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THE HIGH CALLING

By J. H. JOWETT,

D.D.

The High Calling

Meditations on St. Paul's Letter to the
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THE HIGH CALLING
MEDITATIONS ON ST. PAUL'S
LETTER TO THE PHILIPPIANS

J. H. JOWETT, M.A.

New York Chicago Toronto
t^'leming H. Reveil Company
London and Edinburgh

Copyright, 1909, by
FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY

-{'

50 9j'

New York: 158 Fifth Avenue
Chicago: 125 N. Wabash Ave.
Toronto: 25 Richmond St., W.
London: 21 Paternoster Square
Edinburgh: 100 Princes Street

PREFACE
The purpose of this little book can be very
simply stated. It makes no pretence whatever
to be a learned exposition of this gracious
epistle to the Philippians, although I trust that
in no single instance does it pass beyond what
is permitted by sound and accurate scholarship.
I have taken the epistle, and have sought to lift
it out of all remote and fleeting significance, by
laying it side by side with the human interests,
and the spiritual life and needs of our own
day. The letter is alive, and in constant touch
with the abiding concerns of the human heart;
and I have tried, by divesting it of its ancient
phraseology, and giving it modern expression,
to bring its comfort and inspiration to some
who are walking the pilgrim way in our own
time. It is therefore intended for the oratory
rather than the study. It seeks not to excite
controversy, but to inspire devotion, to deepen
the joy of consecration, and to clothe the soul
in the radiant garment of praise. J, H. JOWETT.
Carrs Lane Vestry,
August, igog.

CONTENTS

CHAFTEK PAGE
I, THE COURTESY BORN OF JESUS . 9
II, THE GRACE OF THANKSGIVING , \J
III, THE FORTUNE OF MISFORTUNE . 25
IV, BAD MOTIVES IN GOOD WORK , 33
V, THE SOUL IN STRAITS . . 40
VI. THE HEAVENLY CITIZEN , . 46
VII. THE PRIVILEGE OF SUFFERING FOR
CHRIST , . . . 51
VIII, FORCES WHICH MAKE FOR CONCORD 57
IX, THE THINGS OF OTHERS . . 64
X, THE MIND THAT WAS IN CHRIST
JESUS , , . , 70
XI, WORKING OUT ONE's OWN SALVA
TION  76
5

CONTENTS

CHAPTER XII. THE SPIRIT OF REPINING
XIII. THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE
XIV. MY SON TIMOTHY .
XV. BROTHER AND FELLOW-WORKER
XVI. HONOURING THE KING'S SOLDIER
XVII. REJOICING IN THE LORD
XVIII. LIVING IN THE STREETS
XIX. REVISING THE BALANCE-SHEET
XX. IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST .
XXI. THIS ONE THING .
XXII. THE RULE OF FAITH ,
XXIII. IMITATING THE SAINTS
XXIV. THE HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP
XXV. THE UNWITHERING CHAPLET
XXVI. THE MINISTRY OF CONCILIATION
XXVII. THE ART OF REJOICING
XXVIII. THE GRACE OF FORBEARANCE
XXIX. THE CURE FOR CARE ,
XXX. THE SENTINEL OF GOD's PEACE
XXXI. WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
XXXII. THE THINGS WHICH LEAD TO PEACE

82
8994
100108114120126 132 138145ISI
157 164 170 176182188 194
200 206

CONTENTS 7
CHAPTEB PAGE
XXXIII. THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT . 212
XXXIV. THE MIGHTY DYNAMIC . . 2l8
XXXV. CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP . . 224
XXXVI. THE apostle's EXCHEQUER . 23O
XXXVII. THE CONSECRATION OF COURTESY 236
XXXVIII, THE SAINTS OF CAESAr's HOUSE
HOLD ..... 242
XXXIX. THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS . 247

"To all ages of the Church — to our own
especially — this epistle reads a great lesson.
While we are expending our strength on
theological definitions or ecclesiastical rules,
it recalls us from these distractions to the
very heart and centre of the Gospel — ^the
life of Christ and the life in Christ. Here
is the meeting-point of all our differences,
the healing of all our feuds, the true life
alike of individuals and sects and churches:
here doctrine and practice are wedded
together; for here is the 'Creed of Creeds'
involved in and arising out of the 'Work
of Works.' "

THE HIGH CALLING

THE COURTESY BORN OF JESUS
"Paul and Timothy" (Phil. i. i, 2).
How beautiful is the conjunction of the aged
Apostle and the young disciple in sacred league
and covenant! I wonder how much each
owed to the other in the ministry of the
Spirit? How far was it Timothy's ministry
to keep the old man young, and to warm his
soul continually with the kindling influence of
youthful enthusiasm? It is a gracious re
membrance, that, in these latter days of lim
itation and suspicion, Paul could drink at the
fountain of a young man's love. He had the
inexpressible privilege of scenting the per
fumes of love's springtime, and feasting upon

10 THE HIGH CALLING
the first sweet fruits in the garden of a young
and grace-filled soul. Beautiful must have
been their companionship — youth revering
age, and age having no contempt or suspicion
of youth, but each ministering to the other of
the flowers and fruits of his own season.
" Paul and Timothy." It is the union of
springtime and autumn; of enthusiasm and ex
perience; of impulse and wisdom; of tender
hope and quiet and rich assurance.
" Servants of Jesus Christ." The early
Apostles gloried in exhibiting the brand-
marks of their Lord. Here, in this letter, the
first thing the Apostle shows us is the mark
of the branding. A little while ago I was
present at a sheep-shearing in the very heart of
the Highlands, and I noticed that when the
heavy, burdensome fleece had been shorn from
the affrighted sheep, the liberated beast was
branded with the owner's initials and went
bounding away, prominently exhibiting these
signs of its owner's name. And Paul and
Timothy had been delivered from a heavy
burden: the vesture of oppressive habits had

COURTESY BORN OF JESUS 11
been removed by the power of a crucified
Lord, and on their emancipated lives they bore
the marks of their owner — ^the " brands " of
the Lord Jesus. Whose I am. They be
longed to Him who had redeemed them with
a heavy price, and they counted it to be their
glory, and their crown of rejoicing, that they
were not their own, but the branded " bond
servants " of the Lord Jesus Christ.
" To all the saints in Christ Jesus which are
at Philippi." The saints are reared in unlikely
neighbourhoods. It was at Philippi that the
multitude was so hostile and violent. It was
at Philippi that Paul had " many stripes " laid
upon him, and that he was " thrust into
prison," and his feet " made fast in the stocks."
One would have thought that in this fierce
persecution the little Church would have been
destroyed, and that in these scorching an
tagonisms the early, tender leaves of Christian
faith and hope would have withered away.
But " He maketh grass to grow upon the
mountains " — even in those unlikely places —
and He reared His saints amid the threatening

