingly the 
 
 * Acts, iii, 13-16; iv, 2, 10-12; xvii, 18. 
 ^ St. John, xvii, 20, 21. 
 
LIKENESS 85 
 
 remainder of his cry: One spirit, even as ye are 
 called in one hope of your calHng; one Lord, one 
 Faith, one Baptism, one God and Father of all.^ 
 
 This recognition of unity is the direct outcome of 
 the mission field, where indeed, under the pressure 
 of the surroundings, it has been found in the fullest 
 measure. In the methods of missionary work the 
 likeness to Christ is most apparent, because the work 
 itself is most like His own : the carrying of a message 
 new to those who hear it. As He Himself was the 
 first of Christian Missionaries, "sent" by the Father; 
 as He Himself "sent" the Twelve into all the world 
 with a commission enduring to the end of time; so 
 the corporate missionary work of the Christian 
 Church embodies all those activities which were 
 most preeminently His, — preaching, teaching, heal- 
 ing. The Church the Body, He the Head.^ Missions 
 have been to the Church what the colonies and India 
 have been to Great Britain; the outward effort has 
 reacted on the mother countries in broadening 
 vision and quickening enterprise. The harm and 
 folly of divisions, too easily accepted at home as a 
 state of things neither remediable nor entirely evil, 
 became glaringly manifest in the face of those to 
 whom the missionary was sent as to enemies; as 
 Christ went to enemies, to win them to Himself.^ 
 
 The mission field is the forefront of the battle; 
 there it is necessary that the war-cry be one, that 
 men speak with one tongue, and behold ! they can. 
 The formal divisions, it is true, remain, and on the 
 
 ^ Ephesians, iv, 3-6. ^ Ihid., i, 22, 23. 
 
 ^ Romans, v, 8-10. Ephesians, if, 1-5. Colossians, i, 21, 22. 
 
86 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 old lines. Men must continue to hold truth as it is 
 given them to see it; but they speak it increasingly 
 "in love,'* ^ the phrase of St. Paul's which contains 
 the ultimate solution of our difficulties on this score. 
 Hoping for a fuller visible union which as yet we see 
 not, we can well with patience wait for it. Consider- 
 ing the visible gain in spiritual motive that has come 
 over us, we shall not be forward to pluck the ripen- 
 ing fruit of union before it matures. But, remem- 
 bering the bitter controversies of the past, it is truly 
 a marvelous thing that throughout these there has 
 been preserved, in each one of the warring fragments 
 of Christ's Body, the great essentials of the Faith; 
 constituting an essential likeness, because preserv- 
 ing in each the reflection of Christ.^ 
 
 The prophet who closes the canon of the Old 
 Testament, speaking beforehand of Him and of His 
 work, says. He shall sit as a refiner and purifier of 
 silver.^ The refiner of that time knew his process 
 completed when the molten metal reflected the 
 clear unblemished likeness of the workman's face. 
 Had no separations occurred, or in separation no 
 bitterness, it might have seemed less wonderful that, 
 when the great missionary bodies of Christendom 
 came to look one another in the face as brethren, 
 they found their essential likeness, in that they had 
 the one message and the one foundation : * The 
 Person of Jesus Christ; His Eternal Power and God- 
 head; His Incarnation, Life, Teaching, Character; 
 His Cross and His Resurrection; the Person and 
 
 ^ Ephesians, iv, 15. ^2 Corinthians, iii, 18. ^ Malachi, iii, 1-3. 
 * I Corinthians, iii, 10-15. Ephesians, ii, 20. 
 
LIKENESS 87 
 
 Mission of the Holy Ghost. Had not God been in 
 the midst of His people ^ throughout all the dissen- 
 sions of Christendom, some of this surely must have 
 been lost; with it saved, nothing is lost finally. 
 Time indeed has been wasted, and opportunity; 
 and both continue to be measurably lost while formal 
 division remains; but there is such a thing as re- 
 deeming the time, and the more so while the evil 
 days of outward division still mar that visible per- 
 fect unity, which shall be the token to the world that 
 the Father has sent His Son to be its Saviour.^ 
 
 Meanwhile, to those who can receive it, the unity 
 that has been made visible in these latter days is 
 the evidence of the working of that mighty Power 
 which raised up Christ from the dead, and which 
 through the ages has been the Life, alike of the 
 Christian man and of the Christian Church. 
 
 * Psalm, xlvf. 
 
 2 St. John, iii, 17; xii, 47. i St. John, iv, 9-14. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 INTERCOURSE 
 
 CONSIDERING the existing divisions of 
 Christianity, and the unhappy human bitter- 
 ness by which their relations have too often 
 been marked, there is evident the great effect that 
 must have been exerted upon the v^elfare of the 
 Christian Body by the maintenance among its mem- 
 bers of the personal Christian Life, patterned upon 
 that of Jesus Christ. Through this faithfulness in 
 the past, God has been enabled to sustain a spirit 
 v^hich not only has survived strife and bitterness, 
 but has consecrated the successive periods of Chris- 
 tian history, and nov^ finds prevalent so much accord 
 of faith, of hope, and of love, as brightens to-day 
 v^ith promise for to-morrow. This happy issue in- 
 tensifies the duty of each individual Christian to 
 do all that in him hes to nourish in himself person- 
 ally the life of Christ in full vigor. 
 
 In the fourth chapter of his Epistle to the Ephe- 
 sians, the admonitions of St. Paul pass back and 
 forth between the corporate and the individual life. 
 Many of the precepts are applicable to both indiffer- 
 ently; and the consummation, that "we all attain 
 unto a full grown man, unto the measure of the 
 stature of the fullness of Christ,*' while primarily 
 applicable to the whole Body, in its organic unity, 
 
 88 
 
INTERCOURSE 89 
 
 is also clearly dependent in the Apostle's thought 
 upon the steadfast fulfilment by each individual of 
 his allotted part. "The working in due measure of 
 each several part maketh the increase of the Body 
 unto the building up of itself in love." Thus 
 supported, the life of the Christian, in man and 
 in Church, will be characterized by likeness to God 
 and to Jesus Christ, the common source from which 
 in each it derives. "To know Thee, the only 
 true God, and Jesus Christ Whom Thou hast sent, 
 is Life Eternal'* now, by Christ's own definition;^ 
 and only by growth in such knowledge shall be 
 realized unto us the prayer of St. Paul for his Philip- 
 pian converts, "that ye be like minded, having the 
 same love, being of one accord, of one mind," ^ or 
 purpose. Or, as he elsewhere says, "beholding as 
 in a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are changed 
 into the same image from glory to glory." ^ 
 
 These two ideas of the Body and of the members,^ 
 together with the basic truth — the operation of 
 the Holy Spirit — upon which effectiveness depends, 
 are voiced in one of the short prayers that have come 
 down to us from ancient times, with the terseness 
 and compactness which characterizes so much of 
 those remarkable growths, the liturgies; indications, 
 possibly, that only the fittest survived the test of 
 usage. In the accepted English version it runs : By 
 Thy Spirit the whole Body of the Church is governed 
 and sanctified. Receive [therefore] our supplications 
 and prayers, which we make before Thee, for all 
 
 * St. John, xvii, 3. ^ Philippians, ii, 2. 
 
 ^ 2 Corinthians, iii, 18. * i Corinthians, xii, 12, 13. 
 
90 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 estates of men in Thy Holy Church; that every 
 Member of the same in his vocation and ministry 
 [calHng and service] may truly and godly serve Thee. 
 This Collect, the second for Good Friday, starts 
 with the recognition of the Body, and of its depend- 
 ence upon the Holy Ghost for guidance and de- 
 velopment. Thence it descends to the collective 
 orders — estates — of men within the Church; as, 
 for instance, lay and clerical, or the several grades 
 of the ministry. Then it recalls before God specific- 
 ally each member of every order; for, if one member 
 suffer, each suffers,^ and the Body collectively. It 
 is instructive to note too, as illustrative of the care 
 used in wording the liturgies, that "governed" 
 (guided) and "sanctified" correspond precisely, 
 in meaning as in order, to vocation and ministry. 
 A calling requires especially guidance; service, par- 
 ticularly consecration. So also calling must be 
 "true" in direction; service "godly" in spirit. 
 
 Nothing tends to likeness more than does con- 
 genial association ; and association implies inter- 
 course, whence flows the close and comprehensive 
 knowledge of which Jesus Christ speaks in the 
 words above quoted. In no way can we so know 
 a man as by intimate companionship with him; the 
 cynical proverb that no man is a hero to his valet 
 has its obverse side, when he who is known is also 
 worthy. From such relations springs also influence. 
 The effect of comrades — not to speak of parents — 
 upon childhood and youth is notorious; and, in the 
 sober self-appreciation of experience, we all must 
 
 ^ I Corinthians, xii, 26-30. 
 
INTERCOURSE 91 
 
 acknowledge ourselves to have been at each period 
 of our Hves, and still to be, the immature creatures 
 which in God's eyes we are, ever learning, yet so 
 slowly coming to the knowledge of the truth. It is 
 startling in old age, when the promised light of 
 evening tide ^ begins to shine, to recognize how the 
 tone, the accepted plausible maxims, of this world 
 have blinded the eyes to the precepts — the express 
 precepts, as well as the example — of Jesus Christ; 
 how little we have been like Him, because we have 
 not adequately known Him. 
 
 It is thus only, by constant association and inti- 
 mate knowledge, as a man knows a friend, that we 
 can grow like to God; ^ and such association, in the 
 case of One unseen, implies an effort, by which in- 
 tercourse is maintained, as that with a distant friend 
 is maintained by correspondence. The simile is as 
 nearly exact, perhaps, as any comparison between 
 the human and the Divine can be; but it fails in 
 two particulars. God is not distant; and this inter- 
 course is not between equals, but between the less 
 and the Greater, the creature and the Creator, the 
 finite and the Infinite; happily also between the 
 child and the Father. 
 
 Intercourse implies mutual action, interaction; 
 what in general we style communion, — something 
 had or done in common. In the Christian scheme 
 the primary provision for such intercourse is in the 
 two Sacraments ordained by Christ Himself, — Bap- 
 tism and the Holy Communion. Baptism, the 
 
 ^ Zechariah, xiv, 6, 7. Compare 2 Timothy, iv, 6-8. Revela- 
 tion, xxii, 1-5. 2 2 Corinthians, iii, 18. 
 
92 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Sacrament of the new Birth, of Repentance accepted, 
 though administered once for all, is valid and opera- 
 tive throughout life; conditioned always upon that 
 earnest striving after better things which is repent- 
 ance sustained in action. Without this the new 
 birth ends in spiritual death; the man is cut off as 
 a fruitless branch, and withers.^ To Baptism man 
 brings repentance, which rightly understood is the 
 gift of himself, of his life and powers, to God ; God 
 in return gives the spiritual life, in Jesus Christ, — 
 the Life of the Christian. This is Intercourse. The 
 Holy Communion, prefaced always by renewed acts 
 of repentance and Faith, is the perpetual transmis- 
 sion of the Life of Jesus Christ, imparted once for 
 all in Baptism. It is the highest realization of Inter- 
 course, of a reciprocal action essential to the Chris- 
 tian's Life; which apart from this cannot but 
 languish and in the end cease. 
 
 To treat adequately these highest mysteries of 
 the Christian Faith requires a breadth and depth 
 of knowledge which I lack. In the simplicity of 
 their definition they lie within the fruitful .appre- 
 hension of the unlearned; but to comprehend them, 
 to the full scope even of instructed human faculties, 
 demands a profundity and extent of knowledge, 
 and of reflection, with a power of balanced expres- 
 sion, to which few can pretend. I purpose therefore 
 to limit my considerations to the simpler forms of 
 Intercourse with God through Jesus Christ; to 
 Prayer, Praise, Thanksgiving, and the reading of 
 God's Word, commonly called the Bible. These 
 * St. John, XV, 2, 6. 
 
INTERCOURSE 93 
 
 four are essential parts of any complete system of 
 Intercourse; as such they are found represented in 
 all well-conceived formularies of pubhc worship, 
 as well as in the private devotions of a symmetrical 
 Christian life, which itself is a perpetual worship. 
 
 Of these I take first Praise; partly because, 
 rightly understood, it is the leading feature in Chris- 
 tian worship, being the recognition of the excellence 
 — the worth-ship — of God, particularly as mani- 
 fested to us in and by Jesus Christ. Logically, 
 indeed, in order of time as of importance, Praise 
 precedes Prayer and Thanksgiving; for Praise is 
 but the outcome of the knowledge of God, and, 
 without knowledge of Him, how shall we pray to 
 Him, or give thanks .? Praise is the act of devotion 
 into which Self enters least, because it fastens upon 
 the Person of God — which is His excellence — and 
 disregards the person, the needs, and even the grati- 
 tude of the worshipper, who for the moment, and 
 to his own consciousness, is engaged only in con- 
 templating the beauty, power, and worthiness of 
 the Character revealed to him. Yet, though un- 
 consciously. Praise has its element of Prayer, as 
 will be noted; as it also more obviously is akin to 
 Thanksgiving. 
 
 A further reason for giving Praise a primacy of 
 treatment is that it is more pervertedly an object 
 of misconception than the other elements of wor- 
 ship; a misconception entirely superficial, quite 
 unworthy of an intelligent creature, but still ex- 
 istent and general. I will illustrate by an incident 
 in my experience. Over thirty years ago I was 
 
94 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 sitting on the porch of a summer hotel in the com- 
 pany of an elderly man, much my senior. A lad of 
 fifteen was talking to us, and in some connection, now 
 forgotten by me, spoke of praising God. "Well, 
 
 ,"said my companion, "if the Lord is as good a 
 
 fellow as I take Him to be. He will not care to be 
 praised." 
 
 In this manifest confounding of praise with com- 
 pliment, deference and unreadiness kept me from 
 the reply, which is obvious. God does not care for 
 our praises, in the sense of personal eulogy; as 
 such merely, they add nothing to Him; but the sin- 
 cere and loving contemplation of excellence, and 
 recognition of it — which is the essence of Praise — 
 react upon the character of him who praises, and 
 tend strongly to induce in him that imitation and 
 likeness — in this case to God — which is the great 
 aim of God concerning us. In that way, not by the 
 mere utterance of words, but by the accompanying 
 transformation of ideals and character, our praises 
 may well be pleasing to God ; we may even reverently 
 say He wants them. He needs them. Through 
 them largely — in their essence through them only — 
 is accomplished His Will, which is that we be per- 
 fect. In this way Praise involves inevitably aspira- 
 tion ; and aspiration is Prayer, uttered or unexpressed. 
 True Praise therefore involves prayer, as a whole 
 embraces its parts. Thus the two chief examples 
 of Praise in the Prayer Book, outside the Psalter, 
 the Te Deum and the Gloria in Excelsis, although 
 beginning in pure praise, in their course turn with a 
 certain inevitableness to prayer. 
 
INTERCOURSE 95 
 
 A proper illustration to the lad in the case might 
 have been such as this. You have heard of George 
 Washington ? of his character, his disinterested- 
 ness, courage, patriotism; his endurance in the dark 
 hours; the ultimate victory that his worthiness won 
 over foe and over friend ? for the closer friend 
 knew him, the more he esteemed him. There is 
 but one answer to these questions for an American 
 boy. Well, you would like to be such a man as that, 
 would you not ? The more you think of him the 
 stronger the wish .? This perhaps would be getting 
 beyond a boy's depth; but for a man who has put 
 away childish things, this influence of great char- 
 acters upon ideals, yielding in many cases a real 
 upHfting of the Ufe, should be a matter of experience, 
 or at least of observation. Such regard for a person, 
 and such result, are Praise in operation. The man 
 who makes Washington his ideal praises him; and 
 the more he meditates upon him, or carries thought 
 into action, the truer the praise. It is so of Nelson, 
 who like Washington, — both men with frailties, — 
 is thus a hving force in the lives of men to-day. Will 
 it be less with the Creator than with His creatures ? 
 
 But, more still. Praise is the natural expression of 
 love, where the object is worthy. Even for those who 
 have passed into the unseen, and are known to us 
 only by their record, there may be aroused an enthu- 
 siasm little short of personal affection, well deserv- 
 ing the name of love. Though dead, they yet speak. 
 Direct communion with them we have not, yet such 
 as we have tells. But God lives, and Jesus Christ; 
 not far off, but near; not resting from labors, as do 
 
96 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 those, but working; above all, loving us and wanting 
 our love. Can we love and be silent in our hearts ? 
 but if our hearts speak love He hears, though the 
 lips move not; and the love is dear to Him. How 
 should it not be, if we are created in His image .? 
 Have not we joy in being loved, valued by those we 
 love .? Loving is more and better than giving; being 
 is better than doing. Praise is not flattery. God is 
 not praised in order to induce Him to grant. To 
 that end there is an appointed means; but it is 
 Prayer, not Praise. God is praised for that which 
 He is, and for that which He has done, irrespective 
 of self. 
 
 If, then, Praise be of the heart, why formulate 
 words of praise ? Partly because the truth will out; 
 the abundance of the heart will speak, and it speaks 
 most effectively in words well weighed and measured. 
 Besides, by a law of our nature, a habit of mind will 
 issue in a habit of words, which are the expression of 
 thought; and a habit of words is a form. Again, in 
 this world, life for its preservation and action requires 
 to be embodied in forms. Forms are essential to the 
 preservation of spirit. Forms preserve obedience, 
 reverence, duties, mutual respect and consideration. 
 The virtue of institutions is in their spirit, but no 
 institution can survive formal disuse. Most of all, 
 God being unseen, and knowable only through His 
 Word and Works, we must be at pains to analyze 
 and formulate to ourselves, in somewhat definite ex- 
 pression, that knowledge of God which it is the office 
 of biography to give us concerning men. 
 
 The presentation of personality, indeed, is the 
 
INTERCOURSE 97 
 
 great service of biography. The Hves of men are of 
 varied utility. Some serve for emulation, some for 
 w^arning, all for instruction; but, that they may so 
 serve, the teachings must be appropriated, made our 
 own by familiarity with them, a process which in- 
 volves effort, conscious or unconscious, sufficient to 
 produce a definite and well proportioned image. 
 This is the task of the biographer, which the reader 
 must supplement by attention. Character is not 
 appreciated fully, except as the features are clearly 
 drawn out and the several traits named and illus- 
 trated by the revelations of the life. The like must 
 be done if we would truly know God, and He being 
 all excellence the result is Praise; which, however 
 real and from the heart, will tend to the habit which 
 we call formal. 
 
 Thus, the foundation of Praise is the knowledge 
 of God. This is the root whence the flower springs. 
 How then shall we know God with that intimacy of 
 knowledge which alone deserves the name .? To 
 give direction to the efforts which are necessary to 
 this end, let us realize that we can know Him only 
 if we will use His biography; His own revelation of 
 His Person and His Character, in His Acts and in 
 His Words. He will doubtless deal directly with 
 every man according to His purposes, unfolding Him- 
 self within ; ^ but upon the condition common to all 
 advance, natural or spiritual, that the man in turn 
 will use appointed means. ^ His revelation is given 
 
 ^ St. John, xiv, 21-23. Revelation, iii, 20. Ephesians, iii, 17. 
 Philippians, ii, 13. 
 
 ^ St. John, vi, 53, 54. Philippians, ii, 12. Galatians, vi, 7-9. 
 
 7 
 
98 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 through two media : the written Word which we call 
 the Bible, and the living Word/ Jesus Christ, of 
 Whom the written word is the testimony,^ the pale 
 reflection of His Eternal glory.^ In a treatment of 
 Worship, therefore, the natural transition is from 
 Praise to the means through which we learn the mo- 
 tive and the matter of Praise: to the reading and 
 hearing of God's Word, in the varied expansion of 
 these processes, which involve all that God can 
 minister to us through other men, as well as directly 
 to ourselves. Preaching and devotional literature 
 are fitting and logical extensions of the Word of 
 God. 
 
 We can use means. We could not have originated 
 communion with God, but we can comply with the 
 conditions of further and perpetual communion. 
 The necessary beginning of Intercourse, its primary 
 stage, is for God to communicate to us. He did so 
 in the beginning, by constituting our nature such 
 that we could receive knowledge of Him. He con- 
 tinued to impart knowledge, as the race was able 
 to receive it; ^ by direct revelation, — immediately, 
 — as to Abraham, or mediately by His messengers, 
 Moses and the Prophets. He fulfilled all by the 
 revelation of Himself in a human Life — the Life of 
 
 * St. John, i, 1-14. I St. John, i, 1-4. 
 
 ^ Revelation, xix, 10. St. Matthew, xiii, 16, 17. St. Luke, x, 
 23, 24; xxiv, 25-27. St. John, v, 39, 45-47- Acts, iii, 22-25; 
 xiii, 27-29, 32-41. Hebrews, i, 5-13; v, 5, 6; ix, 1-15. I St. 
 Peter, i, 10-12. 
 
 ^ St. John, viii, 58; xvii, 5, 24. PhiHppians, ii, 5-8. 
 
 * Collate Exodus, vi, 3, with St. Matthew, xxviii, 19. St. Mat- 
 thew, xix, 7, 8. St. John, xvi, 12-15. i Corinthians, ii, 13, 14; 
 iii, 2. Hebrews, v, 11-14. 
 
INTERCOURSE 99 
 
 Christ; ^ and by Him He promised further guidance, 
 "into all truth," by the Holy Ghost, Whose coming 
 should follow Christ's departure and Who should 
 abide with us forever.^ It may reasonably be be- 
 lieved that He continues still to reveal to the individ- 
 ual, and to the body we call the Church, as each may 
 need; but it is unreasonable, even irrational, to ex- 
 pect that He will do so where there is neglect of the 
 medium through which He has chosen to make Him- 
 self known to us. In the revealed Word He supplies, 
 as it were, the raw material, which under the joint 
 operation of man's effort and of the Holy Spirit is 
 wrought into the particular guidance, which con- 
 stitute the daily revelation and providence that each 
 man and each Church needs. 
 
 Dr. Johnson observed truly that the first con- 
 dition of successful biography is close personal 
 intercourse; and the remark received striking illus- 
 tration, by the hearer of it producing the most vivid 
 presentation of a human personality that the English 
 language has achieved. We know Johnson as we 
 know no other man of his time, because we have 
 been brought thus into a contact with him which is 
 the nearest possible short of immediate acquaintance. 
 Only autobiography, if absolutely sincere, as may be 
 the case where copious correspondence remains, can 
 be more satisfying to the desire to know a man. If 
 a man has written much and frankly to many people, 
 there will almost certainly transpire an abundance of 
 
 ^ St. John, xlv, 7-1 1 ; xii, 45. Colossians, i, 15. Hebrews, i, 3. 
 ^ St. John, xiv, 16, 17, 25, 26; XV, 26; xvi, 7-15. See Romans, 
 viii. I Corinthians, ii, 9-13. i St. John, iii, 24; iv, 13. 
 
100 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 evidence as to his real self. Interested readers will 
 receive an impression which will correspond to the 
 truth, be true in part; but in part only, because such 
 impression is inevitably modified by the character- 
 istics of the reader, just as a painter reads himself 
 into a portrait. Autobiography thus imparted is 
 better than the best biography; because the impres- 
 sion so derived, the portrait thus drawn, is the 
 reader's own achievement, bone of his bone, flesh of 
 his flesh, and therefore more real to him than any 
 secondary acquisition made through another man's 
 portrayal. 
 
 Autobiography is that which God has given us in 
 the Bible. In old time He spoke by divers portions 
 and in divers manners,^ in the Prophets, and in the 
 Law, which together sum up substantially the Old 
 Testament; and in the end of those days He spoke 
 again in — not merely hy — a Son.^ That is, God 
 has given us an abundant correspondence, of which 
 He is the Author, addressed to many persons under 
 many conditions; and in addition He has spoken 
 in 2L Son, in the Son's Life,^ not by His Words only. 
 The character of Jesus Christ is the replica of the 
 character of God revealed in the Old Testament. 
 The two are drawn by the same hand; a considera- 
 tion which gives double force to Christ's statement 
 that He came to fulfil — not to destroy — the Law 
 and the Prophets.^ The picture of God drawn in the 
 Law and the Prophets is accurate as far as it goes; 
 that is, it is truth, but not yet the full truth. This 
 
 ^ Hebrews, i, i. ^ Ibid., I, 2-4. 
 
 ^ St. John, i, 4, 14, 18. * St. Matthew, v, 17. 
 
INTERCOURSE loi 
 
 it could not be, because the various writers, severally 
 or collectively, were not able fully to receive or fully 
 to convey the communications addressed to them by 
 God.^ They could not receive, because they were of 
 their time, though head and shoulders above it; 
 they could not convey, because their hearers, to 
 whom, through them, the correspondence was ulti- 
 mately addressed, were even less capable of compre- 
 hension than themselves. The old writers labored 
 under the disabilities of painters in the early history 
 of art. 
 
 In His self-revelation God could not rise above 
 such conditions; because He could not violate the 
 nature of man, as constituted by Himself in His 
 purpose to bring many sons to glory — or to perfec- 
 tion.^ The process of education, the bringing natural 
 capacities, possibilities, to fulfilment, for a race as 
 for an individual, must proceed through the will of 
 man, to which God has given independence of Him- 
 self. Apart from this there cannot be wrought glory, 
 or merit of any character, or any perfection worthy 
 of the name. The will of man, by affecting coopera- 
 tion, conditions each man's progress; the collective 
 wills of men the progress of any race; and the point 
 to which a man or a race has advanced conditions 
 the knowledge which can be imparted, the knowl- 
 edge even of God, which is revelation.^ A child 
 must think as a child; to press upon him the ideas 
 of a man would be to crush rather than to expand. 
 
 ^ I St. Peter, i, 10-12. ^ Hebrews, ii, 9, 10. 
 
 ^ Collate with this the words of Christ: "Moses for the hard- 
 ness of your heart suffered you to put away your wives." St. 
 Matthew, xix, 8. 
 
102 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 St. Paul attests forcibly this point of view. In his 
 exposition of the insufficiency of the Law to the needs 
 of his day, he fully recognizes its adequacy and pur- 
 pose in the past. It filled the position of a tutor 
 over men still in the childhood of progress,^ requiring 
 obedience literal and unquestioning, such as befits 
 childhood, and to such promising reward. But, as 
 development progressed, the method was increasingly 
 outp-rown. Observance of the letter became an un- 
 
 o 
 
 bearable yoke,^ as the discipline of childhood is to 
 manhood; and, yet more important, as its spiritual 
 demands became clearer to advancing reason, the 
 impossibility of fulfilling them was demonstrated by 
 experience.^ This experience, showing the need of a 
 deliverer, prepared men to accept and follow Christ, 
 Who fulfilled all the requirements of the Law upon 
 universal mankind. Having so fulfilled. He super- 
 seded it by His own teaching; itself not a destruction 
 but a fulfilment, to which is added a promise of future 
 continued guidance into all truth. ^ 
 
 These limitations to God's action seem to follow 
 irresistibly from His purpose to bring many sons to a 
 glory ^ asserted in the New Testament, and implied 
 in the Old. Man is to be made higher than the 
 angels,® brought to a greater glory. Wherein ? 
 The angels too have wills, for through self-will some 
 fell. They are liable to temptation, for they fell. 
 
 * Galatians, iii, 19, to iv, 7. 
 
 ^ Acts, XV, 10. Galatians, v, i. 
 ^ Romans, vii, 7-24; viii, 2-4. 
 
 * St. John, xiv, 26; xvi, 12-15. 
 ^ Hebrews, ii, 10. 
 
 ® Ibid.y ii, 5-16; Psalm, viii. 
 
INTERCOURSE 103 
 
 But man is made lower than they, in whatsoever 
 that inferiority consists, in order that through — not 
 by — the operation of his will God might exalt him 
 in the overcoming of difficulties and of suffering, 
 the effect of which in developing character is testified 
 by experience as well as by the Bible. "To him 
 that overcometh I will give to sit down with Me in 
 My throne, even as I also overcame, and sat down 
 with My Father in His throne." ^ This is the 
 triumph of humanity; its perfection in the Christ 
 Who overcame, and in His followers. All do not 
 overcome; but those who do rise to a nature higher 
 than they otherwise could. To the race, and to God, 
 the loss in the one is more than compensated by the 
 gain in the other. The work is God's; the result is 
 not accomplished by man's will, but by God through 
 man's will, which is an essential condition, not the 
 vital factor. The one is the soil, the other the seed. 
 
 By bearing in mind the varied conditions of the 
 successive stages in the race's progress, and the di- 
 verse characters of the writers who received the 
 Divine messages, — the correspondents of God, — 
 the unity of the picture they give gains in impres- 
 siveness. The drawings, we may say, are many, in 
 that many hands have been engaged upon them; 
 but the consistency of the Being portrayed continues 
 throughout, evidencing that the Original who mani- 
 fested Himself to their consciousness is one and the 
 same. 
 
 Were the Bible the work of one imaginative man 
 
 ^ Revelation, iii, 21. Also, ii, 7, 11, 17, 26; iii, 5, 12; xii, ii; 
 XV, 2; xxi, 7. St. John, xvi, 33. 
 
104 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 of genius, consistency of portrayal would not be 
 exceptional, or surprising; that it is found as the 
 work of many hands, through several centuries, is 
 a fair indication that they are presenting the same 
 Person, even the one God, for in this they agree as 
 their avowed purpose. As there is no difference 
 between Jew and Gentile, but the same God over 
 all is rich unto all that call upon Him; ^ as He is no 
 respecter of persons, but in every nation he that 
 feareth Him and doeth righteousness is accepted 
 with Him;^ so there is no distinction of period, no 
 differentiation on the score of natural gifts, or of 
 position, in the prevailing features of the revelation 
 to each. It is one throughout: the oneness of God; 
 His continuous overruling and providence, from 
 creation onward; the duty of obedience to Him, 
 and of righteous dealing with the neighbor; the as- 
 surance of judgment, the assurance of forgiveness, 
 all receiving precise and successive development, 
 broadening their scope and spiritualizing observance. 
 There is consideration of circumstances, what is 
 styled " talking down " towards the level of the hearer, 
 a process in continual practice to-day when a speaker, 
 to put his subject in clearer light, uses what we call 
 illustration ; but there is this constant characteristic : 
 that the talk is always above the level of the contem- 
 porary hearer; not out of his reach, but elevated and 
 elevating. 
 
 This is a phase of that which Christ described as 
 His mission: fulfilling the Law and the Prophets; 
 accepting the past and present, as so much gain, but 
 ^ Romans, x, 12. ^ Acts, x, 34, 35. 
 
INTERCOURSE 105 
 
 leading up and on from it. In several instances in 
 the Sermon on the Mount this is obvious, on the 
 surface; but it is not easy instantly to recognize the 
 same in such comment as that on "Thou shalt not 
 forswear thyself" Here Christ apparently annuls; 
 but when it is considered that "Thou shalt not for- 
 swear thyself" forbids solemn asseverations lightly * 
 uttered and lightly disregarded, it is seen that to 
 "swear not at all" is advance on the same line; ful- 
 filment, not destruction. It is the developing spirit 
 of the third commandment of the Decalogue. So 
 with the treatment of the Sabbath. The command 
 "to rest" receives some explanatory comment in the 
 second giving of the law: "that thy man servant 
 and maid servant may rest as well as thou." Christ's 
 "It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath" is a further 
 fulfilment of the purposes of physical mercy which 
 underlie the fourth commandment. Suffering re- 
 lieved is rest given; fulfilment, not destruction. 
 Under the Christian dispensation, St. Paul antici- 
 pates advance in knowledge, as did Christ. Let us, 
 as many as are full grown, be thus minded; and if 
 in anything ye (any of you) be otherwise minded, 
 this also shall God reveal unto you : only, whereunto 
 we have attained, by that same rule let us walk.^ 
 These things manifest the continuity of the advance, 
 and from it is indicated the oneness of Him Who 
 speaks throughout. 
 
 It will be said, however, that this graduated ad- 
 vance is but an instance of the general history of 
 
 ^ Exodus, XX, 7. Leviticus, xix, 12. Deuteronomy, xxiii, 21. 
 ^ Philippians, iii, 15, 16. 
 
io6 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 civilization; a slow emergence of higher ideals, win- 
 ning their way, stage by stage, to general accept- 
 ance, and thence to incorporation in established law 
 and custom. The Christian reply would be that 
 evolution under the Jewish economy, the Law and 
 the Prophets, was indeed gradual, in that respect 
 sharing the characteristics of all progress; but that 
 it was throughout on a higher plane, entertained 
 higher aims, and reached a higher result. For, 
 not only are Jewish thoughts of God purer and 
 more elevated, not only the spiritual and moral 
 ideals more excellent, but Jesus Christ Himself, 
 in the singular beauty of His character, drew His 
 human nature from Judaism. The Law and the 
 Prophets are fulfilled not only by Him, but in Him; 
 they are the root of which He is the flower. To use 
 His own words. Wisdom is justified of her children.* 
 He is the child. He the result, which justifies the 
 antecedent history. 
 
 Since the coming of Christ, advance, when durable, 
 has been confined as a fact almost wholly to Chris- 
 tian civilization, and has been due ultimately to the 
 presence and influence of the Christian Church; 
 therein fulfilling the prophetic word of its Founder, 
 that it should be the salt, preserving that which 
 has already been attained, and the leaven working 
 continuously to further results.^ The Saracens de- 
 veloped an order of civilization which ceased to 
 progress, and has not endured. The stationariness 
 of the East has become proverbial; China and Japan 
 gloried in conservatism until touched by Christianity. 
 
 * St. Matthew, xi, 19. ^ St. Matthew, v, 13; xiii, ^3' 
 
INTERCOURSE 107 
 
 The Church has been the instrument for preserving 
 the knowledge of the only true God and of Jesus 
 Christ, which is the life of the Christian man and 
 the Christian community. Thus inspired, she has 
 upon the whole, with many sins and shortcomings, 
 sought above all the Kingdom of God and His 
 Righteousness; and to the civilization thus conse- 
 crated has been realized the promise to such a course, 
 that all other things — the material fruits of our 
 civilization — would be added. ^ This providential 
 ordering is in itself as clear as the revealed providen- 
 tial guidance and development told in the Jewish 
 Scriptures. Reliance upon it is an appeal to history; 
 and to this the Church adds the testimony of the 
 individual experience, reproducing in miniature the 
 advance of Christendom at large in the knowledge 
 of God, in the observance of His ways, and in con- 
 sequent benefit. The witness of two is true. 
 
 The appeal to history involves a laborious analysis, 
 to which very few can be competent, to detect and 
 indicate the indispensable influence of the Church, 
 and of its Hfe, upon the general progress. Many 
 can read; but not all can separate the elements in 
 the composite result. The difficulty rests not merely 
 in the variety of motives and characters recognizable 
 in Christian history in general, but in the mixture 
 of good and bad in the Church itself, and in the com- 
 manding individual characters of Church history. 
 The mingling of self-sacrifice and self-seeking, often 
 disguised to the man himself as the interest of the 
 Church, and therefore of God; weakness and 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, vi, ^2- 
 
io8 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 strength, wisdom and folly, purity of purpose and 
 blindness of moral perception, meeting not only in 
 a period, but in the same man. From these causes 
 history is seen in a blur; conclusions will vary and 
 can only be general. The question in fact becomes 
 one of testimony to character, the credit due on the 
 whole to the Christian Church, whether it has ful- 
 filled the prediction of its Founder, been as salt and 
 as leaven. 
 
 The verdict of personal experience is simpler and 
 surer; but it must be remembered that experience 
 implies expertness, — an expert. That is, the result 
 can be reached only after patient continued testing, 
 analogous to the experiments of Science in method, 
 but not in fundamental spirit. For Science demands 
 Sight, whereas Christian conviction interprets ex- 
 periences by Faith. On the ground of the Resur- 
 rection of Jesus Christ, the conditions imposed by 
 Him are accepted, as being not arbitrary, but truths 
 asserted to us as of His knowledge; with them, and 
 in His spirit, the course of man must be ordered, 
 walking by faith, not by sight. Thus doing, the 
 witness of the Resurrection, with which man begins, 
 becomes in time the witness of personal certainty — 
 the witness in himself.^ Such result cannot be 
 transferred as experience, but it can be certified to 
 another; and when this has been done by many the 
 cumulative force is very great, reinforcing inde- 
 pendently and powerfully the testimony from history. 
 
 Perpetual uplifting is one characteristic of the 
 portrait. The God of to-day is always the God of 
 
 * Romans, viii, i6. Galatians, iv, 6. i St. John, v, lo. 
 
INTERCOURSE 109 
 
 yesterday; and in nothing more than that, as the 
 understanding of the follower increases, he finds 
 Him ever rising above him, drawing him upwards. 
 Always, as Moses said, and St. Paul quoted, "The 
 commandment is not far off. It is not in heaven, 
 that thou shouldest say who shall go up for us into 
 heaven and bring it to us. Neither is it beyond the 
 sea; . . . but the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy 
 mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it.'' ^ 
 Walk by the rule thou hast and thou shalt ascend 
 continuously, — shalt attain; for there is in Moses 
 the promise also of the future, the upward move- 
 ment, to be fulfilled in the Prophet who should be 
 raised up like unto him,^ — fulfilled in Christ, but 
 partly and continuously realized in His predecessors.^ 
 There is, of course, the current objection that the 
 God revealed to Israel differs not in degree but in 
 kind from the God revealed by and in Jesus Christ. 
 The One, it is said, is a tribal God, the God of a 
 single small people; a God of vengeance, a jealous 
 God; a God who is described as angry, as avenging 
 Himself, as repenting of His purposes, as admin- 
 istering rude justice, or worse injustice, in primitive 
 fashion. This is not the view of Christ Himself, 
 or of Christianity. To Christ, the Revealer, the 
 Law and the Prophets are a series consecutive with 
 Himself and issuing in Him.^ 
 
 ^ Deuteronomy, xxx, 11-14. Romans, x, 6-8. 
 