12 THE HIGH CALLING
decimations of Philippi. For let it be remem
bered that, though Philippi was the sphere of
their living, it did not provide the rootage of
their life. The saints were " at Philippi," but
they were " in Christ Jesus," and that is the
secret of their endurance " when the sun was
up " and the hot beams of hostility blazed upon
their unoffending heads. " Rooted . . , in
Christ Jesus," and flourishing anywhere!
Lydia would be among " the saints at Phil
ippi." Lydia would be among them, and
those few women who met by the riverside to
pray. And the jailer would be of the number,
and his household, and many others who had
been won by the constancy of a few, and
" whose names are written in the book of life."
There they were, a mere handful helping to
sweeten the busy city as surely as one sprig of
mignonette can spread its fragrance to the
limits of a wide room.
"¦ With the bishops and deacons." " Honour
to whom honour is due." These men had
done the work of collecting the help which
had been sent to the needy Apostle, and they

COURTESY BORN OF JESUS 13
must receive special and generous recognition.
St, Paul was a prince of courtesy. Courtesy
is not the creation of effort, it is the product of
grace : it is born, not made, Paul was born of
grace, and therefore he was gracious, and in
stinctively his courtesy fitted itself to all the
changing requirements of the day. Mechan
ical courtesy is very unwelcome: it more fre
quently irritates than conciliates those to whom
it is addressed. A little while ago I saw a
table fountain sending up its frail and delicate
sprays, but I could hear the click, click of the
machinery by which it was propelled. How
different from the natural spring, leaping with
bright and noiseless spontaneity from unseen
depths! True courtesy is the issue of natural
springs, and its propulsion is in the Infinite.
The courtesy of the Apostle Paul was " a river
of water of life " that flowed " from the throne
of God and of the Lamb."
" Grace to you." Behind graciousness was
grace, and the courtesy broadened into a prayer
for the supreme gift. Get grace, and all gifts
are gained. Grace is the bountiful mother of

14. THE HIGH CALLING
all the graces. But who can define it? It is
love; but it is more than love. It is love with
a mysterious plus; it is love that never grows
weary, that goes on expending with no faintest
sign of possible exhaustion. It finds some
analogy in radium, that marvellous element
which is ceaselessly emitting its fervent rays,
but with no sign of any diminution of its pri
mary force. Human love can tire, its rays
may grow cool or become intermittent; grace
loves on, and on, and on, and in its shining
presence it is always noon. Grace is the energy
of the Divine affection, ministering to the un
lovely, and endowing the unlovely with its own
loveliness. " Grace to you."
"And peace." Where grace abides peace
will dwell. They are inseparable companions.
Grace is the native element in which all our
powers awake and work in happy service.
Now peace is not the absence of movement : it
is the absence of friction. The real symbol
of peace is not to be found in some secluded
motionless mountain tarn, but in the majestic
progress of some quiet, brimming river. Peace

COURTESY BORN OF JESUS 15
is not symbolised in the death chamber, but in
the rhythmic, smooth movements of the engine-
house. When grace reigns, man moves in God
in perfect unison, man co-operates with man in
fellowship without strain, and " all that is
within us praise and bless " God's " holy
name." When grace reigns, life loses all its
" strain and stress," and, in the absence of fric
tion, " all things work together for good."
" From God our Father and the Lord Jesus
Christ." And so this bright, energising river
of " grace and peace " has its rise in the vast,
two-sphered, and yet indivisible lake of " God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ." The
Apostle traces all supreme gifts to their pri
mary home. He does not pause at intermedi
ate presences, nor does he offer his sacrifices at
any secondary and inferior altar; he passes be
yond all subordinate ministers and priesthoods,
and presses forward to the august and lonely
heights of sovereign holiness and love, and
there he prostrates himself in humble adoration
and praise. He distinguishes between chan
nels and springs, between instruments and

16 THE HIGH CALLING
causes, and he reserves his doxologies for the
Fountain. " Every good and every perfect
gift is from above"; and away to these lofty
springs the Apostle traces the river of " grace
and peace." And let us carefully heed how
firmly and naturally the Apostle exalts the
Lord Jesus to the supreme rank of Divine Sov
ereignty. The Lord Jesus is one with the
Father in the holy initiative of redeeming
grace. He shares with the Father the glory
of all redeeming ministries, and is one with
Him in the origin and sustenance of our sal
vation. " From God our Father and the Lord
Jesus Christ,"

II
THE GRACE OF THANKSGIVING
"/ thank my God upon all my remembrance of you''
(Phil. i. 3-8).
How natural it is for the Apostle to begin
his letters in thanksgiving! He is far more
sensitive to the mercies of God than to the an
tagonisms of men. Grace always " far more
abounded " than anything else. And thus it
was, because mercy was so manifest, praise
was ever ready. The song was ever the fleeter
of foot and arrived before complaint was
awake. The man who is eager in praise to
God is not swift fn the~censure of men. Paul
was always great in eulogy, and this, I think,
because he was so ready in the praise of God.
He had a fine eye for the lineaments of grace,
and he could discern the sproutings of holy de
sire, even when they were buried beneath the
refuse of sin and long-continued negligence,
17

18 THE HIGH CALLING
But the graces of the Philippians were not hid
den. Their kinship with the Lord was most
manifest. The Apostle's remembrance of them
stretched across his recent troubled and labori
ous years like a line of golden light. The line
was not broken by faithless intermissions. His
remembrance of them was always bright, so
that whenever he gazed upon the radiant track
his soul was filled with praise,
" Always in every supplication of mine on
behalf of you all making my supplication with
joy." Prayer is sometimes exercised as a duty
and a task; on Its supreme planes it is eagerly
resorted to as a joy. A part of the true con
ception of true intercession consists in giving
pleasure to our God. To supplicate on behalf
of another, and to do it with the reluctance and
misgivings of a bondman, cannot be "well-
pleasing unto the Lord." It is our high priv
ilege to enter the Presence chamber like chil
dren going home; and to name our fellow-pil
grims with the happy assurance that the very
intercession is consonant with "the river of
God's pleasures." Thus "the joy of the

GRACE OF THANKSGIVING 19
Lord " will be our strength. Let us ever sup
plicate for others as though we had infinite
resources in the goodwill of the Lord, and so
let us " with joy draw water out of the wells
of salvation."
" For your fellowship in furtherance of the
gospel from the first day until now." Our
spiritual comrades are among the choicest gifts
of God's love. A warrior's courage is greatly
heartened by the presence upon the field of one
Valiant- for-the-truth. Our convictions are en
riched by the spectacle of others who live and
dare in the same faith. The faith of the faith
ful is inevitably altruistic; it is an esprit de
corps, a holy contagion, a vitalising energy in
which every member is empowered unto God.
And this influential contagion of assurance be
longs especially to veteran campaigners^who
have been " in the fellowship of the gospel
from the first day." A well-seasoned and
much-tried soldier is an invaluable asset among
raw recruits; the men who have been through
a battle impart calmness and confidence to an
otherwise untried company.