 ^ Deuteronomy, xviii, 15. St. Matthew, xi, 3. St. John, i, 21. 
 Acts, iii, 19-23; vii, ^J. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xi, 12-14; vii, 12. St. Luke, xvi, 16. i St. Peter, 
 i, 10-12. 
 
 * St. Matthew, V, 17-20; xiii, 16, 17; xxii, 35-40. St. Mark, 
 
no THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 On this point the New Testament itself has no 
 doubts; but as a proposition to be weighed to-day 
 rationally, — by the human mind, — there are two 
 leading considerations. The portrait of God de- 
 picted for us in the Old Testament must be looked 
 upon as a whole, — the ensemble, to use a French 
 idiom, — not merely one feature at a time; per- 
 haps it should rather be said, the effect of all the 
 portraits by the several portrayers must be allowed 
 to present their ultimate joint result. It will be 
 found, I think, that no serious discordance in any 
 part will be felt by one familiar with the whole; 
 and, secondly, it will be admitted that certain con- 
 spicuous traits appear through all, while contradic- 
 tions are only apparent. The tribal God is tribal 
 merely in the sense that He has chosen Israel for 
 His own possession, for especial purposes; as each 
 individual man is fore-ordained for a specific work. 
 He is throughout the supreme "One" over all other 
 gods; and His choice of Israel is from the first ^ as 
 a means, by which, and in which, all nations ulti- 
 mately shall be blessed, — shall be made His. 
 I speak, of course, of the words of the Bible itself; 
 not of the meaning attributed to them by the Israel- 
 ites of the day of their utterance. 
 
 The anger and the vengeance of God, too, are not 
 rejected in the words of the revelation of the New 
 Testament. That Jesus Christ as Man, and as the 
 
 xii, 28-34. St. Luke, x, 25-28; xxiv, 27, 32, 44-47. St. John, 
 V, 39, 46, 47. Acts, xiii, 27-29. Galatians, iii, 23-25. 
 
 ^ Genesis, xii, 3. So Moses at a later but still very primitive 
 day addresses Jehovah as the God of the spirits of all flesh. Num- 
 bers, xvi, 22; xxvii, 16. 
 
INTERCOURSE iii 
 
 Son of Man, refused to call down fire from heaven 
 upon those who repelled Him ^ does not prevent 
 His placing in His own mouth the words, "Depart 
 from Me, ye cursed, into the eternal fire." ^ The 
 words are words of wrath, — not of hatred, — the 
 act an act of vengeance, as wrath and vengeance are 
 commonly understood; and if we have learned to 
 believe that as done by God they can be called 
 wrath and vengeance only relatively to man, that they 
 are not exact expressions of God's Being and con- 
 duct, but illustrations, convenient to man's under- 
 standing and speech, why deny to the Old Testament 
 that which we have to concede to the New ? 
 
 The ensemble of Christ's character, in word and 
 in act, triumphantly vindicates from inconsistency 
 these words and this deed. The perfectness of 
 His self-sacrifice, from birth to death, justify from 
 all taint of self His words of wrath. His act of judg- 
 ment. Incidentally, indeed. He places before us 
 the explanation,^ that failure in love towards men 
 is the failure of life, is spiritual death; but the per- 
 fectness of His teaching and life carry their own 
 assurance here, and even in instances where we 
 may be perplexed, as in the imprecation on the fig- 
 tree.^ It has been reasonably said, "When a man 
 speaks truth as far as I can test him, I believe his 
 words when they pass beyond my understanding." 
 So the ensemble of the Character revealed in the 
 Old Testament justifies to reason commands and 
 acts, which to us may be hard to understand just 
 
 ^ St. Luke, ix, 54, 55. ^ St. Matthew, xxv, 41. 
 
 3 Ibid., 44, 45. 4 Ibid., xxi, 18-22. 
 
112 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 because of our difference of environment, and of 
 thought, acquired in the progress of revelation. 
 
 Again, the jealousy attributed to God in the Deca- 
 logue does not differ from the words of Christ: He 
 that loveth father or mother, son or daughter, more 
 than Me is not worthy of Me/ Whoso forsaketh 
 not all that he hath, he cannot be My disciple.^ 
 This is not a captious demand for personal consid- 
 eration. It is the statement of a condition, of a 
 principle, universally recognized but here of most 
 vital application, — the necessity of concentration 
 of effort to success, of what Christ elsewhere calls 
 "the single eye," and Napoleon, "exclusiveness of 
 purpose." Purpose is the exact word needed for 
 this definition. As life often shows, there may be 
 many necessary activities, jostling and even imped- 
 ing one another; but amid and above all can be 
 the one dominating will to make each an item of 
 service to God, excluding all other motives from 
 rivalry with this. Thus St. Paul writes: Whatso- 
 ever ye do, in word or deed, — or thought, — do all 
 in the Name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks.^ 
 The commonest necessities may contribute to build 
 up this controlling singleness of mind. "Whether 
 ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the 
 glory of God." ^ Diversities of ministrations, but 
 one Master.^ 
 
 Nowhere can this exclusiveness be more necessary 
 than in the chiefest of concerns, religion; and at 
 no time more essential than at the issuance of the 
 
 * St. Matthew, X, 37, 38. ^ St. Luke, xiv, 26-33. 
 
 ^ Colossians, iii, 17. * i Corinthians, x, 31. ^ Ibid., xii, 5. 
 
INTERCOURSE 113 
 
 Decalogue, when the worship of Jehovah only, in 
 face of general polytheism, was a necessary first 
 step to the recognition by Israel that there was no 
 other than He, and thence to the admission of that 
 truth by others than Israel. These are but other 
 forms of the pronouncement which beyond all other 
 binds together the Old and the New, the word alike 
 of Moses and of Christ: The Lord our God is One, 
 and thou shalt love Him with all thy powers. There 
 is to Him no rival; for the commandment. Thou 
 shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, is second only. 
 There is no commandment greater than these. ^ 
 They summarize the revealed character of God, 
 and taken together constitute the unity of the Revela- 
 tion in the two Testaments. 
 
 The severity and the jealousy of the God of the 
 Exodus is thus manifested also in Jesus Christ, and 
 repeatedly affirmed by His immediate followers, 
 the Twelve and St. Paul. Equally the tenderness 
 of Christ is taught of Jehovah in many passages of 
 the Old Testament, specifically and notably in the 
 Exodus, in immediate connection with the giving 
 of the Law, the stern school-master, at Sinai. This 
 is the moment chosen for the gracious announcement 
 of the character of the God of Israel : Jehovah, Je- 
 hovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, 
 and abundant in lovlngkindness and truth; keep- 
 ing lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity 
 and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.^ 
 Note the conjunction — and, not but. There is in 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxii, 34-40. St. Mark, xii, 28-31. St. Luke, x, 
 25-28. Deuteronomy, vi, 4. ^ Exodus, xxxiv, 5-7. 
 
 8 
 
114 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 these opposed declarations no opposition of quali- 
 ties, no dissonance. The Being of God, which is 
 His character, is a perfect harmony. It is the dis- 
 cord of man that induces the appearance of an op- 
 position which is not internal to the Godhead, but 
 external to it, and in effect. It is the same God 
 throughout, alike in Sinai and in the Crucifixion. 
 It is also the same Man, in different stages of de- 
 velopment; and to him God speaks in like tones, 
 but with application wider and deeper as genera- 
 tions pass. Only so can Man have intercourse with 
 God ; so only can any creature know the Creator, — 
 in terms of its own Hmited being. There may be 
 endless increase; we have eternity before us; the 
 knowledge then compared to the knowledge now * 
 will be immeasurable; but then as now, and as in 
 Abraham's day, it will be knowledge only of the 
 time reached and of the progress made. 
 
 As regards the methods prescribed for early Jewish 
 justice, and in the commands such as that to ex- 
 tirpate the nations of Canaan, it may be admitted 
 that these are not consonant to the methods of 
 Christianity; it does not follow that they are in- 
 consistent with the underlying Spirit which consti- 
 tutes the unity of the two Testaments. To illustrate, 
 they are to be regarded exactly as the amputation 
 of a Hmb to save a Hfe, or the sacrificing the child 
 to save the mother from whom it is being born, 
 as necessary means to an end. In the created uni- 
 verse human life is the greatest thing known to us, 
 and of the most price. Nevertheless, human Hfe 
 * I Corinthians, xiii, 12. 
 
INTERCOURSE 115 
 
 is not the most valuable thing in the world. We 
 must accept the paradox; that we do, is formulated 
 in the proverb, Death rather than dishonor. The 
 frequent abuse of the expression does not invalidate 
 its truth. The right to live is not absolute, but 
 conditional. Where a life contravenes the ends at 
 stake, the life must be taken away. Life does not 
 begin and end in itself, or for itself. It is itself a 
 means, not an end. When it ceases to forward the 
 end for which it exists, it forfeits its right to continue ; 
 when it contravenes that end its destruction is per- 
 missible, and may be imperative. 
 
 Here it is not a good end that justifies an evil 
 means. The means are right; because life is not 
 so sacrosanct that it should not be forfeited for cause, 
 as must be every means which does not fulfil its end. 
 "Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground.?"^ 
 The fig-tree of this parable had life, the end of which 
 was the bearing of figs; it bore no figs; the end 
 not being accomplished, the means, the tree's life, 
 was worthless. Man's judgment of such a condi- 
 tion in human life is liable to error; yet most admit 
 that in certain cases it is right to take away life, or 
 all that makes life desirable; that these are proper 
 means to protect society from a life which contra- 
 dicts its purpose. We reasonably limit such forfei- 
 ture to distinct acts, clearly proved; so admitting 
 that only in marked and clear instances is man's 
 judgment adequate to decide this issue. This 
 inadequacy is the basis of refusal to take away life, 
 where it seemingly merely protracts hopeless sufFer- 
 ^ St. Luke, xiii, 6-9. 
 
Ii6 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ing. Man cannot know the hopelessness, either 
 physical or spiritual;- nor estimate the value of the 
 life to the spiritual welfare of the sufferer or to 
 others. But on any supposition of a God, He does 
 know and rightly may act. He may take away 
 the righteous from evil to come; ^ man may not. 
 He is acting continually. Every death is His sum- 
 mons. His verdict, that the life has failed defini- 
 tively; or has fulfilled its end here, and is ready for 
 transplanting there. 
 
 These conclusions are humanly commonplaces, 
 and in nothing contrary to Christianity. Having in 
 mind the presuppositions of the existence of God, 
 and of His purposes, with the other circumstances 
 of the Old Testament, the current attitude towards 
 its severities reflects a present conventional softness 
 of outlook, extended impartially towards our own 
 faults and towards the punishment of the worst of 
 offences, — if we ourselves have not suffered by them. 
 This is not only different from the spirit of Christ, 
 but opposed to it. "The Son of Man shall put away 
 out of His Kingdom all things that offend, or do 
 iniquity";^ a fate worse than death, as indicated by 
 the words immediately following, however symboli- 
 cal: "and shall cast them into the furnace of fire; 
 there shall be waihng and gnashing of teeth." 
 
 Apply these considerations to the nationsof Canaan. 
 The repeated Old Testament command concerning 
 them, now assumed to be contrary to the spirit of a 
 merciful God, is summed up in the words: "Thou 
 shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou 
 ^ Isaiah, Ivii, i. ^ St. Matthew, xiii, 41, 42. 
 
INTERCOURSE 117 
 
 shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy 
 unto them ; " " thine eye shall have no pity on 
 them." ^ This is the sentence, the mandate of the 
 Judge to the executioner; and it is accompanied by 
 the justification, the finding, let us say, of the jury. 
 "Not for the righteousness of Israel, but for the 
 wickedness of these nations, in various specified 
 charges,^ doth Jehovah thy God drive them out from 
 before thee." ^ Coupled with the command is its 
 purpose, equally repeated : to preserve the separate- 
 ness of Israel by isolation, that the worship of the 
 true God may not perish from the race. "Neither 
 shalt thou serve their gods, nor make marriages 
 with them; for they will turn away thy children 
 from following Me. Thou shalt utterly destroy 
 them, that they teach you not to do after all their 
 abominations, which they have done unto their gods; 
 for so would ye sin against Jehovah, your God." * 
 
 In short, the Old Testament presents to us a 
 community, not yet a nation, and in childhood; sur- 
 rounded by moral dangers, and still in an immatu- 
 rity like that of opening manhood, with its familiar 
 perils. It has behind it scarcely a tradition, beyond 
 that of its origin, save the superimposed weakness 
 of centuries of bondage. It is brought into contact 
 with peoples more numerous, more highly organized, 
 and possessing a more developed civilization; cor- 
 rupt, but extremely attractive to a nomad pastoral 
 race such as the Israelites were. The essence of 
 
 ^ Deuteronomy, vii, 2-4, 16. 
 
 " Leviticus, xviii, 24-30. Deuteronomy, xii, 31; xviii, 9-14. 
 
 ^ Deuteronomy, ix, 4, 5. * Ihid., vii, 3, 16; xx, 17, 18. 
 
Ii8 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 the corruption is in the rehgious system and its 
 practices; to which stand opposed the revelation 
 but recently committed to Israel of the Oneness of 
 God, and a moral code distinctly in advance — 
 though not beyond reach — of that which the Jews 
 had hitherto accepted. The purpose — by the 
 Record — is to establish them in this land, central 
 to the civilizations then existent, the highway be- 
 tween Babylonia, Syria, and Egypt, on the borders 
 of the sea frequented by the most adventurous sea- 
 men and hardiest commercial pioneers known to 
 antiquity, between the capitals to be founded in a 
 still distant future by Alexander and Constantine; 
 to establish them, and to preserve their racial faith 
 and character from submersion by the conditions 
 they found there prevailing. The enemy is more 
 numerous, mightier, as well as more highly civilized. 
 Granting a conquest, will not the vanquished absorb 
 their conquerors, intruding upon them their polity, 
 their religion, their civilization in all its aspects .? We 
 know how the Roman Empire affected the Teutonic 
 invaders; how, on the other hand, the English, 
 having driven out the Britons, established their own 
 system, which in turn swallowed up the Norman 
 invader. To this day Great Britain remains English, 
 as the Jew remained the Jew, and brought forth the 
 Christ. Could it have been so had they become 
 Canaanite in essentials, in foundation .? 
 
 Conditions like those of Canaan are not confined 
 to the ancient world. Will any one seriously contend 
 that the North American continent should have been 
 left forever in the hands of tribes whose sole use 
 
INTERCOURSE 119 
 
 of their territory was to contravene the purposes of 
 human life ? The question addresses itself only to 
 the general proposition. It does not suggest the 
 propriety of particular acts of the whites, even judged 
 by the standard of their day; though it must be re- 
 called that John Fiske, a competent authority, says 
 that Penn's justly lauded method of purchase was 
 the rule, not the exception/ Again, will any one 
 maintain that, as a matter of human justice, it was 
 wrong for the English colonists to dispossess the 
 French government of territory which kept their 
 borders in perpetual horror and bloodshed ? Does 
 it strike any believer in a Providence as iniquitous 
 that God should remove by violence an absolutism 
 which paralyzed human development at its sources, 
 and should replace it with a government that freed 
 human energies to their lawful ends ? Is not light 
 shed upon that past, as Christ's coming sheds light 
 upon Judaism, as we note in the present that the 
 territory redeemed from the Red Indian and from 
 Bourbon despotism is being made a haven for the 
 needy and oppressed of all races, and that the tradi- 
 tions of liberty, law, free institutions, have thus 
 become the possession of many kindreds to whom 
 they were unknown in their former homes ? 
 
 The parallelism, in order of consequences, between 
 the occupation of Canaan by the Israelites and the 
 occupation of America by the English race, is so 
 close, that an American of to-day, guarding himself 
 from ignoring his country's shortcomings, may rever- 
 
 ^ Dutch and Quaker Colonies, ii, 160-162. 
 
120 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ently trace the comparison, and see in both the finger 
 of God; revelation shedding Hght on history called 
 secular. Canaan was occupied by the Jews, who 
 brought thereto, besides their national character, a 
 religious creed of the highest order for that day : a 
 tradition of the unity of God, and a cede of morals, 
 formulated into observances, built up on that founda- 
 tion of allegiance to one God; further, a hope for 
 the future, to be realized in a Messiah. When estab- 
 lished in the land they possessed a political organiza- 
 tion, extremely simple, theocratic in form, the cohesive 
 features of which were the national faith, pregnant of 
 the future of Judaism and of Christianity, and the 
 policy of isolation necessary to its preservation and 
 purity. This exclusion of foreign admixture during 
 the youth and immaturity of the people, though not 
 fully enforced by themselves, intensified the tradi- 
 tions of which they were the sole possessors; breed- 
 ing, it is true, a spirit of caste, which with all its 
 exaggerations has the tough merit of endurance, and 
 is not without its analogue in every virile nation. 
 Then, when the fullness of time was come, the promise 
 made unto the fathers, never wholly forgotten, cher- 
 ished always as a living hope, God fulfilled unto the 
 children when He raised up the Messiah.^ With 
 this fulfilment of its object isolation ceased. Judaism 
 had accomplished its mission of safeguarding truth 
 until it was strong enough to bear the inrush of the 
 peoples, without weakening by the dilution. The 
 salt had kept its saltness.^ The tree was justified by 
 
 ^ Acts, ii, 22-32; 111,22-26; xiii, 32-39; xxvi, 6-8. 
 
 * St. Matthew, V, 13; St. Mark, Ix, 50; St. Luke, xiv, 34. 
 
INTERCOURSE 12 1 
 
 its fruit/ and was ready to spread beyond the narrow 
 bounds of Palestine and to cover the earth. 
 
 Turn to America. By successive events in history, 
 — which to the Christian is the overruHng of human 
 action by Divine Providence, — the territory known 
 as the thirteen colonies, and subsequently that of 
 Canada, became committed to English hands. 
 These brought the strong traditions of liberty and 
 law, set over against each other, in counterpoise, 
 energizing through representative government, al- 
 ready mature, though not yet fully developed. In 
 due transition this political heritage, endowed now 
 with the power of an accepted creed, passed to the 
 United States; and coincident therewith arose in 
 Europe conditions which not only diverted further 
 European strife but imposed upon America a formal 
 policy of political isolation. To this influence dis- 
 tance contributed, as did a need of men in Europe; 
 first to fulfil the demands of protracted war, and 
 subsequently to repair its ravages. In a population so 
 engrossed, emigration on a large scale lacked motive. 
 The American people grew up separate, like the Jews, 
 a people that dwelt alone, not reckoned among the 
 nations; buiFeted recklessly on the one cheek and 
 on the other by the European belligerents; a factor 
 in their game, but without their respect. "Who 
 reads an American book .?" Immigration in quantity 
 had not begun. The tradition received from the 
 fathers was intensified by in-breeding. Still a third 
 of a century passed, in which the presence of an 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, vii, 16-20; xii, 33. St. John, x, 25, -J^J, 38; 
 XV, 24. 
 
122 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 ominous internal question fixed upon itself national 
 attention, in an effort to retain the territory it had 
 received, and to preserve unimpaired the tradition of 
 a national unity. That accomplished, there swelled 
 mightily the influx of alien elements, like the Gentile 
 into the Jewish Christian Church. Reverence dare 
 not parallel any merely human incident to the com- 
 ing of Him in Whom all true Jewish tradition was ful- 
 filled ; but in the one sequence as in the other we may 
 trace development, and note a "fullness of time.'' ^ 
 
 The lesson gains in impressiveness if we work back 
 to its antecedents, to English history. The sum- 
 mary may be brief, for the continuous analogy is 
 obvious. From an early continental home, among 
 many kindred peoples, came the tribes of the Angles 
 and the Saxons, bearing with them the seeds of Eng- 
 lish political faith, formulated in rude custom. 
 They thrust out the Britons from Britain, and called 
 the land by their own name. Canaan became Judaea. 
 Insular position and the preoccupations of the con- 
 tinent favored separateness. The Norman conquest, 
 for the same reasons, was but an incident; influential 
 extremely, but appropriated, assimilated, and ab- 
 sorbed. Shakespeare's "silver sea" maintained 
 isolation, and with it insularity and narrowness; 
 but insularity and narrowness intensified race char- 
 acter, preserved race institutions, and deepened 
 political conviction. To such matured conditions 
 of faith and polity came the fullness of time, in the 
 days of Elizabeth and the early Stuarts ; colonization 
 began. As later to the Americans, there supervened 
 
 ^ Galatians, iv, 4. St. John, vii, 6, 8. 
 
INTERCOURSE 123 
 
 a period of constitutional struggle, concentrating 
 national energies upon national ideals. Invigorated 
 by the strife, (which again was but ^n incident, of 
 progress, not of arrest), the people arose, like a giant 
 refreshed with wine, and poured forth into all the 
 world. America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, 
 with the mother country, are not only the consecu- 
 tive but the consistent development of a small people, 
 called out of their country, possessing a new land, 
 driving out the inhabitants, maintained there in 
 separateness, intensified in political faith, and then 
 launched upon the world ; not, let us hope, to conquer, 
 but to convert. First in the isolation of England by 
 insularity, and then in the isolation of her offspring 
 by remoteness, God nurtured a peculiar tradition of 
 liberty and law, differing in forms but identical in 
 spirit, to become in the end a common heritage of 
 mankind. 
 
 The conquest of Canaan was humanly probable. 
 A corrupt civilization becomes effeminate, and is apt 
 to go down before a simpler foe. But how should 
 the conquest be regulated, to serve the purposes of 
 a foreseeing God .? a God in whose hands were the 
 issues of life, as they are now; Who can determine 
 justly. The command given is expulsion, by death 
 if necessary. A Hne is drawn between the treatment 
 of nations who surround the Israelite territory and 
 those who dwell in it.^ An external danger, though 
 near, bears no such peril as does one which permeates 
 the structure of social and political life. If a physical 
 constitution be sound, it may move unimpaired amid 
 * Deuteronomy, xx, 10-18. 
 
124 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 influences threatening health. The soundness of 
 Israel's political condition depended upon maintain- 
 ing the exclusive worship of the one God, which 
 could not be accomplished if the native inhabitants 
 remained, in the intimacy of social relations that 
 would ensue, with their demoralizing worships ap- 
 peahng to the fervid passions of a vigorous primi- 
 tive people.^ Clear command was given to eradicate, 
 not only men, but women, whose profound influence 
 upon men, in social and religious life, is here recog- 
 nized; as to us ourselves it is clearly phrased in 
 cynical proverb. 
 
 The object is the preservation of a nation for a 
 great specific purpose, the maintenance and ultimate 
 diffusion of the knowledge of the one God, con- 
 cerning which Jesus Christ says, "To know the only 
 true God is life eternal." ^ The means is separate- 
 ness, in order to assure internal purity of race, custom, 
 and worship, for the time essential to the object. 
 The method is extirpation of internal evil influences. 
 In no one of these ideas is there aught alien to the 
 spirit of Christ; ^ but the particular conjuncture de- 
 manded a particular treatment which is opposite to 
 His own action and words in the conjuncture which 
 He faced; and from His course we have deduced a 
 softness of view which has little in common with 
 Him, and which loses sight of principle as qualify- 
 ing conduct. To a common type of intellect the 
 
 ^ Exodus, xxiii, 31-33; xxxiv, 12-17. 
 ^ St. John, xvii, 3. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xiii, 37-42, 49, 50; vii, 23; xxv, 41. 2 Corin- 
 thians, vi, 14-18; vii, I. 
 
INTERCOURSE 125 
 
 pardon of a particular sinner means that the sin is 
 in essence venial. The justification of the methods 
 prescribed is, precisely, that it is the command of 
 God, in Whose hands are the issues of life, and Who 
 is continually issuing His sentences of death, to-day 
 as then. We are often now perplexed by the removal 
 of particular persons, and we need not pretend fully 
 to comprehend in the case of the Canaanites; but it 
 can be seen that, if the charges of the Bible against 
 them be accepted, their lives were justly forfeit, for 
 they had become irredeemably means to evil and not 
 to good. 
 
 There is in this nothing contrary to the spirit of 
 Christ; no divergence between the temper of the 
 Old and the New Testament. As Man, Christ 
 absolutely refrains from retaliation, and even from 
 resentment, for personal injury or insult, and lays 
 upon His followers unqualified command to the 
 same effect.^ ** Father, forgive,"^ sums up His life, 
 as it does His mission of redemption; but He neither 
 condones obstinate evil, nor forbids official punish- 
 ment. This, indeed, He tells us, He as Man, — acting 
 officially, as we say, — will inflict upon incurable 
 impenitents,^ which the Canaanites were. The com- 
 mand to destroy is, on God's part, the sentence of 
 a judge, not an expression of hatred; the Israelites 
 in complying are not the ministers of vengeance 
 but of justice, as strictly as an executioner of to- 
 day in carrying out a sentence. Granting the com- 
 mand — without which there is no Old Testament 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, v, 38-48; xviii, 21-35. 
 
 ^ St. Luke, xxiii, 34. ^ St. Matthew, xxv, 31-46. 
 
126 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 to talk about — their action is purely official and 
 ministerial. 
 
 This brings up, of course, the question of con- 
 science. Can such a command, coming through a 
 man, like Moses, or received by the operation of 
 one's own conviction, as from God, be obeyed 
 righteously .? Should it not rather be rejected, as 
 carrying its own disproof of its coming from God ? 
 One reply is clear: If the authority be adequate, 
 obedience is justified, nay, imperative. This does 
 not assert that the action is right in itself; but that 
 obedience to conscience involves no moral wrong, 
 on the contrary is morally right. A man may do, 
 or may suffer, nobly for conscience' sake, and yet 
 be mistaken in his conviction. He is responsible 
 for the care taken to insure his conclusions; but, 
 granting that, his only moral responsibility is to act 
 accordingly. Part of his data is the light of the 
 age in which he lives. It may be true, as has been 
 asserted, that an action wrong to-day has always 
 been wrong — in itself I do not think so; but, 
 granting the unchangeable moral quality of the 
 act, it does not follow that all men at all times have 
 the same material or opportunity for forming a true 
 judgment. We know they have not. 
 
 The result of this, if correct, is not to justify a 
 command of God; for, if of God, it does not need 
 justification. The point is that in the gradual educa- 
 tion of a race, or in the development of a Divine 
 purpose, the commands of God must adapt them- 
 selves to that which is possible to the will of man 
 at the particular time, or in the particular people. 
 
INTERCOURSE 127 
 
 That man may fulfil his destiny, God has given him 
 a will, which He will not coerce. To forward His 
 purpose He will use every method of persuasion, as 
 men use persuasion of many kinds to win others to 
 a line of conduct; but He will not force. Much 
 less will He violate conscience, His own constituted 
 minister and servant. It is inconceivable that to- 
 day He would lay upon us a command such as that 
 concerning the Canaanites, or to Abraham to sacri- 
 fice Isaac; but it was through such means at that 
 time, which did not strain the consciences of those 
 addressed, — however much it may have their feel- 
 ings, — that He brought about the development 
 of Israel till it issued in Christ, with all that Christ 
 means to our modern thought, including aversion 
 to bloodshed. 
 
 In their stage of development Israel could not 
 have resisted the religious and moral temptations 
 of Canaan. As a matter of historical record they 
 did not; but the effect of the command was to pre- 
 serve the sound tradition in the faithful minority. 
 Equally in that stage their conscience, their moral 
 sense, would not be injured by the command to 
 slay all their enemies; for in it there would be no 
 suggestion of wrong. The peremptoriness of the 
 mandate probably indicates that their natural feel- 
 ing was averse from it; and in fact they complied 
 imperfectly. In this imperfection they may have 
 violated conscience; but it would not be shocked by 
 the command to kill. Centuries later, the Greeks of 
 the brilliant intellectual days of Pericles, iEschylus, 
 and Sophocles, saw in the sparing of captives' lives 
 
128 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 a question only of expediency, not of moral right. 
 So the conscience of the Exodus would not be re- 
 volted by that conception of solidarity in family 
 and race life, which involved in a common destruc- 
 tion men, women, and children. 
 
 Abraham's decision to sacrifice his son ^ may 
 have been the reflection, in a highly rehgious man, 
 of the religious practices of the land whence he 
 came out. We now understand better as to the deed; 
 possibly it would be happy if we could parallel the 
 will; for, to him, compliance with conscience pre- 
 served from moral deterioration, which refusal 
 would have entailed. Let it be said in passing 
 that God's approval, of the will which the act ex- 
 pressed, seems to shed a flood of light upon the 
 expression "Son," in the Triune Name which sums 
 up to man the completeness of the Divine Being; 
 and upon Man's redemption by the atoning death 
 of the Son of God. Abraham emerged into clearer 
 light; the beginning, indeed, of that clearer Hght 
 which we have inherited, and perhaps too much 
 attribute to ourselves. The act in itself is the same; 
 the man is one; the conscience is seen in two stages, 
 an advance typical of that of his descendants. 
 
 No one doubts that Abraham's feelings were 
 wrung to their uttermost by the purpose to sacrifice 
 his son; nor need we doubt that the Jews of the 
 Exodus would be prompted by natural pity, as well 
 as by lower motives, to spare many of their enemies. 
 The command was necessary, and it had regard to 
 the consciences of them to whom it was issued. 
 * Genesis, xxii, 1-19. 
 
INTERCOURSE 129 
 
 These are conditions of successful legislation, of 
 moral, social, and political progress, always. To- 
 day we sum them up in such familiar expression as 
 that legislation cannot go far in advance of public 
 opinion; that laws which have not that support 
 cannot be enforced. The reformer must submit to 
 the limitations imposed by the inability to force a 
 measure too much ahead of popular sentiment. 
 The fanatic will not, and fails. He may help change 
 opinion, but otherwise is not immediately useful. 
 
 But, when law is opportune, an immense step is 
 made in giving legal sanction, and imposing legal 
 obligation. What is thus true of human law is 
 vastly more true of that which the conscience accepts 
 as of Divine command; the recognition of an un- 
 seen, all seeing, Being which underlies the power of 
 an oath. It may be, for instance, that the command- 
 ments of the Decalogue have an antecedent secular 
 history, as some modern research claims; but it is 
 none the less evident that a decisive step in advance, 
 a fundamental change of sanction, was effected by 
 the transactions of Sinai. Jehovah, the lawmaker 
 of the Jews, imposed obligation where otherwise 
 human weakness, or desire, or covetousness, might 
 have failed; He gave sanction to practices with 
 which the then state of society could not yet dis- 
 pense. It is a very superficial error to see in the 
 institution of the personal Avenger of Blood, ^ of 
 the Old Testament, merely an anticipation of the 
 lawless vengeance of a modern personal feud. It 
 was the imposition upon a particular person of a 
 
 ^ Numbers, xxxv, 10-21. Deuteronomy, xix, 11-13. 
 9 
 
130 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 duty to society and to the dead, — a duty consonant 
 to current notions of right and wrong. The Avenger 
 of Blood is formally constituted an official of the 
 law. What public opinion in primitive development 
 approved, and expected, is made a matter of con- 
 science, an obligation, which it is not optional to 
 disregard. The motive, in which lies the moral 
 value of every act, is purged and exalted. The 
 competency of the sanction preserves the integrity 
 of the conscience; as, for example, a surgeon's sanc- 
 tion justifies a family's consent to a dangerous 
 operation upon an unconscious member. Humanly 
 speaking, the method was the best then available; 
 the organization of society not having reached yet 
 the point of a permanent staff of officials adequate 
 to the particular duties. 
 
 We have had the same stage of primitive society 
 reproduced casually in modern times. Vigilance 
 Committees have been the Avenger of Blood, justi- 
 fied before God and man in main idea, not neces- 
 sarily in particular acts. The evil to be deplored 
 has not been the Vigilance Committee, but the social 
 conditions which made it necessary. The condi- 
 tions were those of the Jews of the Exodus. The 
 Avenger of Blood then was needed; to-day he is 
 ordinarily an anachronism. Yet should law break 
 down, as in New Orleans twenty years ago before 
 the Mafia, is the anachronism in the vengeance, or 
 in the failure of the law, which looses the bonds of 
 society ^ Be it noted, however, that while Jehovah 
 adopted. He also reformed. Amendments were in- 
 troduced which reduced the evils attendant upon 
 
INTERCOURSE 131 
 
 personal execution of judgment, and contained the 
 germ of further amehoration.^ His command, in 
 short, was not far off, and led upward. 
 
 It has seemed impossible wholly to avoid con- 
 sideration of what are called "difficulties," the 
 effect of which is thought to invalidate the continuity 
 and oneness of the revelation of God in the Old and 
 New Testaments. To demonstrate that both Records 
 are of and from the one God, that in and through 
 both we can have Intercourse with Him, which is 
 our present theme, it is for many necessary to see 
 reconciled discrepancies of action, which to them 
 appear the outcome of opposing principles, whereas 
 they are only modifications due to external con- 
 ditions. It might perhaps be thought enough to 
 cite Jesus Christ, Who sees no such lapse nor in- 
 consistence. His "But I say unto you " ^ is not in 
 His understanding a contradiction, but an outgrowth, 
 the culmination of a progress from the Law, through 
 the Prophets, to Himself. But the "difficulties" 
 exist, or are made, and to meet them to some slight 
 degree seems requisite, when considering the fitness 
 of the Old Testament with the New to minister to 
 intercourse with God. 
 
 It will be observed that the replies suggested, as 
 far as valid, apply to the so-styled "imprecations" 
 in the Psalms. There may have been in the con- 
 ditions contemporary with them habits of thought, 
 mental and moral conceptions, not yet outgrown, 
 which rendered such expressions fit means for God 
 
 * Numbers, xxxv, 6-15. Deuteronomy, xix, 4-10. 
 2 St. Matthew, v, 17, 22, 28, 32, 34, 39, 44. 
 
132 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 to communicate then with man, or with the par- 
 ticular person. Many solutions have been proposed 
 by apologists; and to myself they have constituted 
 no insuperable difficulty. Most of us, in fact, have 
 had to see or know conditions, in which a thorough 
 cursing, with all its worst consequences, would not 
 in our calmest consideration seem to overgo the 
 iniquity against which they were directed. Towards 
 that which is wholly evil, whether a deed or a person, 
 hatred is a proper sentiment. It is an essentially 
 different thing from hatred towards a personal 
 enemy; indeed, is the natural and correct obverse 
 of love to God and to good. But there need be no 
 trouble in admitting that, whatever their full justifica- 
 tion then, imprecatory words are an anachronism 
 in Christian mouths now; as much out of date as 
 the Avenger of Blood, or the need to extirpate a 
 heathen race because of the moral weakness of a 
 Christian community. If, after two thousand years 
 of knowledge of Christ, we cannot survive such test, 
 it is we, not they, who have so failed as to justify 
 extermination. 
 
 Thus again, when arbitrary or misleading action 
 is attributed to God, as being His own originative 
 purpose, and not merely His allowance of an evil 
 will persisting in its own course, as in the hardening 
 of Pharaoh's heart,^ or in the story of the lying spirit 
 sent forth by Jehovah to deceive Ahab to his destruc- 
 tion,^ it may well be that such a refinement of distinc- 
 tion, as between doing and permitting, might not be 
 
 ^ Exodus, iv, 21 ; vii, 3; ix, 12; x, i. 
 ^ I Kings, xxii, 19-23. 
 
INTERCOURSE 133 
 
 fitted to the comprehension of a primitive community. 
 It might induce misconception; might, for instance, 
 favor the error which historically has played no 
 small part in the intellectual progress of the race, 
 attracting some of its most brilliant minds, of a 
 duality of sovereign powers in the universe — one 
 good, one evil — instead of the one God, the knowledge 
 of Whom is the message of the two Testaments. 
 The very early story of Joseph and his brethren 
 preserves this distinction clearly;^ yet it has been 
 used quite recently as a proof of the misleading 
 character of parts of the Bible narrative in attribut- 
 ing evil to God. 
 
 Transcending all arguments, all other sanctions 
 or assurance concerning the oneness of the spirit 
 and of the God in the Old Testament and in the 
 New, is the sweeping endorsement of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, in the words, "I have not come to destroy 
 the Law and the Prophets, but to fulfil. They testify 
 of Me." ^ "The Law and the Prophets" was a 
 current phrase, covering by accepted implication 
 the canonical "Scriptures" of the Jews of Christ's 
 time on earth; substantially the Old Testament as 
 we have it. His repeated expressions to this effect 
 receive from Him, in the Sermon on the Mount, 
 repeated illustrations ; in some of which fulfilment, 
 in the direction of advance, and not at all of annul- 
 ment, is obvious at once. But in other instances He 
 apparently repeals a law, — destroys ; and a mo- 
 
 ^ Genesis, xlv, 4-8; 1, 15-20. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, V, 17-20. St. Luke, xxiv, 25-27. St. John, v, 
 39, 46, 47. Acts, X, 43; xiii, 27-38. 
 