20 THE HIGH CALLING
"Being confident of this very thing, that
He which began a good work in you will per
fect it until the day of Jesus Christ." He who
fashions the seed is also Lord of the Harvest,
He creates initial impulse, and He also ma
tures the character. The quickening min
istries of the spring are His; His also are
the ripening ministries of the autumn. He
nourishes the tender sapling into the majestic
oak, and the one gracious sunshine is showered
upon both. He will not leave us in our spir
itual babyhood, nor will He make us preco
ciously old. He will " perfect us," adding
grace and strength to the growing years, and
" everything " shall be beautiful in its season.
There shall be " fruit every month," and the
fruit shall be appropriate to our growth. The
good Lord who " began a work " will not leave
it imperfect and futile. Most graciously will
He perfect it, until concerning every one of us
He is able to say, " I have finished the work
which thou gavest me to do."
" Even as it is meet for me to think this of
you all, because I have you in my heart." We.,

GRACE OF THANKSGIVING 21
are always optimistic about the people who
dwell in our hearts. WKenTKey^ontjrdweit-Tn'
the suburbs of our regards we soon lose hope
concerning them — we easily become the prey
of enfeebling fears. But when people have
" a warm place in our hearts " the light of hope
is never out of our sky. That is why mothers
are optimistic about their boys when every
body else is in despair. They have them in
their hearts. And that is why the Good
Shepherd is an optimist concerning you and
me; and that is why He leaves the ninety-and-
nine in the wilderness and goes out after that
which is lost, " until He find it." It is all be
cause He has us in His heart. With what a
" growing atmosphere " of hope we should en-
swathe one another if only we dwelt in one
another's hearts ! A big hope is ever the child
of passionate love.
"' Inasmuch as, both in my bonds and in the
defence and confirmation of the gospel, ye all
are partakers with me of grace." Here was
a complexity of gracious bonds; a fourfold
cord which could not be broken. No wonder

22 THE HIGH CALLING
the Apostle has them in his heart. They were
one with him in suffering, " in bonds," and
there is no welding ministry like a common
passage through grief and pain. They were
one with him in vigorously defending the cen
tral citadel of the Christian Faith. And they
were one with him in the strengthening of these
central verities by the confirming vision of
their own rich and glad experience. And,
above all, they were one with him in a com
mon sustenance. They were all sitting at one
table, in the enjoyment of the one " feast of
fat things"; they were partakers with him of
grace. When the day comes that such lan
guage can be used of the modern Church, she
will be seen to stride through the devil's
usurped and blasted dominions with irresistible
and ever-triumphant strength.
" For God is my witness, how I long after
you all in the tender mercies of Christ Jesus."
Paul is never afraid of calling upon the wit
ness of the Almighty, Again and again he
makes quiet and confident appeal for Divine
confirmation of his own word. He lives in

GRACE OF THANKSGIVING 23
the secret place with the Lord, and the light
of the Divine countenance fills all his affairs,
just as the sunshine floods an open field. His
sense of the sacred presence is unbroken;
whenever or wherever he looks, he contem
plates the face of the Almighty. And there
fore everything is born in the light; nothing
in his life is a fruit of the darkness. Every
thing is a child of light, and he dares to call
upon the Lord to witness and confirm the
glorious nobility of its birth. How many of
us fear the witnessings of the Lord! We
would hide ourselves from Him, and remove
all our affairs from His searching beam.
Blessed and thrice blessed is the life which is
gloriously illumined in its " hidden parts " and
which can humbly call upon the Lord to bear
witness to the seals of His own grace.
And to what does he call the Lord to wit
ness ? " How I long after you all in the ten
der mercies of Christ Jesus." He claims to be
in the heart of the Lord Jesus, and from that
heart of all compassion, he yearns after the
disciples of Philippi. His longings are in ac-

24 THE HIGH CALLING
cord with the longings of his Saviour — ^the
pulse of his desire beats with the pulse of the
desires of his Lord. It is a wonderful claim,
and he calls God to witness its reality and
power. He dwells in the heart of Christ, and
he shares His travail for the souls of men.
He has a part in the strain and pang of re
deeming labour; he is a "partaker of His
sufferings " ; he fills up " that which is lacking
of the afilictions of Christ." No one can
abide in Christ and not feel the burdensome
drain of sacrificial desire.

Ill
THE FORTUNE OF MISFORTUNE
"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more
and more in knowledge and in all discernment"
(Phil. i. 9-14).
True yearning will reveal itself in supplica
tion. Our best desires for others instinctively
pass into prayers. Indeed, we may test the
quality of our longings for their good by the
nature of the requests we make for them at
the throne of grace. A longing is a poor
earth-born and earth-inhabiting sentiment if
it does not " mount up with wings as eagles,"
and soar away to heaven's gate. Paul's yearn
ings for the Philippians ranged through the
treasuries of heaven, and sought its richest
bounties. " I pray that your love may abound
. . . in knowledge." For love can be un-
illumined, or only partially enlightened. There
is a love which is dim and dull, whose vision
25

26 THE HIGH CALLING
is not clear and sunny, which sees men only
" as trees walking."
There is love which is as candle-light; there
is love which is as steady starlight; and there
is love which is as the glorious splendour of
the noonday sun. There is love without tact
— a clumsy love devoid of skill, unattended
by fine perception. This is the love of the
first standard — an elementary, rudimentary af
fection, where the senses are only partially
awake and operative. And there is the love
of the advanced stages, equipped with more
delicate instincts, feeling its way into the heart
of things, and reading the secrets of things
with most delicate perception. The Apostle
prays that his readers may be led into these
higher classes of the academy of love, that
they may have more and more illuminating
" knowledge " of God, and more and more
" discernment " of one another's needs. And
all this in order that they may " approve the
things that are excellent." At present they
could only appreciate the good; they were not
sufficiently advanced to appreciate the better

FORTUNE OF MISFORTUNE 27
and, least of all, the best. But the Apostle
prays that they make such progress as to be
able to taste the " excellent " and appreciate its
exquisite and delicate flavour. And there is
nothing like love for giving the requisite pal
ate; nay, love is the very organ itself. The
real essences of life await the revealing pres
ence of love, and the finer the love the richer
will be the revelation. When our love is ex
cellent, multitudinous excellences will reveal
themselves on every side.
" That ye may be sincere, and void of of
fence unto the day of Christ." With such an
advancing love, and with growing and ap
preciated visions of glory, the character will
become increasingly enriched. It will become
more and more "sincere." How lofty and
splendid is the standard! The word literally
suggests a perfection so finished and profound
that it reveals no stain or defect even to the
inspecting quest of the sunlight. Rusty gar
ments may pass muster in the subdued light
of the winter, but their imperfections stand
revealed in the fierce inquisitiveness of the