134 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 merit's consideration is necessary to realize that He 
 does not. "An eye for an eye," becomes in His 
 mouth "a cheek for a cheek," "a mile for a mile;" ^ 
 but the cheek and the mile are the sufferer's own, 
 his willing concession, not his exaction from his 
 enemy. These are limited appHcations, illustrations, 
 of His own consummate act : He gave His own life 
 a ransom for the life of His enemies.^ God, having 
 suffered from Man deadly wrong, gives His Life 
 for Man; takes to Himself human life for this ex- 
 press end, that He may lay it down for them who 
 injured Him.^ It must be recognized that the Old 
 Testament command was a law of strict and level 
 justice, confining retaHation to an equal measure. 
 It was an advance upon the natural human instinct, 
 strong to-day, to exact more, — to have punishment 
 as well as indemnity. It is plain then that the Old 
 Testament already made advance in a direction 
 which Christ's precept simply followed farther. 
 
 Christ's endorsement to the Jewish Testament is 
 that of One possessing authority, a characteristic 
 recognized by His contemporary hearers.^ That 
 authority is farther avouched to us by His Resur- 
 rection.^ If Christ's body mouldered in the grave, 
 our Faith is vain; ^ we may cease argument. If He 
 rose again, it is manifest that there was that in His 
 Personality which at the least fitted Him to pro- 
 nounce as He did upon the Old Testament, as a 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, V, 38-44. ^ Ihid.^ xx, 28. Romans, v, 8-1 1. 
 
 ^ Colossians, i, 19-22. Ephesians, ii, 1-7. 
 
 * St. Matthew, vii, 28, 29; xxi, 23, 24. St. Mark, i, 22, 27. 
 
 ^ Romans, i, 4. ^ i Corinthians, xv, 14-18. 
 
INTERCOURSE 135 
 
 medium by which God communicated to man, and 
 as a record which He Himself understood and 
 fulfilled. This does not commit Him to the integrity 
 of particular passages or to decision as to whether 
 certain accounts are literal or symbolical. Even in 
 an instance apparently so explicit as His question 
 based on Psalm ex; ^ if we understand Him to 
 affirm by implication that David did say, "Jehovah 
 said unto my Lord, sit Thou on my right hand," 
 we can accept the affirmation as to the utterance, 
 without denying critical results as to the date of 
 the psalm quoted. It is perfectly possible that David 
 may have used the words and another writer have 
 repeated them from tradition. One who has power 
 to lay down His life and to take it again ^ may surely 
 have knowledge as far as a fact of this character. 
 
 To the Jew of that day the psalm was David's 
 own. Christ talks to the men of His time according 
 to their progress, as in past centuries He had spoken 
 to their ancestors; and necessarily, for when He 
 goes farther they attempt to stone Him.^ His state- 
 ment, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my 
 day; before he was, I am," ^ asserts at the least 
 that He was contemporary with Abraham and knew 
 his feelings; and by inevitable inference with David 
 and could know his words. If He is not to be credited 
 when He tells us of such earthly things, by what 
 title is He to be believed when He tells us of heavenly 
 things ^ ^ Let us have every ray of light that reason 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxii, 41-46. St. Mark, xii, 35-37. 
 
 ^ St. John, X, 17, 18. ^ Ibid., viii, 59; x, 31. 
 
 * Ibid.y viii, 57, 58. ^ Ibid., iii, 11, 12. 
 
136 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 and learning can give; but if we are to accept on 
 Christ's authority nothing that we cannot see demon- 
 strated, let us frankly give up the pretence of walking 
 by faith. 
 
 Christ's endorsement of the Old Testament is to 
 its character as a witness/ and is illustrated by the 
 limitation which human wisdom has placed upon 
 testimony to a witness's character, — that it must be 
 general, as to trustworthiness. Considering the 
 avowed purpose of the Record which these books 
 contain, testimony to trustworthiness is testimony 
 to authority,^ — that they are authoritative, — the 
 especial quality noted in the teaching of Christ Him- 
 self. Christ's testimony to the early Scriptures, as to 
 their being a communication from God, is thus gen- 
 eral, but it is emphatic. The words, "If they hear 
 not Moses [the Law] and the Prophets, neither will 
 they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead," ^ 
 sorrowfully in the outcome fulfilled, are as absolute 
 an attestation as could well be phrased to the spirit- 
 ual power of the Jewish Scriptures; and to affirm 
 such power is to say that they come from God. 
 
 The "Rising from the Dead," which had not yet 
 even occurred when these words were spoken, is 
 the summary of the Gospel witness. Herein there- 
 fore Christ places Moses and the Prophets on the 
 same plane with the preaching of the Gospel, as a 
 means of persuasion unto the acceptance which is 
 salvation. The incidental introduction of these 
 
 * St. Luke, xxiv, 25-27, 32, 44-48. St. John, v, 39, 46, 47. 
 ^ St. Matthew, v, 17-20; xxiii, 1-3. 
 ^ St. Luke, xvi, 31. 
 
INTERCOURSE 137 
 
 words shows His general attitude, — habit of thought. 
 It not only assures that the Jewish Scriptures were 
 from the One God, and sufficient in their own time 
 to the men to whom they were specially addressed; 
 it affirms directly that in other times the spirit which 
 receives one will receive the ouier, as equally a revela- 
 tion from the same God for the same purposes. So 
 St. Paul writes to Timothy, rejoicing that through 
 his Jewish mother he had from a babe known the 
 sacred writings, " which are able to make thee wise 
 unto salvation through faith which is in Christ 
 Jesus.'' ^ Not only the infancy but the youth of 
 Timothy antedated the New Testament writings; 
 the witness is to the Old Testament and to its general 
 character. Christ and St. Paul give frequent inter- 
 pretation of the meaning of particular passages, and 
 such explanation apparently must involve specific 
 acceptance of them, not always and necessarily 
 literal. It may be illustrative. Explanation of either 
 kind, however, is no substitute for the general en- 
 dorsement; this it can neither enforce nor invalidate, 
 unless it can be shown to affect the authority of the 
 speaker, Christ. 
 
 The consecutive relation of the two Testaments, 
 and at the same time their continued application to 
 common Hfe, may be happily illustrated by a passage 
 from each. Thus the Old, "Thy Word is a lantern 
 unto my feet, and a light unto my path." ^ It makes 
 clear the way, in darkness. Of this Christ's version 
 is a fulfilment : ** I [the living Word] am the 
 
 ^ 2 Timothy, i, 3-5; iii, 14-17. Acts, xvi, I. 
 ^ Psalm, cxix, 105. 
 
138 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Way," ^ not only illuminate the way, but Myself am 
 it. The Person Himself is the Way; His example 
 the standard; increasing knowledge of Him is in- 
 creasing light. "The path of the Just One is as the 
 shining light that shineth more and more unto the 
 perfect day." ^ The illuminative power, the directive 
 value, of the written Word is to " the single eye " 
 matter of frequent experience; still greater is the Per- 
 sonal example, and immediate contact with the living 
 Word. The connection of the two is not that of mere 
 development, from olden time onward to to-day; 
 but one continually renewed, in its double aspect, 
 to the experience of believers in every age. The 
 recurring exigencies of life bring into play the written 
 words, Old or New, applicable to moments of perplex- 
 ity or difficulty; and not only does light stream from 
 the words, but the immediate situation itself reflects 
 back elucidation upon them, their meaning thence- 
 forth is plainer than ever before. Yet there are mo- 
 ments and conditions for which no words, however 
 sacred, give account; when the touch is not of words, 
 but with a Life. 
 
 For all these reasons the Christian may accept the 
 oneness of the Bible, in that it is a communication 
 from one Person, God, confirmed to us by Jesus 
 Christ, as being the Same who spoke in and through 
 Him. God, who in these last days hath spoken unto 
 us in His Son, did speak also in old time to the 
 fathers in the prophets, by divers portions and in 
 divers manners.^ Like the two dreams of Pharaoh,* 
 
 ^ St. John, xiv, 6. ^ Proverbs, iv, 18. 
 
 ^ Hebrews, i, i, 2. * Genesis, xli, 25, 26. 
 
INTERCOURSE 139 
 
 the two records are of one truth of God. In the New 
 as in the Old we will expect those to whom God ad- 
 dresses Himself to speak and write as men of their 
 time; rather, that God will speak to them according 
 to the rule to which they have attained/ of under- 
 standing and of life. It is partly in the abundance 
 of these correspondents to whom God addressed 
 Himself, their divers receptivities and characteristics, 
 that the fullness of the revelation will consist; as 
 every subject in the development of which men are 
 made the instruments will receive light from the 
 numbers employed in it. 
 
 This, however, affects only the manner of the com- 
 munication; not its substance. It involves elucida- 
 tion ; not addition to the deposit of fact, much less 
 diminution of it. Progress in science is a process of 
 elucidation ; the truths of nature, discovered or yet 
 undiscovered, are its basis of research, and they do 
 not change. If they did, science as a method of 
 investigation might last, but all present conclusions 
 would collapse in confusion. Imagine the results, 
 should gravitation cease to be. Christ, His Person, 
 avouched by His Resurrection,^ is the spiritual centre 
 of gravitation which holds in place and guides in 
 movement the system called Christianity. The un- 
 searchable riches of Christ, of which St. Paul speaks,^ 
 are shown in the effects produced progressingly by 
 the power which He is, developed by continuous 
 elucidation through the Christian centuries; as 
 
 * Philippians, iii, 16. 
 
 ^ Romans, i, 3, 4. i Corinthians, xv, 13, 14, 17. 
 
 ^ Ephesians, iii, 8. 
 
140 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 electricity is the power, long unrecognized by man, 
 the elucidation of which, still incomplete, we now 
 have around us in forms unknown to our predeces- 
 sors. A force denied is a force ignored; and a force 
 ignored, as electricity long was, is a force non-existent 
 for useful ends. Alchemy and astrology ceased to 
 exert influence when men became satisfied of the 
 non-existence of the basis upon which they rested. 
 
 As a philosophy, or as an ethical system only, built 
 up upon the teachings of Christ, Christianity may 
 play a part in the world ; but as a spiritual power it 
 cannot endure in the denial of the Christ of the 
 Gospels, of His Person and His Resurrection. The 
 basis of fact disappears. This basis accepted, eluci- 
 dation progresses, as a child in and from the womb 
 of its mother develops into the power of maturity. 
 This elucidation, in the Old and in the New, differs 
 from the elucidations of Science chiefly in this : that 
 the subject matter of research and of elucidation in 
 the Testaments is the primary Personal cause, God; 
 whereas Science deals with an array of secondary 
 causes, which are manifestations of God's creative 
 power. It follows naturally that, while we claim for 
 science, and for all good work, the cooperative guid- 
 ance of the Holy Spirit, God working with man's 
 natural efforts, for external effects, we find in the 
 revelation of the Bible something different as well as 
 higher; the Holy Spirit working in man, to effects 
 to which man contributes only receptivity and prayer. 
 
 Prayer indeed is ultimately a receptive disposition, 
 a disposition towards intercourse; and such dispo- 
 sition welcomes the increase of knowledge of the 
 
INTERCOURSE 141 
 
 truth through repeated experience. Only within a 
 half-century has slavery disappeared from Christen- 
 dom; but its disappearance was insured from the 
 moment the power of Christ became incarnate, when 
 He took upon Himself the form of a bond servant, 
 and was made in the likeness of men. The end was 
 in that beginning, when God took unto Himself the 
 flesh common to master and to slave. Starting from 
 that known truth, St. Paul's elucidation did not carry 
 him to recommend herein a social revolution; but 
 the spirit of final abolition was in his exposition of 
 love as by Jesus Christ commanded, with a direct 
 application to slavehood.^ To antiquity this was a 
 mental and moral revelation, which could not but 
 issue in a social revulsion. The leaven wrought 
 through centuries of pondering. To treat a slave as 
 a brother became an act of obligation; to free a slave 
 an act of mercy. Man stood receptive. In Christian 
 estimation, the slave ceased to be only a chattel, and 
 became a member of Christ. To this there could be 
 but one logical result. 
 
 This instance illustrates well the effect of Inter- 
 course with God by His written Word, which, alike 
 in the Old Testament and the New, is the testimony, 
 the perpetual manifestation, of the living Word, 
 Jesus Christ. The habitual reader of the Bible is 
 in so far in perpetual communion, intercourse, with 
 God. He is perpetually hearing, constantly associat- 
 ing. As in human intercourse, so in Divine, the 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, XX, 25-28; xxiii, 8-11. Romans, iii, 22. i Cor- 
 inthians, vii, 22; xii, 13. Galatians, iii, 28. Ephesians, vi, 5-9. 
 Colossians, iii, 11; iv, i. i Timothy, vi, i, 2. Philemon, 16. 
 
142 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 influence of character is operating continuously; 
 while, more remittingly, specific words fall upon the 
 ear with that opportune force which makes life thence- 
 after other and better than before. Moreover, under- 
 standing expands. Progressive intercourse brings 
 progressive comprehension, and such comprehension 
 is pro tanto revelation, to the individual or to the race. 
 
 Such advance is not marked necessarily by con- 
 sciousness at the moment. In intercourse with God, 
 man does not cease to be man; and of that Friend 
 appreciation increases as of other friends, and as 
 love grows, — unobserved. Habits of thought are ab- 
 sorbed, unwittingly ; points of view are assimilated ; 
 the very tongue of the Speaker becomes more familiar, 
 as the idiom of a foreign country to the long sojourner 
 there, until, as we say, he speaks like a native; what 
 is apter, hears like a native. Nor should we, pursuing 
 this metaphor, which is more than metaphor, forget 
 the atmosphere of the country, which is that of our 
 allegiance; the tonic of being perpetually in contact 
 with, breathing in, the spirit of the living God through 
 the medium of His words. It is a phase, and a con- 
 dition, of that vital mystical state which Jesus Christ 
 called "abiding in Me," ^ — the Life of the Christian. 
 The Old Testament has its consistent version : Trust 
 in Jehovah, and do good; dwell in the land and 
 verily thou shalt be fed.^ 
 
 In this mutual relation, in Man's part in it, it 
 cannot be difficult to trace that element of human 
 effort which we know as Prayer. Spiritual recep- 
 
 ^ St. John, XV, 4-8. I Corinthians, xii, 12, 27. Ephesians, v, 30. 
 ^ Psalm, xxxvii, 3 (Psalter). 
 
INTERCOURSE 143 
 
 tivity is not merely passive. It is an active state; 
 merely to dwell is active choice, involving persist- 
 ence of effort, — a condition of intense and multifold 
 energy. Prayer, to which we now pass, must be 
 regarded primarily in this light, if it will not be mis- 
 conceived; which it continually and grossly is. The 
 idle impression concerning Praise, that it is a form of 
 propitiatory compliment, transfers itself largely to 
 Prayer, in which is perceived merely indolent asking, 
 — a slightly more dignified species of begging, — and 
 naught beyond. But to see in the Bible the Word 
 of God, to recognize its purpose to be the knowledge 
 of God, places the reader who for these reasons seeks 
 it in the position at once of one who asks; asks not 
 indolently, but at the sacrifice of time, the exercise 
 of close attention, — itself no slight effort, — and, as 
 perception increases, asking with an ever-growing 
 play of mind and heart, of intelligence and of emotion, 
 which not only produce results but are themselves a 
 weighty exhibition of natural powers in active em- 
 ployment. Quite independent of the effort to bind 
 ourselves to an occupation to which at the moment 
 we may be reluctant, to read is hard work; and the 
 Bible not least, but most, because of the demands 
 upon faculties spiritual as well as natural. 
 
 Our Lord's successive exhortations : Ask, and ye 
 shall receive; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it 
 shall be opened to you,^ are no mere iteration of 
 equivalents. The successive rises in energy are 
 obvious, when once noted; but though the several 
 acts have a common characteristic. Prayer, the 
 ^ St. Matthew, vii, 7, 8. 
 
144 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 particular manifestation indicates variety of occasion. 
 In serious reading, whatever the subject, one seeks; 
 in praying, one asks; in knocking, one perseveres, 
 importunes, in the face of difficulty, manifesting in 
 intensified form that expectation and desire of answer 
 which is Faith, and upon which Christ predicts an 
 assured success/ Faith itself, the condition of suc- 
 cessful prayer, is not merely passive acceptance, but 
 active self-committal to a choice of life with all its 
 requirements and consequences; it presupposes, and 
 has been preceded by, effort mental and moral. It 
 is of God, doubtless, and not of ourselves ; ^ but it 
 is so just as a harvest is of God, Who has given the 
 life to the seed, but which none the less presupposes 
 and exacts man's cooperation in ploughing, seeding, 
 and reaping. Prayer, of course, may be reduced to a 
 mere form, often thoughtless, never thought-full; to 
 a bare repetition of words received from others. 
 Even so, as a form, in a day of need it may prove a 
 help to better things. But real Prayer, actual Prayer, 
 involves much more than the act itself, however 
 earnest. It includes all the antecedent dealings with 
 one's self, reflection on conditions, faults, duties, 
 aspirations, which govern conduct of life, and so 
 furnish the material for prayer. 
 
 Prayer, in short, is effort, hard work, and in a 
 double sense. It is internal effort, of the will, to 
 bring our own powers, of heart and intellect, and sus- 
 tained purpose, with all that we include in Faith, 
 into an effectual operation; while externally it sets 
 
 ^ St. Luke, xi, 5-10; xviii, 1-7. St. Matthew, xxi, 18-22. St. 
 Mark, xi, 12-14, 20-25. ^ Ephesians, ii, 8. 
 
INTERCOURSE 145 
 
 in motion machinery that shall contribute to a result, 
 which may be either within or without. Whether it 
 be for the transformation of character, or for an ac- 
 cession of personal well being, or for some object or 
 some person not in any way ourselves, Prayer is 
 inherently a force; demanding energy for its devel- 
 opment and manifesting energy in its operation. 
 So far as concerns the development of character, 
 which is the essence of personality, it is an exercise 
 of the will strictly analogous to every other form of 
 self-discipline, — to study, to control of inclinations, 
 to exertion or self-repression of any kind. That it 
 takes the form of simple words, uttered or unex- 
 pressed, and claims to issue in accomplishment of 
 deeds, effecting consequences in which the end seems 
 wholly disproportioned to the means, makes it in no 
 sense exceptional to experience. Transformation of 
 energy is not even an unscientific conception; the 
 touching of a button explodes a charge which wrecks 
 a reef. Prayer undoubtedly claims not only to affect 
 spiritual conditions by spiritual means, but material 
 conditions as well; either directly, or through a 
 series of intermediate causes, as may please God. 
 
 But some man may say: How can Prayer thus 
 work, and what is the manner of its acting ^ We may 
 reverently paraphrase the well known reply of St. 
 Paul to a very similar interrogatory.^ Cast thine eye 
 upon the processes of nature everywhere around thee. 
 Everywhere is seen life energizing, the work of the 
 Creator, in plant and animal, in sea, and air, and 
 land, independent of man in origin and process. 
 
 ^ I Corinthians, xv, 35-49. 
 10 
 
146 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 But in innumerable directions are seen also the same 
 conditions affected by man, not in process only, but 
 in origin also. We have even coined a word, " pro- 
 create," to create for the Creator; to which man may 
 refuse compliance. But the work of man is still 
 more evident in processes, — in the cultivated field, 
 in streams controlled, in forces turned to use from 
 waste; utilizing an apparent prodigality of the Crea- 
 tor, which may yet prove a foresight for the days of 
 scarcity threatening the world. Civilization is simply 
 the work of God through man ; as Redemption in its 
 broad results is His work, through man's prayer 
 appropriating the abounding powers of Christ's Life 
 and Death and Resurrection. 
 
 In the conception of the Bible, throughout. Prayer 
 is simply a Power of God committed to human hands, 
 exercised by God-appointed instruments to ends 
 which He chooses thus to effect, and will not other- 
 wise accomplish. It is a spiritual transaction, a cause 
 which has its promise of result, through the Power 
 which created the universe and sustains it in opera- 
 tion. To what extreme of scope this effect may ex- 
 tend is no more to be defined than is the future reach 
 of scientific progress. The two belong to different 
 categories, — the spiritual and the natural; but they 
 present analogies. Utilized by man according to the 
 conditions imposed. Prayer is Man at work, — putting 
 into operation a force, the development of which 
 requires on his part intense eflPort and the employ- 
 ment of varied means, not least of which is the knowl- 
 edge of God, with the obtaining of which we have 
 but just now been concerned. Manifestly, however 
 
INTERCOURSE 147 
 
 great its intrinsic power, and manifold its modes of 
 action, it, like electricity, depends for efficiency of 
 result upon the knowledge and care of the operator, 
 upon his habit and practice. Like the inspiration 
 of the Word, the quality and power of the prayer will 
 depend in part upon him who prays. God's part is 
 constant, as is a natural force; the conditions and 
 the objects of application vary innumerably, and 
 with them the consequences. 
 
 Thus the greatly perverted proverb, Lahorare est 
 Orare, — never more misleading than in this hurried 
 day of crowded institutional as well as personal activ- 
 ities, — is only one half of the truth, and that the 
 lesser half. The obverse, that he who prays also 
 works, puts God first in the joint action. "He who 
 works, prays," puts man first; if indeed it does not 
 ignore God altogether. The Bible makes no such 
 mistake. It puts God always first, yet leaves not out 
 man's part. Except the Lord keep the house, their 
 labor is but lost that build it.^ " Except the Lord " 
 is Or are ; "that build it" is Lahorare. "Except the 
 Lord keep the city, the watchman waketh but in 
 vain," ^ does not dispense the watchman from his task. 
 Our Lord's "Watch and Pray," ^ the summary of 
 the Christian's duty in confronting life, equally recog- 
 nizes both. "Watch" specifies man's peculiar part; 
 "Pray" recognizes God's indispensable contribution. 
 Neither agent is absent from either act; for as man 
 cannot effectively watch without God's help, neither 
 
 ^ Psalm, cxxvii, i. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxvi, 41. St. Mark, xiii, 33-37. St. Luke, 
 xxi, 36. Ephesians, vi, 18. Colossians, iv, 2. 
 
148 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 can God perfectly help without man's prayer. Prayer 
 is the outcome, and the efficacious exertion, of man's 
 will, cooperating with that of God. Effort in its 
 proper place is silent prayer; but prayerless effort 
 is not work, but labor. 
 
 For God to provide for us without our asking would 
 be to provide without our action. Not to pray is 
 the real human laziness, — expecting God to help us 
 without helping ourselves. His doing so would be 
 equally provision; but the provision a father makes 
 for a baby, not that which he gives by aiding a full 
 grown son to carry on his business. Prayer is work ; 
 the power, and the instrument, by means of which 
 a man accomplishes his task. An infant cannot use 
 it, and so will receive unasked provision. A man, the 
 holiest, the most practised, will not use it perfectly, 
 and so may, doubtless will, receive more than he 
 asks: "exceeding abundantly above all that we 
 ask or think"; ^ but this does not contradict the fact 
 that in prayer man is working, doing his part, as a 
 ploughman guiding the plough, the appointed part 
 of a man, of whom God requires cooperation, not of 
 a child as yet incapable of work. In this way most 
 truly "God helps them who help themselves." 
 
 This ancient proverb doubtless echoes the misap- 
 prehensions current as to the moral quality of Prayer, 
 — as to the motive, and the moral and mental energy 
 constituting it. To ask appears a thing so simple in 
 conception, and so weak in execution, as to be not 
 only inadequate to great ends but, if successful, a 
 discreditable means of obtaining them. I go, say, 
 * Ephesians, Hi, 20. 
 
INTERCOURSE 149 
 
 to a rich man, and with no other reason than my 
 wish and pleasure ask him to give me a miUion 
 dollars. He does so; I should be ashamed of the 
 request, and equally ashamed of accepting. That 
 this illustrates a very current estimate of prayer is 
 indubitable; but the analogies break down through- 
 out. Prayer is very complex in conception and ex- 
 ceedingly difficult in execution ; yet, being all this, it 
 is a condition, a stipulation, imposed upon man by 
 God, — or, rather, inherent in the gift of a free will 
 capable of response to God, — upon compliance 
 with which certain results are promised. The 
 condition, or stipulation, taken with the promise, 
 constitute a covenant, or contract; and man's compli- 
 ance, the compliance of his will, entitles him to claim 
 the promise. It is no mere beggary, but the rendering 
 of a stipulated quid pro quo, like the result flowing 
 from complying with a law of nature. 
 
 For argument's sake, the case is thus stated nakedly 
 and without a qualification imperatively necessary 
 to proper understanding. As St. Paul puts it, the 
 gifts of God, such as prayer and its answer, are not 
 of debt, but of favor. Man cannot claim as due to 
 his merits; he claims only in virtue of the free promise 
 made by God, and of his own will to comply, shown 
 in hearty effort. Were his compliance even perfect, 
 his claim would be only to a promise, in itself an 
 unearned favor; but inasmuch as with the best men 
 compliance is defective, the fulfilling of God's part, 
 of the promise, is doubly a favor. The extreme pres- 
 entation of the case, as that of a contract fulfilled, 
 therefore fails. Nevertheless, the justice of God 
 
150 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 recognizes that justice is only complete when man- 
 ifested in mercy; that man, under his load of imper- 
 fection, does not receive justice if mercy do not enter 
 into the settlement. There is demanded therefore 
 not the full tale of accomplishment, but the clear 
 good will of the heart. "God is not unrighteous, to 
 forget your works and labor which proceed of love." ^ 
 " If there be first a willing mind, it is accepted ac- 
 cording to that a man hath, not according to that 
 he hath not." ^ I do not attempt here to enter into 
 the question of the Atonement by our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, whereby alone, in mysterious way, God is en- 
 abled thus to reconcile justice with mercy. To this 
 I am inadequate, and am endeavoring only to apply 
 to the specific subject of Prayer those considerations 
 which redeem it from the reproach of facility, inad- 
 equacy, and beggary. 
 
 Prayer then is no mere idle offering of empty 
 words which cost nothing. Although in itself in- 
 adequate to the benefits it assures, they, like the 
 fruits of the ground, are won by the sweat of the 
 brow, — by mental toil, by steady effort of will, by 
 moral strain, at the expenditure often of profound 
 and exhausting emotion. Of Jesus Christ we are 
 told that being in an agony, ^ He prayed more ear- 
 nestly. Prayer, though inadequate, is as the pay- 
 ment the poor man may make to a physician for the 
 
 * Hebrews, vi, lo. St. Matthew, x, 40-42; xxv, 40. Acts, x, 
 
 35- 
 
 ^ 2 Corinthians, viii, 12. 
 
 ^ St. Luke, xxii, 44. Hebrews, v, 7. Recall that the primary 
 meaning of agony is intense action, — struggle. 
 
INTERCOURSE 151 
 
 healing he receives. It measures neither the skill 
 of the physician nor the relief bestowed; but it is 
 what the man can. In the eyes of justice it well may 
 be more than a richer man could do, as the widow's 
 mite excelled in worth all other gifts, because rep- 
 resenting real deprivation. It is the privilege of 
 poverty over wealth that it can so sacrifice; can 
 offer that which costs dearly. So stands the prayer 
 of the Christian before his God; bare of value, but 
 costly. 
 
 Prayer then is effort, personal and internal. It 
 is a causative power. In its perfection, as found in 
 Jesus Christ, it presupposes the high training of an 
 athlete. Consider Christ's training as Man. No 
 bowing of man's intellect to faith, or compliance 
 with the self-abnegations required by faith, parallels 
 the humility which emptied itself of the Divine glory, 
 and complied with the limitations of human nature.^ 
 The incidents of His career of humiliation, — lowly 
 birth, poverty, neglect, misunderstanding, suffering, 
 the forsaking of friends, apparent utter failure, 
 Ignominy, death, — all which things He realized as 
 human experiences, are as nothing to the original 
 self-humiliation in taking man's form in order that 
 He might fully share man's lot and so make man 
 sharer of His happiness.^ Such was the training 
 which perfected Him, and made Prayer in His hands 
 a Power to move mountains. 
 
 To move mountains is the consummate expression 
 of the power of Prayer, energizing in external effect, 
 as distinguished from its intrinsic force. It is de- 
 ^ Philippians, ii, 5-8. ^ Hebrews, ii, 6-18. 
 
152 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 rived from a well-known incident in the life of our 
 Lord, which for illustrative purposes, should here be 
 quoted in full/ 
 
 On the morrow, when they were come out of Bethany, 
 He hungered. And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves. 
 He came, if haply He might find anything thereon. And 
 when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it 
 was not the season of figs. And He answered and said 
 unto it, No man eat fruit from thee henceforward for ever. 
 And His disciples heard it. . . . And as they [again] passed 
 by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from 
 the roots. And Peter, calling to remembrance, saith unto 
 Him, Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which Thou cursedst is 
 withered away. And Jesus answering saith unto them. 
 Have faith in God. Verily, I say unto you, whosoever 
 shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast 
 into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall 
 believe that what he saith cometh to pass, he shall have it. 
 Therefore I say unto you. All things whatsoever ye pray 
 and ask for, believe that ye receive them and ye shall have 
 them.^ 
 
 We assume lightly that this assurance of Christ's, 
 coupled with the condition "Have faith in God,'* 
 is applicable to such power of prayer as we possess 
 in the immaturity of the Christian's life. Having 
 regard to man's part only, setting aside that for ex- 
 ceptional reasons — as in miracles — God in special 
 instances may exert power through means otherwise 
 inadequate, this assumption is much as if one should 
 take a raw youth out of a field, set him to pull stroke 
 oar in a race, and be sure of winning. The impreca- 
 tion on the fig tree, which illustrated this word of 
 
 * St. Mark, xi, 12-14, 20-24. St. Matthew, xxi, 18-22; xvii, 20. 
 
INTERCOURSE 153 
 
 our Lord's, took place at the end of His course; 
 and the word is not so much a general assurance, 
 as a specific command to an aspiration. It is pri- 
 marily a command, upon which the promise is con- 
 ditioned. It presupposes disciplined energies with 
 a constant mind, — for faith is enduring, — and to 
 such it assures proportionate results; commensu- 
 rate, it is true, not to the faith itself, but to that 
 power of God which the faith should evoke. We 
 have caricatured the command into a promise, so 
 loosely conditioned as practically to assure an effect 
 without an equal cause. Then, being disappointed, 
 we doubt. 
 
 Consider, too, what this caricature involves. 
 The promise, — to move mountains, — whether con- 
 strued literally or figuratively, is to commit to man 
 a power which in improper handling would turn the 
 order of nature upside down. That man is capable 
 of receiving such power is shown in Jesus Christ; 
 and also is suggested, in terms of human thought, 
 by God's care to exclude man from the tree of life,^ 
 as soon as he had parted with the spirit of obedience. 
 Imagination quails before the thought of the wicked- 
 ness of man expanded by enduring life and ex- 
 perience. But in Christ's assurance the conditions 
 are such as to insure fitness to use the power. Faith 
 and Prayer, in the degree demanded, are qualities 
 which guarantee that the exercise of power will be 
 only in conformity with God's will. Such prayer 
 God needs. It is part of His provision, inseparable 
 from the gift of free will, by which He can accom- 
 * Genesis, iii, 22-24. 
 
154 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 plish through man that which apart from man He 
 will not — by His own Nature cannot — otherwise 
 effect. At the opening of Christ's ministry, before 
 any miracle by Him is recorded, His course in the 
 Temptation demonstrates Him to history as one 
 fit to have this power intrusted to Him; He refuses 
 to attempt its use contrary to the will of God, read 
 by Him in the Scriptures.^ 
 
 It is clear that one who will not yield on such a 
 supreme occasion, under the solicitations of ex- 
 treme bodily want, will not act by mere caprice; 
 and the instance would vindicate as reasonable His 
 action in the withering of the fig tree, could no 
 explanation of that be given. This seemingly 
 wanton exercise of power receives illustration, and 
 justification, in the subsequent washing of the apos- 
 tles' feet;^ an incident plainly exceptional, not to 
 be expected, and to them at the moment inexpli- 
 cable, as was the blighting of the tree. To St. 
 Peter's remonstrance He replied, "What I do thou 
 knowest not now, but thou shalt know"; and when 
 He had finished. He said, "I have given you an ex- 
 ample; for if I, whom ye rightly call Lord, and 
 Master, have washed your feet, you also should wash 
 one another's feet." The act was an example, and 
 an illustration, of service and of humihty; and in 
 like manner the unexpected and unaccountable with- 
 ering of the tree is by Him explained as an illus- 
 tration of the power to which Faith — in God — 
 
 * St. Matthew, iv, i-ii. St. Luke, iv, 1-12. 
 ^ St. John, xiii, 1-15. 
 
INTERCOURSE 155 
 
 is capable of attaining. In neither case is there 
 caprice; for in both cases there is purpose. 
 
 The demand for immediate visible results to a 
 prayer is practically desiring to walk by sight; it is 
 the negation of Faith, the fundamental condition 
 of the Life of the Christian and of successful prayer. 
 Thus the petition is poisoned at its very source. Do 
 then the promises of Jesus Christ fail in particulars 
 upon which so many hopes are built .^ No; we are 
 not here in the presence even of a paradox, much 
 less of a denial. The condition stated. Faith in 
 God, necessarily implies a complete trust: i, that 
 the prayer will be answered; 2, that it will be an- 
 swered for the suppliant's best good as God knows 
 it, as the man himself, if gifted with required faith, 
 would ask, did he also so know; not as he may see 
 and word it in a request ill-considered, even though 
 honest and earnest. A prayer contrary to the will 
 of God cannot be a prayer of faith. The sons of 
 Zebedee ask that they may sit, the one on Christ's 
 right, the other on His left, in His Kingdom;^ a 
 request which may well have been one of affection as 
 well as of ambition. The reply. Ye know not what 
 ye ask, is applicable to many prayers; probably to 
 most. If a son ask bread, questions our Lord, will 
 his father give him a stone ? ^ Yet to answer a prayer 
 according to its exact terms may be to do just this. 
 
 St. Paul in his first letter to the Corinthian Chris- 
 tians evidently had in mind our Lord's expression 
 concerning removing mountains;^ it was part of his 
 
 * St. Matthew, xx, 20-23. St. Mark, x, 35-40. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, vii, 9, 10. ^ i Corinthians, xiii, 2. 
 
156 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 mental and spiritual possessions. Yet in his second 
 letter, speaking of his personal affliction/ for deliver- 
 ance from which he prayed thrice (/'. ^., a perfect 
 number of times, earnestly and fervently), he re- 
 cords the denial in form of his prayer, vs^ithout mis- 
 giving that it had failed. " My grace is sufficient for 
 thee, for My powder is made perfect in v^eakness." 
 The prayer is answered; but to faith not to sight. 
 Relief is given; but it is by increasing power to bear, 
 not by removing the burden, a greater result in any 
 sound estimate of benefit. The faith, such as it was 
 in the prayer, is rewarded by an increased demand 
 for further faith; which of itself indicates an original 
 defect, in a man whose faith was great as measured 
 by his works and by human standards. The re- 
 current expressions of St. Paul in the immediate 
 connection show that he fully appreciated that he 
 had received more than he asked. In his prayer he 
 had sought and found; he importuned, knocked 
 thrice, and it was opened to him. He sought tem- 
 poral relief, goodly pearls; he found instead one 
 pearl of great price.^ Then he appreciated it, sold 
 all else and bought it. His expression to his Philip- 
 pian converts, "I count all things but loss for the 
 excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my 
 Lord, . . . and do count them but dung that I may 
 win Christ,"^ takes to their Corinthian brethren an in- 
 tenser form. Now, "I take pleasure in weaknesses, 
 in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in dis- 
 tresses, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, 
 
 ^ 2 Corinthians, xii, 7-10. ^ St. Matthew, xiii, 45, 46. 
 
 ^ Philippians, iii, 7, 8. 
 
INTERCOURSE 157 
 
 then am I strong." His experience in the instance 
 illustrates our Lord's word, Every branch in Me 
 that is bearing fruit My Father purges, that it may 
 bring forth more fruit. ^ 
 
 Faith, to be perfect, — to remove mountains, — 
 must at the very least be primarily a belief and trust 
 in God's wisdom and His goodness to man, as well 
 as in His power. Christ's condition is : Have Faith 
 in God. To conceive of Faith in this connection as 
 being merely an intellectual certainty, a confidence, 
 in virtue of which, the man himself exercising it, 
 the mountain would remove at his word, would be 
 behef in self, not belief in God. Faith in God, 
 to one uncertain of what the will of God in the par- 
 ticular instance may be, must carry not only belief 
 in His power to remove the mount, but also belief in 
 His wisdom and goodness in controlling action, in 
 case it would be unwise or unkind to grant the 
 prayer. To real faith, consequently, no petition can 
 be unconditioned ; and, indeed, adequate realization 
 of the danger there may be in receiving what we ask, 
 in ignorance of the effects, what Johnson well called 
 "the secret ambush of a specious prayer," would 
 of itself, and to mere human prudence, condition 
 prayers. 
 
 As regards, then, prayer being effectual, being 
 answered, the assurance of Christ is precise, the 
 promise undoubtful: "Ask, and ye shall receive." 
 But receive what .? the answer your need requires, 
 in measure as you have that only real Faith which 
 trusts God's wisdom as well as His goodness. When 
 ^ St. John, XV, 2. 
 
158 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 a man goes to a physician, he expects the treatment 
 required by his physical condition; not that which 
 his softness would prefer, or his prepossessions im- 
 agine. Thus two men may have the same, let us 
 say, trouble, and the one may pray, like St. Paul, 
 for deliverance; the other not pray. It would be 
 perfectly consistent with God's faithfulness in an- 
 swering, that he who asked relief should not be freed 
 from his infirmity, because it is charged for him 
 with spiritual healing; whereas he who did not pray 
 might be healed of a disorder which fails, and in 
 God's foreknowledge will continue to fail, of the 
 gracious purpose underlying it. God does not will- 
 ingly prolong useless chastening.^ 
 
 Such godly reserve applies, of course, peculiarly to 
 those petitions for temporal betterment which the 
 Prayer Book concisely sums up in the words, 
 "mind, body, and estate." In respect of these, the 
 literal performance to us of our Lord's assurance, 
 "Ask and ye shall receive," assigning in every case 
 the precise thing we may ignorantly ask, would be 
 the substitution of our wills for that of God, aban- 
 donment to ourselves by Him, the withdrawal of 
 His fatherly care. A paradox indeed; the utter 
 negation of the essence of Prayer, which is an inter- 
 change involving dependence upon and protection 
 by a Power greater, wiser, and more loving than 
 ourselves. Even in those requests of which we can 
 feel more assured as to an answer in terms, in prayers 
 for growth in character and holiness, though certain 
 of the issue, we must be content to wait; to walk here 
 * Isaiah, i, 5. Lamentations, iii, 33. 
 
INTERCOURSE 159 
 
 also by faith; enduring, as seeing that which long 
 remains almost invisible; yet certain, as beholding 
 the Invisible One and His promise.^ Spiritual 
 growths know their winter time, as well as their 
 spring and harvest. 
 
 All reserves made, however, Christ's command 
 remains, and its promise: Have faith in God, and 
 results commensurate will follow. We are dealing 
 with realities, however much we need to guard 
 against facile misapprehension. The command is 
 His, therefore obedience is possible. We can ex- 
 ercise a certain measure of faith, habituating our- 
 selves to an attitude of mind, which tends like all 
 habits to become fixed and to grow upon us; to be 
 continually operative, unconsciously as weW as con- 
 sciously. Putting misgivings quietly aside, we can 
 practise the confidence that what we ask we shall 
 receive, in the very best sense possible to us; the 
 assurance that in prayer we are working together 
 with God to the fulfilment of His purposes, which 
 are always those of love;^ that to this end God 
 needs us as really as He needs the husbandman for 
 bringing to perfection the fruits of the field. This 
 the beheving know; and they know also that powers, 
 spiritual, internal and external to them, are work- 
 ing with them : the unceasing intercession of Jesus 
 Christ,^ and the pleadings of the Holy Ghost.* But 
 we do not know, and the greater our faith the less 
 we will be impatient to know prematurely, — to see 
 
 ^ Hebrews, xi, i, 13, 27; iii, 14. ^ Romans, viii, 28, 32. 
 
 ^ Hebrews, ii, 17, i8; iv, 14-16; vii, 25-28; ix, 24. Romans, 
 viii, 34. * Ibid.y viii, 26, 27. 
 
i6o THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 rather than to trust, — the manner and the time 
 which God has put in His own power.^ 
 
 This combination of assurance and uncertainty, 
 more especially as to relief sought from the pressure 
 of temporal sorrows, burdens, perplexities, has been 
 summed up in lines impressive from the sobriety, 
 quietness, and repressed though fervid emotion, 
 which characterize them. They are by the celebrated 
 Dr. Johnson, a man who knew intimately dejection 
 of mind, infirmity of body, and sore poverty of estate, 
 yet kept faith in God and love to man. The voice is 
 that of eighteenth century piety, — not enthusiastic, 
 nor was the temperament of the man, — but the 
 spirit is ageless. The calm reasonableness of the 
 past is as cooHng water to our feverish, doubting 
 period : 
 
 "Must helpless man, in ignorance sedate, 
 Roll darkling down the torrent of his fate ? 
 Must no dislike, alarm, no wishes, rise. 
 No cries invoke the mercies of the skies .? 
 Inquirer, cease. Petitions yet remain 
 Which Heaven may hear; nor deem Religion vain. 
 Still raise for good the supplicating voice, 
 But leave to Heaven the measure and the choice; 
 Safe in His power whose eyes discern afar 
 The secret ambush of a specious prayer. 
 Implore His aid, in His decisions rest. 
 Secure, whate'er He gives. He gives the best. 
 Yet, when the sense of sacred presence fires, 
 And strong devotion to the skies aspires. 
 Pour forth thy fervours for a healthful mind, 
 Obedient passions, and a will resigned ; 
 
 * Acts, i, 7. 
 
INTERCOURSE i6i 
 
 For Love, which scarce collective man can fill ; 
 For Patience, sovereign o'er transmuted ill ; 
 For Faith, that, panting for a happier seat 
 Counts death kind Nature's signal of retreat : 
 These goods for man the laws of Heaven ordain. 
 These goods He grants Who grants the power to gain ; 
 With these celestial Wisdom calms the mind. 
 And makes the happiness she does not find." 
 
 While, however, we may not ask to know before- 
 hand the way or the degree of God's action, — what 
 Johnson calls "the measure and the choice," — nor 
 to see results follow immediately, we will fail in that 
 habitual attitude of assurance which we are com- 
 manded to cultivate, if we neglect continual watchful- 
 ness to detect the workings of God's hand, — the 
 answers to prayer. They are to be seen, recognized, 
 more frequently by far than the careless imagine; 
 obvious, though not superficial. In nothing perhaps 
 is the lesson of the Old Testament more useful to us 
 of to-day, unchanged in spirit and in application, 
 than in the identification it makes of remissness in 
 this respect with lack of faith ; of the Faith which is 
 Christ's command to us, the Faith which carries His 
 promise. All things which to the Israelites happened 
 are for our example; but their crucial failure was 
 in not noting the workings of God,^ and their conse- 
 quent inability to believe. Faith is compared by 
 Christ to a grain of mustard seed; ^ the characteristic 
 of which is not only its smallness, but its growth, to 
 
 ^ Psalm, xcv, 7-1 1. Hebrews, iii, iv. Exodus, xxxii, i, 7-10. 
 Numbers, xiv, 11, 12, 20-23. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xvii, 20. St. Luke, xvii, 6. 
 
 II 
 
1 62 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 a size of which that smallness in itself gives no prom- 
 ise/ However small, Faith carries this promise, and 
 it is the potentiaHty which underlies the command: 
 Have Faith — in God. Though never so little, 
 Faith can grow; therefore to cultivate it is a reason- 
 able command to us, and the promise appHes to the 
 growth of the seed till it reaches the measure of the 
 stature of that which Christ commanded. 
 
 This is the bridge by which I purpose to pass from 
 Prayer to its correlative, — Thanksgiving. Thanks- 
 giving touches the past and present; Prayer looks 
 chiefly to the future, though in the present both find 
 common ground. I purpose to put aside the recog- 
 nized duty of gratitude, just because it is recognized 
 as proper, although perhaps less common in us than 
 we flatter ourselves. All admit that benefit received 
 calls for thanks ; to God no less. All things are from 
 God, yes; but in the secondary causes, the media 
 through which they reach us, we usually, as a race, 
 lose sight of Him. He is not in this matter in all our 
 thoughts.^ The consequence is that things seem to 
 come to us hy a series of incidents, as they do usually 
 through such a series. These carry to us their own 
 explanation, account for themselves and their con- 
 sequences; perfectly natural, as we say, our own 
 work or that of some one else; a chain of causes, no 
 originating cause which it is worth while to trace. 
 The warning to the Israelites, Beware lest thou say 
 in thine heart, my power, and the might of my hand 
 have gotten me this wealth ; but thou shalt remember 
 that Jehovah thy God is He that giveth thee power 
 
 * St. Matthew, xiii, 31, 32. ^ Psalm, x, 4-6 (Psalter). 
 
INTERCOURSE 163 
 
 to get wealth/ may have been particularly addressed 
 to the tendency to braggadocio and ostentation com- 
 mon to primitive societies; but spiritually it echoes 
 the v7ords of the Christian writer, Take heed lest 
 haply there shall be in any one of you an evil heart 
 of unbelief, in departing from the living God.^ It is 
 a rebuke to for getf nines s, and finds its complement 
 in the other caution to Israel, Remember that thou 
 wast a bondservant in Egypt, and that Jehovah thy 
 God brought thee out.^ Forgetfulness and unbelief 
 are twins. 
 
 This condition is not so much ingratitude in a 
 gross sense, as it is inattention. Between the two 
 there is morally little to choose, and the result is 
 equally disastrous. How thus shall man have "that 
 due sense of all Thy mercies," which the Church holds 
 forth as the motive to thankfulness ? Human impulse 
 is to gratitude, in emotion at least, if not in enduring 
 action. Christ assumes this in the words, If ye 
 love them who love you, or do good to them who do 
 good to you, what do ye more than others ? ^ and 
 again, expressly, "With what measure ye mete it 
 shall be measured to you "; "good measure, pressed 
 down, shaken together, running over, shall men give 
 into your bosom." ^ In the case of the ten lepers 
 healed,^ He expresses surprise that but one returned 
 to Him to give thanks. It would seem not so much 
 that the nine were deficient in common gratitude as 
 
 ^ Deuteronomy, viii, 11-18. ^ Hebrews, iii, 12, 13. 
 
 ^ Deuteronomy, v, 15. 
 
 * St. Matthew, V, 46. St. Luke, vi, 32-34. 
 
 ^ St. Luke, vi, 38. ® Ibid., xvii, 11-19. 
 
164 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 that they failed to connect Him with their heahng, 
 obvious as it may seem to have been. There was 
 deficiency of spiritual perception, which is Faith. 
 Their failure suggests thought as to the general recog- 
 nition of our Lord's powers by those who benefited ; 
 their value to them as signs of His Personality. Some 
 approached appreciation; the mass remained blind, 
 and so were easily moved to "Crucify Him!" 
 Though He had done so many miracles, says St. 
 John, yet they did not believe on Him.^ 
 
 Failure to return thanks is not merely an indecency 
 in the particular instance. It is evil chiefly in the 
 habit of mind that it betrays, which continually 
 fails to associate efi^ect with cause, the ordering of 
 events with the providence of God, in life natural 
 and spiritual. This is really unbeHef, in action; 
 negative, perhaps, rather than positive; but equally 
 effectual to bad, for non-action is action. Failure to 
 act timely is as disastrous as mistake. Where the 
 habit of seeing God's hand in all things is cultivated, 
 not only will the ways of God, the connection between 
 prayer and answer, be evident more frequently, — 
 much more frequently, — but thankfulness will be 
 more habitual because the reasons for giving thanks 
 will be appreciated. Faith on guard, watchful, makes 
 advances towards perception. With such habit, see- 
 ing God's works, we shall perceive and shall know 
 His ways; and knowing. Thankfulness will follow, 
 for it is in accord with our nature, not contrary to 
 it. Thus a reciprocal action, essentially Intercourse, 
 will be estabhshed, becoming more and more a 
 * St. John, xii, 37-41. 
 
INTERCOURSE 165 
 
 frame of mind, to which inadvertences may occur, 
 yet the mental and moral attitude remain. 
 
 The unthankful man neglects to seek God behind 
 the secondary causes which are visible to him. After 
 the event, as well as before, he walks by sight, not 
 by faith. A man finds health gradually failing and 
 prays for restoration. Days, months, perhaps years 
 pass, of slow decline, of prayer seemingly unheeded; 
 then a series of circumstances undesigned by him 
 leads to a change of residence, and with it health 
 revives and returns. Does he in this see an answer .? 
 Yet it is open to belief, and a living faith will hold, 
 that the happy end began with the prayer. Un- 
 thankfulness is seen not only where the particular 
 ministration comes through a series of incidents, 
 requiring some sustained reflection to apprehend and 
 appreciate; the same will be found where the 
 relation between cause and effect is immediate and 
 direct. A sufferer puts himself under the hands of 
 the surgeon, or of a physician. Does he see in them 
 the ministers of God, waiting continually on this 
 very thing .? ^ If so, the mere belief is prayer, uttered 
 or unexpressed; he is exercising Faith, and beyond 
 doubt will exercise thankfulness. If he does not so 
 see, where is his faith .? Another goes to heahng 
 springs. He receives the benefit; is there to him in 
 the waters the gift of God, or merely a natural 
 agency .? If the latter, he walks by sight; neither by 
 prayer before nor by thanks after will he hold inter- 
 course with God, and so will have lost opportunity 
 for increase in that knowledge which is eternal life. 
 ^ Romans, xiii, 6. 
 
i66 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 To him the secondary cause conceals the Primary. 
 Such appreciation of God's working ministers power- 
 fully to knowledge; none the less sure, but surer, 
 because spiritual, — of Faith. Trust beforehand is 
 the correlative of Thankfulness afterwards. Both 
 are manifestations of Faith, beholding the Invisible; 
 and both involve gains of experience, issuing in the 
 conviction of the Psalmist concerning his life ex- 
 perience : They that know Thy Name will put their 
 trust in Thee; for Thou, God, hast never failed 
 them that seek Thee,^ — a consummate expression 
 of Thankfulness. 
 
 Experience of life demands, of course, time for ac- 
 cumulating its data; but there need be no delay in 
 cultivating the habit of observation, nor in seeking 
 the gift of faith. To such a frame of mind, each 
 marked incident that arises, nay, each common day 
 that passes, becomes an occasion, an opportunity, 
 not only to serve God in particulars, but to observe 
 where He is serving the man, is dealing with him. 
 This resembles the watchful eye of Science, bent on 
 a particular investigation. Habit and data will 
 increase continually, by mutual reaction. And what 
 is this, after all, but the "Watch" which Jesus 
 Christ commands ? As one will not expect to see 
 immediately, or always, so in the end the conviction 
 will not be of the precise character which proceeds 
 from Sight, in its proper sphere of secondary causes; 
 but it will be equally secure, because resting upon 
 the God-given faculty of Faith, fortified by indica- 
 tions of cumulative force, the stirrings of the veil, the 
 * Psalm, ix, lo (Psalter). 
 
INTERCOURSE 167 
 
 inevitable inference from which, to the believer, is 
 God at work. Faith here will never cease to be 
 Faith, nor yield place to Sight; but its increasing 
 strength will supply a Rock of standing which Sight 
 cannot give. Sight, resting on things seen, has in 
 itself nothing beyond on which to repose; whereas 
 Faith endures as beholding the Unseen, which is 
 limitless in resource, and it so endures because it 
 comes from the Unseen One ^ as well as seeks Him 
 in all things. 
 
 Thus there is truth in the lines : 
 
 " In each event of life, how clear 
 Thy ruling hand I see; 
 Each blessing to my soul more dear 
 Because conferred by Thee." 
 
 This is not the pretence that one sees clearly at 
 once the significance of each event; but that the 
 habit exists of recognizing distinctly that each is 
 from God ; that it is so accepted ; ^ and that the mean- 
 ing and outcome are pondered from that point of 
 view, trusting in Christ's assurance. Seek and ye 
 shall find. To such a frame Thankfulness is habitual. 
 
 Thus regarded, each life may be to the individual 
 a revelation of God ; and like the general Revelation 
 
 ^ Ephesians, ii, 8. St. John, vi, 44, 45. These words of Christ, 
 " No man can come to Me except the Father draw him," are not 
 to be understood in the sense that the Father draws some and not 
 others. They mean that the fact of a man's seeking Christ is a 
 sure evidence that the Father is drawing ; without the drawing of 
 the Unseen One no man can come. But He draws all; though 
 some do not heed. 
 
 ^ Psalm, cvii, 42, 43 (Psalter). 
 
1 68 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 which we call the Word of God, the message of the 
 particular life to its owner is to be considered in its 
 entirety, as well, as in specific incidents, or striking 
 events. The whole justifies the parts, as the parts 
 help interpret the whole. The particular experience 
 of the individual will reproduce also the general ex- 
 perience of the race, in the Bible; progress, alike in the 
 knowledge of God and in development of character, 
 will be gradual. To the race and to the man there is 
 childhood, and there is maturity; the period of the 
 Law and the period of the Gospel. The special reve- 
 lation may be so conspicuous as to serve for all men, 
 for encouragement and understanding; but it will, 
 again like the Bible records, be conditioned by the 
 character of the recipient. He alone can fully under- 
 stand, for the dealings have been personal to him, 
 adapted specifically to his needs and his power to 
 receive. He is addressed in the tongue to which he 
 was born, and in measure as he improves that gift 
 the message becomes more clear and the understand- 
 ing more quick. ^ None but he can so interpret as to 
 enter fully into the causes for thankfulness; it be- 
 longs to no other to question, or to cavil that the con- 
 ditions have not called for gratitude. Promises, such 
 as "Prove me now herewith, if I will not open the 
 windows of Heaven and pour you out a blessing 
 that there shall not be room enough to receive it"; ^ 
 or our Lord's, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, 
 and His righteousness; and all these things shall be 
 added unto you," ^ are of a happiness, concerning the 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xiii, 12-16; xxv, 28, 29. St. Mark, iv, 25. 
 ^ Malachi, iii, 10. ^ St. Matthew, vi, ^^. 
 
INTERCOURSE 169 
 
 realizing of which only the man himself can judge. 
 He alone can know that he is happy, and why. He 
 may assure others, he may so seem to others; he can 
 tell them of his experience, but he cannot transfer it 
 to them. As the heart knoweth its own bitterness, 
 so also the stranger does not meddle with its joy.^ 
 
 Relatively to Thanksgiving, as here dealt with, it 
 is apt to remark that the experiences of life, adverse 
 as well as fortunate, if appreciated in the light of the 
 teachings of Jesus Christ, and so used, as talents,^ 
 possess a continuing value by developing spiritual 
 character. They are assimilated and made permanent 
 possessions, which will endure for ever, treasures 
 in heaven.^ Losses here thus become gains there; 
 and gain here is transferred and fixed there. But if 
 allowed to pass out of mind, unimproved by attention 
 and recollection, experiences sink to mere earthly 
 possessions, put away out of remembrance, where 
 the moth and rust of forgetfulness consume them. 
 That which might be treasure in heaven is wasted 
 even as treasure on earth. 
 
 As treated under the four heads. Intercourse with 
 God is seen to have two sides, passive and active. 
 In Association, which is intercourse prolonged, man 
 undergoes quiescently the influence always attaching 
 to that condition. Receptivity is often unconscious 
 in its exercise. But on the other hand, to maintain 
 this relation in full force effort is needed, and must 
 be exerted. Such effort necessarily takes the shape 
 of a regulated observance of times, methods, and 
 
 ^ Proverbs, xiv, 10. ^ St. Matthew, xxv, 14-30. 
 
 ^ Ibid.^ vi, 19-21. St. Luke, xvi, 9. 
 
170 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 occasions, and will acquire inevitably a tendency to 
 repetition, which in result we call "formal." This 
 will be the case no matter how spontaneous a custom, 
 or utterance, may be, or how personal to the individual 
 using it. If an expression fills a spiritual want, it will 
 be repeated substantially as long as applicable. So 
 it is, doubtless, that liturgies have grown. Thus 
 originated, a form becomes like the framework upon 
 which a plant climbs upward; it does not hinder the 
 free play of mind and heart from day to day, as cir- 
 cumstances change, or moods or interest alter, but 
 affords support and guidance in moments of compara- 
 tive weakness or perplexity. 
 
 If human experience of centuries needed any vindi- 
 cation of the value of forms, as embodiments of life, 
 perpetuating its existence and intensifying its influ- 
 ence, the above consideration would justify formal 
 development; whether in forms of words, which are 
 apart from our present subject, or in regulated observ- 
 ances. The latter demand specific notice because of 
 their bearing upon joint worship, whether that be 
 Hturgical or extempore. The regulation of private 
 devotion in this respect may safely be left to the ear- 
 nestness of the individual, evolving his personal 
 methods to suit his personal needs; but united wor- 
 ship, by the groups which constitute social and reli- 
 gious units, requires as to times and methods an 
 agreement, which is a form in the same manner as 
 any methodized action is formal. 
 
 The family and the State are Divine institutions 
 in the secular order, in so far as a logical distinction 
 may be drawn between secular and religious. Such 
 
INTERCOURSE 171 
 
 distinction is merely logical, for convenience of 
 thought in considering, and of language in discussing 
 the subjects involved. It has no existence in fact; 
 no proper human institution or activity is only secular, 
 although it may be used or pursued in a secular spirit, 
 a spirit that knows not God. In the religious order 
 the congregation and the Church, however specifically 
 named in different places, or from differing points of 
 view, correspond to the family and the State. As the 
 State is an aggregation of families, yet has its own 
 particular organic unity, so the Church is an aggre- 
 gation of congregations, yet has a life of its own ; a 
 life of a higher order than that of the State, because 
 it is the embodiment upon earth of the Life of Jesus 
 Christ, the form within which that Life is shrined. 
 The churches in communion with the Church of 
 England define the Church universal as "the mysti- 
 cal Body of Jesus Christ, which is the blessed com- 
 pany of all faithful people." ^ 
 
 Underlying all these unities is the individual man, 
 upon whose worth each vitally depends. Therefore 
 the treatment of the elements of Worship, which in 
 its broad sense covers every act of Intercourse, while 
 properly general, addresses itself immediately and 
 directly to every man in his single self; much as the 
 specific gain in the present Constitution of the United 
 States was, that it brought the Central State which 
 it instituted, the National Government, into direct 
 administrative touch with every individual citizen in 
 matters essential to national life. So nothing stands 
 between God and the man; yet, as with the State 
 ^ Post Communion Prayer, in the Communion Office. 
 
172 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 in its functions, upon earth the Church is God's 
 minister attending continually upon the care of souls, 
 and it is our Lord's direction that he who within the 
 proper sphere of the Church — however that name 
 be interpreted — will not hear her, is by that very 
 act separated from the body of believers, is as a 
 heathen.^ 
 
 The responsibility of the individual therefore can- 
 not cease with himself. His own personal value, 
 spiritually, is his largest contribution to the welfare 
 of every social group of which in the Providence of 
 God he finds himself a member; but he owes also a 
 direct participation in the common life of that group, 
 — family, state, or Church. He owes participation 
 specifically in those matters of Intercourse with 
 God, whereof we are here treating; for upon Inter- 
 course primarily, particularly in the two Sacraments, 
 depends the Life of the Christian and of the Christian 
 community. The giving or withholding such par- 
 ticipation is indeed an indication, a measure, of his 
 personal relation to God ; for as the personal spiritual 
 life depends on such intercourse, — in Sacraments, 
 in Praise, in the hearing of the Word, in Prayer, in 
 Thanksgiving, — so the common life of the several 
 communities of which men are members, depends 
 upon the joining together in such intercourse. From 
 this derives the duty of common worship; worship 
 in common; worship that has a common purpose, 
 whatever the method adopted. This, when oppor- 
 tunity exists, or can be made, implies worship 
 together, assembled, in church or family; because 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xviii, 17, 18. St. Luke, x, 16. 
 
INTERCOURSE 173 
 
 such is a more perfect form of common action than 
 separate worship, however accordant in spirit that 
 may be. 
 
 Such gatherings for worship should not be looked 
 upon as a mere aggregation, congregation, of indi- 
 viduals, such as in other spheres of human activity 
 is called a mass meeting. The usefulness of even 
 such methods in men's experience is shown by the 
 continued employment of them; and all have had 
 occasion to know personally the effect of a multi- 
 tude upon human action, as well as other practical 
 results following the assembling of a number of 
 persons animated by a common spirit, or seeking to 
 further a common object. This alone would not 
 only justify but render imperative Christian gather- 
 ings, bound as Christians are to utilize every suitable 
 means to promote the knowledge of God and of 
 Christ, and reverence towards Him. But Christians 
 assembled for such objects are more than a mass 
 meeting. The Life of the Christian is the life of 
 a member of an organic body, which has a life of 
 its own distinct from and superior to the aggregate 
 Hves and wills of its m.embers.^ The life of the Body 
 is not separate from that of the members, but it is 
 distinct. It will continue though any one of them 
 dies ; yet, though thus independent, the maintenance 
 of this life in full vigor requires, like the other pur- 
 poses of God, the active cooperation of men who 
 are the members of the body. He who withholds 
 prayers due to others injures each, and in each all. 
 
 ^ Romans, xii, 4-8. I Corinthians, xii, 12-27. Compare 
 St. John, XV, 1-7. Colossians, ii, 19, 
 
174 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 In each instance he injures also Christ.^ Thus 
 St. Paul says, If one member suffer all the members 
 suffer with it; and he speaks of Christians indiffer- 
 ently as members of Christ, or members of the Church, 
 because the latter is His representative on earth, His 
 minister, and yet more emphatically His Body, the 
 body of which He is the Head.^ 
 
 In deciding to forsake public worship, therefore, 
 or even in careless neglect of a due observance of it, 
 a man decides deliberately to neglect part of the 
 duty laid upon him by God and by Christ, and in 
 so far to inflict injury upon the Body, by withhold- 
 ing his share in maintaining the organic life. This 
 is a treason, a betrayal of our common humanity; 
 for it not only injures the Body itself, but by en- 
 feebhng life renders it less able to the purposes of 
 God in the redemption of the world, of which the 
 Church is the appointed instrument.^ Of that Hfe 
 there are several attributes; but the chief essential, 
 the one great indispensable condition, is the main- 
 tenance of union with God in Christ, by Intercourse 
 with Him; not by the several actions of many wills, 
 but by their joint action in the one Body. As our 
 Lord says in His last Prayer, covering all believers 
 in all ages : Neither do I pray for these alone, but 
 for them also that believe on Me through their 
 word; that they all may be one, as Thou, Father, 
 art in Me and I in Thee; that they may be one, even 
 as We are One. I in them, and Thou in Me, that 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxv, 40, 45. 
 
 ^ Ephesians, i, 22, 23; iv, 11-16; v, 24-32. Colossians, i, 18, 
 24; ii, 19. ^ St. Matthew, xxviii, 19, 20. Acts, i, 8. 
 
INTERCOURSE 175 
 
 they may be perfected into one.^ Public Worship is 
 the manifestation and utilization of this oneness. 
 
 The perfect Intercourse with God therefore tran- 
 scends that which is possible to the individual. It 
 is found only in the whole Body of believers, per- 
 fected into a unity which our Lord parallels with 
 that of the Godhead, and ascribes to the indwelling 
 of God through Christ. That the powers of such 
 a unity exceed in effect as in glory anything attain- 
 able by the single Christian would be apparent, were 
 the conception merely human, derived from human 
 analogies, instead of being the affirmation of Christ.^ 
 The man who wilfully neglects public worship offends 
 against the Body of Christ; but he also in measure 
 offends who, while attending, falls willingly short 
 of the purpose to make his part in such worship 
 organic, that of a member, and not separate. "I" 
 must be sunk in "We"; and "We" must be con- 
 ceived as not many, but one.^ 
 
 To this end those accustomed to liturgic worship 
 should exercise care to comprehend fully the meanings 
 of a common prayer, praise, or thanksgiving. A 
 man's private prayers, if the outcome of religious 
 earnestness, will be understood by himself; but in 
 united worship understanding is essential to perfect 
 participation. Thus St. Paul says, alluding specific- 
 ally to Christian assemblies, I will pray with the 
 spirit, but I will pray with the understanding also.* 
 Those who use liturgic forms will doubtless profit 
 
 ^ St. John, xvii, 20-23. ^ St. Matthew, xviii, 19, 20. 
 
 ^ Romans, xii, 5. I Corinthians, x, 17; xii, 12, 27. 
 
 * Ihid., xiv, 12-15. 
 
176 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 in measure by the mere association with them, 
 being as they are a manifestation of the growth of 
 the Body, the Church, an outcome of her organic 
 hfe through ages of piety. The association is with 
 God as revealed to generations of suffering and 
 worshipping men and women. But here again In- 
 tercourse must be active as well as passive. Effort 
 is needed to perfect comprehension, and thereby 
 participation. Study is requisite. 
 
 Such shades of meaning as between "acknowledge 
 and confess," "dissemble and cloak," "erred and 
 strayed," "devices and desires," "declare and pro- 
 nounce," "confirm and strengthen," in the Anglican 
 liturgy, are worthy to exercise the attention; which 
 also should not allow to pass unnoted such an ex- 
 pression as "promises declared unto mankind in 
 [not merely by] Christ Jesus our Lord." Psalms 
 of daily repetition, like the Venite,^ possess an or- 
 dered sequence of thought, a unity of conception, 
 which should be mastered, if worship is to be intelli- 
 gent. Others have special associations which throw 
 light on their meaning, or enhance their appeal to 
 the consciousness; as does the Venite in its un- 
 mutilated form. When "I" occurs, as in the last 
 verse of the Te Deum, and continually in the Psalms, 
 it quickens sympathy as well as perception, feeling 
 as well as intellect, to hear in it, and one's self to 
 express, the emotion or the prayer or the praise of 
 the Church, the "I" which Jesus Christ has both 
 instituted and constituted upon earth, as His repre- 
 sentative. So also in the prayers for all who are 
 ^ Psalm, xcv. 
 
INTERCOURSE 177 
 
 afflicted, "in mind, body, or estate"; all those who 
 are "in trouble, sorrow, need, sickness, or any other 
 adversity"; in the petitions of the Litany; w^hile 
 one would not indeed exclude remembrance of par- 
 ticular cases known to the worshipper, it is better 
 as a rule to dwell upon the "all," and upon the mean- 
 ing of each of those enumerated trials; for the "all" 
 are the Body of Christ and members in particular.^ 
 In truth there is scarcely one of these ills that does 
 not apply spiritually to the Church herself while 
 militant here on earth; though she certainly is not 
 the primary subject of the requests. 
 
 Worship by separate congregations is a necessary 
 incident in the practice of the Church, which by her 
 Founder's purpose is co-extensive with the world; 
 but, if exceptional and rare mention of the congre- 
 gation in liturgical forms may be taken to indicate 
 the mind of the Church, each congregation is to her 
 only a subordinate part of a whole, and should wor- 
 ship understandingly, with a conscious sense, be- 
 yond itself, of union with the Church Universal. 
 Each member prays, gives thanks, and hears, with 
 and for those present, not for himself or herself 
 chiefly; but over and beyond those immediate sur- 
 roundings stretches the long vista of all those "that 
 in every place call upon the name of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, their Lord and ours." ^ Of the greatness of 
 this thought, of its inspiring effect, of its happy 
 influence in broadening influence and sympathies, 
 there can be no doubt; as there can be none of its 
 truth, nor of its bearing upon Worship as acceptable 
 
 ^ I Corinthians, xii, 27. ^ Ihid.^ i, 2. 
 
178 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 with God. The imagination which apprehends 
 this is certainly aided in expression by common 
 forms of words, which testify to identity as well as 
 to community of praise and prayer. There is an 
 immense uplift in the realization that as East pursues 
 West, till it returns to its place again, everywhere it 
 finds one continuous voice rising from thousands 
 and ten thousands in unison of word as of spirit. 
 
 Between this ultimate comprehensive conception 
 of worship, this supreme reality, and its lesser man- 
 ifestations, there is no conflict; as there is none 
 between duty to God and duty to man. Every minor 
 obligation, to individuals, is comprehended in that 
 which we owe to God. Love to Him does not exclude 
 other loves; on the contrary it invests them with a 
 double claim. It excludes only their rivalry with 
 Him. Among the whole body of Christians, the 
 congregation and the family are the nearest neigh- 
 bors to each one. They may be dearer, as one 
 Apostle was especially dear to Christ; ^ and they 
 should be. Their nearness sanctions their call for 
 particular affection. It is only when that particular 
 affection rivals and sinks the greater reality, of the 
 whole Church, that it becomes evil. There is no 
 contradiction between them; they supplement each 
 other. 
 
 Especially may this be so in smaller congregations, 
 of the family. The family has this over the con- 
 gregation, that it is a natural unit, constituted by 
 God directly; whereas the congregation is artificial, 
 though necessary. The family has a hfe of its own, 
 ^ St. John, xiii, 23; xix, 26; xx, 2; xxi, 20. 
 
INTERCOURSE 179 
 
 a composite being, distinct from the aggregate lives 
 of the several members; and that life demands both 
 consecration and help from above. It must be sus- 
 tained by Intercourse w^ith God; and in no wise can 
 this be accomplished so effectually as by associating 
 the v^orship of the family v^ith that of the Universal 
 Church, bringing each to the support of the other. 
 This is not difficult to do v^hen the conception of the 
 unity of the vyrhole Church has been assimilated as 
 well as realized; has passed beyond simple intellec- 
 tual acceptance and become a habit of the family 
 thought. It will be aided certainly by forms of wor- 
 ship, when those are accepted and used in the spirit 
 which belongs to them and in which they had their 
 origin; that of the unity of Christians, formulated 
 into oneness of expression and developed through 
 ages of practical use. 
 
 It is said that family worship has fallen into 
 disuse, and continues to fall. The weighty signifi- 
 cance of this is that the family as such has surrendered 
 Intercourse with God; has with Him no associa- 
 tion other than the unrelated efforts of its several 
 members. Without pronouncing on the vahdity 
 of difficulties imposed by the press and racket of 
 these days, as compared with those of the past, 
 one thing may be affirmed. The difficulty is not 
 one of time, but of family punctuality. It is certain 
 that the essentials of common Worship can be had, 
 without precipitancy, with all punctiliousness of 
 observance, within five minutes by the clock. The 
 reading of so much as constitutes most of the Psalms, 
 or one of the "Epistles," or "Gospels," of the Eng- 
 
i8o THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 lish Church; the ascription of praise in the Gloria 
 Patri; the recitation of the Creed; the offering of 
 prayer to the extent of the Lord's Prayer and of 
 four or five of the Collects in the Morning and 
 Evening services, or those for special Sundays and 
 holy days, can all be accomplished thoughtfully and 
 reverently within the time named; and such a pro- 
 cedure not only provides all the forms of Intercourse, 
 but represents every decisive feature of the morning 
 and evening common worship of the Church, as by 
 herself regulated. The morning Collect for Grace 
 summarizes concisely and pointedly every inter- 
 cession for one another that the Church as a whole, 
 or the several subdivisions, could possibly desire. 
 It brings all to the support of each, and each to the 
 support of all, with the full power resident in the 
 whole Body, starting every member with its bene- 
 diction upon his day's work. 
 
 The habit of thought which fails to seize and 
 hold fast these great realities of the common life is 
 puny and narrow. However men severally may 
 regard imperialism as a political theory, the dominion 
 of Christ is essentially imperial, one Sovereign over 
 many communities, who find their oneness in Him, 
 their Ruler.^ One Head; one Body, corporate and 
 organized; many members, all together one, but 
 without loss of personal characteristics. The power 
 of the whole, which is the Power of Jesus Christ, is 
 at the service of each, and each in turn serves the 
 whole; but to this mutual service accord of will 
 
 ^ Galatians, iii, 28. Colossians, iii, 11. Revelation, v, 6-14; 
 vii, 9. 
 
INTERCOURSE i8i 
 
 and of endeavor, unity of spirit and of effort, are 
 imperative, — not only essential, but commanded. 
 This is not merely a great conception, a great ideal; 
 it is a practical reality, the existence among us of an 
 unmeasured Power, the scope of which is purely 
 spiritual and benevolent, co-extensive with all men, 
 but which, like other purposes of God, requires the 
 cooperation of man. Such cooperation must be 
 maimed and defective, so far as it fails in understand- 
 ing; and it so fails, by so much as each man fails 
 to appreciate the importance of the whole to him, 
 and of himself to the whole. His importance is 
 twofold : what he spiritually is, — his character, — 
 and what he does ; and the greatest — not the only — 
 thing he can do is embraced in the common worship. 
 "Lift up your hearts," God's appeal through the 
 priest, is an exhortation peculiarly applicable here; 
 and the response, "We Hft them up, — unto the 
 Lord,'' summarizes that Intercourse with Him which 
 by perpetual renewal sustains the life of the Body 
 and of the members. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 FULFILMENT 
 
 LIFE, spiritual and natural, is a means to an 
 end. Its purpose and justification is the pro- 
 duction of results. This our Lord calls fruit, 
 and indicates as at once the object of spiritual hfe, 
 and the test of its reality. " I chose you and appointed 
 you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your 
 fruit should abide. Every branch in Me that 
 beareth fruit my Father purgeth, that it may bring 
 forth more fruit; and every branch In Me that 
 beareth not fruit. He taketh away. Herein Is My 
 Father glorified that ye bear much fruit; and so shall 
 ye be My disciples." ^ " By their fruits ye shall knovs^ 
 them." ^ These are the underlying thoughts in the 
 parable of the barren fig tree,^ v^hlch did not justify 
 its life by yielding fruit. 
 
 The bearing of fruit in due season, and in degree 
 proportionate to the abilities of the believer, is there- 
 fore the design and the fulfilment of the Life of 
 the Christian; its aim and Its end. It is necessary, 
 however, carefully to keep in mind the distinction 
 between the life Itself and the fruit. Intimately as- 
 sociated though these are, in the relation of cause and 
 
 ^ St. John, XV, 2, 8, i6. 
 
 2 St. Matthew, vii, 16-20; xii, 33. St. Luke, vi, 43-45- St. 
 James, ii, 18; iii, 11, 12. ^ St. Luke, xiii, 6-9. 
 
 i8z 
 
FULFILMENT 183 
 
 effect, they are distinct; yet being not separate, but 
 closely connected, the mistake of confusing one with 
 the other is easily made. Nothing is more common, 
 or more misleading, than to regard activities — a 
 fruit in which the Hfe naturally manifests itself — as 
 being themselves the Hfe. At best, this they are not; 
 they may be evidences of life, but they themselves are 
 not Hfe ; while at worst this misapprehension may go 
 so far as to see in outward actions, religious or benev- 
 olent, a substitute for the Hfe itself 
 
 This error is fundamental, radical; and it is also 
 frequent, confined to no class or age. We of the 
 present day are pretty well awake to the specious 
 misapprehension that the spiritual Hfe consists in 
 religious observances, such as churchgoing, and 
 various other necessary devotional practices. We 
 have seen that these may receive extensive and strict 
 attention, and yet be unaccompanied by those inner 
 graces of character which St. Paul caHs the fruit of 
 the Spirit : Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, 
 goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self-control.^ This, 
 a snare to other times, and still to some types of 
 religious disposition, is now so clear to us that a 
 tendency has been induced to discard these obser- 
 vances, and to fly to the other extreme, — to treat 
 them as indifferent; whereas in themselves they are 
 good and even imperative, and therefore must 
 surely characterize a conduct that has its source in 
 living piety — fiHal duty to God. 
 