28 THE HIGH CALLING
summer sun. Our characters may appear re
spectable when judged by the dull standards
and maxims of the world; they appear quite
other when they stand in the blazing light of
God's countenance. And yet it is to the fa
vourable verdict of that severe and solemn ex
amination that a perfected love is at last to
bring us. Judged by the sun of righteousness
and in " the day of Christ," we are to be
" sincere," and " void of offence," with no hid
den stumbling-block within us ; no " secret
fault," but every part of our being " filled with
the fruits of righteousness, which are through
Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of
God." If our love become enriched, if it be lit
up and warmed by the grace of the Saviour,
our whole being will become transfigured, and
we shall awake at last, " in His likeness."
"Now I would have you know, brethren,
that the things which happened unto me have
fallen out rather unto the progress of the gos
pel." What seemed to be a menace turned out
to be a blessing; the cloud, which appeared so
ominous, brought a gracious shower; the re-

FORTUNE OF MISFORTUNE 29
striction became the mother of a larger liberty ;
the prison was the appointed place of richer
and more glorious vision. How often the
Apostle's experiences have been repeated in the
lives of the Lord's saints! It has seemed at
times as if calamity or enmity had checked and
destroyed their ministry, but the morrow has
proved that the threatening enemies have been
transformed into generous friends. Bereave
ment has come to the family circle, and its
work has appeared ruthless and blighting; not
withstanding, afterward, we have seen some
thing of the gracious handiwork of God,
Some time ago, I saw a railway embankment
on fire, and the mercilessly invading flames
were, inch by inch, consuming every blade of
grass upon the slope, until a great area was
black in unrelieved destruction. Some weeks
later I passed by the same place, but instead
of the scarred and blackened ruins there was
a wide patch of fresh and most winsome green.
Where the fire had burnt most fiercely the re
created slope was the most attractive: " The
things that happened " unto it, " had fallen

30 THE HIGH CALLING
out rather unto the progress " of vegetation,
" God is love," and therefore He is " a con
suming fire."
"So that my bonds became manifest in
Christ throughout the whole praetorian guard,
and to all the rest." We never know the real
strength of a man's foundation until he is
tested by the storm. Picnic weather does not
reveal the sea-going powers of a liner; these
are tested and made manifest by the tempest.
When a man is brought into a tight corner,
and every way of escape from sin or from
despair seems closed, then we shall see the
worth or worthlessness of his religion. As
for the Apostle, the misfortune which he had
feared became a minister of the kingdom; it
became evident to those about him that his
bonds were "in Christ"; his very manacles
began to preach of the glorious bondage by
which he was bound to his Lord. The soldiers
who guarded him began to speak solemnly and
whisperingly about their prisoner. It was per
fectly plain that he was no ordinary man,
and that he had amazing secret resources of

FORTUNE, OF MISFORTUNE 31
strength and of courage which showed no sign
of exhaustion In this day of high crisis and
danger. These are the revelations which
bring honour and glory to the Lord. When
some sudden emergency flings our life into
dark and tumultuous conditions, and we conduct
ourselves so that men almost forget the tragedy
in the contemplation of our total freedom from
panic, and they ask one another "by what
power " we do it, then do our " bonds in
Christ " become manifest, and the Lord Him
self is glorified.
" And most of the brethren in the Lord, be
ing confident through my bonds, were more
abundantly bold to speak the word of God
without fear." Apparent misfortune is being
transmuted into richer fortune still. The
revelation of his own invincible attachment to
Christ is making others bold. The timid
hearted are putting on holy courage as they
contemplate the glorious fortitude of Paul,
The fruits of his distresses become spiritual
stimulants to his brethren. This is one of the
gracious mysteries of our Lord's seeming

32 THE HIGH CALLING
severities. Who could have foretold that the
means by which the disciples at Rome were to
be heartened, would be by the imprisonment
of the greatest of their leaders? And so we
never know what sweetness will emanate from
our bitterness, what liberty will spring from
our servitude. The great Lord is over all.
He is " mindful of His own," " He remem
bereth His children." He delights to bring
the garden out of the desert; He rejoices to
make the wilderness blossom like the rose.

IV
BAD MOTIVES IN GOOD WORK
"Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife"
(Phil. i. iS-ip)-
How fearful the combination. A gracious
evangel may be upon the lips, and a most un
lovely motive in the heart; the boat may be
all right, but the devil may be at the helm.
We may " preach Christ " for the sake of
winning a selfish victory, or of gratifying an
envious and quarrelsome spirit. We may use
our Lord's gospel just to deck our brow with
controversial garlands, to humiliate our op
ponents, and to bring eclat to an ecclesiastical
sect. The envious hand may deal out the
waters of life ! It is possible for a denomina
tion to open a church in a neighbourhood, not
primarily for the glory of the Lord, but just
to preoccupy the ground before another de-
33

34 THE HIGH CALLING
nomination appears. Churches are frequently
built as the outcome of angry divisions. We
can preach the gospel of love in a bad temper;
pride can dictate the proclamation of peace.
All these are amazing and almost incredible
conjunctions, but daily experience brings them
before us in near and depressing reality. On
every hand we can see men using the Lord's
gun, while the aim is directed by the devil.
" Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and
strife." " And some also of good will." The black
hand has not always hold of the white robe.
The Lord's messenger frequently shares the
Lord's spirit; the desire of the heart accords
with the evangel of the lips. There is no hid
den poison, no dark and unclean secret pool.
Such men " preach Christ," and they glory in
the gospel, and all the inner bias of their life
is firmly set toward the honour of the Lord.
They have no private aim, no ulterior purpose,
no selfish " feathering of their own nest "; all
their motives are Christianised and refined, and
every piece of shining armour, every conse-

BAD MOTIVES IN GOOD WORK 35
crated power, is eagerly placed at the disposal
of their King.
'" The one do it of love." Their service is
born of love, like a river issuing out of a lake.
Love is the very central power in their life,
and everything takes its rise in its profound
and lucid depths. This is the birthplace of all
the soul's activities; nothing is born elsewhere.
Its hopes, its desires, its designs, its endeavours
are all created in love and " of love," and there
fore they all harmonise with the glad tidings
of our Lord Jesus Christ. How infinite is the
contrast between these love-possessed and love-
refined souls, and those who " proclaim Christ
of faction, not sincerely" ; doing it from shal
low and irritable partisanship, with no sin
cerity in their hearts, but everything cheapened
and defiled by the base alloy of self-seeking and
irreligious jealousy. Such unclean labours
are ever accompanied by a certain insensitlve-
ness, and frequently by a purposed and suc
cessful cruelty. " Thinking to raise up afilic
tion for me in my bonds." If only they could
injure Paul, and make his chains to gall him,