 This distortion of view is perhaps partly responsible 
 for the particular direction our own age has given to 
 ^ Galatians, v, 22. 
 
184 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 religious observance; for by observance of some kind 
 the religious instinct will try to satisfy conscience, 
 v^ill try to find a substitute for the life itself. The 
 religious and benevolent activities, and organiza- 
 tions, styled "institutional," may degenerate into mere 
 outward observance, as readily as devotional exer- 
 cises. Like these, they may serve to deaden men's 
 appreciation that in themselves they are at best fruit; 
 V7hile at worst they may deceive fatally by taking 
 upon themselves the semblance of spiritual life. 
 There can be as much self-deception in running 
 round from hospital to settlement, from meeting to 
 meeting, as from preacher to preacher, and service 
 to service. The one course as the other may be the 
 outward visible sign of vigorous spiritual life, and 
 profound spiritual interest; but it also may not, 
 and it runs the danger of self-deception, because it 
 can proceed from other causes, may be only the reflec- 
 tion of the prevailing spirit of the times, or of a natu- 
 ral restlessness, or a sop to conscience for deficiencies 
 somewhere. The Angel of the Church at Ephesus 
 is not the only instance of one abounding in works 
 and fallen from love.^ 
 
 It is against this specific danger, very real to-day, 
 that St. Paul directed his well known characteriza- 
 tion of Love,^ which is not only a eulogium of the 
 virtue in itself, but a stern warning that the most 
 strenuous and even self-sacrificing outward actions 
 cannot be accepted as a substitute for the inner con- 
 dition of Love. Benevolent activities (I do not say 
 action) are as absent from his enumeration of the 
 
 ^ Revelation, ii, 1-5. . ^ i Corinthians, xiii. 
 
FULFILMENT 185 
 
 features of Love as are forms of pious observance. 
 The end of the commandment, as he says in another 
 place and connection, is Love,^ — not deeds; not 
 that doing is less than imperative, but where love is, 
 it bears its own assurance of being the fruit of the 
 Spirit. There is hfe; and where hfe is, deeds will 
 follow, as the night the day. And so the Apostle con- 
 cludes. Love is the fulfilling of the Law; he that loves 
 has already fulfilled the law.^ This is a re-statement 
 of the words of Jesus Christ: Whatsoever ye would 
 that men should do to you, do ye even so to them; 
 for this is the Law — and the Prophets.^ So to do in 
 all things is only possible to Love; for the applica- 
 tion of this teaching is not to particular set activities, 
 usually self-chosen by natural predisposition, but to 
 the daily, contrary, and often unforeseen, incidents 
 of common life, the sole sure provision against which 
 is the habitual inner temper of the mind. 
 
 The tokens of Fulfilment in the Life of the Christian 
 are therefore to be sought within: in dispositions, 
 the first result of which is to modify character and 
 temperament, and through these to manifest the 
 secondary results of conduct and activities. This 
 constitutes a series of causes and effects ; the first 
 cause being the Life of Jesus Christ dwelling in His 
 follower, as the life of a vine in its several branches. 
 The special characteristics of His Life — Love, Joy, 
 Peace — will thus be reproduced in measure in that 
 
 1 I Timothy, i, 5, 6. 
 
 2 Romans, xiii, 8-10. Galatians, v, 13, 14. 
 
 I 3 St. Matthew, vii, 12. St. John, xiii, 34, 35- 
 
 * Ibid., XV, 4-6. 
 
1 86 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 of the Christian, and will increase by growth as all 
 life does. These are matters of character and tem- 
 perament; qualities which we do not need revelation 
 to tell us manifest themselves in conduct, which is a 
 very different thing from activities. 
 
 Fulfilment is itself a life process, one of continuous 
 growth. It is an interior condition, progressive, 
 caused by the Power that dwelleth in the Christian, 
 inducing likeness to God, confirmed and strengthened 
 by association with Him, which is intercourse sus- 
 tained. This process in all its stages, beginning, 
 continuance, and completion, is what we call super- 
 natural. That is, it is the result of, derives from, and 
 is perpetually maintained by, a Life higher than the 
 natural life which all men have in common ; which 
 they derive through, though not from their parents; 
 and which, once received, is independent of those 
 through whom it is imparted. The Life of the 
 Christian is born of the Spirit; ^ the children of God, 
 those who believe in the Name of Jesus Christ, are 
 born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of 
 the will of man, but of God.^ That which is born of 
 the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit 
 is spirit.^ The growth from this new birth, of the 
 Spirit, is Fulfilment of Life. 
 
 Common experience teaches us how much conduct 
 depends upon temperament, upon that natural life, 
 the particular characteristics of which in each individ- 
 ual are shown by his moods, his actions, the general 
 tenor of his way. Activities, doing things, are to a 
 
 ^ St. John, in, 3-8. i St. Peter, i, 23. Collate St. John, xv, 4, 
 with 2 Corinthians, v, 17. ^ St. John, i, 12, 13. 
 
FULFILMENT 187 
 
 much greater extent independent of natural con- 
 stitution; a man governed by various impulses of 
 necessity, or benevolence, or interest, can more or 
 less force himself to the performance of a task which 
 he has set himself, or finds laid upon him. It is much 
 more difficult to regulate conduct, which is the out- 
 ward sign of inward dispositions, native or acquired. 
 The reason for this difference probably is that the 
 activities — the task work — are occasional, inter- 
 mittent, and in large measure even mechanical, or 
 at least routine; whereas conduct is coincident with 
 every moment of conscious Hfe, and, if controlled, is 
 continuous effort under very varying circumstances. 
 
 If this be true, it is almost self-evident that human 
 watchfulness is unequal to the sustained strain of 
 guarding every instant each action; and that the 
 desired result of conforming every act to the highest 
 standard can be reached only when the inner spirit 
 itself is so transformed,^ for then its outward mani- 
 festation will correspond without effort. It is, of 
 course, possible to control conduct, active or passive, 
 to a certain extent, or at times. We all have experi- 
 ence, in ourselves and in others, of subduing the 
 natural impulse; of particular actions which are not 
 the expression, but the suppression, of the inward 
 feeling or mood. But we also know what a labor this 
 involves, where the permanent natural disposition is 
 contrary ; or where the opposition proceeds from those 
 temporary conditions we call moods, which them- 
 selves depend largely upon bodily conditions, the 
 transient derangements of the natural Hfe. 
 ^ Romans, xii, 2. St. Matthew, xii, 34. 
 
1 88 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 This conflict is emphasized the more as the standard 
 is higher. Let any one adopt as his own the princi- 
 ples — for in their breadth of outlook they are more 
 than rules — laid down by Jesus Christ in such pas- 
 sages as St. Matthew v, 33-48 ; or by St. Paul as the 
 outward manifestation of Love, i Corinthians, xiii, 
 4-7, and he will speedily have occasion to recognize 
 that natural temperament at its best confronts them 
 with a strong opposition, which is liable to sudden 
 severe accesses under the pressure of bodily de- 
 rangement, or of contrary circumstances of many 
 exasperating kinds. Natural impulses start unex- 
 pectedly, as it were out of the ground, with a force 
 and vehemence which for the moment defy opposi- 
 tion. They have all the vigor which we instinctively 
 associate with Nature, the difficulty of expelling whom 
 has been expressed in terse and forcible proverb. 
 
 Re-action, acting back, which is so quickly evoked 
 by surrounding conditions, unexpected incidents, 
 physical discomfort, human provocation, can be 
 checked effectively and continuously only by a change 
 of nature which shall not re-sent, — feel back. This 
 is the gist of our Lord's exposition of the fulfilment 
 of the Law and the Prophets throughout St. Matthew 
 V, and with equal clearness, though less immediately 
 obvious, in the following chapter. This underlies St. 
 Paul's expression, "a new creature"; ^ itself the re- 
 flection of the teaching of Jesus Christ concerning the 
 new birth. ^ The will "to give him as good as he 
 sends," whether applied to persons or circumstances, 
 
 ' 2 Corinthians, v, 17. Galatians, ii, 20; vi, 15. 
 2 St. John, iii, 3-15. 
 
FULFILMENT 189 
 
 is Resentment, and expresses natural impulse; to 
 resist not evil/ in will as well as in act, is the oppos- 
 ing Christian command, and this with inevitable 
 directness goes to the root of the matter by prescrib- 
 ing a change of heart, of inner temper.^ The conflict 
 between the two, phrased by St. Paul, "When I 
 would do good, evil is present with me," draws out 
 the agonizing appeal, "Who shall deliver me from 
 this body of death ?" The reply is instant, "I thank 
 God through Jesus Christ our Lord." ^ This ac- 
 complished is Fulfilment of life. 
 
 This is a Christian philosophy of life; revealed, 
 but entirely consonant with the clearest conclusions 
 of reason. The realization of it in practice is suc- 
 cess in the highest sense, summarized by Jesus Christ 
 in the words, "Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and 
 His righteousness" — renew thus your inner spirit^ 
 — "and all other needed things shall be added unto 
 you." ^ Added, how .? By the things themselves, 
 doubtless, in so far as expedient; but especially by a 
 resultant adjustment between possession and desire 
 which, under the name "contentment," all human 
 philosophy teaches as the nearest equivalent of hap- 
 piness, the supreme earthly good. This adjustment, 
 however, proceeds in the Gospel scheme from within, 
 not from without; from a new nature, not from 
 changed externals. The words of our Lord quoted 
 are the conclusion and epitome of a brief treatise on 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, v, 38, 39. 
 
 2 Ihid., V, 43-48. St. Luke, vi, 27-36. 
 
 ^ Romans, vii, 21-25. * Galatians, v, 6; vi, 15, 16. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, vi, 33. 
 
190 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 the inner life,^ applicable to all times; not least to 
 our own. They agree perfectly with the conclusions 
 of philosophers; differing only, but radically, in the 
 fact that these are speculative, whereas His are man- 
 datory, spoken with authority : / say unto you.^ 
 
 This particular instruction in the things pertaining 
 to Christian fulfilment begins with the words, "No 
 man can serve two masters." This enunciation of 
 a general truth leads on to a specific apphcation, in 
 the declaration that between our nature, as it is, 
 and the standards set by Christianity, which must 
 be fulfilled in us, there is an inherent opposition, 
 which cannot be reconciled by any adjustment in the 
 nature of compromise. These are two masters. 
 Inevitably we will hate the one and love the other, 
 or we will hold to the one and despise the other. 
 Experience confirms and illustrates this verdict. 
 This result follows, whoever be the two masters. 
 The particular opposition in this case set forth by 
 Jesus Christ — God and Mammon — realizes itself 
 in the inner man, in the affections which dictate 
 choice; in anxiety concerning worldly issues on the 
 one hand, or on the other in calm confidence in God's 
 care.^ These cannot be combined, any more than 
 can resentment and the spirit of non-resistance. 
 They may and do coexist, but in perpetual strife; 
 and victory, success, fulfilment, words of nearly 
 equivalent import in relation to the ends of life, can 
 be insured only by siding definitely with one and 
 
 * St. Matthew, vi, 19-34. 
 
 2 Ibid., V, 18, 22, 28, 34, 39, 44; vi, 2, 5, 16, 25; vii, 24-27, 29. 
 
 ^ Philippians, iv, 6, 7. i St. Peter, v, 7. 
 
FULFILMENT 191 
 
 breaking off wholly allegiance to the other. Unity of 
 service is the condition; the scene of conflict is not 
 in external surroundings, moulding them to our satis- 
 faction, which is the measure of success recognized 
 by our nature and the world, but in the inner man, 
 conforming itself to the will of God as indicated by 
 the circumstances of the moment. This does not 
 forbid lawful efforts to better one's conditions; but 
 it does impose absolutely the temper in which such 
 effort shall be conducted. There must be but one 
 master; his standard alone must be followed, and 
 that in quietness of mind. 
 
 This requirement, of singleness of heart, is from 
 the nature of things permanent. It cannot change 
 nor relax. But as there is no discharge in this war, 
 so also there is no defeat. Victory is sure; and in 
 that assurance is inward peace, freedom from dis- 
 traction. The man himself may fail, may give up, 
 drop out of the ranks; but that is his personal failure, 
 the failure of his own will, not that of the cause, nor 
 of the powers which sustain the cause. A member 
 incorporate in the great Body, the head of which is 
 Christ,^ he will have his own personal experiences in 
 the campaign, his ups and downs; but only by deser- 
 tion can he fail of his share in the triumph. That 
 share, whatever the particular form it may take, will 
 be to every one the attainment, by himself (in union 
 with the whole Body) of likeness to Christ; a nature 
 his own, but new, and in perfect conformity with the 
 will of God ; the inner and the outer thenceforth har- 
 
 * Ephesians, i, 22, 23; iv, 15, 16; v, 23, 32. Colossians, i, 18; 
 ii, 19. St. John, xv, 5. 
 
192 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 monized forever. Conflict ceases with its cause; 
 Fulfilment thence proceeds by undisturbed evolution ; 
 the sown seed fulfils itself. To one thus redeemed 
 even this personal blessedness will be secondary to 
 the knowledge that in his new nature he cannot but 
 please God.^ 
 
 The teaching of One like Jesus Christ will be many 
 sided, because of the many conditions to which it 
 will be applied; but from its essential unity these 
 many applications will be in harmony. Thus, this 
 singleness of mind is a necessary condition of the 
 Life of the Christian, and it has its specific reward — 
 light: If thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be 
 full of light.^ This is found restated in another form 
 in the Beatitudes: Blessed are the pure in heart, 
 for they shall see God.^ The vision of God, knowl- 
 edge of God, is light ;^ the light of the knowledge of 
 the Glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.^ The 
 Life of Christ is the Hght of men.® The condition 
 is purity of heart; and purity is the culmination of 
 the process of fulfilment, that begins in the Power 
 of God and progresses in likeness to Him, wrought 
 and completed by intercourse, till it ends in purity, 
 which is the human analogue of holiness, the pecu- 
 liar characteristic of God Himself.^ Then like 
 
 ^ Romans, viii, 1-13. ^ St. Matthew, vi, 22. 
 
 3 Ihid., V, 8. 
 
 * St. John, xvii, 3. St. Luke, i, 76-79. Acts, xxvi, 18. 
 St. John, viii, 12. Ephesians, v, 8-10. i St. Peter, ii, 9. 
 
 ^ 2 Corinthians, iv, 6. 
 
 ^ St. John, i, 4; ix, 5; xii, 35, 46. 
 
 ^ Isaiah, vi, 3; Ivii, 15. St. Luke, i, 49. Revelation, iv, 8. 
 The practical distinction between holy and pure would seem to 
 
FULFILMENT 193 
 
 seeth Like; purity recognizes Holiness. Purity of 
 heart is the final outcome of the single eye, of the 
 concentrated purpose; in it they are completed. 
 
 It is to be regretted that in common speech the 
 words "pure" and "chaste" are so often used as 
 synonymes. A pure woman means to many simply a 
 chaste woman. "Chaste," however, is a word of sig- 
 nificance inferior to "pure." It finds apt illustration 
 in the word "caste," which is identical in deriva- 
 tion. Caste is a European word, applied by Euro- 
 peans to the system in India known to us by that 
 name. It requires freedom from outward defilement; 
 such as the "common" and "unclean" from which 
 the Jews kept themselves.^ Such observance is cere- 
 monial and formal. It may have value, provided 
 that it be not merely formal; that the inner purpose 
 correspond to that which the outward observance 
 symbolizes. Forms are good, if they preserve and 
 enshrine the spirit of which they should be the em- 
 bodiment. The word "chasten," another derivative, 
 applies properly to external correction, — correction 
 from without, although intended to promote removal 
 of the inward evil which truly defiles. With this 
 agree our Lord's words, "That which cometh from 
 w^ithout does not defile; but evil that cometh from 
 within does, for from within, from the heart of men, 
 proceed wickedness of many kinds." These really 
 defile.^ 
 
 be that holiness is a natural, original attribute, — God's Nature is 
 holy, His Being Holiness, — while purity is a condition not origi- 
 nal, but wrought. 
 
 ^ Acts, X, 14, 15, 28; xi, 2, 3. Galatians, ii, 11-14. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, XV, 1-20. St. Mark, vii, 1-23. 
 
 13 
 
194 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 It is to the correction of such evil within that the 
 words "pure" and "purity" apply. Purity is separa- 
 tion, not merely, nor chiefly, from external contami- 
 nation, but from evil combined with good in the 
 nature. The derivation, from the Greek word for 
 fire, suggests the illuminative comparison with the 
 separation of a pure metal from the compound, the 
 impure condition, in which it exists in the ore. The 
 agency for this is fire. The result is not merely free- 
 dom from external defilement, such as rust, or dirt, 
 which conceivably may occur without serious injury. 
 As Christ says in another connection. He that is 
 bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is 
 clean every whit.^ Purging by fire removes com- 
 plexity of condition, yielding a substance homogene- 
 ous and entirely free from alien element; that is, pure. 
 To human nature thus refined is promised the vision 
 of God. 
 
 In the life of the Christian, therefore. Fulfilment is 
 properly conceived less as a termination than as a 
 process; the result of which is purity of character, 
 shown in singleness of purpose, in the one Master 
 recognized. Fulfilment in its exhaustive meaning 
 will never be attained ; for in such sense it would be 
 a progress completed, cessation of growth, a condition 
 not to be predicated of any created spiritual being. 
 Successive stages may come to an end, as in 
 death; but beyond this there will be advance, de- 
 velopment, growth, throughout eternity. In that 
 future state of existence, however, we have good as- 
 surance that there will not be the painful element of 
 * St. John, xiii, lo. 
 
FULFILMENT 195 
 
 struggle and internal conflict — "without fightings, 
 within fears" ^ — which is inseparable from condi- 
 tions here. Jesus Christ speaks of His Peace, which 
 He bequeaths also to His followers ; ^ yet in the days 
 of His humiliation external conditions moved Him 
 to tears,^ and He underwent inward "trouble." ^ It 
 is here the common lot, to which He would not be an 
 exception. 
 
 We know little in detail of the changes which follow 
 death, but we do know that it is a change for the 
 better. St. Paul says decisively, "To depart, and to 
 be with Christ, is far better." ^ He adds here no par- 
 ticulars of circumstance, but St. John in the Revela- 
 tion does : Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord ; 
 for they rest from their labors, and their works follow 
 them.^ The contrast between labor and work we 
 may believe expresses the gain of death. Develop- 
 ment and activity progress, but work no longer con- 
 tends painfully against the inward grain and the 
 outward harassment. "If in this hfe only we have 
 hoped in Christ," says St. Paul again, "we are of all 
 men most pitiable." '^ It need not be supposed that 
 in this reflection St. Paul is looking back regretfully 
 upon the surrender he had made, the outward con- 
 ditions of struggle and hardship which he had em- 
 braced, as the Israelites in their hearts turned back 
 
 ^ 2 Corinthians, vii, 5. ^ St. John, xiv, 27; xvi, 33. 
 
 ^ St. Luke, xix, 41-44. St. John, xi, 33-38. 
 
 * St. Matthew, xxvi, 36-44. St. Mark, xiv, 32-40. St. Luke, 
 xxii, 39-46. St. John, xii, 27; xiii, 21. 
 
 ^ PhiHppians, i, 23. i Corinthians, ii, 9. Compare St. Luke, 
 xxiii, 43- 
 
 ^ Revelation, xiv, 13. "^ I Corinthians, xv, 19. 
 
196 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 to the indulgences of Egypt.^ The loss of which he 
 speaks, but which he knows he cannot incur, is that 
 of the hope of a future "with Christ." Not to have 
 known that hope — not to have "hoped" it — is in 
 effect to have lost it, by never having it; and this is 
 a loss so pitiable that with it none other can be com- 
 pared. The application of this thought is wide. 
 Every life is pitiable which, in life motive, gives to 
 success here predominance over abiding with Christ 
 — in Christ. 
 
 To this future we may trust to pass, if fulfilment 
 of character has progressed as far as this present life 
 admits. First the blade, then the ear, then the full 
 grain in the ear; but when the fruit is ripe, straight- 
 way God putteth forth the sickle, because the harvest 
 is come.^ So St. Paul speaks of the fulfilment of his 
 career: The time of my departure is at hand. I 
 have fought the good fight, I have finished the course, 
 I have kept the faith. ^ The fruit was ripe, the harvest 
 come. He continues, Henceforth there is laid up for 
 me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the 
 righteous judge, shall give me at that day; and not 
 to me only, but also to all them that have loved His 
 appearing. To love His appearing is evidently only 
 another expression for St. PauFs former longing to be 
 with Christ.^ Clearly, therefore, the fulfilment of 
 reward is the crown ; but of what ^ Of righteousness, 
 completed in character and pregnant of future de- 
 velopment. And it is promised — to whom .? To 
 
 * Acts, vii, 39, 40. Numbers, xi, 4-6; xiv, 1-3. Exodus, 
 xvi, 2, 3; xvii, 2, 3. ^ St. Mark, iv, 26-29. 
 
 ^ 2 Timothy, iv, 6-8. * Philippians, i, 21-24. 
 
FULFILMENT I97 
 
 them that have loved His appearing. The fighting 
 the good fight, the running the course, the keeping the 
 faith, specified of St. Paul himself, are embraced all 
 in the words "have loved His appearing"; as fruit is 
 latent in the seed from which it springs, and, like 
 that of a tree planted by the waterside, will be brought 
 forth in due season.^ So is the Kingdom of God, as 
 if a man should cast seed upon the earth, and should 
 sleep and rise, night and day, and the seed should 
 spring up and grow, he knoweth not how; for the 
 earth beareth fruit of herself.' The life and the fruit 
 are enwrapped in the plant. A good tree cannot 
 bring forth evil fruit.^ The utmost of fulfilment, in 
 action, depends upon fulfilment in character. 
 
 It is therefore upon the interior life that the care 
 of the Christian must fasten ; as he who hopes for 
 the fullness of the harvest expects it ultimately and 
 entirely from the seed, conditioned only by the care 
 represented by ploughing, sowing, and tendmg. The 
 writers of the Testaments, New and Old, find in the 
 labors of the agriculturist, and in the fields of natural 
 history, their most frequent and suggestive analogies; 
 the contrast between the life of the plant and the 
 conditions of its fruitfulness emphasize God's part 
 and man's part. The construction of buildings in its 
 gradual progress also offers an illustration, fruitful 
 of spiritual instruction; but here it is the evidence 
 of design, in the mutual relation and dependence of 
 the several parts, which illuminates God's purposes : 
 Ye are built upon the foundation of the Apostles 
 
 * Psalm, i, 3. ^ St. Mark, iv, 26. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, vii, 15-20, 
 
 i/^ 
 
198 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief 
 corner stone; in Whom each several building, fitly 
 framed together, groweth into a holy temple in the 
 Lord.^ A building represents the realization of 
 thought, but it has in itself no principle of growth. 
 Its development proceeds from without itself, that 
 of fruit from within. St. Paul recognizes this dis- 
 tinction in a passage in which he uses both similes, 
 in the manner appropriate to each.^ "Ye are God's 
 tilled land, ye are God's building." As regards the 
 former: "I indeed planted, Apollos watered; but 
 God gave the increase. Neither he that planted nor 
 he that watereth is anything; but God Who gave the 
 increase." Increase is the outcome of the plant's 
 being; given, it is true, by God, but still the effectual 
 working of an inner principle. But the building, 
 while also of God, brings out most clearly man's 
 work, his activities, and their dangers. "According 
 to the grace of God given me as a wise master-builder 
 I laid a foundation; and another buildeth* thereon. 
 But let each man take heed how he buildeth 
 thereon." " If his work abide, he shall receive a 
 reward ; if his work, being tried, be burned, he shall 
 suffer loss." 
 
 Hoping therefore for increase — for fulfilment — 
 let us look chiefly within, upon dispositions and pur- 
 poses, for indications of the growth which is the 
 characteristic of life. God's works are the outcome 
 of His Being.^ By them we recognize His character; 
 but they are only evidences, they are not themselves 
 
 * Ephesians, ii, 20, 21. ^ I Corinthians, iii, 5-15. 
 
 ^ Romans, i, 19-21. 
 
FULFILMENT 199 
 
 either Being or character. If we could know His 
 Nature otherwise, we could predict from this the 
 quality of His actions, as surely as from a fig tree we 
 may expect figs, or from a vine grapes. The spiritual 
 life we have is of Him; and as His essence is Love, 
 from which spring His works of love, so in measure 
 now, and in potency, our life is love. If it so be, and 
 in proportion as it is, it will, it cannot but, bring forth 
 works of love. A good tree cannot bring forth evil 
 fruit. Therefore we are to seek our fruitage of loving 
 works not merely from strenuous control of conduct, 
 but chiefly from diligent cultivation of character; 
 looking less to outward acts than to inward inclina- 
 tions as the domain of effort. If conscience bear 
 witness to exertion to bring every thought into cap- 
 tivity to the law of Christ,^ there is assurance of life; 
 and, as in the life of the natural creation, the increase, 
 which is of God, will follow by a process of natural 
 growth to which we contribute only the nursing care 
 of him who ploughs, sows, waters, watches. 
 
 It may be said indeed that this directing of effort 
 upon the inner motive is the precise fulfilment which 
 our Lord gave to the Law and the Prophets, and 
 which St. Paul elaborates in more than one of his 
 Epistles. Christ so fulfilled in His Person. The 
 prophet foretold of Him that He would stand before 
 His enemies as a lamb dumb before its shearers, 
 or as one led to slaughter. "When He was aflBicted, 
 He opened not His mouth.'' ^ This is outward con- 
 
 * 2 Corinthians, x, 3-5. 
 
 ^ Isaiah, liii, 7. St. Matthew, xxvi, 63; xxvii, 11-14. St. 
 Mark, xiv, 61. St. Luke, xxiii, 8-1 1. St. John, xviii, 22, 23. 
 
200 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 duct. He Himself gives the explanation, "I am meek 
 and lowly in heart,' ^ the inner spirit. He so ful- 
 filled in teaching; for this requirement of inward 
 conformity constitutes the backbone of the Sermon 
 on the Mount, when outward acts, conduct, and activ- 
 ities alike are judged, approved, or condemned, by 
 the inner motive. True obedience is in spirit; except 
 as the outcome of this, the obedience of act is value- 
 less. Obedience may be in act and not in spirit. Our 
 Lord teaches expressly that a man may abstain from 
 murder or adultery in literal obedience to law, and 
 yet be morally guilty of either; but one who is habit- 
 ually obedient in spirit will inevitably be so in act. 
 There may be falls; but if the heart be clearly will- 
 ing, the will is recognized and accepted, even when 
 weakness has betrayed purpose. 
 
 Of this St. Peter's momentary defection furnishes 
 a complete instance.^ What more wretched than the 
 act .? The denial, bad enough in any case, was worst 
 in one to whom had been given the light of the great 
 confession : He is the Christ, the Son of the Living 
 God.^ "I know not the man.'* There is the bald 
 act; but, for all its cowardice, St. Peter loved Christ, 
 before, at the moment, and after. "Lord, Thou 
 knowest that I love Thee." Christ did know, and 
 accepted the assurance, the little word of love, in 
 compensation for the whole act of desertion;^ just 
 because, knowing the heart, He knew that in it there 
 
 * St. Matthew, xi, 29. 
 
 ^ Ihid.^ xxvi, 69-75. St. Mark, xiv, 66-72. St. Luke, xxii, 
 54-62. St. John, xviii, 16, 17, 25-27. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xvi, 15, 16. * St. John, xxi, 15-19. 
 
FULFILMENT 20 1 
 
 was, and throughout had been, life and love. At the 
 moment St. Peter denied Christ it was just as certain 
 as at any time in his life that in the end he would 
 lay down his life for Christ's sake.^ The tree could 
 not but bring forth its fruit — in due season. It is 
 mockery to urge that such a fall is consistent with the 
 Life of the Christian, that a good tree may now and 
 then yield bad fruit; but it is entirely consistent with 
 all experience of conflict, of war, and conflict is the 
 unavoidable accompaniment of the Christian's life. 
 The flesh warreth against the spirit, and the spirit 
 against the flesh.^ It is no strange thing that there 
 should be reverses even in a successful campaign. 
 In any struggle it may seem long doubtful which 
 side will prevail; how much less strange that there 
 should be an occasional rattling fall. It is not such 
 fall, but the combatant's courage and perseverance, 
 the state of his will, which contains the promise of 
 victory or ultimate defeat. 
 
 If a man love Me, he will keep My commandments, 
 said Christ.^ The sequence of cause and effect could 
 not be stated more positively; the spirit, the dispo- 
 sition, the affection, will result in the conduct. He 
 zhat loveth Me not keepeth not my commandments.* 
 And His commandments, though in detailed appHca- 
 ^ion many, are in substance one.^ The first is : Thou 
 /shalt love — God. The second is : Thou shalt love 
 — Man. It is not. Thou shalt do; but, Thou shalt 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxvi, 33-35. St. Mark, xlv, 29-31. St. Luke, 
 XX"» 31-34. St. John, xiii, 37, 38. 
 
 ^ Romans, vii, 18-23. Galatians, v, 16-24. 
 
 ^ St. John, xiv, 15-23. * Ibid.y xiv, 24. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxii, 34-40. 
 
202 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 love. To paraphrase St. Paul : ^ Do we then make 
 acts of none effect through love ? Nay, v^e establish 
 acts; for love it is, and only love, that can bring forth 
 acts of Christ, as a fig tree brings forth figs. Of this, 
 the whole missionary movement of Christendom, in 
 its many ramifications, is an instance to those who, 
 hearing, are wiUing to hear. It is what it is, great 
 and imposing, abounding in the fruit of activities, in 
 virtue of Love, prompting the thousands of self- 
 sacrifices, of service and of money for Christ's sake, 
 of which it is composed; but it is not what it should 
 be, because many to whom it should appeal have not 
 the ears of love to hear, nor the heart of love to 
 respond. If such acts, or rather conduct, be con- 
 stantly wanting, this is evidence of lack of Hfe. By 
 their fruits ye shall know; but this does not put 
 fruits, acts, in the place of love, it confines them to 
 their proper place of evidence. 
 
 This, too, is the significance of that other word 
 of Christ's, in close connection with the one just 
 quoted. He that hath My commandments and keep- 
 eth them, he it is that loveth Me.^ This does not 
 say that the observance of commandment is love, 
 but that it is an evidence that love exists; without it. 
 His commandment, though not in itself grievous, is 
 most grievous, even intolerable. Who in the moment 
 of passion shall refrain from the irritated word, who 
 from sinful desires of the heart, who shall turn the 
 other cheek, go the second mile, love his enemy, 
 doing good and praying for him .? ^ Who shall be 
 
 ^ Romans, iii, 31. ^ gj. John, xiv, 21; xv, 10. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, V, 21-48. 
 
FULFILMENT 203 
 
 meek, and lowly in heart,^ poor in spirit ^ (not mean 
 spirited) ? Who shall steadily return good for evil ? ^ 
 — unless for the love of Christ. For His sake these 
 things may be done ; ^ or at least, if too often ill done, 
 the desire to do may be there; but there is no other 
 conceivable reason satisfactory to our common sense. 
 This or that argument of expediency, bearing on the 
 future, may be adduced ; but their general impotence 
 is known. It is questionable whether such control 
 pays; but, even granting it does in the long run, no 
 one knows that the long run will be allowed him. 
 Upon the whole, as observation shows, a present 
 gratification of impulse is worth a dozen future con- 
 siderations. Love for Christ is such present impulse. 
 It alone, as an inward motive, consecrates action; 
 and it alone is to the believer both motive and reward. 
 Deeds, the effect of which is beneficent, may thus 
 become intrinsically valueless because done from a 
 worthless motive,^ or from one secondary to the love 
 of Christ. To take the highest example, works of 
 pure benevolence, unselfish in motive, fall short of 
 Christ's standard, of that fulfilment which is the 
 crown of the Christian's Life, if done without refer- 
 ence to Him. He that loveth even father or mother, 
 wife or child, more than Me, is not worthy of Me.^ 
 This naming of the nearest of neighbors, the closest 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xi, 29, 30. ^ Ihid., v, 3. 
 
 ^ Ihid., V, 45. St. Luke, vi, 27-36. Romans, xii, 19-21. 
 
 * 2 Corinthians, v, 14, 15. i Corinthians, x, 31; xv, 17-19, 
 32. Philippians, iii, 7-14. Colossians, iii, 17. I St. Peter, i, 
 8, 9; iv, II. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, vi, i, 2, 5, 6, 16-18. 
 
 ^ Ihid.y X, i^j. St. Luke, xiv, 26. 
 
204 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 of kin, those having the very first claim on our good 
 offices, shows that no motive is accepted apart from 
 love to Him. Benevolence, kindliness, family af- 
 fection, are but natural qualities, the exercise of 
 which is pleasant to the possessor; to exert them, 
 when not too great an effort of self-sacrifice, is a 
 present gratification. The very publicans love those 
 who love them.^ Though fallen, mankind still re- 
 mains keenly sensible to appeals to sympathy and to 
 moral considerations, and finds pleasure in answer- 
 ing to them. If there were not these and kindred 
 qualities in man, there would be nothing to respond to 
 the message of Christ, which is addressed to the 
 sympathies and the moral sense. 
 
 Daily life bears constant testimony to the abundant 
 existence of this raw material of good dispositions, 
 just as it does to opposite characteristics, and to all 
 the long array of evil incentives summarized under 
 the words, " the world, the flesh, and the devil." The 
 widespread existence of the estimable qualities, 
 so that scarcely any man is wholly without them, 
 must be fully admitted, and the benefit of the deeds 
 issuing from them must be recognized ; but in them- 
 selves alone they indicate simply that man has been 
 by God created in His own image. ^ They do not 
 necessarily prove that the individual action proceeds 
 from any motive which has in it the seed of spiritual 
 advance, towards the full restoration of that image. 
 On the contrary, observation demonstrates that they 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, V, 46. 
 
 ^ Genesis, i, 26, 27; v, i; ix, 6. I Corinthians, xi, 7. St. 
 James, iii, 9. 
 
FULFILMENT 205 
 
 often rise no higher than kindly impulse, often alloyed 
 with tendencies of self-pleasing far from admirable. 
 In rebuking ostentatious benevolence as well as osten- 
 tatious piety, Christ does not confine Himself to 
 censure of ostentation. He indicates in each connec- 
 tion the one consecrating motive : Thy Father which 
 seeth in secret ^ — penetrating not only the secrecy 
 of the act but the secret of the heart.^ In precise con- 
 formity with this, our Lord also selects for special 
 commendation small acts, unknown acts, done in 
 God's Name. Familiar instances are those of the 
 widow's two mites, and "the cup of cold water be- 
 cause ye are Christ's." ^ 
 
 The contrast between acts and the inner spirit 
 which prompts them is emphasized in the parable of 
 the Pharisee and the Publican.^ The works of the 
 one were self-sacrificing and large. How many to- 
 day exercise such self-restraint as is implied in fasting 
 twice in the week, and giving a tenth of all their in- 
 come ? The other, so far as appears, like St. Peter 
 in his repentance, brought no outward offering but 
 words. "God be merciful to me a sinner." Yet 
 this is accepted and preferred. The sacrifice of God 
 is a broken spirit; within, not without. That at- 
 tained, but not before, the Psalmist brings the sacri- 
 fices to which works of benevolence are a present 
 equivalent.^ 
 
 It was probably St. Paul's experience as a Pharisee 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, vi, 4, 6, 18. 
 
 ^ Hebrews, iv, 12, 13. Psalm, cxxxix, 1-12. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, x, 40-42. St. Mark, ix, 41. 
 
 * St. Luke, xviii, 9-14. ^ Psalm, H, 17-19. 
 
2o6 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTL\X 
 
 that gives such vigor and reiteration to his contrast 
 between Faith and Works. The opposition between 
 these is in his apprehension that between the interior 
 spirit and external observance, even when observance 
 is of the clearest and most imperative moral obHga- 
 tions. His enumeration to the Philippians ^ of his 
 advantages as a Pharisee was no occasional utter- 
 ance, but the recollection of a vivid past, often alluded 
 to at other times.^ In the righteousness of the law, 
 which was chiefly in outward act and observance, 
 he found himself blameless, like the Pharisee of 
 Christ's parable; but when confronted with the 
 command to interior conformity, "Thou shalt not 
 covet," he recognized an impossibility,^ which, to 
 use his own word, "slew'' him. "The command- 
 ment which was ordained to life I found to be unto 
 death," until in Christ he learned the end of the 
 law by its fulfilment for him, and ultimately in him. 
 There was the command, and there the impossibihty 
 of obedience. This meant death, but for the De- 
 liverer, ^^llo took upon Himself all the guilt, and 
 fulfilled for all men the obligation. His Life, the 
 Life of Christ, interior, hid with God, is thence- 
 forth that of St. Paul, converting weakness into 
 strength, impossibility into possibilirv^ This is ef- 
 fected through Faith, an inward disposition. Thus 
 the Law was to St. Paul the tutor to bring him to 
 Christ. 
 
 ^ Philippians, iii, 4-7. 
 
 - Acts, xxii, 3, 4, 5, 19, 20; xxiii, 6; xxvi, 4-7, 9-12. 2 Co- 
 rinthians, xi, 21, 22. Galatians, i, 13, 14. 
 ^ Romans, vii, 7-1 1. 
 
FULFILMENT 207 
 
 The Commands of Jesus Christ are also '' Laws," 
 but the most characteristic are addressed, like " Thou 
 shalt not covet," to the interior disposition; they 
 pierce to the thoughts and intents of the heart.^ For 
 example, "Be not anxious." " He who seeks to obey 
 will find, like St. Paul, that he is incapable of full 
 obedience, is carnal, sold under sin;^ and that the 
 law being spiritual will slay him. Only through 
 death, to self, will he pass to life in Christ; out of 
 weakness be made strong.^ 
 
 All this is, of course, but the reiteration of the moral 
 axiom that the value of an action is in its motive, 
 which needs in this connection to be reinforced by a 
 corollar}^ itself an axiom in that it scarcely needs 
 demonstration, viz.: that the choice of a mouve 
 lower than the highest known is a moral derehction. 
 That this much is true is not merely axiomatic, 
 self-evident; there is the further consideration that 
 action will be proporrioned to motive, and that he 
 who is swayed by an impulse lower than the highest 
 — that is, the strongest — will be less fruitful in the 
 good deeds themselves, as well as defective in char- 
 acter. Appeal may be made confidently to history 
 that, in proportion to means possessed, the motive, 
 "because ye belong to Christ," apphcable to all 
 mankind, has been and to-day is vastly more fruitful 
 in deeds than are any natural impulses of kindliness 
 or generositv. It has a stronger power of initiative. 
 The mites of the widow, the cups of cold water, 
 the self-denials of moderate circumstances, unknown 
 
 1 Hebrews, iv, 12. ' St. Matthew, vi, 25, 31. 
 
 3 Romans, vii, 14. ' Hebrews, xi, 34. 
 
2o8 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 to man but known to God, have never ceased pour- 
 ing into the treasury of Christ. 
 
 In Hke secrecy — in the interior Hfe known only 
 to Him Who seeth in secret — is wrought out much 
 of that duty of love to God, which is even greater 
 than benevolence, love to man. The duty of piety, 
 of the filial relation of love to God in Christ, is the 
 first and great commandment. The poor are not 
 only they who have little money. There are also the 
 poor in native good dispositions, whose hearts know 
 their own bitterness; who fain would in temper, in 
 love, joy, peace, long-suflPering, gentleness, meek- 
 ness, self-control, give to Christ abundantly, if only 
 they could ; who from the poverty of a weak, or an 
 arid, or a perverse nature, can give only the rare cup 
 of cold water, wring the few mites of kindly impulse, 
 realize here and there something of love, not in bare 
 act, which is cheap, but in that steady burning pur- 
 pose which is life and light. All men share this evil 
 state, if they did but know; but when known and 
 felt, it brings its own hope. The first promise of the 
 Beatitudes, the first utterance of the Sermon on the 
 Mount, is to those conscious of inward poverty. 
 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the king- 
 dom of heaven; ^ a Kingdom within,^ which is not 
 of outward observance, but righteousness, and peace, 
 and joy in the Holy Ghost.^ The very sorrow over 
 disabilities of temper and disposition, if the motive 
 of the sorrow be for Christ, carries His assurance 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, v, 3. 
 
 ^ St. Luke, xvii, 20, 21. I Corinthians, iii, 16, 17; vi, 19. 
 
 ^ Romans, xiv, 17. 
 
FULFILMENT 209 
 
 of success : Blessed are they that mourn, for they 
 shall be comforted, — strengthened ; Blessed are 
 they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for 
 they shall be filled.^ 
 
 Like evil in general, the existence of weakness is 
 a mystery; but it is one with which the word of God 
 deals with peculiar directness and clearness. That 
 all characters have weak as well as strong points is 
 a matter of general observation. Strength itself is 
 often a weakness; "the defects of one's qualities" 
 is a saying as shrewd as it is cynical. Indeed, the 
 man strong of w^ll and purpose runs risk of being 
 weakest, deceived by the strength which in master- 
 ing persons and conditions masters also himself 
 Every character is as a dominion which has its rich 
 and its waste places. Both are to be possessed for 
 Christ; the one to be improved, the other to be re- 
 deemed. It is a work of patience, but the promise is 
 sure. In your patience ye shall win your souls,^ 
 shall enter into possession of all the faculties of your 
 personality, till even the wilderness and the solitary 
 place shall blossom as the rose; ^ but all that it may 
 be for the service of Christ. 
 
 Suffering is an incident of weakness; and that the 
 Son of God was made perfect by suffering ^ indicates 
 the purpose of weakness in the scheme of redemption, 
 which is the fulfilment of man's character as a 
 spiritual being. Much of our weakness is from sin, 
 
 * St. Matthew, V, 4, 6. 
 
 ^ St. Luke, xxi, 19. Hebrews, xii, i-ii. St. James, i, 2-4, 12. 
 
 ^ Isaiah, xxxv, i, 2. * Hebrews, v, 8-10. 
 
 14 
 
210 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 sinful; but that He Who knew no sin ^ knew weak- 
 ness shows that weakness not only is not neces- 
 sarily sin, but that it is a condition necessary to 
 ultimate perfection. This the Old Testament an- 
 nounced in words adopted by the New: Thou 
 madest man lower than the angels; Thou didst 
 crown him with glory and honor.^ These are the 
 two stages, connected as means and result. They 
 are spoken primarily of Christ, of His humiliation 
 and His victory; but His humiliation was in making 
 Himself one with us,^ and in that union His victory 
 becomes in all its stages that of universal mankind, 
 if true to Him : crucified with Him, dead with Him, 
 risen with Him, ascended with Him. 
 
 In respect of weakness, St. Paul is explicit as to his 
 own experience,^ which in general character is that 
 of all men. It matters not what was the thorn in the 
 flesh of which he speaks. Whatever it was, it was 
 felt as weakness. In his spirit he felt poverty; he 
 therein bore his share of the humiliation of Christ, 
 filling up on his part that which was lacking of the 
 afflictions of Christ.^ To his prayer for deliverance, 
 he received the answer that God's strength is made 
 perfect in weakness. This implies not merely the 
 remedial effect of God's strength; it implies also 
 that weakness is appointed by God as a necessary 
 incident to the perfection of character. Had it been 
 
 * 2 Corinthians, V, 21. Hebrews, iv, 15; vii, 26. i St. Peter, 
 ii, 22. I St. John, iii, 5. 
 
 * Psalm, viii, 4-6. Hebrews, ii, 5-8. 
 
 3 Hebrews, ii, 11-18. * 2 Corinthians, xii, 7-10. 
 
 ® Colossians, i, 24. 
 
FULFILMENT 211 
 
 merely a cross, St. Paul might have confined his 
 attitude to that of acceptance; but he jfinds in it 
 more. He thenceforth takes pleasure in weaknesses, 
 in injuries, in necessities, in distresses, for Christ's 
 sake; he glories in them, that the power of Christ 
 may rest upon him. Weakness is not merely God's 
 opportunity. It is his method and means for elabo- 
 rating a nature superior to that which would be pos- 
 sible to one created perfect in strength. 
 
 Weaknesses of natural character therefore are to 
 be greeted; not as something in themselves good, 
 but as occasion, opportunity. It is necessary to dis- 
 tinguish always between acts of weakness, and the 
 fact, or condition, of a native weakness in the char- 
 acter. The act is culpable, more or less, for it re- 
 sults from the cooperation or acquiescence of the 
 will. Where the will is pure, the weakness cannot 
 prevail; and the very fact of resistance intensifies the 
 struggle and the suffering. As Christ's Will not to 
 sin was absolute. He suffered in resistance ^ beyond 
 all men; but His example shows that, if utilized by 
 man in watchfulness and prayer, suffering is God's 
 opportunity also for uplifting to heights not other- 
 wise attainable. "When I am weak, then am I 
 strong." Ordinary experience will tell us that no 
 progress is harder than contention with a native 
 deficiency, whether of courage, or of gentleness, or 
 of decision, or of resoluteness, or in anxiousness, or 
 in over-confidence. 
 
 There are many oppositions of these kinds; but 
 they all bear the common stamp of weakness, mani- 
 ^ St. Luke, xxii, 44. Hebrews, ii, 18; iv, 15; v, 7, 8. 
 
212 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 fested outwardly in conduct. There is no sharper 
 test of real character than persistent battling with 
 these natural infirmities; and persistence, constancy, 
 is the fruit by which the essential goodness of the 
 tree is known. "He that goeth on his way weeping, 
 but bearing forth good seed, shall doubtless come 
 again with joy and bring his sheaves with him." * 
 So little progress, so much discouragement; frequent 
 outward failure, rare gleams of success in spirit, 
 however acts may be controlled; but still going on 
 his way, not halting, nor slacking in effort. Earnest- 
 ness such as this, from its very reality, finds it im- 
 possible to reach its ideal, but in the end it will. So 
 Browning writes : 
 
 For hence — a paradox 
 Which comforts while it mocks — 
 Shall life succeed in that it seems to fail. 
 
 For encouragement, the Christian must remember 
 constantly that the growth is not of himself, but of 
 God. It is the outcome, the natural development 
 and fruit bearing, the fulfilment of the Life given 
 him; of the Life of Christ within him. He grows 
 and will bear fruit as a branch of the Vine; ^ and the 
 process therefore will be governed by the laws of 
 normal growth, in due season, ^ — first the blade, then 
 the ear, then the full corn.^ Perfectly clear intel- 
 lectual apprehension of this law is not indeed indis- 
 pensable to the issue, as consciousness is not essential 
 to the life of an organism; but when understood 
 
 * Psalm, cxxvi, 5, 6 (Psalter). ^ St. John, xv, 1-6. 
 ^ Psalm, i, 2, 3. * St. Mark, iv, 28, 29. 
 
FULFILMENT 213 
 
 and appreciated the light of good cheer is shed upon 
 the slowness of progress. Comprehension has also 
 the advantage which intelligent grasp of principles 
 has upon effort, that of skilled work over unskilled, 
 giving direction to exertion and patience to waiting. 
 So the husbandman waiteth for the fruits of the 
 earth and has long patience for them, till he receive 
 the early and the later rain.^ Patience in no wise 
 dispenses from labor, for spiritual toil is the condi- 
 tion of successful spiritual husbandry; but it places 
 the longed-for increase where St. Paul places it, — 
 with God. His is the life, man's the tendance only. 
 Further, one who has realized these conditions will 
 be perpetually on guard, watching for the advance, 
 for the blade and the ear, seeing in them not the re- 
 sults of his own work, but the evidence of life work- 
 ing, cheering him with the hope of the harvest, of 
 the full corn in due season; and the spirit of trust 
 will find cause for thanksgiving, in evidences grad- 
 ual but perceptible. 
 
 Normal healthy life is unconscious of the processes 
 by which it is maintained and developed. In being, 
 doing, and undergoing, whether pain or pleasure, we 
 are conscious of living; but the processes of physical 
 life, continuous from birth to death, go on without 
 necessary consciousness, and in function are inde- 
 pendent of our will. We can minister to them, and 
 must do so ; but ministration is not life. Only when 
 derangement enters do the vital processes force 
 themselves on our consciousness. Of these processes, 
 
 ^ St. James, i, 2-4; v, 7, 8. i Corinthians, xv, 58. Gala- 
 tians, vi, 9. St. Luke, xxi, 19 (Revised Version). 
 
214 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 growth in its broadest sense is the leading charac- 
 teristic; and growth is momentarily imperceptible. 
 We see that a child or plant has grown; we recog- 
 nize that change has taken place in ourselves; but, 
 except where derangement occurs, it is the result 
 that is noted, not the process. It is quite so in spirit- 
 ual life. We are conscious of derangements; of 
 temptation, of faults, of weakness; but we are not 
 similarly conscious of growing. We minister by 
 watchfulness, by sacraments, prayer, thanksgiving, 
 — by all means of intercourse with God, — as to 
 the natural body by care, food, surroundings; but 
 growth, advanced or retarded as these precautions 
 are observed or neglected, continues steadily by 
 virtue of the inner principle of life — union with 
 God in and through Jesus Christ. Then from time 
 to time attention is arrested, and we note that there 
 has been growth. We wake up, as it were, and find 
 advance towards likeness to God; perhaps as the 
 tiny blade when it first breaks through the soil, and 
 we rejoice. When I wake up after Thy likeness, I 
 shall be satisfied with it.^ 
 
 It is good, says the prophet, that a man bear the 
 yoke in his youth; that he both hope and patiently 
 wait for the salvation of God.^ It is good, for youth 
 is strong to endure; it is also good, because youth 
 especially needs discipline. From age, more or less, 
 will naturally be expected the tokens of fulfilment; 
 lapse of time should afford greater evidence of 
 growth. But, here again, fulfilment of life must be 
 sought within. Men light a candle, said our Lord, 
 ^ Psalm, xvii, 15 (Psalter). ^ Lamentations, iii, 26, 27. 
 
FULFILMENT 215 
 
 and set it on a candlestick, that they who enter in 
 may see the Hght; it shineth to all who are in the 
 house.^ Entering in is the condition. God enters in, 
 and the man himself; doubtless also the great cloud 
 of unseen witnesses,^ and those on earth who by in- 
 timacy and sympathy have opportunity to see. This 
 light is the recompense of faithfulness continued to 
 old age. In this sense, St. John twice addresses the 
 old under the title of " fathers." I write unto you, 
 fathers, because ye know Him Who is from the be- 
 ginning.^ This is their fruitage — knowledge of God 
 in Christ; the knowledge of experience; a result 
 which St. Peter couples with growth in grace as the 
 supreme outcome of the Life of the Christian : Grow 
 in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour 
 Jesus Christ.^ In logical recognition of the differing 
 stages of life St. John gives a very different charge 
 to those in the prime and vigor of manhood; to whom 
 the burden of bodily weakness with its privilege of 
 rest is not yet come. I write unto you, young men, 
 because ye are strong, and the Word of God abideth 
 in you, and ye have overcome the evil one. The word 
 of God abiding in the exercise of manhood's strength 
 carries with it the assurance to old age of that ad- 
 vanced knowledge of God which is life and peace. 
 
 To know Christ is light, which grows with experi- 
 ence. In Him is life, and the life, known,^ is the 
 
 ^ St. Luke, viii, 16; xi, 33. St. Matthew, v, 15. 
 
 ^ I Corinthians, iv, 9. Hebrews, xii, i. 
 
 ^ I St. John, ii, 13, 14. ^ 2 St. Peter, iii, 18. 
 
 ^ Romans, x, 14. 
 
2i6 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 light of men.^ I am the Light of the World.^ Nor 
 is it wresting the difficult words of the prophet from 
 their special bearing to apply them to the end of life 
 here on earth, as struggles and disappointments, 
 perplexities and fears, draw to a close: There shall 
 be one day known unto the Lord; not day and not 
 night; but it shall come to pass that at evening time 
 there shall be light.^ Not day, and not night. Not 
 yet the perfected vision of him who has departed 
 and is with Christ, but yet the light which has been 
 shining with increasing intensity, "more and more," 
 towards the perfect day;^ intermediate, as it were, 
 between the starhght of Faith ^ and the daylight of 
 His appearing.^ 
 
 Such light had St. Paul, who in mid career labored 
 lest with all his activities for Christ he might be a 
 castaway;'' but when evening time came, he knew 
 that he had fought a good fight, and won the crown.® 
 The heat of the struggle, when men are strong in 
 youth, needs not this light so much as does the 
 feebleness of age; nor is the time of vigorous action, 
 preoccupied with activities even the worthiest, as 
 fitted for the calm reflection which in age facilitates 
 and shelters the burning of the flame. There is a 
 time for everything. As thy day so shall thy strength 
 be,^ proportionate to the demands upon it. I will 
 
 ^ St. John, i, 4. 2 Corinthians, iii, 18; iv, 6. 
 
 ^ St. John, viii, 12; ix, 5; xii, 35, 36, 46. 
 
 ^ Zechariah, xiv, 6, 7. ^ Proverbs, iv, 18. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, ii, i-io. Revelation, xxii, 16. 
 
 ® Malachi, iv, 2. St. Luke, i, 78. 
 
 ' I Corinthians, ix, 27. ^ 2 Timothy, iv, 7, 8. 
 
 * Deuteronomy, xxxiii, 25. 
 
FULFILMENT 217 
 
 not leave thee nor forsake thee.^ Action needs light 
 to guide effort; and it finds it in the example and 
 words of Christ, as it finds impulse in love for Christ. 
 These are sufi^cient for the time of battle; a war cry 
 when the dust of the contest darkens the sky, and the 
 shoutings of the contending hosts fill the air. A man 
 then can but snatch his moments of refreshment, 
 seeking "refuge under the shadow of Thy wings until 
 the tyranny of combat be overpast." ^ His duty is in 
 the field, wherever by the Providence of God he 
 finds himself stationed. 
 
 Old age is one of the stages in fulfilment. It is a 
 time when cessation of effort in measure is imposed; 
 when men increasingly rather live than act, in the 
 common sense of the word "act." But living, being, 
 is intrinsically a higher condition than doing; the 
 life is more than the meat; as the man is, so is his 
 strength. Old age is the harvest of what the man is ; 
 the reaping of what he has become during the period 
 when life was manifesting itself in action. As he 
 ceases from his labors, his works follow him. Char- 
 acter achieved becomes fruition, and he brings forth 
 more abundantly, sheds light greater and more effect- 
 ual, in virtue of what he is and of what he has under- 
 gone. The light is for him, but not only nor chiefly 
 for him; its great virtue is that it is in him. It is the 
 supreme fulfilment of the assurance, My strength is 
 made perfect in weakness; that the more the weak- 
 ness, the more urgent the occasion, the greater the 
 opportunity and the greater the compensating power. 
 
 ^ Deuteronomy, xxxi, 6. Hebrews, xiii, 5, 6. 
 ^ Psalm, Ivii, i (Psalter). 
 
2i8 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Let it not, however, be imagined, as is very easily 
 done, that the perfecting of strength in weakness 
 means the removal of weakness; the substitution, 
 as it were, of strength for weakness. The weakness 
 of age is physical weakness, the culmination of which 
 is the last weakness — St. Paul's "last enemy" ^ — 
 death. Death is the extreme expression of w^eakness. 
 Upon it Jesus Christ fastens to illustrate the value 
 of weakness as a means to fulfilment: Except a 
 grain of wheat fall into the earth and die, it abideth 
 by itself alone; but if it die, it beareth much fruit.^ 
 Weakness of age shows itself in body, brain, and 
 nerves. It is incurable; and the resultant conditions 
 will seek to manifest themselves in inward spirit 
 and in outward conduct, constituting an inevitable 
 struggle. As the physical energies slacken, the forces 
 dependent upon them, as well resistant as aggressive, 
 relax; and the natural desire increases that external 
 circumstances shall conform to those of the rich man 
 in the parable : Soul, take thine ease; all things now 
 are so that rest is assured for the years that remain.^ 
 But the time for rest is not yet,* nor is here the place. 
 The promise to the present distress is not rest, much 
 less ease, but peace ^ and inward strength.^ 
 
 The greater the force of spiritual character ac- 
 quired in life, the more arduous is this conflict, the 
 severer the trial. Of the highest spiritual character, 
 of the spotless human nature of Jesus Christ, it is 
 
 * I Corinthians, xv, 26. ^ St. John, xii, 24. 
 
 ^ St. Luke, xii, 16-20. * Hebrews, iv, i-il. 
 
 ® St. John, xiv, 27; xvi, 33. Philippians, iv, 7. 
 ^ Isaiah, xl, 28-31. 2 Corinthians, iv, 8-16. 
 
FULFILMENT 219 
 
 particularly written that, being tried, — tempted, — 
 He suffered.'^ His Peace, the Peace of God, passeth 
 understanding^ for the very reason that, while we 
 know not how it comes, it abides and sustains in the 
 extremity of trial; such as His Passion, when the in- 
 tensity of suffering, mental and physical, of repug- 
 nance to the experience before Him, did not prevail 
 over serenity and self-possession. The stages of the 
 struggle, marked by such expressions as, "Ye shall 
 be scattered, . . . and leave Me alone; and yet I am 
 not alone, because the Father is with Me;"^ or 
 again, " Peace I leave with you ; My Peace I give unto 
 you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you," ^ show 
 the source and character of the peace, that it was of 
 God, and not that tranquilHty of ease which the world 
 takes for peace. 
 
 In the forsaking, and in the bodily exhaustion of 
 that night, — as of the fasting in the wilderness, — 
 Jesus Christ learned by experience the weaknesses 
 which are characteristic of age, although He did not 
 live to be old. Tempted thus in all respects like us, 
 He triumphed; being therein made perfect. This 
 was the supreme test of weakness and of character, 
 to which for His brethren old age with its partings 
 and infirmities constitutes the nearest parallel. And 
 it can be readily appreciated that while on the one 
 hand trial — weakness — abounds, on the other, 
 grace — strength — will much more abound ; ^ for 
 not only will God's strength then be made perfect, 
 
 ^ Hebrews, ii, 18; iv, 15. ^ Philippians, iv, 7. 
 ^ St. Johiij xvi, 32. * Ibid., xiv, 27. 
 
 ^ Romans, v, 20. 
 
220 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 but in a faithful follower He will find an instrument 
 more highly tempered than ever before, wherewith 
 to work His Will to perfection of character. It is the 
 time of harvest; the full corn following the blade 
 and the ear. 
 
 Consider what the strength of the young man, 
 exercised in its day, brings to old age. No chastening, 
 says the Apostle, seems for the present joyous, but 
 grievous; nevertheless, afterwards, it worketh the 
 acceptable fruit of righteousness to him who is exer- 
 cised thereby.^ Character strengthened by discipline 
 is a familiar thought and a not infrequent experi- 
 ence; but in the Life of the Christian there has been 
 more and deeper than discipline. There has been the 
 process of spiritual life working in and through 
 repeated endeavors; season succeeding season, as 
 year succeeds year in the natural life. Each has 
 brought its allotted measure of advance on the lines 
 laid down by the providential ordering of God; 
 fidelity to which, in watchfulness and prayer, gives 
 accuracy and precision to the efforts of the husband- 
 man. Rain and sunshine, the fit symbols of God's 
 part,^ the appointed sorrow and joy, success and 
 disappointment, have done their alternate work, sec- 
 onded by that diligent care which St. Paul speaks of 
 as planting and watering.^ 
 
 As each period passes, and task accomplished is 
 succeeded by task to be done, the past sinks into the 
 ground of character, enriching the soil; so that 
 product may increase from thirty-fold to sixty and 
 
 ^ Hebrews, xii, ii. ^ St. Matthew, v, 45. 
 
 ^ I Corinthians, iii, 5-7. 
 
FULFILMENT 221 
 
 an hundred in the coming days. Progress arrested 
 by some obstacle, against which fixity of purpose has 
 seemed to press in vain, has but been as one may 
 see a stream laden with fertilizing soil backed up by 
 the rise of the river to which it is tributary, and 
 thereby in quiescence overflowing its own borders, 
 as does the Nile, until its valley is enriched thrice 
 and fourfold by the deposits, which but for the seem- 
 ing adversity would have been swept fruitlessly down 
 and lost, — the perfect work of patience ^ symbolized. 
 Shakespeare has told us, " Sweet are the uses of ad- 
 versity;" but it is clearer still that patience thus 
 may enrich the soul, not by perseverance merely, 
 but by simple endurance in tarrying the Lord's 
 leisure.^ 
 
 To such gain age is heir when the strength of 
 manhood has been given, as St. John expresses, to 
 nourishing the word of God abiding within, and to re- 
 sistance to the evil without.^ To the peculiar work 
 of age, to the closing season of the many which have 
 passed over the man's head, and died, are consigned 
 two specific tasks; common to all the old, though 
 varying in application to each man, as God shall see 
 what each needs that he may bring his fruit to per- 
 fection. These two tasks are summed up in the 
 words of Jesus Christ to the Apostles, after He had 
 fed the multitudes with the few loaves and fishes;^ 
 
 ^ St. James, i, 4. 
 
 ^ Psalm, xxvii, 16 (Psalter); xxxvii, 3-8. 
 ^ I St. John, ii, 14. 
 
 * St. Matthew, xiv, 13-21; xv, 32-38. St. Mark, vi, 32-44; 
 viii, 1-9. St. Luke, ix, 10-17. 
 
222 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 themselves an apt simile of the weakness of means, 
 in which Power finds occasion to make perfect. 
 "Gather up the fragments that remain, that nothing 
 be lost." ^ For it must be recognized that what re- 
 mains of action to old age, as compared with the prime 
 of life, is only fragments ; but also that fragments do 
 remain, and in fruitfulness may be more than ever, 
 because the period is emphatically that of harvest. 
 Moreover, fruitfulness — the increase — is not of 
 man, but of God. To man therefore pertains only 
 the diligence of gathering up; to God the results. 
 So, in the miracles referred to, the increase was of 
 Christ; the gathering of the fragments He committed 
 to the Apostles. This has ever since remained the 
 function of the ministry; the history of Christendom 
 is the gathering up the fragments remaining over 
 from the Life and Death and Resurrection of its 
 Leader. 
 
 In the spirit of this injunction, patience makes 
 upon age a twofold demand. The growth of infirm- 
 ity, the decline of power to act, mentally or physi- 
 cally, must be accepted; not merely submitted to, 
 not merely acquiesced in,^ but taken to one's self by 
 an act of the will, choosing to have that which God 
 has appointed. But, while thus accepting, there 
 must be care not to give over effort up to the strength 
 that remains. Here patience will manifest itself 
 actively in continuous, quiet, persistent endeavor. 
 Decay is commonly gradual; much may still be 
 done, when most no longer can. 
 
 Encouragement, too, may be found in the thought 
 
 ^ St. John, vi, 12. ^ Ante, pp. 60-62. 
 
FULFILMENT 223 
 
 so often repeated : that the crown of success is not 
 doing, but being. I AM^ was the Name under 
 which God revealed Himself to the older dispensa- 
 tion. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the Name ^ 
 under which He has made Himself known to Chris- 
 tians, is also an expression of Being; an expansion, 
 a growth in Revelation, but still testifying less what 
 God does than what He is. The history of Creation 
 — and of Redemption — is latent in the Name, is 
 the outcome of the Being. That He is what He is, is 
 the supreme glory of God; when He speaks of Him- 
 self as Love, He says not only I have love, or I show 
 love, but I am Love.^ Man, created in the image of 
 God, moves on in his proper order to a like perfection 
 of being, to which acts indeed will not be wanting, 
 but of which they will be not the essence — the 
 being — but the result. Thus St. Paul says. We are 
 created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God 
 afore prepared that we should walk in them; but he 
 precedes this declaration by stating the fact from 
 which efficiency is derived. "We are God's work- 
 manship, created," etc.^ That is, being what we 
 are, or shall be, through God's work in us, fitting 
 instruments fashioned for His purposes, we shall do 
 those things which He has prepared for us. 
 
 This purpose of God, this antecedent work, we 
 may frustrate, as well as fulfil. Our wills He will 
 not coerce; if we will not. He will create another 
 instrument to take the place we refuse. Neverthe- 
 less, it remains true: Be, and you will do; for it is 
 
 ^ Exodus, ill, 13, 14. ^ St. Matthew, xxviii, 19. 
 
 ^ I St. John, iv, 7-16. * Ephesians, ii, 10. 
 
224 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 not you who work, but the Spirit of God working in 
 you.^ But we shall not all do the same thing. There 
 are differences of ministrations, and the same Lord; ^ 
 the same One Workman working through many 
 men and in many ways. This evident fact, of the 
 numerous kinds of godly activities which character- 
 ize the spiritual as well as the natural order, St. Paul 
 takes ^ as the prelude to his famous exposition of the 
 one spirit, of the one way, which consecrates all, — the 
 inner frame of mind and purpose which alone begets 
 and hallows all acceptable acts, — Love. 
 
 With youth, with life's prime, with old age, and 
 with periods of history, it is as with individuals. 
 Each has its appointed work ; and each will fulfil its 
 work, and can fulfil it, only as it nourishes the inner 
 spirit of love, to God and man. Where this inner 
 spirit is found, there need be no fear but that the ex- 
 ternal work will be found also, and will be fulfilled 
 in proportion to the love. That the hearts of kings 
 are in the hands of God as the rivers of water,^ is 
 but a conspicuous declaration of a general truth, not 
 confined to the eminent. It finds reiteration in the 
 same Book : In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, x, 20. St. Luke, xii, 12. i Corinthians, iii, 9; 
 xii, 6. ^ Ibid.^ xii, 4-1 1. 
 
 ^ I Corinthians, xii. This chapter is not to be cited merely 
 textually, but taken with Chapter xiii as a whole, leading up through 
 activities to the indispensable spirit within; whether by the formal 
 design of the Apostle, or by the irresistible logic of his thought. 
 However regarded in these respects, it remains a consummate ex- 
 ample of the Holy Ghost working in and through man. The flow 
 of thought is as irresistible as though the Spirit held the pen, not 
 the man. * Proverbs, xxi, i. 
 
FULFILMENT 225 
 
 He will direct thy paths. ^ If the will be given, He 
 will do the rest; for the will, the inner disposition, 
 alone is beyond His power. Only the man can give 
 that. So it is the inner spirit, variously called the 
 heart and the will, which is decisive. Keep thy 
 heart above all keeping, for out of it are the issues 
 of Hfe.2 
 
 That the heart of a man should be thus in the 
 hand of God as a river of water, to be turned whither 
 He will, as the rivers of Nature are turned and 
 shaped in their course by the orderings of the ground 
 through which they flow, is the highest fulfilment; 
 for it is the complete surrender of the will to Him. 
 This does not exclude eff^ort of any kind; careful 
 (if prayerful) thought, consideration, even cut and 
 dried planning, the "rough hewing'' of Shakespeare; 
 but it does expect from Another a shaping of one's 
 purposes, of the inner life, which in unconsciousness 
 shall have somewhat in common with the growth of 
 a plant. "Like a green olive tree in the house of 
 God; my trust is in the tender mercy of God, for 
 ever and ever." ^ "What I am doing thou knowest 
 not now; thou shalt know hereafter." ^ The recon- 
 ciling feature, of this unconscious providential de- 
 velopment with perpetual conscious effort, is daily 
 watchfulness to do at each instant what is seen to be 
 right. The way is open, for it is Jesus Christ; His 
 acts and His words, as applicable to the present case. 
 This is "Watch and Pray." This is also ploughing, 
 
 ^ Proverbs, iii, 6. ^ Ibid.y iv, 23. 
 
 3 Psalm, Hi, 8. * St. John, xiii, 7. 
 
 IS 
 
226 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 planting, watering; but the increase is of God, not 
 of us, and so is the guidance — the way. 
 
 Thus watching, that which may befall us in the 
 way, whether joy, or sorrow, or pain, will not seem 
 to us chance, nor purposeless. Love underlies each 
 experience. "All things," says the Apostle, "are 
 working together for good to them that love God, to 
 them who are called according to His purpose." ^ 
 All things, however slight. Jesus Christ Himself 
 said. The very hairs of your head are all numbered; ^ 
 and if the expression be thought figurative, it cannot 
 mean less than that the smallest incidents which 
 touch us sensibly have their purpose. He to whom 
 such come is being "called by them according to 
 God's purposes." And the called are no select 
 minority, or majority, few or many, arbitrarily 
 chosen. Each one to whom a condition, or a cir- 
 cumstance, or an event, comes, is called thereby to 
 a development, which in God's purpose is at least 
 the individual's full redemption into the glorious 
 liberty of the children of God ; ^ into conformity to 
 the image of His Son. God's purposes do not 
 change; but man can frustrate them in so far as they 
 mean his personal welfare, because for that the co- 
 operation of his personal will is needed. 
 
 As St. Paul on the one hand speaks of himself as 
 separated from his mother's womb and called ^ for 
 the specific work which he performed, so on the other 
 he declares a calling general to all: that God now 
 
 * Romans, viii, 28-30. ^ St. Matthew, x, 29, 30. 
 
 ^ Romans, viii, 18-24. * Galatians, i, 15, 16. 
 
FULFILMENT 227 
 
 calleth all men everywhere to repent; ^ that it is His 
 will that all men should be saved ;^ that He is not 
 willing that any should perish, but that all should 
 come to repentance.^ This general call embraced 
 St. Paul; the specific call to him also has its counter- 
 part in each life, and can be recognized sufficiently, 
 if there be, as in him, the will to look ; to think of the 
 man's part "^ in the light of his natural gifts and of the 
 conditions which he finds in and about him. 
 
 To reconcile the realities of man's will and God's 
 control is difficult; but less difficult than at first 
 appears. The will is ours absolutely, irrevocably; 
 a gift God has given and will not recall. But it is 
 the sum of His surrender to us. He has not in like 
 manner conceded to us the power to carry will into 
 effect. He may indeed permit such effect, and often 
 does ; the evil will may embody itself in the evil act, 
 to the injury of one's self or of others. But permis- 
 sion is not abdication; and while on the one hand 
 His overruhng may leave of the evil will nothing but 
 the ineffectual desire, so its effects, when allowed, are 
 still in the hands of God, to bring good out of evil. 
 Probably, no thoughtful Hfe will have failed to see 
 such over-ruling, — good coming out of bad. If 
 Joseph's eldest brother had succeeded in the purpose 
 of delivering him out of the hands of their other 
 brethren,^ their evil will would have remained in all 
 
 * Acts, xvii, 30, 31. 
 
 ^ I Timothy, ii, 3, 4. Titus, ii, II. 
 ^ 2 Peter, iii, 9. 
 
 * Romans, xii, 3-8. i Corinthians, xii. I Peter, iv, 10, 11 
 ' Genesis, xxxvii, 18-24, 29, 30. 
 
228 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 consequences to their inner life, their characters. 
 He failed; the ill will took effect in act ; but the issue 
 was over-ruled for good by God.^ Evil intent is 
 never from Him ; no evil of the will comes from Him ; 
 but He reserves control over results. These remain 
 irresistibly within the order of His Providence, and 
 we are therefore justified in regarding them as sent 
 by Him, while we may not impute to Him the evil 
 purpose in which they originated.^ To the sufferer 
 they are God's chastening, and his own opportunity. 
 If it be thus with the evil will, how much more with 
 the good, where the wills of God and of man work 
 not contrary, but together; where the river of life, 
 to recur to the metaphor of the Psalmist,^ turns 
 and deflects obediently to the ordering which it finds 
 in each region through which its current flows. The 
 wisdom of God and the power of God, by enlighten- 
 ing the intellect, by quickening motives, by ordering 
 circumstances, — the valley of the river's course, — 
 can affect the purposes of man, when they are indif- 
 ferent; or change them when evil. Man thus deals 
 with man continually, by elucidating truth, by ap- 
 pealing to the sense of right and wrong, by ' onstitut- 
 ing conditions which operate upon motives. How 
 much more God in His greater wisdom. His greater 
 knowledge of the individual heart, His power over 
 issues. Yet neither man nor God can change the 
 
 ^ Genesis, xlv, 4-8; 1, 20. 
 
 ^ The same line of thought appHes to results from human 
 neglects : neglect of laws of health, bad sanitation, imprudent or 
 ungodly marriages, etc. 
 
 ^ Ante, p. 225. Psalm, cxxvi, 4. 
 
FULFILMENT 229 
 
 will if it persist in evil, when in it desire or self- 
 interest prevails over right and truth. 
 
 As God thus makes use of us rather than we our- 
 selves work; as work is the outcome of being; we 
 are not to harass ourselves on the score of activities, 
 provided our conscience bear faithful witness that we 
 are conforming our inward spirit to the commands 
 and example of Christ. So far as known to us, 
 Christ's activities for thirty years were confined to 
 the home and the handicraft. Even Him God had 
 in training for the appointed time. The greatest of 
 the anti-types of Christ, Moses, so far as known to us, 
 until he was forty led the life of an eminent subject 
 in the court of a king. For forty years more he was 
 a nomad shepherd.^ In the one occupation as in the 
 other he was in training. The processes we do not 
 know; the results we do. The conditions antecedent 
 and subsequent warrant the inference that the inner 
 man was the sphere of development; to which his 
 personal will cooperated faithfully, by simple heed- 
 fulness and obedience to present duty in either posi- 
 tion to which the orderings of God had called him. 
 
 The incident which led to his flight, the prompt 
 slaying of an Egyptian oppressor, possibly also the 
 manner of his interference between two of his own 
 race, which was resented,^ indicate a peremptoriness 
 of temper, a hastiness of act, unsuited to the difficult 
 role to which he was destined, to be the leader of a 
 headstrong, petulant people from bondage to national 
 life. His native impetuousness broke out once in 
 the wanderings, and was chastised instantly bv ex- 
 ^ Acts, vii, 23, 30. ^ Exodus, ii, 11-15. 
 