36 THE HIGH CALLING
their evil desires would be gratified, and they
would rest In the consciousness of something
done. "¦ What then? Only that in every way,
whether in pretence or in truth, Christ is pro
claimed; and therein I rejoice, yea, and will
rejoice." The Apostle is gloriously optimistic.
Even in the midst of these evil-motived men
Christ is talked about, even though the devil
has hidden himself in the messenger's heart;
and the devil's ministry shall be frustrated and
nullified, and the proclamation of the Gospel
shall have free course and be glorified. The
Holy Spirit shall contrive against the devil's
" God shall make the wrath of man to praise
Him." A mystic antiseptic influence shall
play upon the speech of the jealous-minded am
bassador, and it shall become a minister of
health and healing, and shall accomplish pur
poses quite other than he ever dreamed. " My
word shall not return unto me void," even
when it is spoken by a man whose heart is a
bitter pool of envy and strife. Not because
of such a man, but in spite of such a man shall

BAD MOTIVES IN GOOD WORK 37
Christ our Lord be glorified. Let the story
of the Saviour's love be made known, and
the very word itself shall be energised by the
Spirit, and it shall fall as a seed of life into
some dead and barren soil, and there shall come
a resurrection and a great awakening. " And
therein I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice." And
well he may, and well we all may ! The devil
is awake, but our Lord is more awake. Sin
abounds, but grace doth much more abound.
" He bringeth the devices of the wicked to
nought," and " He getteth unto Himself the
victory." " For I know that this shall turn to my sal
vation." It shall all end well. The great
Apostle is in captivity at Rome. His sur
roundings are hostile. His plans are all
thrown into confusion, and his far-reaching
missionary campaign has been ruthlessly
checked. But the apparent circumstances are
not all the circumstances. Beneath the tran
sient there is the eternal; within the frowning
antagonisms there works the hidden friendship
of God, At present circumstances may seem

38 THE HIGH CALLING
to march against him with the bristling threat
ening armaments of an overbearing foe. But
there shall be a " turn," things shall receive a
mysterious twist; an unseen but friendly hand
shall guide the hostile hosts, and instead of
being the ministers of destruction, they shall
become the agents of a larger good. " I
know that this shall turn to my salvation."
And how is this gracious turning of circum
stances to be brought about? What are the
ministries which are to effect the transforma
tion ? The Apostle mentions them. "' Through
your supplications." The men and women in
Philippi are to play an influential part in
changing the influence of the circumstances in
Rome. It is a marvellously daring associa
tion of ideas. Rome was the very heart of
imperial power, and all the forces of empire
seemed to be moving in opposition to the
Apostle Paul. And yet this little company of
obscure men and women in Philippi have a
lever in their hands which can divert the battal
ions of unfriendly circumstances to a friendly
and undreamed-of end ! And this lever is the

BAD MOTIVES IN GOOD WORK 39
great prerogative of prayer. Has the Church
of Christ adequately realised the vast wealth
of her spacious inheritance? She has a power
which can raze mountains to their base, and
divert the channels of the floods. "And the
supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." This is
the second of the great ministries made pos
sible by the first. Our prayers cut channels
for the river of God's gracious Spirit. No
sincere prayer ever fails. It cuts a path for
God; it prepares " the way of the Lord." And
therefore the Christians at Philippi were sa
credly qualified to minister to the great
Apostle at Rome, and to be the means of en
riching him with amazing supplies of the
Divine grace. And so it came to pass that the
circumstances at Rome could be deflected and
" turned to salvation " by a company of humble
saints, who were praying in some obscure home
in a distant city.

THE SOUL IN STRAITS
"For to me to live is Christ" (Phil. i. 21-26),
Only get hold of a man's conception of life
and you have the master-key to his career.
Amid the multitudinous hosts of his designs
and purposes this is the ruling one. What he
thinks of life is the sovereign ideal which oc
cupies the throne of his life. Everything else
is minor and subservient, and the quality of
its servitude is determined by the character of
the monarch on the throne. To some men
" life " is money. Money absorbs all its in
terests and activities; money is its centre and
circumference. To some men " life " is fame.
Apart from popularity life is devitalised; the
loss of reputation is the beginning of death.
To other men " life " is pleasure. It is meas
ured by sensations. The fair scene, the pleas
ant sound, the fragrant odour, the delicious
40

THE SOUL IN STRAITS 41
flavour, the ecstatic thrill, — ^these are the real
symptoms of life in excelsis, and when these
are absent nothing remains which is worthy of
the name. But here is the great Apostle joy
fully declaring that his conception of " life "
is synonymous with " Christ." He has no
thought of life apart from Christ. Nothing
is alive from which the Lord is exiled. His
absence is death. All things are alive in which
the Saviour dwelleth. " Everything shall live
whither the river cometh." An apparent trifle
burns with the fire immortal when it is in com
munion with the Infinite. A common courtesy
shines with the light eternal when it is pos
sessed by the grace of our Lord. Really to
live, to be gloriously alive, is to fill every
thing with Christ — to begin everything in
Christ, to end everything in Christ. Wherever
the great Apostle turned, he looked for the
Lord; Christ must set His seal upon all his
means, as Christ must determine all his ends.
"And to die is gain." And the one is the
fruitful sequence to the other. If " life " is
Christ, then everything that unveils Christ to

42 THE HIGH CALLING
me shall make me more alive. And therefore
death itself must be counted among my friends,
for doth not death remove the concealing veil,
the " muddy vesture " of the body, the obstruct
ing mist, and usher us into the clear, sweet
noon-day of His presence, who is " the resur
rection and the life " ? Thrice blessed is the
man who, when he is thus making up the bal
ance-sheet of his circumstances, can confidently
put death to the credit account, and number it
among his gains. The men whose conception
of life is swallowed up in money and fame and
pleasure and ease must inevitably place death
to the debit side of their estimates, for to them
death must come as a mere destructive, an un
appeasable foe, the " last enemy," who shall
plunge all their fairest designs into pathetic
and final confusion. To the Apostle Paul
death was not a damp and darksome cul-de-
sac, where all our treasures rot away in swift
corruption; it was a place of gracious transi
tion, " a covered way that leadeth into light,"
"But if to live in the fiesh, — if this is the
fruit of my work, then what I shall choose I