230 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 elusion from entrance into the promised land.^ The 
 sternness of the warning may indicate his need of 
 constant self-control; but, in general, the result of 
 his forty years of frustration and of postponement 
 was a character concerning which we are told that 
 he was very meek, patient and unresentful, above all 
 men. When thus fitted inwardly for his task, the 
 call to great action came. We are apt to overlook 
 that before his flight he had undertaken to do just 
 that which he ultimately did ; ^ but his act was pre- 
 mature, he himself yet unripe, and probably the con- 
 ditions also. He must stand and wait for forty years ; 
 but he was serving then as truly as when he faced 
 Pharaoh, or led the people out. Character was ma- 
 turing until he had become fully God's workman- 
 ship ; not only created from the first unto good works, 
 but further fashioned into an instrument "meet for 
 the Master's use." ^ 
 
 This is the expression used by St. Paul to his 
 disciple Timothy with reference to his fitness for the 
 office to which he had been called, that of a bishop, 
 a chief administrator. But while the Apostle's charge 
 deals with questions of administration,^ the weight of 
 his monitions rests upon personal fitness, the cultiva- 
 tion of the inner spirit, studying thereby to present 
 himself approved unto God, a workman that needed 
 not to be ashamed, holding a straight course in the 
 word of truth. ^ Conduct is to spring from inner dis- 
 
 * Numbers, xx, 10-13, 24; xxvii, 12-14- Deuteronomy, iii, 
 23-26. ^ Acts, vii, 22-29. ^ 2 Timothy, ii, 21. 
 
 * I Timothy, ii, iii, iv, v. 2 Timothy, iv, 1-5. 
 ^ Ibid., ii, 15. 
 
FULFILMENT 231 
 
 positions; the evil to be shunned and the good to be 
 cultivated are alike within.^ St. Paul intimates much 
 the same concerning himself and his own course. 
 God has separated him to his appointed work from 
 his mother's womb, and called him by His grace ^ 
 to labors, activities, which exceeded those of all the 
 other apostles ; ^ but when the revelation came, the 
 call to go to the Gentiles, after an immediate brief 
 period of fervent preaching on the scene of his con- 
 version,^ — apparently to Jews only, — he sought 
 solitude.^ 
 
 The magnitude of the summons might well over- 
 whelm him. Even the Twelve had not risen yet to 
 the conception of a world-wide conversion of the 
 Gentiles,^ which was now imparted to one who up to 
 this moment had been a Pharisee of the Pharisees.^ 
 A boundless mission opened before his eyes; and, 
 like Moses, he had on the human side natural gifts 
 and special training to fit him for it. But, unlike 
 Moses at the first, he waited to test the spirit within 
 him.'^ On the one hand he conferred not with flesh 
 and blood, who might have dissuaded him; on the 
 other he trusted not the first impulse immediately. 
 He went away to Arabia, the scene also of Moses* 
 discipline, — as of Elijah's, — and there, alone with 
 
 ^ I Timothy, i, 3-6, 18-20; iv, 6-16; v, 22; vi, 11-16. 2 Tim- 
 othy, i, 3-10, 14; ii, 1-3, 7, 8, 11-13, 22-26; iii, 14-17. 
 ^ Galatians, i, 15-17. 
 
 ^ I Corinthians, xv, 9-1 1. 2 Corinthians, xi, 21-32. 
 * Acts, ix, 19-25. 
 
 ^ Ihid., X, 13-16, 28, 29; xi, 2; XV, 6-1 1. 
 ® Ihid.y xxii, 3-6; xxiii, 6; xxvi, 4, 5. Philippians, iii, 5, 6. 
 ^ I St. John, iv, I. 
 
232 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 God, subjected himself to the teaching and the prepa- 
 ration, to the ascertainment of God's purpose which 
 awaits all those who so seek. The duration of this 
 withdrawal is uncertain ; but that it was one of ex- 
 ternal inactivity seems certain, for we hear nothing 
 of fruits of ministry in Arabia.^ 
 
 It may be remarked that this retirement from active 
 life, voluntary on the first occasion, was afterwards 
 imposed by God in the midst of the Apostle's mis- 
 sionary career. Two years of enforced seclusion in 
 Caesarea,^ followed by two of restraint in Rome,^ 
 gave long time for thought. They were not unprofit- 
 able years, even in outward action ; but they involved 
 complete suspension of activities in the common 
 meaning of the word, and aflPorded abundant oppor- 
 tunity to search and cultivate the inner spirit, to make 
 himself more and more meet for use by the Master. 
 It was fit that it should be so. The disciple is not 
 above his Master;^ and the Master, for His own 
 training, before He began even to preach personally, 
 had retired voluntarily into the wilderness, in soli- 
 tude.^ So also in the first expansion of His personal 
 mission, the selection of the Twelve,^ to go out from 
 Him as from a centre, analogous to the call to the 
 Gentiles proceeding from Jerusalem,^ He passed the 
 night before in the mountain, alone, in prayer. 
 
 * See note at end of this chapter. 
 
 2 Acts, xxiv, 23-27. ^ Ibid., xxviii, 30, 31. 
 
 * St. Matthew, X, 24. St. Luke, vi, 40. St. John, xiii, 16; xv, 
 20. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, iii, 13 -iv, 17. 
 
 ® St. Luke, vi, 12-15; ix, 1-6, 10. 
 
 ^ Ibid.y xxiv, 46-49. Acts, i, 4-8. 
 
FULFILMENT 233 
 
 The particular incidents are simply striking illus- 
 trations of the habitual tenor of the life of Christ; 
 the stream of thought and communion which through- 
 out His recorded career, brimful of activities as this 
 was, came continually to the surface, betraying the 
 perpetual current beneath. The testimony to the 
 inner life is summed up in the words : He who sent 
 Me hath not left Me alone, for I do always those 
 things that please Him. Ye shall leave Me alone; 
 and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with 
 Me.^ The inward communion is inseparably linked 
 with the outward action; and so in the moment of 
 final mortal weakness, at the instant of death, the 
 outward word, the only action then possible to Him 
 who was crucified through weakness, reflects the 
 same inward state : It is finished. Father, into Thy 
 hands I commend My spirit.^ 
 
 It is sufficient to the disciple to be as his Master. 
 With them, too, it is within that the copious harvest 
 — God's workmanship — will be realized. In the 
 weakness of age, in the failure of power for external 
 action, the energies concentrated within would natu- 
 rally be more productive of progressive being. The 
 gathering of the fragments was the closing act of 
 Christ's miracle; by that it was finished; and it is 
 to be noted that the fragments from the few loaves 
 and fishes, filling twelve and seven baskets in the 
 several instances, much exceeded the original pro- 
 vision from which they were left. From the ancient 
 Scriptures we have the Hke strong expression of the 
 
 ^ St. John, viii, 28, 29; xvi, 32. 
 
 ^ Ibid., xix, 30. St. Luke, xxiii, 46. 
 
234 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 relative value of the fragment. A thousand years in 
 Thy sight are but as yesterday ^ — as one day. What 
 contrast between much and little more emphatic, or 
 more illustrative, than of one day with ten centuries ? 
 
 We may safely apply these parallels to old age, 
 expecting that to the conclusion of this earthly period 
 of the unending Life, should be reahzed in the highest 
 degree the assurance, We are God's workmanship. 
 From more advanced being may be expected more 
 abundant and better fruit. This is natural, too, for 
 increasing infirmities give increasing occasion, op- 
 portunity, for submissive acceptance, thus favoring 
 growth in grace, which is not of ourselves, but the 
 gift of God,^ the perfected work of patience; ^ and 
 also there is more leisure — enforced — for quiet 
 thought, thought passive and receptive, that highest 
 thought in which rather God speaks than man re- 
 flects, — the thought of Inspiration. 
 
 So the old may say truly, The lot has fallen unto 
 me in a good ground ; yea, I have a goodly heritage.* 
 The whole tenor of this psalm (xvi) is that of a con- 
 secrated past reaping the harvest of Hfe's ending. 
 "Jehovah, Thou art my God, I have no good beyond 
 Thee. Thou art the portion of my inheritance, and 
 of my cup. I have set Thee always before me." Ap- 
 plicable primarily to Christ, it tells the experience of 
 one who was His follower beforehand; who, like 
 Abraham, rejoiced to see His day, who saw it and was 
 
 ^ Psalm, xc, 4; quoted in 2 St. Peter, iii, 8. 
 
 ^ Ephesians, ii, 8, 9. Galatians, ii, 15, 16, 21. Acts, xv, II. 
 
 ^ St. James, i, 4. St. Luke, xxi, 19. 
 
 * Psalm, xvi, 6. 
 
FULFILMENT 235 
 
 glad.^ From that gladness sprang the unconscious 
 prophecy of Christ's Resurrection, quoted by both 
 St. Peter and St. Paul,^ Thou wilt not leave my soul 
 in Hades, neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One 
 to see corruption; a conspicuous outcome of that 
 privilege of age, which in quiescence hears the voice 
 of God. "I bless Jehovah, who hath given me 
 counsel; yea, my heart instructeth me in the night 
 seasons." 
 
 " Grow old along with me ! 
 The best is yet to be, 
 
 The last of life, for which the first was made; 
 Our times are in His hand 
 Who saith, ' A whole I plann'd, 
 
 Youth shows but half; trust God, see all, nor be afraid.' '* 
 
 Grow old along with Me phrases what the Psalmist 
 heard from Jehovah; his God and ours. Spend the 
 present with an eye wise to the future. All life 
 capable of self-consciousness, therefore all human 
 Hfe, looks forward; to what often hopeless, impos- 
 sible, unsatisfying ends, experience testifies. Life is 
 filled with wreckage, because of misdirection of 
 desires. We spend our money for that which is not 
 bread, and our labor for that which satisfieth not.^ 
 "Getting and spending," says Wordsworth, *'we lay 
 waste our powers"; the true enjoyments of the mere 
 natural hfe even are rejected. "We have given our 
 hearts away, — a sordid boon!" And why? Be- 
 
 ^ St. John, viii, 56-58. 
 
 2 Acts, ii, 25-31; xiii, 34-37- I St. Peter, i, 10-12. St. Mat- 
 thew, xiii, 16, 17. St. Luke, x, 23, 24. 
 ^ Isaiah, Iv, 2. 
 
236 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 cause "the world is too much with us, late and soon." 
 The world, which should be God's, which God in 
 Christ loved and sought, but which in spirit is the 
 opposite of God, the opponent of God.^ 
 
 The world, as it now is, is summed up exhaustively 
 by the Apostle in three expressions : the lust of the 
 flesh, the disordered desires for bodily indulgence; 
 the lust of the eyes, inordinate devotion to, and satis- 
 faction in, the exercise of the perceptive faculties, 
 concealed or dissembled under the exalted name of 
 ■Reason; the pride of life, the peculiar temptation of 
 Strength, whether physical, mental, or moral, to trust 
 in itself rather than in God — self-reliance exagger- 
 ated beyond measure, and displayed in vainglory.^ 
 Along with one or more of these many grow old. 
 These, not God, are the companions of the journey. 
 
 If it is well to be diligent to gather up fragments, 
 it is not likewise well to postpone diligence till there 
 is nought but fragments to collect. The flush of Hfe 
 may lawfully rejoice in its strength, — strength of 
 body, strength of intellect, strength of purpose, 
 strength of money or of other means ; but if joy is in 
 these alone, as possessions, this is the pride of life, 
 countless in its manifestations : luxury, display, ar- 
 rogance, indiff'erence to religion, and such like. 
 Spent upon the gratification of the senses, powers 
 serve the lust of the flesh; spent upon intellectual 
 engrossment, the lust of the eye. From all this there 
 is redemption in the consecrated motive : Grow old 
 
 ^ St. John, vii, 7; xv, 18, 19. St. James, iv, 4. i St. John, ii, 
 15-17; iii, I, 13; iv, 5, 6. 
 ^ I St. John, ii, 16. 
 
FULFILMENT 237 
 
 along with Me. Else we grow old along with the 
 world. Such is the choice held out to youth in the 
 light of Christ's Life and example. 
 
 The choice made is itself the judgment, of which 
 the Scripture speaks. " Rejoice, O young man, in thy 
 youth ; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy 
 youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the 
 desire of thine eyes : but know thou, that for all these 
 things God will bring thee into judgment." ^ Judg- 
 ment, not to condemn because of possessions or of 
 joy, but to ascertain to what ends they have been 
 used. To all such abundances applies the caution of 
 Jesus Christ concerning wealth : How hardly shall 
 they who have riches enter into the Kingdom of God,^ 
 — subject themselves to God. So long as possessions 
 or quahties are thought one's own, and are so used, 
 they are riches, and bring their specific danger of 
 trust in them, which is a form of the pride of life. 
 Only when recognized as God's, in trust to the man, 
 does he become poor, and able to enter the Kingdom 
 as subject. And the man utters his own sentence by 
 his choice; even as Jesus Christ said. The condemna- 
 tion is this: that the Light is come into the world 
 and men loved darkness rather than light.^ By a 
 bitter irony we pronounce our own judgment and age 
 registers the sentence. 
 
 Full-fill is an intensive word, which seeks and finds 
 emphasis by repetition. Fulfilment of life demands 
 not only all the energy but all the time that man has, 
 
 ^ Ecclesiastes, xl, 9. 
 
 2 St. Matthew, xiii, 22; xix, 23. St. Mark, x, 23-25. St. Luke, 
 xviii, 24, 25. I Timothy, vi, 9, 10. ^ St. John, iii, 19-21. 
 
238 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 to foster the work which God purposes to accom- 
 phsh in him. It is found in observing the spirit and 
 example of the Master, who went about His daily 
 work simply, improving each occasion as it arose to 
 Him. In the general excellence of His example, in 
 an inner spirit which is for universal imitation, we 
 overlook the fact that Jesus Christ, like every man, 
 had His individual mission and ministry. The uni- 
 versality of the fruit, of the results, is the consequence 
 of fidelity to the particular charge appointed Him. 
 
 It was the purpose of God, through Christ as Man, 
 to redeem all mankind; but the seed of this vast 
 enterprise, bearing in its womb the fulfilment of 
 history, was the Personal life of Christ, manifested 
 to us in conduct. Only by antecedent fulfilment 
 within this limited range could the universal fulfil- 
 ment be accomplished. His appointed work was 
 threefold : ^ the preaching of the Gospel, the new 
 message; teaching — elucidating the meaning of the 
 Jewish Scriptures, the older message; in these ful- 
 filling His own ideal of the scribe instructed unto the 
 Kingdom of heaven, who brings out of his treasures 
 things new and old;^ and healing, in virtue of the 
 miraculous powers entrusted to Him. As St. Peter 
 summed it up, He was anointed with the Holy Spirit 
 and with Power, and went about doing good.^ But 
 with this distinct general purpose as His guide for a 
 general line of action. He is always ready for occa- 
 sions. In them He sees not interruption, but oppor- 
 tunity. With the work of redemption consciously laid 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, iv, 23; ix, 35. St. Luke, iv, 14-44. 
 * St. Matthew, xiii, 52. ^ Acts, x, 38. 
 
FULFILMENT 239 
 
 upon Him, or, rather, assumed by Him in obedience 
 to the Father's will. He is never in haste, never 
 presses on regardless of the incidents which God's 
 providence brings before Him. 
 
 He " came to seek and to save that which was lost."* 
 These His words are applied to one who was not in 
 bodily distress, but in spiritual danger. Such He 
 sought; but of those in bodily distress it is not said 
 usually that He sought, but that they came, or were 
 brought, to Him. This is the difference between the 
 plan, or purpose of life, and its occasions. On His 
 way to raise the dead, He stops to commend and 
 encourage the faith of the one person in a throng who 
 had touched Him spiritually and been healed.^ Sent 
 only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,^ He yet, 
 on occasion, extends sympathy and benefit to a Gen- 
 tile woman, who crosses His path with a manifesta- 
 tion of spiritual insight rare in the chosen people ; ^ 
 an insight which shows her one of the true seed of 
 believing Abraham.^ So also He recognizes and 
 declares the faith of the Gentile centurion, granting 
 his request.^ Let His story be read in this light, and 
 it will be seen that the formulated purpose which 
 should underlie the conduct of every life was by Him 
 consistently held subject to the superior necessity of 
 
 ^ St. Luke, xix, 9, 10. St. Matthew, ix, 13. St. Mark, ii, 16, 
 
 17. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, ix, 18-26. St. Mark, v, 22-34. St. Luke, viii, 
 41-48. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, x, 5, 6; xv, 24. Romans, xv, 8, 9. 
 
 * St. Matthew, XV, 21-28. St. Mark, vii, 24-30. 
 
 ^ Galatians, iii, 7, 8, 9. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, viii, 5-13. 
 
240 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 accepting the ordering of God, by fulfilling the 
 particular opportunity, however it might seem mo- 
 mentarily to arrest His progress. The supreme 
 instance is the Crucifixion, which He accepted, 
 although it apparently destroyed His work with His 
 Life. 
 
 The example is a message to each man; His Life 
 Is the light of men. ^ A general purpose and course of 
 life we must have; a framework, on which action and 
 activity may climb upward. That is our part; but 
 along with this there must be the perpetual watching 
 for indications, for the opportunities, which are God's 
 part. Grow old along with Me; but how shall this 
 be done ^ Christ Himself gives to all the answer 
 that He gave to Thomas. Lord, we know not whither 
 Thou goest, and how shall we know the way .? Jesus 
 answered, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; 
 no one cometh unto the Father but through Me.^ It 
 is not necessary to know whither, in order to know 
 the way. The end, indeed, " the Father," the whither, 
 is told; but no more. Beyond this, none of us know 
 whither we are being led; what the nature of the 
 way in itself, what its occasions, what its end here. 
 We walk by faith, not by sight. Even for the here- 
 after we know no more than it is "to be with Christ," 
 in seeing Whom we have seen "The Father."^ 
 Christ the beginning, Christ the end, Christ the way 
 between; Alpha and Omega, the First and the Last.* 
 
 ^ St. John, i, 4; viii, 12; ix, 5; xii, 35, 36. 
 ^ Ibid., xiv, 4, 5, 6. ^ Ibid., xiv, 9-1 1. 
 
 * Revelation, i, 8; xxi, 6; xxii, 13. Isaiah, xli, 4; xliii, 10; 
 xliv, 6. 
 
FULFILMENT ' 241 
 
 We shall know the way by seeing it in Himself; in 
 His Life, the Life of God; in His teachings the words 
 of God; in His conduct the character of God, mani- 
 fested to us in terms of human flesh, of man's nature; 
 the only terms which we can understand, or could 
 have understood, being men. This definition being 
 apprehended, the way, though unknown, is known. 
 It is conformity to Christ's conduct and teachings; 
 and this implies perpetual intercourse by the ap- 
 pointed means : in the Word of God, in Sacraments 
 and Prayer, in Thanksgiving and Praise. This sums 
 up the command: Follow Me; for it sustains in 
 man the Life of Christ. Grow old with Me. From 
 birth, it has been said, we begin to die. From the 
 dawn of consciousness, of responsibility, we may 
 thus grow old. 
 
 St. Peter, one of the most human of men, affords 
 
 a very complete illustration. He had once, for a 
 
 passing moment, apprehended the fullness of the 
 
 mystery before him : Thou art the Christ, the Son 
 
 of the Living God.^ His heeding the call. Follow 
 
 Me,^ was among the opening incidents of Christ's 
 
 Ministry. He went along, for a time, in perplexity, 
 
 despite that sublime confession; but still along. At 
 
 the crucial moment, when all the disciples forsook 
 
 the Master and fled,^ St. Peter still followed, though 
 
 afar ofi^,^ and went into the palace of the high-priest, 
 
 "to see the end." We know what came of that 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xvi, 15, 16. 
 
 ^ Ihid.y iv, 18-20; viii, 22; xvi, 24. St. John, i, 35-42; xxi, 
 19-22. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxvi, 56. St. Mark, xiv, 50. 
 * St. Luke, xxii, 54. St. John, xviii, 15, 16. 
 
 16 
 
242 ' THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 timid, yet fond, following; but we also know the 
 end of St. Peter. He received anew the command. 
 Follow Me, with its accompanying prophecy of 
 suffering and death. Thenceforth, though with re- 
 current manifestation of weakness,^ he grew old 
 with Christ. How his weakness was made strong 
 is told in the first twelve chapters of the Book of 
 the Acts. 
 
 To those who have realized that the testimony of 
 Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy,^ the underlying 
 thought of the Way, as embraced in His Person, 
 comes out strongly in an expression of the prophet 
 Isaiah ; as it is also to be found in the Book of the 
 Proverbs : The path of the Just One is as the shining 
 light which shineth more and more unto the perfect 
 day.^ The value of light is twofold : not only that 
 it reveals objects, but that it is itself an object to be 
 seen in darkness, a beacon by which to guide move- 
 ment. Thus Isaiah spoke : When the enemy cometh 
 in like a flood, the Spirit of Jehovah will lift up a 
 standard against him.^ These words, stirring though 
 they are, breathing the very ardor of noble strife, are 
 not to be regarded simply as a splendid metaphor, of 
 a champion stemming the adverse tide of doubtful 
 fight, — like Nelson at St. Vincent, — conveying as- 
 surance of Divine help in extremity. This, indeed, 
 doubtless; but to what serves a standard.? It is a 
 beacon, a rallying point, a visible symbol of the es- 
 sence of duty, guiding like a light in the darkness, 
 
 * Acts, X, 13, 14. Galatians, ii, 11-21. 
 
 ^ Revelation, xix, 10. ^ Proverbs, iv, 18. 
 
 * Isaiah, lix, 19. 
 
FULFILMENT 243 
 
 summoning to its side every energy, to follow, to sup- 
 port, to save. Thus it imparts direction to movement, 
 — a v^ay, — commanding attainment, forbidding 
 abandonment. 
 
 So, in the spiritual combat, of Church or man, 
 when overborne by the weight of temptation, or 
 trial, or discouragements, when impulse slackens 
 or swerves through the discord of motives; when 
 standards of right and wrong are beaten down or 
 obscured by the surgings of passion or self-interest; 
 when, in a word, there impends the worst of dis- 
 asters that can befall a warring host, — being put 
 to confusion, — the Spirit of Jehovah lifts up the 
 standard, Christ; His Life, His Example, His 
 Words. Where stands He in this tumult ? The 
 standard, like the Way, is a Person. I, if I be lifted 
 up, will draw all men unto Me.^ It recalls those 
 fine lines : 
 
 " If my standard bearer fall, as fall full well he may, 
 
 Press where ye see my white plume shine, amid the 
 ranks of war." 
 
 **Lord, in Thee have I trusted, let me never be con- 
 founded." But it must be remembered that such 
 devotion to a standard presupposes a long acceptance 
 and association, the high development of duty and 
 honor and love which the colors represent to the 
 soldier. Such devotion is not born in a day. It is 
 the consecrated habit of a lifetime, with all the sway, 
 
 ^ St. John, xii, 32; iii, 14; viii, 28. Isaiah, xHx, 22. 
 
244 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 instinctive, half-unconscious, that is exerted by hab- 
 its, good or bad. 
 
 The thought of the Way is one that admits and 
 requires a large elaboration — working out — in de- 
 tails and in application; but it may be questioned 
 whether one man can do this well for another. Sug- 
 gestions doubtless are useful and can be made; and 
 it is suggestion chiefly, rather than a formal plan of 
 life, that religious reading, even of the Bible, gives 
 to each. The most elaborate system of "direction" 
 can scarcely effect more than outlines, with the at- 
 tendant evil of sapping individual power to compre- 
 hend personal life, and to order personal conduct. 
 For the rest, if pursued in this spirit, of purpose 
 saturated with the knowledge of Christ as revealed 
 to us in the New Testament, life itself gives its teach- 
 ing; from moment to moment shows the way in the 
 light of the Way; for life is the ordering of God. 
 "Though the Lord give thee the bread of adversity 
 and the water of affliction, yet shall not thy teachers 
 be hidden any more, but thine eyes shall see thy 
 teachers; and thine ears shall hear a word behind 
 thee, saying. This is the Way, walk ye in it; when 
 ye turn to the right hand and when ye turn to the 
 left." ^ To the attentive, life is a continuing revela- 
 tion ; of it we may say with Cowper, 
 
 " Unbelief 
 Will scan His work in vain. 
 God is His own interpreter, 
 
 And He will make it plain ; " 
 
 * Isaiah, xxx, 20, 21. Compare also, xxxv, 5, 8, 9; xlii, 16; 
 I, 10. Proverbs, iv, 18. 
 
FULFILMENT 245 
 
 or with Newman, 
 
 " I do not ask to see 
 The distant scene ; one step enough for me." 
 
 Note. — In the Book of the Acts, there are three accounts of 
 the conversion of St. Paul. They agree in substance; but in some 
 details differ slightly, and significantly. Chapter ix is a current 
 narrative by the author of the book; the two others, chapters xxii 
 and xxvi, are given as addresses by St. Paul himself The first 
 records merely the incidents of the conversion, with some subse- 
 quent particulars, which apparently are given in order of time, 
 although without specification of intervals. 
 
 Of the two addresses, the first is to a Jewish audience, the sec- 
 ond to one characteristically Gentile; conditions which in each 
 case dictate the manner in which the orator handles his materials, 
 in order to gain attention and to convince. To use his own words, he 
 makes himself all things to all men, that he may by all means save 
 some, (i Corinthians, ix, 19-22.) Speaking to Jews, assembled 
 in an excited mob, ready to burst into an outcry that would drown 
 his voice, he preludes his statements with an appeal to sentiments 
 which he and they had in common; and then develops his story 
 in the particulars which account for his acceptance of Jesus as the 
 Messiah of the Jews. This alone was inevitably offensive to his 
 hearers; but much less so than the idea of the Messiah being for 
 the Gentiles as well as for themselves. This, therefore, he post- 
 pones to the last, and consequently does not mention the inti- 
 mation of a message to the Gentiles, conveyed to him at the 
 period of his conversion, but only the commission to that effect 
 given him in Jerusalem, some time subsequently. His caution 
 is justified; for although, like a practised pleader, he had gained 
 time for passion to subside and conciliation to work, the mere men- 
 tion of the words of Christ, *' I will send thee far hence unto the 
 Gentiles," creates an uproar which then and there ends his speech. 
 
 Some two years later he speaks to Gentiles. Under these differ- 
 ing circumstances he introduces unhesitatingly the words, " I send 
 thee to the Gentiles," on the first occasion of their utterance; that 
 is, when Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus. The 
 
246 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 exclusive spirit of the Jews was known to his audience; he him- 
 self was a Jew; his object to conciHate, to persuade his Gentile 
 hearers. The mission to the Gentiles is accordingly introduced at 
 the first opportunity offered by the narrative, and is thenceforth 
 emphasized by repetition. 
 
 In themselves, the fact of two commands, on the way to Damas- 
 cus and at Jerusalem, stands no more in need of explanation than 
 does a similar repetition in secular matters, in an important charge 
 to an agent. Besides, they harmonize perfectly with the course 
 natural to a reflective man, when receiving an idea not only new to 
 him, but revolutionary. Action is delayed for reflection, for the 
 test of the future; worked out in thought, in circumstances, and in 
 experience. Without inquiring curiously into the nature of Christ's 
 manifestation to St. Paul, it can be believed that an occurrence and 
 words adequate to instant conviction that Jesus is the Christ 
 might not as immediately bear the certainty that he had under- 
 stood aright as to the mission to the Gentiles. This traversed his 
 entire past; Christ Himself had been sent only to the Jews; what 
 sure warrant that his follower should go to the Gentiles ? In this 
 connection it must be remembered that St. Paul himself intimates 
 in both addresses that, although commissioned to the Gentiles, he 
 first and for some time preached to the Jews. (Chap, xxii, 18-21 ; 
 xxvi» 20.) With this the account in Chapter ix (20-22), agrees; 
 and throughout his ministry he first argues in the synagogues. 
 (Chap, xiii, 5, 14, 15; xiv, i; xvii, i, 10; xviii, 4, 19; xix, 8.) A 
 doubt of this kind, or hesitancy due to some other cause, appears 
 to be impHed in the statement to the Galatians (Chap, i, 15-18), 
 that he conferred with no one, but did withdraw into Arabia — 
 by himself. This is the reasonable course for a man satisfied that 
 God is dealing immediately with him, but yet recognizing the 
 possibility of self-deception. He takes time; as St. John recom- 
 mends (i St. John, iv, i), he proves the spirit, whether it is of God; 
 but he will have no intermediary. The fate of the prophet sent to 
 Jeroboam (i Kings, xiii) would be present to one who knew the 
 Scriptures, as did St. Paul. 
 
 From the statements to the Galatians, it would appear that be- 
 tween the first and second commissions, at Damascus and at 
 Jerusalem, three years intervened. Yet the same reverent caution. 
 
FULFILMENT 247 
 
 especially notable in one of his impetuous spirit, appears after 
 many years in his going to Jerusalem to confer with the other 
 Apostles concerning the substance of his preaching, — " the gospel 
 which I preach." (Galatians, ii, i, 2.) This jealousy of self- 
 deception, at two particular crises, manifested in two courses of 
 conduct outwardly contradictory, indicates the scrutiny to which 
 the Apostles subjected that which they called revelation. To the 
 believer it is confirmatory of their soberness and of their mission. 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 HOPE 
 
 THE revelations of life are progressive, and to 
 the Christian believer come charged with 
 hope. We owe to St. Paul the precise for- 
 mulation of Hope as a Christian grace and duty, as 
 something more than a happy condition of mind, 
 largely constitutional, — optimistic, as we say. Faith, 
 Hope, Love. If Love be the greatest,^ possibly we 
 may infer an ascending order, placing Hope above 
 even Faith. Faith the foundation. Love the crown; 
 Hope perhaps the rising of the building, or the cheer 
 of the way. At all events, it is noticeable that St. 
 Paul insistently commands rejoicing, and associates 
 Hope with experience of life. There is, too, his other 
 series: Tribulations work patience; and patience, 
 experience; and experience, Hope. ^ For " patience," 
 the Revised Version reads " steadfastness;" and for 
 "experience," " approvedness;" but steadfastness is 
 but patience without the additional implication of 
 suffering, and approvedness apphes to the proof 
 furnished by life (which is experience), as well as to 
 proof made of the individual. Tribulation works to 
 Hope; how much more do the blessings which we 
 too often fail to note, or to find cause for rejoicing. 
 Again, he writes to the Thessalonians, We remember, 
 
 * I Corinthians, xiii, 13. ^ Romans, v, 3-5. 
 
 248 
 
HOPE 249 
 
 brethren, your patience of hope in Jesus Christ.^ 
 And again, Hope that is seen is not hope, for who 
 hopeth for that which he seeth ; but if we hope for 
 that we see not, then do we with patience wait 
 for it.^ 
 
 The patience which rnust characterize gradual 
 progress is therefore associated closely to Hope, in 
 the apprehension of the man who in the ranks of 
 Christian teachers stands next to Christ Himself. 
 St. Paul had long and varied experience of life, of 
 its ups and downs, its sufferings and happiness. He 
 knew thus the extremes of fortune and of position," 
 and from them had learned in whatever state he was 
 therewith to be content;* content with things pres- 
 ent.^ Specifically, he had undergone the great dis- 
 appointment common to all the Apostles, that the 
 coming of the Kingdom of Christ was deferred to a 
 time unknown; that its fulfilment was not to be in 
 their day. John the Baptist had felt this, and in a 
 moment of apparent impatience sent to ask of Christ 
 whether He really was the One who should come.® 
 The Twelve during the time of His ministry ex- 
 pected that the Kingdom of God would appear 
 immediately; "^ and after the Resurrection asked the 
 question.^ The reply of Christ was for all time and 
 for all stages of life : It is not for you to know the 
 times and seasons ; but ye shall receive Power. This 
 
 * I Thessalonians, i, 3. ^ Romans, viii, 24, 25. 
 
 2 Philippians, iv, 12. * Ihid., iv, 11. 
 
 ^ Hebrews, xiii, 5. 
 
 « St. Matthew, xi, 2-6. St. Luke, vii, 18-23. 
 
 ' St. Luke, xix, 11. ^ Acts, i, 6, 7, 8. 
 
250 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 left the future undetermined, and concentrated at- 
 tention upon the present, the now, as the field for 
 man's energies. For that it promised Power. The 
 strong prepossession of their minds was thus left to 
 be corrected gradually by experience. The times 
 and the seasons are to man relatively unimportant; 
 for him always there is but one season — now, and 
 its opportunities. As his now, so his strength; but 
 for that which he sees not he is to hope, and the 
 power which Hope brings will be given him. 
 
 Like all God's orderings, the delay was educative 
 to those who were exercised thereby. In this school 
 St. Paul learned Hope. The Kingdom seen would 
 cease to be an object of hope; not seen, deferred, 
 he learned with patience to wait for it — but always 
 in hope. God is to him the God of Hope, who fills 
 with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may 
 abound in Hope, through the power of the Holy 
 Ghost. ^ Whatsoever things were written aforetime 
 were written for our learning, that through patience 
 and through comfort of the Scriptures, we might 
 have Hope.^ Christians are to know the Hope of 
 God's calling.^ They are called in one Hope.^ Hope 
 is laid up for them, the Hope of the Gospel; Christ 
 in you the Hope of glory.^ So St. Peter says. Chris- 
 tians are begotten again to a living Hope.^ He 
 charges them to be sober and to set their Hope 
 perfectly upon the grace to be brought them at the 
 
 * Romans, xv, 13. 
 
 2 Ihid., 4. 
 
 ^ Ephesians, i, 18. 
 
 * Ihtd., iv, 4. 
 
 ^ Colossians, i, 5, 23, 27. 
 
 « I St. Peter, 
 
HOPE 251 
 
 revelation of Jesus Christ,^ to be ready always to 
 give a reason for the Hope that is in them.^ This 
 frame of mind, once attained, was its own reward, its 
 own fulfilment, and brought its own manifestations 
 in words and acts. The temper of spiritual Hope, 
 of godly expectation, if perfect, would exceed even 
 possession. 
 
 " 'T is not the grapes of Canaan that repay. 
 But the high faith that failed not by the way."^ 
 
 The inward spirit is better than the outward gain. 
 If the possession of the kingdom meant stoppage, 
 stagnation of development, it would be an inferior 
 condition; but eternity, offering endless progress, 
 sustains endlessly Hope. Hope abideth.^ 
 
 The Cross, the accepted symbol of Christ's love, 
 is equally the symbol of His Hope. In it He saw 
 fulfilled the desire of His soul and was satisfied.^ 
 "I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men 
 unto Me. This He said, signifying by what manner 
 of death He should die." ^ To draw all men unto 
 Him was the hope of His Life, as it was His mission. 
 He breathed out the life of His humiliation with 
 words of Hope: It is finished. Father, into Thy 
 hands I commend My spirit.^ In the accomplish- 
 ment of His sacrifice He saw Redemption com- 
 
 ^ St. Peter, i, 13. ^ Ibid., iii, 15. 
 
 ^ James Russell Lowell, Commemoration Ode. 
 * I Corinthians, xiii, 13. ^ Isaiah, liii, 11. 
 
 « St. John, xii, 31-33. 
 ^ Ihid., xix, 30. St. Luke, xxiii, 46. 
 
252 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 pleted, to the last in time who shall be redeemed.^ 
 Peace, joy, assurance, patience inexhaustible, were 
 constantly with Him; and these are the qualities of 
 Hope. Hope He had in the depths of which He said, 
 My soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death.^ 
 Only those who confound ease with peace will find 
 a paradox here; or in the parallel expression, "Peace 
 I leave with you; My Peace I give unto you,'' ^ con- 
 trasted with the words, "Now is My soul troubled." ^ 
 Trouble with Him was like the troubling of the purest 
 water, which though agitated throws up no evil, no 
 polluting substance, such as is despair, — loss of 
 Hope. It is the wicked who are like the troubled 
 sea, which casts up mire and dirt. There is no 
 peace, saith my God, to the wicked.^ 
 
 Hope, as a frame of mind and feeling, is to be 
 classed among the emotions. On the other hand, its 
 being associated by St. Paul with faith and love 
 places it among the duties of the Christian ; for both 
 faith and love are the subject of distinct emphatic 
 commands by Jesus Christ, reiterated by the Apostles. 
 We are charged, in short, to cherish emotion as a 
 valuable factor in Christian life. St. Paul's exhorta- 
 tion. Desire earnestly the best gifts,® — itself a com- 
 mand to emotion, to desire, — precedes immediately 
 his eulogy of Love, with which he couples Faith and 
 Hope. 
 
 * Isaiah, xlix, 5-12, 22, 23. See note, end of chapter. 
 ^ St. Matthew, xxvi, 38. St. Mark, xiv, 34. 
 
 ^ St. John, xiv, 27. 
 
 * Ihid.y xii, 27. ^ Isaiah, Ivii, 19-21. 
 ® I Corinthians, xii, 31. 
 
HOPE 253 
 
 There is a disposition to undervalue emotions, 
 because of their frequent transiency and lack of se- 
 quence. In so far, reproach is just; and this ten- 
 dency will be particularly strong among practical 
 peoples, whose eyes are fixed upon results, upon 
 things accomplished. To regard emotion solely thus, 
 however, is to depreciate power; for emotion is 
 power. But like all power it needs to be managed, 
 economized, guided, and disciplined. It must not be 
 allowed to run to waste, or to be misdirected. Emo- 
 tions must be brought to book, made to give an 
 account of themselves, as shown in their fruit. They 
 need also — and this is often overlooked — to be 
 acquired. "The end of the commandment is love," 
 and love is assuredly an emotion ; the greatest in the 
 real meaning of the word, which is, to move a person 
 out of himself, or of his accustomed course. The 
 "commandment," in the expression quoted, is to a 
 course of action, the purpose, or end, of which is the 
 emotion of love. 
 
 Emotions which end in themselves and not in action 
 are vain, or worse. They enter into the category of 
 opportunities unimproved. Such is the case of those 
 of whom Christ said that when they hear the word 
 they receive it straightway with joy; but not having 
 root in themselves fall away under trouble or persecu- 
 tion.^ They experienced emotion, joy; but it was 
 superficial, ended in itself, did not strike root down- 
 ward, but like escaping steam blew away upward. 
 Emotion reproduces in this the relation of theory to 
 
 * St. Matthew, xiii, 5, 6, 20, 21. 
 
254 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 practice. Theory, however acute or elaborate, 
 exists strictly only in the mind; not till it is carried 
 into action does it become eflFectual. Emotions have 
 the same office to practice, although they do not 
 represent the same processes as theory does. Theory 
 is sight. Emotion is power; the one directive, the 
 other forceful. To disparage either in comparison 
 with practice, or with so-called practical results, is 
 to decry means in relation to ends. 
 
 A Christian life is not fulfilled which has know- 
 ingly omitted acquiring, to the extent of its faculties, 
 the understanding of the ways of the Life, which 
 corresponds to theory, or the consecrated power 
 which emotion ministers. Such mental and moral 
 acquirements enter into the person's being, of which 
 the conduct of life is the outward expression. To 
 aim at practical results without understanding of the 
 fittest means to be employed is, to say the best, the 
 offering of a service which cannot but be maimed. 
 It was said of the Law, that although it was holy and 
 just and good, it was defective in power.^ So there 
 are means which in practice are weak and unprofit- 
 able to the ends in view; it is by the bringing in of a 
 better Hope, a clearer view, and greater force, that 
 we draw nigh to God effectually.^ 
 
 Emotion harnessed and guided is steam controlled 
 in a boiler, with pipes connecting to the engine which 
 it is to drive. The steam is no less a force if it be 
 allowed to escape; it simply becomes a force wasted, 
 unimproved. To use another simile — our Lord's 
 
 ^ Romans, vii, 12, 18-25. ^ Hebrews, vii, 18, 19. 
 
HOPE 255 
 
 own ^ — emotions are talents, for which we must ren- 
 der an account. Fear and love are emotions ; the fear 
 of God is the beginning of wisdom, the love of God 
 the end ; but fear and love may end in feeling only, 
 in which case there is neither wisdom nor profit. 
 
 Listen to Emotion, acquired, disciplined, directed, 
 speaking in one of its most celebrated utterances. 
 What things were gain to me, these have I counted 
 loss for Christ. Yea, verily, and I count all things 
 to be loss for the excellency of the knowledge of 
 Christ Jesus my Lord. For Him I suffered the loss 
 of all things, and do count them but dung that I may 
 gain Christ; that I may know Him, and the power 
 of His Resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffer- 
 ings, becoming conformed to His death. I press on, 
 if so be that I may lay hold on that for which I was 
 laid hold on by Jesus Christ. I count not myself yet 
 to have laid hold; but one thing I do, forgetting the 
 things which are behind and stretching forward to 
 the things which are before, I press on.^ 
 
 To use an expression of the speaker's own else- 
 where, these are "words of truth and soberness,"^ 
 consistent with pure rational decision, consonant 
 with facts, and eminently productive in results; but 
 they will scarcely be called unemotional. They rep- 
 resent a momentary culmination of a frame of sub- 
 stantial feeling, roused to utterance at the time by 
 the particular circumstances of his writing. They 
 are words of Hope, unrelaxing in energy, dynamic; 
 as it is steadfast also in grip, — static, — the anchor 
 
 * St. Matthew, xxv, 14-30. ^ Philippians, iii, 7-14. 
 
 ^ Acts, xxvi, 25. 
 
256 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 of the soul, sure and steadfast.^ To apply to this 
 instance words used concerning the writer on another 
 occasion, "His spirit was moved within him," ^ — 
 when he saw Athens full of idols; an emotion which, 
 being by him improved, brought souls to Christ. In 
 the opening of his Christian course, St. Paul had ex- 
 perience of emotions; of hatred,^ vivid then as the 
 devotion just quoted, overcome by the emotion of 
 awe,^ succeeded by that of love. The good had cast 
 out the bad, as perfect love casts out fear, and then 
 had been cherished and nourished by reflection and 
 action. The nutriment of emotion appears in the 
 words. That I may know Him, and the power of His 
 Resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, 
 being thereto conformed. In other words, St. Paul 
 had submitted himself to, had diligently cultivated, 
 the impressions which meditation upon Christ Him- 
 self, His excellence. His sufferings, His Resurrection, 
 were calculated to produce and to sustain. So pro- 
 duced and so sustained, they constituted an emotion 
 that found expression, not only in the glowing 
 words of the passages quoted, but in a life, the self- 
 devotion of which needs not to be told here.^ 
 
 To his understanding, the first in order of the fruits 
 of the Spirit are emotions: Love, Joy, Peace;® not 
 improbably the exact succession of his experiences 
 after his conversion. To him, the Peace of God 
 passeth understanding;' the power of its grasp 
 
 ^ Hebrews, vi, 18-20. ^ Acts, xvii, 16. 
 
 ^ Ihid., ix, i; xxvi, 9-II, * Ibid., ix, 4-9; xxii, 7-II. 
 
 ^ I Corinthians, xv, 10. 2 Corinthians, xi, 21-31. 
 
 ® Galatians, v, 22. ' Philippians, iv, 7. 
 
HOPE 257 
 
 therefore is not intellectual, though accordant with 
 reason. It is a mode of feeling, moral, and spiritually 
 sustained. Upon the three emotions follow actions 
 — that is, conduct — corresponding; long-suffering, 
 gentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, self- 
 control.^ To his Ephesian disciples he commends 
 spiritual emotion, and its becoming indulgence, in 
 strong phrase.^ Be not drunk with wine, but be 
 filled with the Spirit; speaking to yourselves in 
 psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and 
 making melody in your hearts to the Lord. The 
 antithesis between wine and the Spirit is daring; 
 but it is not that of opposition merely, but of similar 
 effects from opposite causes, manifesting themselves 
 in analogous actions. The rejoicing of faith and 
 hope and love may affect the spirits as does the re- 
 freshment of wine. 
 
 Refreshment, indeed, being the restoration of 
 strength and courage, to the weary or depressed, is 
 a just aim of spiritual emotion. The renewal of 
 force is not less necessary than its first creation.^ 
 That which innocently ministers to such an end is 
 good. Music in its place, as meditation in its, min- 
 isters to that drawing near to God in the affections, 
 which is true spiritual emotion. The influence of 
 numbers, inspired by a common purpose, takes shape 
 in power, which may be operative to signal result. 
 When the brethren came to meet St. Paul on his way 
 to captivity, he thanked God and took courage.* 
 
 ' Galatians, v, 22. ^ Ephesians, v, 18, 19. 
 
 ^ Isaiah, xl, 29-31. ^ Acts, xxviii, 14, 15. 
 
 17 
 
258 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 The effect of such circumstances upon the individ- 
 ual is notorious ; that it often passes with the occasion, 
 is inoperative, does not condemn the condition or 
 the means, but the man himself. He has simply 
 thrown away opportunity. Church attendance min- 
 isters to such ends. They are alike guilty who by 
 absence fail to supply the numbers, or who, being 
 present, fail in due preparation of mind and heart, 
 in reflective appreciation of the conditions, and so 
 more or less miss the uplift, the emotion, the inspira- 
 tion, through which the grace of God can work more 
 powerfully to its ends. In short. Emotion as a work- 
 ing power can be acquired; it is largely dependent 
 upon the will. 
 
 Consequently and fairly. Love and Joy, emotions, 
 are recognized and commanded frequently by the 
 Apostles, who herein are consistent with the Old 
 Testament, permeated with looking forward to the 
 Messiah, the Christ. Be fervent in spirit, serving the 
 Lord.^ We rejoice in hope of the glory of God. ^ We 
 rejoice in tribulations.^ Rejoicing in hope.* Rejoice 
 with those that do rejoice.* Rejoice evermore.^ 
 Rejoice in the Lord alway : and again I say, rejoice.® 
 In nothing be anxious, and the peace of God which 
 passeth understanding shall keep your hearts.'' I 
 rejoice in the Lord.^ The glorying of our hope.^ Ye 
 took joyfully the spoiling of your possessions, know- 
 
 * Romans, xii, 11. ^ Ihid., v, 2. 
 
 ^ Ibid., V, 3. * Ihid., xii, 12, 15. 
 
 ^ I Thessalonians, v, 16. ^ Philippians, iv, 4. 
 
 ' Ihid., 6, 7. 8 Ihid., 10. 
 
 ^ Hebrews, iii, 6. 
 
HOPE 259 
 
 ing that ye have a better and abiding possession.^ 
 Ye greatly rejoice in your living hope by the Resur- 
 rection of Jesus Christ from the dead; Whom, 
 having not seen, ye love; in Whom, though now ye 
 see Him not, yet believing ye rejoice greatly with joy 
 unspeakable and full of glory. ^ All these are echoes 
 of the words of Jesus Christ: These things have 
 I spoken unto you that My joy may be in you, and 
 that your joy may be fuU.^ In the world ye shall 
 have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have over- 
 come the world. ^ Your sorrow shall be turned into 
 joy, and your joy no one taketh away from you.^ 
 Ask in My Name and ye shall receive; that your joy 
 may be full.® These things speak I in the world. 
 Father; that these may have My joy made full in 
 themselves. '^ He who, being weary or depressed, has 
 known the cheer and the renewed courage of good 
 news from a far country, like cold waters to a thirsty 
 soul,^ can scarcely fail to appreciate what Emotion can 
 contribute to strength. It is in another form the mor- 
 ale^ of which Napoleon said that it dominates war. 
 
 In conclusion, we to-day have grounds, good 
 grounds, for such good cheer. Like St. Paul, we may 
 thank God and take courage, for the brethren come 
 to meet us. If there be, on the one hand, a sorrowful 
 falling off in the numbers which assemble themselves 
 together, in the church buildings, there is on the 
 other abundant indication of spiritual life quickened 
 
 ^ Hebrews, x, 34. ^ i St. Peter, i, 3-8. 
 
 ^ St. John, XV, II. * Ihid., xvi, '^'^. 
 
 ^ Ibid., xvi, 20, 22. ® Ibid., xvi, 24. 
 
 "^ Ibid., xvii, 13. ^ Proverbs, xxv, 25. 
 
26o THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 and strengthened in those who abide faithful. They 
 who have gone from us were not of us; if they had 
 been, they no doubt would have continued with us.^ 
 Had not St. PauFs heart been stayed upon God, had 
 he not had root in himself,^ the joining of a few poor, 
 uninfluential men would not have meant to him what 
 it did. The same days that are witnessing now the 
 withdrawal of the indifferent are seeing also by 
 marked tokens the intensifying of the missionary 
 spirit in the several bodies of Christians; their draw- 
 ing together for a common object. Differences are 
 not ignored ; but unity in the one Master is recognized 
 and given the first place. Both in men and in money 
 the apparently reduced numbers give larger and in- 
 creasing offerings of men and of means to the spread 
 of the message of Him. 
 
 The canon of the Old Testament draws to its close 
 with the words: They that feared the Lord spake 
 often one to another, and He hearkened and heard.^ 
 Immediately before and after these words themselves, 
 occur allusions to a time of sifting; of separation 
 between those who feared and those who did not. 
 Such periods are recurrent; but they have a special 
 solemnity when they mark the end of an era, as did 
 this. The final charge to the men of that day was to 
 "Remember" the Law of Moses, the message which 
 they had received ; and to look for the signs of the 
 coming of the Messiah.^ The command to hope is 
 coupled with an assurance of Hope : To those that 
 love My Name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise 
 
 ^ I St. John, ii, 19. ^ St. Matthew, xiii, 21. 
 
 ^ Malachi, iii, 16. * Ihid.y iv. 
 
HOPE 261 
 
 with healing on His wings. After that, silence, till 
 the voice of John the Baptist was heard in the wilder- 
 ness of Judaea.^ The command was to hope, as well 
 as to fear; to observe commandments and to look 
 forward. 
 
 The command to-day is the same. The history 
 of Israel was one of repeated apostasies; of sever- 
 ances, between those who feared and those who did 
 not. Nevertheless, there were always the mystical 
 seven thousand faithful,^ and in the end it was of 
 Israel that came Christ, the Hope of humanity, and 
 also of the universe.^ To Israel belonged the adop- 
 tion, and the glory, and the covenants, and the 
 giving of the law, and the service of God, and the 
 promises. Theirs were the fathers, and of them, as 
 concerning the flesh, came Christ, Who is God over 
 all, blessed for ever.^ To them, as to us now, were 
 intrusted the oracles of God. What if some of them 
 were without faith ? Their want of faith could not 
 make of none effect the faithfulness of God.^ His 
 promise of old to the father of all the faithful,^ In thy 
 seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed,^ 
 stood fast. Of it the Messiah came, and the promise 
 now is that He will return.^ This is our Hope. 
 
 ^ St. Matthew, iii, 1-3. 
 
 ^ Romans, xi, 4. i Kings, xix, 14, 18. 
 
 ^ Co'ossians, i, 20. * Romans, ix, 4, 5. 
 
 ^ Romans, iii, 1-4. ® Ibid., iv, 11, 16-18. 
 
 ^ Genesis, xii, 3; xxii, 18. Acts, iii, 25. Galatians, iii, 8, 9. 
 
 ® St. Matthew, xvi, 27; xxiv, 3, 27, 29-31. St. Mark, viii, 38; 
 xiii, 26, 27. Acts, i, 11; iii, 20, 21. i Thessalonians, ii, 19; iv, 
 14-18; V, i-ii. 2 Thessalonians, ii, 1-5. Hebrews, ix, 28. 
 
 Note. In Foot-note (i), page 252, the reference to the prophet 
 
262 THE LIFE OF THE CHRISTIAN 
 
 Isaiah assumes of course the vaHdity of the words of Jesus Christ, 
 Search the Scriptures (of the Jews) for they testify of Me. The 
 passage in Isaiah, xlix, appHes to the humiliation of the Messiah, 
 to that extremity of dejection upon the Cross, which found ex- 
 pression in the words, " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken 
 Me ?" The words of the prophet throughout the chapter quoted, 
 as elsewhere, are the reply ; and, as to effect upon the Sufferer, 
 they are summed up in His last words, " It is finished," — com- 
 pleted, — fulfilled. The words which follow, " Father, into Thy 
 hands I commend My Spirit," are a quotation from the same 
 Scriptures (Psalm, xxxi, 5). The Evangelists and St. Paul con- 
 tinually thus use the Old Testament, and we may reasonably 
 believe that in His exposition, after His Resurrection, of the testi- 
 mony of "all" the Scriptures (St. Luke, xxiv, 25-27; Acts, i, 3), 
 He pointed out the double prophecy of the Resurrection, that 
 neither was the Spirit of the Messiah left in Sheol, nor yet did 
 His Body see corruption (Psalm, xvi, 10), which was used by both 
 St. Peter and St. Paul to convince the Jews. 
 
THE 
 
 PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 
 
 An Address delivered in the Church of the Holy Trinity, 
 Middletown, Conn.y Wednesday y March 22, 1899. 
 
THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 
 
 IN this age of ours, there is no expression in 
 common use more famihar to us all than the 
 word "practical." Albeit, Hke most of our 
 word-coinage, the impression has become dulled 
 and the edges worn, by circulation, we all recognize 
 in it an idea, which, though vaguer and more ill- 
 defined than should be attached to any word used 
 to express thought, nevertheless, by its association 
 in our minds, conveys the notion of results attained, 
 by common-sense diligent effort. A "practical" 
 man, we feel, is one who can be depended upon to 
 accomplish the result which he undertakes, because 
 he knows how to do it, and is sure to use his knowl- 
 edge to advantage. There does, indeed, in the 
 minds of most men, run the attendant idea, that the 
 man who understands, scientifically, the natural 
 laws upon which processes and methods depend, — 
 not only that some are better than others, but why 
 they are so, — is not a practical man. The man 
 who handles mechanical or electrical apparatus 
 with competent knowledge of the effects produced, 
 by such and such disposition of the various parts 
 of the whole, is practical. The man who knows 
 why all this is so, who profoundly understands the 
 deep secrets of natural or mechanical science, who 
 not only knows that such a cause produces such an 
 
266 THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 
 
 effect, but knows from the foundation why it does 
 so, we are apt to think is probably not practical. 
 
 In the sphere of religion, a like distinction is also 
 drawn in our common thought to-day. The man 
 who leads, more or less, the life of Christian morality 
 
 — according to the Sermon on the Mount, let us 
 say — is a practical Christian; the man who seeks 
 the same aim, but in order to do so tries to get below 
 the mere surface of the propositions, even though 
 they be those of our Lord himself; the man who 
 would know and understand the deep spiritual 
 reahties, without which even the precepts of our 
 Lord — I say it with reverence — become but the 
 letter of a Law, such a man is considered to have 
 passed out of the domain of practical religion. The 
 words "dogma" and "theology" are flung at his 
 head, as at one who lives with useless, unpractical, 
 fancies; as though the formulation of Christian 
 Truth — which is dogma — were other than the 
 laying of the solid foundation on which alone the 
 scheme of Christian morality securely rests; or God 
 
 — the knowledge of Whom is the aim of theology — 
 were aught less than the well-spring, the fountain 
 head, from which flows all spiritual truth; the 
 stream, in which alone the deep spiritual necessities 
 of our nature can find satisfaction. 
 
 "In knowing God," says the Collect for Peace in 
 our Morning Prayer, repeating the words of Christ 
 Himself,^ "standeth" — consisteth — "our Eternal 
 Life." Theology, which seeks so to know to the 
 utmost, needs no other justification- and while un- 
 ^ St. John, xvii, 3. 
 
THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 267 
 
 doubtedly that knowledge is practical, experimental, 
 in the sense that only he who has drunk when thirsty 
 fully knows the refreshing power of water, yet is it 
 no less true that they who have explored, as far as 
 human mind can, the mysterious regions in which 
 God's revelation of Himself to us is to be found, 
 those who have traced the stream of truth, as far 
 as man may, to its source in the Being of the Eternal 
 Trinity, who have cleared the channel-ways, and 
 brought into their true relations of unity the several 
 rills, into which the River of Living Water that 
 proceeds out of the Throne of God ^ seems at first 
 sight to be divided, so that they, though many, are 
 seen to be one ; such men, knit together in the Church 
 of God, have done a work as practical, and of far 
 more general utility to mankind, than those who 
 simply drink of the waters and know that they do 
 refresh. 
 
 It is as one of these last, however, that I dare to 
 speak to you to-night; not as one of those fully in- 
 structed as man can be in the deep things of God, 
 but as one who believes he knows, from long personal 
 experience, the power of God and his own weakness ; 
 one who, to recur to my last simile, has drunk and 
 has been refreshed. "Taste and see," says the 
 Psalmist, "how gracious the Lord is. Blessed is 
 the man that trusteth in Him." ^ It is on this practi- 
 cal side of religion, as one who has tried God these 
 thirty years and more, that I see any right in me to 
 speak. "Hearken, ye that fear God," says another 
 Psalm, "and I will tell you what He hath done for 
 
 * Revelation, xxii, i, 2. ^ Psalm, xxxiv, 8. Psalter. 
 
268 THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 
 
 my soul." ^ That is experience; and, on the side 
 commonly called practical, there is no help that one 
 man can extend to another more real, or more 
 modest. They are not the things that I have done, 
 nor yet the things that I have felt; but the things 
 which I have found, as I beheve, to be done for me 
 and in me. 
 
 And as I say in every place where I dare to speak 
 at all, let not the ground on which I stand be for a 
 moment misunderstood. Let no man be misled as 
 to what I beheve, concerning Him, of whom the 
 dearest thought to me is that He is my Strength, — 
 and my Redeemer.^ I know naught of Christian 
 Life, except as ever dependent upon, and issuing, as 
 a stream does from its source, from the Life of the 
 Holy Trinity — the Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost — from the One who is Three. Nor do I 
 know aught of Christian experience, except as de- 
 riving from, and ever connected with, the Incarna- 
 tion of our Lord Jesus Christ; except as united to 
 Him by the sacramental bonds of Baptism and Com- 
 munion, so that His Life, — in no figure, but in 
 truth and in power, — is the Christian's Life; His 
 Strength, the Christian's Strength. To aim at 
 a Christian life, disunited from Christ's Person, 
 separated from the Sacraments, would be to me 
 as practical, as to attempt to live apart from air and 
 food; as practical as hoping to keep the stream full 
 while damming the channel which leads from the 
 source thereof; as practical as to try to drive an 
 engine, where there was no communication between 
 
 ^ Psalm, Ixvi, 14. Psalter. ^ Psalm, xix, 15. Ihid. 
 
THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 269 
 
 boiler and machinery. It is my conception and be- 
 lief, speaking as a practical Christian, with such 
 measure of intelligence as you may concede to me, 
 that all Christian theology, — knowledge of God, — 
 is bound up in and proceeds from the sacred Being 
 of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; and that 
 that knowledge comes to us, and is available for our 
 practical use in daily Hfe, only through the Incarna- 
 tion of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the 
 glory and the nature of God are revealed to our 
 spiritual intelligence, and the Life of God is trans- 
 mitted for the sustaining of our spiritual Hfe, which 
 severed from Him dies at once. 
 
 And now, my friends, having performed the 
 practical work, as I hope it is, of clearing from our 
 minds the thought of any other foundation for 
 Christian teaching than that of the knowledge of 
 God, as set forth in the historic Creeds, it would 
 still be easy again to lose myself and you, in generali- 
 ties as to the strength and the redemption which 
 from these truths spring. Nothing is more unpracti- 
 cal than generalities. Having therefore stated the 
 one foundation, I wish to build upon it the definite 
 practical conclusions, the practical working scheme 
 of Christian Life, as it presents itself to me after the 
 experience of over thirty years. 
 
 It is easy to accept, in a general way, that God 
 is the source of all our strength, that we can do 
 nothing without God's help, without God's grace, 
 etc. All these are general expressions, familiar to 
 you all, possessing in themselves a great deal of 
 truth and no error; but they fall short of truth in 
 
270 THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 
 
 its fullness, and they have the fault of all general 
 expressions, especially when familiarized, that they 
 cease to convey sharp and definite impression. 
 
 That therefore upon which I would seek to fasten 
 your minds this night is that a man's Christian Life, 
 while it does possess its individual existence, does 
 not exist of itself for an instant. It is not something 
 which exists apart, and receives help from outside; 
 as for instance our physical life receives help from 
 food. Our spiritual life holds its existence by a 
 power which is within it, as well as without. That 
 power is not merely sustenance, it is life itself, self- 
 renewing because of God. Our Lord defined His 
 own prerogative of life, as distinguished from that 
 of a creature, in these words : — As the Father hath 
 life in Himself, so gave He to the Son also to have 
 life in Himself.^ It is not so with us. Our spir- 
 itual life depends absolutely upon union with Him, 
 through Whom we have the continual abiding 
 presence within us, in our interior life, of God the 
 Holy Ghost, Whom our Lord in His Ascension sent 
 forth so to abide in us. It so depends, just as the 
 life of a branch depends upon the abiding of the 
 vine's life within it, to use our Lord's simile; and, 
 consequently, forasmuch as life increases not by 
 effort, but by growth, the progress of the Christian 
 in spiritual life results not from efforts, which are 
 his, but from growth, which is not his. The effects 
 of this conception, when realized, upon a man's 
 practice of life, are almost revolutionary; but as I 
 dwell upon this conception, to develop first itself, 
 * St. John, V, 26. 
 
THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 271 
 
 and then some of the consequences which follow 
 from it, it is necessary first to guard against the mis- 
 conception, the exaggeration of truth, to which our 
 human intellects are liable, from their proneness to 
 fly from one extreme to the other. 
 
 Therefore, when I say that life does not progress 
 by effort, you will not misunderstand me to mean 
 that effort, in its various forms, — prayer, sacra- 
 ments, discipline of the will, — has no place in the 
 Christian's growth. Our Lord has embodied the 
 thought that I am trying to place before you in a 
 parable, which one only of the Evangelists has 
 transmitted to us. "So is the Kingdom of God" — 
 which He elsewhere tells us is within us — "as if a 
 man should cast seed into the ground ; . . . and the seed 
 should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how. 
 For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the 
 blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear." ^ 
 Here you have, not only in due proportion, but also 
 fully developed, the two factors — man's part and 
 God's part. The man casts the seed into the earth, — 
 an expression which involves by implication all that 
 man does, the preparation of the ground, the plant- 
 ing, the tending, the watering; but who is there that 
 knows not that the growth of the grain is a life 
 process, the essential principle of which not only 
 defies man's investigation, but is independent of his 
 power .? "Which of you by anxious thought can add 
 one cubit to his stature .f"' ^ This parable stands 
 out to me, among the many of the Gospels, because 
 it seems to me to set forth, more compactly and 
 * St. Mark, iv, 26-29. ^ St. Matthew, vi, 27. 
 
272 THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 
 
 more exclusively than any other, the secret of Chris- 
 tian Hfe. The hearing of God's word, prayer, the 
 outward act of receiving the sacraments, spiritual 
 effort of every character, — this is man's part, — 
 the casting of the seed and the tending of it; but the 
 growth is not of him. The ripening of the life, the 
 maturing of the Christian character, goes on by 
 itself, not independent of man's care, but wholly 
 independent of man's power. "Not by might, nor 
 by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of 
 Hosts." 1 
 
 To know really a truth like this, with that con- 
 viction which alone is worthy of the name knowl- 
 edge, is the result of personal experience; the work, 
 therefore, of years. We all know the difference be- 
 tween hearing a truth from another, accepting it 
 on his word, and that reaHzation which comes from 
 testing it for one's self — from experience, in short. 
 "I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the ear," 
 said Job to the Almighty, "but now mine eye seeth 
 Thee. Wherefore I abhor myself. ^^ ^ And so it is. 
 We hear, — hear from one or from another, — but 
 though we hear we do not appreciate, until, perhaps 
 after many years, the veil is lifted and we see our- 
 selves and Him. Then the result is ever the same 
 as with Job. The man abhors himself. "All our 
 righteousness is as filthy rags," saith one prophet. 
 I suffer the loss of all things, said St. Paul, speak- 
 ing of his own tireless efforts. I count them but 
 as refuse, if I may win Christ.^ It is a poor and 
 
 * Zechariah, iv, 6. Compare, Isaiah, xxx, 15. 
 
 ^ Job, xlii, 5, 6. ^ Philippians, iii, 8. 
 
THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 273 
 
 partial reading of these words to see St. Paul modestly 
 disclaiming merit for his works, great as they were. 
 He tells us elsewhere that not only are his efforts 
 powerless to constitute merit, they are powerless 
 also to maintain the flame of spiritual life. "I live; 
 yet not I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which 
 I now live in the flesh, I live in the faith of the Son 
 of God." ^ Untiring as man's eff'orts may be, and 
 much as they may conduce to constitute conditions, 
 favorable to life and to growth, the life is not his, 
 never was his; never, thank God, will be his. It 
 was given to him; it is maintained in him. He 
 grows, but he does not make himself. There is no 
 self-made man in the Kingdom of God. 
 
 It is the grace of God to advancing years, a grace 
 which, when received, more than compensates the 
 man for the beauty and freshness of youth, that 
 with the lapse of time he thus more and more sees 
 his Maker as He is, and sees himself as he is. To 
 know one's own weakness is hard to the yet untried 
 strength of youth ; but that knowledge of weakness 
 is, to the aging, only less dear than the proved 
 knowledge of God's strength and faithfulness. 
 
 " Let me no more my comfort draw 
 From my frail hold on Thee; 
 In this alone rejoice, with awe, 
 Thy mighty grasp of me." 2 
 
 Nothing but experience, often sad, more often 
 joyful, can bring this knowledge to the individual; 
 but we all know well that, while nothing teaches 
 
 * Galatians, ii, 20. ^ John Campbell Shairp. 
 
 18 
 
274 THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 
 
 like personal experience, while nothing can take its 
 place, nevertheless the experience of each genera- 
 tion becomes a fresh starting point for the one which 
 succeeds. Each new generation enters upon the 
 heritage of its predecessor's experience; and while 
 the transmitted experience, — the hearing of the 
 ear, — can never equal the personal experience, — 
 the seeing of the eye, — nevertheless the starting 
 point of the new age is, or should be, an advance 
 upon that of the preceding. Those who are of my 
 age, and with whom God has dealt, know that our 
 point of view has advanced beyond that delivered 
 to us. We have more than was bequeathed to us. 
 It is for us to communicate the gain to our successors. 
 It will take time for them to make it their own, but, 
 if they will hear, God will open their eyes; they 
 will know sooner than we did, and so will advance 
 beyond the point which we have reached. 
 
 If a generation has made any spiritual advance 
 over its predecessors, has any contribution to leave 
 to its successors, they will not be the work of any 
 one man, but of the many who together make up 
 the full body of result. The interaction of the 
 whole Body of Christ, conscious and unconscious, 
 goes to each separate eflFort, coloring and modifying. 
 This, then, is my reason for speaking, and these 
 are the things which I have found, the hearing of 
 my ear, and then the seeing of my eye, the work 
 which God has wrought in me. I live, yet not I. 
 So too, as I live, I know; for, although the intellectual 
 satisfaction that I derive from God's word passes 
 all intellectual pleasure known to me, although I 
 
THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 275 
 
 recognize the profound insight, the logical com- 
 pleteness, the constant recurrence of undesigned 
 coincidences, which prove the oneness of the Mind 
 running throughout the Sacred Word; although all 
 this be so, it is not thus that I know. I live, yet not 
 I ; I know, yet not I — not of myself. I knew long 
 ago by intellectual acceptance; I know now by a 
 knowledge for which I can give no account; but I 
 know as I never knew of old. 
 
 I know, and I tell you. Few may beHeve. It is 
 my testimony, however; the things that I knew in 
 the past, the things I know now; and some doubtless 
 will believe. But I am not here to talk about my- 
 self, but about Him. To those who may believe on 
 my word, it remains to do as the Samaritans did 
 on the saying of their woman : go to Christ, expect- 
 ing to receive at His hands. ^ And I feel justified in 
 believing that through my generation telling you 
 to expect that which I, at least, did not for a long 
 time apprehend, you will find earlier than I found : 
 you will find that knowledge, and that confidence, 
 the possession of which passeth all understanding, 
 like the Peace of God,^ — which indeed it is. "Now 
 we believe," said the Samaritans, "not because of thy 
 word; but we have seen for ourselves, and know 
 that this is the Christ, the Saviour of the World." 
 
 It was not thus that I can remember that I was 
 taught; and my teaching came from men not faith- 
 ful only, but capable and learned also. It seems 
 to me the advance not of myself, individually, but 
 of my generation. The Christian life, as presented 
 
 ^ St. John, iv, 39-42. ^ Philippians, iv, 4-7. 
 
276 THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 
 
 to my intelligence and as I recall, was a life of bat- 
 tling, of hard work, of systematic effort, crowned 
 by the rewards of labor. God forbid that I should 
 ignore that side of it, which the Bible also asserts. 
 It is a warfare and a labor. But while good Pro- 
 testant doctrine of justification by faith and the 
 insufficiency of one's own merits, and of one's own 
 efforts, were kept well to the front, yet after all the 
 battle was first mine, then the Lord's. I was to 
 save my own soul — which by the way is man's 
 first duty, because above all other cares God has 
 charged him to deliver back his own soul, as his 
 own talents, improved, — I was to save my soul, by 
 God's help. There was a hymn in those days, of 
 which two lines ran : 
 
 " The work to be performed Is ours^ 
 The strength is all His own.'* 
 
 I do not now feel it so. I no longer say, "I will do 
 this, God helping me." I say only, "I will help 
 God to do this." The difference is real. Like the 
 springing of the grain, the work — the hfe — is His. 
 I can but help my little. A man does not work less 
 hard for this thought, but he works with less anxiety, 
 with more confidence; for there can be no doubt of 
 God's success. 
 
 But doubtless some one will say: This may all 
 be true; but, practically, how am I to proceed in 
 order to test it .f* The question is right; my reply 
 is this : Assuming that you are conscious of this 
 or that fault, of this or that defect, first fasten your 
 purpose upon the expectation, not that you shall 
 
THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 277 
 
 overcome, but that it shall disappear, much as in 
 the natural world infirmities at times disappear with 
 advancing growth or returning health. The con- 
 ception of overcoming is scriptural, as is that of 
 growth; but in practical effect upon our minds, 
 unless balanced by the clear apprehension of the 
 complementary truth which I seek to place before 
 you, it tends to attributing predominance, or at the 
 least exaggerated importance, to one's own efforts; 
 the idea of disappearance associates readily with 
 the conviction that the result has been achieved for 
 you and in you — by the Holy Ghost, in short. 
 
 But is there nothing that I must do? You are to 
 do what the man does who casts seed into the earth, 
 and tends the ground. You are to do as the Baptist : 
 level the hills, exalt the valleys, make ready the way.^ 
 You are to supply the conditions essential to the 
 Lord's coming, by prayer, by sacrament, by effort, 
 for these are means which He has ordained; but 
 you are not to fall into the spiritual error of expect- 
 ing that the doing these things will make you good, 
 that you will conquer by their means. It is through 
 Him that loved us that we are more than con- 
 querors.^ You are to guard carefully against con- 
 founding the conditions with the Hfe itself. The 
 life is God's gift, its continuance and its growth are 
 His gifts — in no wise the result of your actions, be 
 these of the best. Confusion on this point is a spir- 
 itual blunder, it is working on wrong Hues; and 
 spiritual blunders entail practical disaster just as 
 
 ^ Isaiah, xl, 3-5. St. Matthew, iii, 3. 
 
 ^ Romans, viii, ^J. i Corinthians, xv, 57. 
 
278 THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 
 
 all blunders do. This blunder also is of the greatest 
 — is fundamental; for it is misdirected faith, and 
 faith is the foundation of Christian life. The man 
 who expects to overcome by his own efforts, though 
 with God's help, trusts — has faith — at least partly 
 in himself. The man who expects that spiritual 
 life, given in baptism, will grow, because God, Who 
 gave life, gives also growth, trusts in God only. He 
 recognizes that, do what he will, life and growth are 
 utterly beyond his power; and thus recognizing, and 
 resting his hopes wholly upon Him Who can give, 
 he is a practical Christian, one who resorts most 
 directly to the one means by which the hoped-for 
 result can be attained. 
 
 Look, therefore, you who would serve God, to see 
 results wrought in you which you cannot explain. 
 Pray for faith, — which also is God's gift ; ^ faith to 
 believe in God the Holy Ghost, and in the powers 
 of the world to come,^ as in living realities, far more 
 real than the air you breathe, and than the sunshine 
 which surrounds you. Do not cease an atom of 
 work, whether it take the form of effort, or of prayer, 
 or of sacraments, or whatever else may tend to 
 facilitate growth. Be each one as St. John the 
 Baptist, one who is busy preparing the way of the 
 Lord, making the paths straight, removing every 
 obstacle; but do not confound these preparations 
 with the Lord's own coming. Remember, too, that 
 as God was not in the earthquake or the whirlwind, 
 but in the still small voice,^ so His coming usually is ; 
 
 1 Ephesians, ii, 8. ^ Hebrews, vi, 4, 5. 
 
 ^ I Kings, xix, 1 1 -1 3. 
 
THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 279 
 
 — "not with observation."^ He will have come 
 and you scarcely know the moment; as when He 
 came in the flesh, a little child, and few regarded. 
 And when He is come, take again for your own the 
 loving words of the Baptist: "He must increase, I 
 must decrease.'' ^ Decrease I must, not because 
 years are coming and natural strength failing, but 
 because more and more He takes the work. "Our 
 sufficiency is from God." ^ 
 
 Such is my experience which I give to you. Some 
 distant day, perhaps, some one here young may tell 
 a future generation that he was helped along his 
 road — not by me, but by the Spirit of God speaking 
 through me; for unless it be the Spirit that speaks, 
 and not I, these words are vain. Perhaps then he 
 will feel that, having been so helped, he, at the close 
 of his days, was farther on than else he would have 
 been. 
 
 In conclusion : Do you remember the words of our 
 Lord : " When a strong man armed keepeth his 
 palace, his goods are in peace : but when a Stronger 
 than he shall come upon him, and overcome him. He 
 taketh from him all his armor wherein he trusted, and 
 divideth the spoils." ^ Our Lord was speaking of the 
 struggle between Himself and the powers of darkness ; 
 but no teaching of Scripture is of mere private inter- 
 pretation, narrowed to the immediate occasion; 
 and it has seemed to me that the experience of each 
 Christian is much like this, and that the earlier it is 
 learned, the happier the man, or the generation, or 
 
 * St. Luke, xvii, 20. ^ St. John, iii, 30. 
 
 ^ 2 Corinthians, iii, 5. * St. Luke, xi, 21, 22. 
 
28o THE PRACTICAL IN CHRISTIANITY 
 
 the race. We begin, perhaps not exactly by trusting 
 in ourselves, but in laying great store — not wholly 
 undeserved — upon the things we ourselves do; 
 upon our prayers, our efforts, our observances of 
 every kind. They are right; they are good; they 
 are incumbent; but the great trouble is that they 
 are ours, rather than His. So we go forth, genera- 
 tion after generation, to the conflict — and many a 
 rattling fall we get. But at last there cometh One 
 stronger than we, and He takes us from all that 
 armor in which we trusted — the armor which has 
 been ours, not His — and divides all that spoil which 
 we may have thought we had gained. Thenceforth 
 there is indeed peace, for the man overcome has 
 ceased from himself, and looks only to Another, 
 Whose power has never failed. 
 
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