THE SOUL IN STRAITS 43
wot not." If everything brings Christ, and
life has no meaning and sweetness apart from
Christ, how difficult would be the alternatives
if we were left to make our choice! Should
we decide to strike our tents, and go home
to the Lord, or should we choose to sojurn a
little longer " in the earthly house of our taber
nacle," and continue in the pilgrimage of time?
Life in time, with the Lord, will be strong and
serviceable; life in eternity will abound in de
veloping wonder and in fruitful rest. "/ am
in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire
to depart and be with Christ; for it is very
far better: yet to abide in the fiesh is more need
ful for your sake." And, really, this is the
condition of all sensitive Christian souls; they
feel the double tugging, the strange, strong
" pull " of the day of unveiling, when they
shall see their Pilot " face to face," and the
mystic " pull " of the immediate day, where
their Lord, in the " travail of His soul," is la-
> bouring in the needs and strivings of their
fellow-men. They hear Him calling from the
realms of rest; they hear Him calling from the

44 THE HIGH CALLING
fields of service. But the two calls are by no
means antagonistic, neither do they tear the
heart asunder. They are gloriously comple
mentary, and one just feeds and corroborates
the other. The far-away call from the land
of rest only nerves and inspires the Apostle to
more ardent and strenuous toil. He becomes
more confident in his apostleship, and in the
Lord's own ordination of his labours.
"And having this confidence, I know that
I shall abide, yea, and abide with you all, for
your progress and joy in the faith." The Lord
will make it clear to us where our duty lies,
and will keep our feet in the appointed road.
If " to live is Christ," we shall not be kept In
uncertainty as to where he would have us be.
Some need will call to us with a voice which
we cannot misinterpret, and we shall be confi
dent that just here is the place of ministry pre
pared for us. Paul had this restful confidence,
and although his listening spirit caught the
sweet strains of the Homeland, the inviting
sounds did not paralyse him; they rather
nerved his hands for the immediate task. And

THE SOUL IN STRAITS 45
what a labour it was — to abide with needy peo
ple for their " progress and joy in the faith,"
to lead them into the advanced stages of the
school, where irksome discipline changes into
a fruitful liberty, where the sense of duty
ripens into rich joy, and where the small ideal
is transformed into visions of unspeakable
glory. Surely all this is worth waiting for;
surely it is worth while keeping the tent up a
little longer before we pull up the pegs, and
go home. To have helped somebody a few
steps along the heavenly road, to have infused
a little more holy courage into their spirits, to
have given a more exuberant swing to their
stride, — these services abundantly justify a de
lay in the journey, and will assure for us a
more glorious welcome in our Father's house.
And so the great Apostle settles down to his
holy calling with the heavenly strain singing in
his ears, and with this desire possessing his
heart : " That your glory may abound in
Christ Jesus in me through my presence with
you again." /

VI
THE HEAVENLY CITIZEN
!t your citizenship be worthy of the gospel of
Christ" (Phil. i. 27, 28).
The country towards which we travel ought
be recognised by our life. It ought to be
lent that we are citizens of the heavenly
gdom by the very gait with which we move
ut our common affairs. We ought to carry
very climate about with us, as we move
the stifling or chilling atmospheres of the
rid. People should breathe more freely
;n we draw near. Hearts and consciences
uld awake as though they felt the blowing
their native air. And there ought to be a
shness and buoyancy in our intercourse
ich shall proclaim to all men that we are
oying the franchise and privileges of the
' of God. The redeemed of the Lord must

THE HEAVENLY CITIZEN 47
with fear, as though the lash may suddenly fall
upon their shoulders, or some awful abyss open
at their very feet. Our entire intercourse with
the world must be "worthy of the gospel of
Christ"; and, as that gospel is an evangel of
light and life and power and peace, our souls
must reveal themselves as vitalised and il
lumined, and exulting in a restful glory. But
how frequently the Lord's disciples are miser
able advertisements of His grace. Some years
ago, in a certain nothern town, I saw a street
lamp exceedingly dirty and dingy, from which
there hung an inscribed index hand, pointing
the way to the municipal baths ! And we have
seen its analogy in the Christian Church. Un
clean lives proclaim the powers of the kingdom
of purity and light, and the defiled garment
puts the Saviour to shame. The messenger is
not worthy of the message, and therefore the
message itself is treated with derision and con
tempt. Our citizenship is not " worthy of the
gospel of Christ."
" That, whether I come and see you or he
absent . . ." There are many Christians

48 THE HIGH CALLING
who seem as though they cannot live without
sensations. When the special convention is be
ing held, their devotion and regularity are
admirable; but when the special speakers have
gone home again, and the multitudes have
melted away, and there is just the little church
or chapel left, and the average minister, and
the common round of Christian labours, they
become lax and lukewarm, and they frequently
degenerate into cynics, and assiduously prac
tise the perilous exercises of criticism and cen
sure. Paul recognised the danger, and he
faithfully proclaimed it. Blessed and thrice
blessed is the Christian who accustoms himself
to find his bread in the ways of the common
place, who can be faithful without sensations,
and who realises in humble fellowships the
sweet companionship of the Lord.
" That I may hear of your state, that ye
stand fast in one spirit.'^ That is the glory of
the true soldier, whether he be found among
many comrades, and heartened by the music
of the band, or whether he be engaged in lowly
sentinel duty, in the cold, silent watches of the

THE HEAVENLY CITIZEN 49
night, — it is his glory to " stand fast," to hold
his ground. Our posts may be many and
varied, but our spirit can be one. We can
hold the country for Emmanuel if everybody
holds his corner. The " thick of the fight " for
everybody is just where everybody is placed,
and just there our first trophies can be won.
Do not let us loll at our post, or saunter about
in sightless indolence, because some comrade
has gone away, some conspicuous disciple on
whom we had leaned; do not let us despise our
post, or treat it flippantly or carelessly where
we could do better and braver work, and which
are held by feebler men. Our part is to hold
our bit of ground, to " stand fast," and to see
to it, by the help of God, that the whole king
dom is not endangered by breaches made in
our position, but that when the enemy assails
us he may find he is hurling himself against
invincible rock.
'" With one soul striving for the faith of the
gospel." Even though we may sometimes
think ourselves to be fighting alone, solitary
soldiers at obscure or distant outposts, we are

50 THE HIGH CALLING
part of a vast and solid army, one in the fires
of noble affection, one in the enthusiasm of a
glorious passion, one in the sacred enterprise
of striving in concert with the faith. No man
can absolutely blight and destroy the power of
the gospel. He may maim it, he may im*
poverish it, but he cannot take its life. A
preacher whose soul is unclean, and who is dis
loyal to his Lord, cannot altogether devitalise
the power of his own message. " My word
shall not return unto me void." But how
amazingly is the message helped when the mes
senger strives in concert with it. It is as
though two warriors were strenuously engaged
upon a common task, and one cheers and in
vigorates the other. This is our privilege, as
this is our dignity, to be " fellow-labourers
with God," and in this supreme fellowship we
enter into the joy of the Lord,

VII

THE PRIVILEGE OF SUFFERING FOR
CHRIST
"Because to you it hath been granted in the behalf
of Christ, not only to believe on Him, but also
to suffer in His behalf" (Phil. i. 29, 30).
And so there are gradations of privilege, and
the fairest garlands are won on the harvest
fields. In the world the coveted " plums " are
the places of ease, and men are accounted lucky
in proportion as they attain to a leisured in
dolence. But in the kingdom of our Lord
ease is placed at discount, and the lucky ones
are those who are privileged to suffer in His
behalf. I have sometimes heard men confess
with real gratitude that they have been
" greatly favoured," inasmuch as they have
never experienced an hour of suffering. And,
indeed, it is a favour, but quite an elementary
one, a favour of the first standard, and not be
longing to the more advanced endowments
51

62 THE HIGH CALLING
among the gifts of grace. For here is the
superlative favour, to be appointed a sufferer
"in the behalf of Christ"; these are the fa
voured ones in the family, who " bear the
marks of the Lord Jesus," and who " fill up
that which is lacking in the afflictions of
Christ." So that when the fisherman seer lifts
his astonished eyes upon the most conspicuous
presences in the multitude of the blest, the ra
diant ones with their white, shining robes and
their palms of triumph and their exultant songs,
and wonderingly asks who they are, and
whence came they to this glorious eminence, he
is told that they " came out of great tribula
tion," they have been among the suffering war
riors in the marching hosts, and are " there
fore " now " before the throne of God." The
bloody track led to the heights; crucifixion led
to the throne. We shall therefore have to re
vise our standards and judgments, and pay
reverence to all sufferers for Christ's sake as
the very bodyguard and most immediate com
panions of the Lord.
"It hath been granted . . . to suffer."

SUFFERING FOR CHRIST 53
It is a sort of royal warrant, a divine election
to a sacred office. We are accustomed to
think of men receiving the royal favour to
preach and to evangelise, and to make a path
of light to peoples far away. But here is the
supreme distinction, the royal grant " to suf
fer " ! And it is just this consciousness of
divine election which makes many a sufferer
fill the midnight with his songs. It was in
the midnight, when Paul and Silas were smart
ing under the scourge, that they " sang praises
unto God," and the prisoners heard them.
Our great missionary. Dr. Griffith John, has
told us that one day, when he was surrounded
by a hostile Chinese crowd, and violence was
used, he put up his hand to his smitten face,
and when he withdrew it, and saw it bathed
in blood, he was possessed by an extraordinary
sense of exaltation, and he rejoiced that he
had been "counted worthy to suffer for His
name." David Hill records a similar ex
perience of unspeakable ecstasy, when his hand
hung limp from a brutal blow. But, indeed,
the witnesses are multitudinous; they can be

54 THE HIGH CALLING
found in every corner of the great fields of
service, suffering men and women, wearing
their scars like medals, feeling as though there
had been conferred upon them some heavenly
title and degree, and stepping out in the as
sured companionship of the once crucified but
risen Lord.
" Having the same confiict which ye saw in
me, and now hear to be in me." And so the
Apostle and his Philippian brethren were kins
men in suffering; they were fellow-gladiators,
contending with the fierce hostilities of the
world. Our mutual sympathies are deepened
when we pass through common suffering.
When soldiers have fought together, their re
lationships are transfigured. A Church which
never engages in a stern and bloody warfare
with the devil can never know the real mystery
of the " communion of saints." It is the suf
fering ranks who best know the secret of the
Lord, and who experience vital union in the
fellowship of the Holy Ghost. " Partakers of
the sufferings," they are also " partakers of the
consolation," and in that rich festivity heart

SUFFERING FOR CHRIST 55
leaps to heart in generous recognition. There
are hidden treasures in the life and teachings
of the Apostle Paul which will never be un
veiled to us, and which we can never share,
until we have " the same conflict " which we
see in him, and share his sufferings with the
Lord. These underground correspondences
are exceeding wealthy, and nothing but the
agonies born of great moral and spiritual cru
sades can ever make them operative. We may
well pray that we may be counted worthy to
enter into these buried treasures by having it
granted unto us " to suffer in His behalf." " I
will give unto these the treasures of darkness."
When life is a mere picnic, its pleasures are
shallow and superficial, and the deeper joys
are never touched. When Marie Antoinette
was going to her wedding in Notre Dame, she
gave orders that all cripples and beggars, and
everything savouring sorrrow and ' calamity,
should be removed from the road, in order
that her marriage bliss might be pure and un
alloyed felicity. It was a short-sighted and
perverse expedient, Marie Antoinette was

56 THE HIGH CALLING
unconsciously violating one of the venerable
laws of the moral universe, and she was tak
ing the surest means of diluting and impov
erishing her own happiness. Felicity is not
gained by avoiding suffering, but by sharing
it. We reach our Olivet of ascension by the
darker height of Calvary. If Marie Antoinette
had given special care and service to crippled
folks on her wedding morn, and had sought
to ease their yoke and make their burden light,
she would have been amazed at the warm
sunny radiance with which the Lord would
have visited her own heart, and the wedding
bells would have rung a merrier peal in her
ears. " If any man would be My disciple, let
him deny himself, and take up his cross and
follow Me." " These things have I said unto
you, that My joy may be in you, and that your
joy may be full."

VIII
FORCES WHICH MAKE FOR CONCORD
(Phil. ii. I, 2).
Christian union is far more than an un
broken skin. It does not find its symbol in
some fine texture of green tender lawn which
impartially clothes soils of great variety. It
is not surface-sameness; it is vital spiritual
kinship. It is not a common label; it is a com
mon heart. And therefore the Apostle, in
making his appeal for peace and concord,
names the profound realities in which they
are born, and in which alone they can be sus
tained. "// there is therefore any comfort in
Christ." That is the basal chord in all pos
sible spiritual harmonies. There must be a
personal experience and knowledge of the
Lord, which acts upon the life like an " ex
hortation," moving it with all the force of
57

68 THE HIGH CALLING
persuasive eloquence. To seek to establish
Christian union upon any other foundation is
to build it upon shifting sand. A common
ritual is only a rope of sand, and a fierce blow
of adversity may scatter the apparent unity
into dire confusion. A common organisation
is only a mechanical order, and is ever exposed
to the corroding rust of time and to many a
violent foe. And a common creed, even
though it use the clamps of prejudice and vir
ulent passion, can never constitute a family
such as is purposed by our Lord. All these
are only phantom unions, mere counterfeits of
the glorious reality. The first requisite to
brotherly concord is a " secret " between the
individual soul and the Saviour, a partaking of
the " hidden manna," a compelling and " com
forting " intercourse in the quiet and innermost
chambers of the life.
"If any consolation of love." When the
soul has sat at the " feast of fat things," and
has tasted and seen " how gracious the Lord
is," there will surely arise the incentive of an
all-constraining love. Love is not the product

FORCES MAKING FOR CONCORD 59
of small obediences; it is born of a great com
panionship. " We love because He first loved
us." No one can explain the mystery of love.
Etymology cannot take us a single inch on the
way to the secret clue. The soul comes into
certain conditions, and the mystic fire is
kindled. At one moment the outlook is grey
and cold and commonplace; the next moment
it is brimming with sunshine, and full of
colour, and resounding with song. " Old
things are passed away; behold, all things are
become new ! " When love is born in the soul,
life beats with a new pulse, with a new impulse,
and man goes out to meet his brother.
" // any fellowship of the Spirit." Love is
the spiritual organ, and by its ministry we
have exquisite correspondences with the Eter
nal. In wireless telegraphy the transmitter
and the receiver are, as it were, tuned to the
same key; if this identity is lost, the fellowship
is destroyed. And love is fellow-feeling with
God, and where it rules in sovereign power
there is marvellous telepathic communion with
the Divine. He speaks and we listen, we speak

60 THE HIGH CALLING
and He hears, and between us there is a cease
less commerce in holy request and intimation.
Outsiders may know nothing about this sacred
communion, just as the outsider may know
nothing about the wireless messages which are
speeding through space, but all who are attuned
know its reality, and rejoice in the gracious
experience. And no man can be in secret and
constant correspondence with the Spirit and
not be moved in tender and chivalrous quest
of man. The " friend of God " will yearn
after lonely men everywhere; he will be "a
friend of publicans and sinners."
" If any tender mercies and compassions."
Yes, he will put out the most exquisite feelers
to the frail and sore places in human life.
He will lift the weary, and touch their wounds
with the expertness of assured discernment.
His pity will surprise those to whom it is
given, and the pity will redeem them. There
is nothing more needed in the world than just
this fine endowment of illumined compassion.
Many of us can weep, but there is no light or
sight in our tears, The gotnpassion which i§

FORCES MAKING FOR CONCORD 61
not blind, which is " full of eyes," is very rare,
but it is a ministry of blessed and mighty
power. " And this I pray that your love may
abound yet more and more in discernment."
This all-seeing tenderness will assuredly belong
to those who move in intimate companionship
with the Lord. If we abide in Him, our whole
body will be " full of light."
"Fulfil ye my joy." Some joy they had
already given him, but now the Apostle asks
that his joy may be perfected, and filled to
overflowing. Not that his joy in the Lord
was thin and scanty; that flowed on like a
river in flood, carrying all obstacles before it.
But in addition to our joy in God, there is
another joy-channel which can only be filled
by our fellows, and that only in certain pre
scribed conditions. Our God has determined
that man shall share with him the service of
filling the river-courses of human happiness,
and it is solely because of men's disobedience
and superficiality that the channels are empty,
like dry and bleached river-beds in time of
drought. But, surely, if Paul's Philippian

62 THE HIGH CALLING
correspondents have enjoyed the experiences
which he has just described, they are abun
dantly qualified to fill the river-courses up to
the brim! If they have secretly known the
Lord, if love is begotten and active, if they
have tender intimacies with the Holy Spirit,
and if they are possessed by most sensitive
compassions, then surely their lives will flow
over into other lives in joyful and joy-creating
flood. And in the Christian Church such gen
erous resource will operate precisely as the
Apostle describes. It will be created of a
glorious solidarity,
" That ye he of the same mind." And this
solidarity shall have these gracious character
istics. First, it shall be a fellowship not con
stituted of a common hatred, but of a common
love, not of negative resentment to a foe, but
of a positive affection to the Lord: "having
the same love." And, secondly, it shall be a
concord in which all the affections shall be in
perfect harmony, the entire emotional life
co-operating like the sweetest strains of power
ful music: "being of one accord." And,

FORCES MAKING FOR CONCORD 63
thirdly, it shall be dominated and illumined by
a common purpose, all the activities of the
brotherhood aiming at one great and sovereign
end : " of one mind." Such is the mighty con
cord born of secret experience with the Lord.

IX
THE THINGS OF OTHERS
"Let nothing be done through faction or vainglory
(Phil. ii. 3, 4).
The Apostle lays his condemnatory hand
upon two very perverse and perverting spirits,
the party spirit and the spirit of personal van
ity. Many men are passionately devoted to
party who care nothing at all about truth. It is
so in political strife. Men become feverish in
controversy, passionate in declamation; they
labour night and day for a triumph, and when
the triumph has been won they relapse into
lethargy, and the sacred cause of the kingdom
is forgotten and ignored. They are not
chivalrous knights in a great crusade; they are
small squabblers in a petty campaign. They
fume for a trifle; they are cold to the august.
They fight to conquer an enemy, not to em
phasise a truthr~"And so it is""urthe Chnstian

THE THINGS OF OTHERS 65
Church. Our sectarianisms often eclipse our
Christianity. The shrine is valued more than
the faith, the letter more than the spirit, the
man-made more than the God-born. Even
while we serve, our eyes are not upon our
Master that we may reflect His beauty; they
are rather upon another company of believers,
that by our competition we may trouble their
progress. Yea, and many things are " done
through faction." And equally true is it that
many things are done through " vainglory."
The applause of men is more pleasant and wel
come than the presence of God. We appro
priate to ourselves the glory which alone be
longs to Him. We become termini rather than
thoroughfares, ends in ourselves rather than
ministers of God. Half tremblingly I write the
words — we sit in the place of God, and " deck
ourselves in majesty," and take His dues. It
is a transient sovereignty and as shallow as it
is brief. Let us humbly seek the good Spirit
of God that He may deliver us from both
fatalities — from the destructive fever of fac
tion, and from the diseased conceit of vanity.

66 THE HIGH CALLING
" But in lowliness of mind each counting
other better than himself." Yes, our defence
against these perilous usurpations of the Di
vine prerogative must be sought in " lowliness
of mind." And how beautiful is the grace
which is here described! Behind the word
which is translated " lowliness " is our word
" tapestry," and I think I shall not be far
away from the Apostle's mind when I say that
he counsels us to lay our life down like a soft
tapestry carpet — in kindly thoughts and gra
cious sympathies and helpful services, in order
that the weary, bruised feet of other people
may find ease and comfort on the road. For
some of the ways of life are very rough and
flinty, and the sharp jagged edges of circum
stances cut the feet most sorely, and " going "
is for many people a matter of ceaseless pain.
It is the blessed privilege of Christians to lay
a soft surface on the roads, by spreading over
them the graciousness of tender compassions,
so stooping that other pilgrims can " walk over
us " and so forget the hardships of the way.
That is surely the secret of " lowliness of

THE THINGS OF OTHERS 67
mind," it is the very opposite to the spirit
of haughtiness and pride, a spirit which mul
tiplies the difficulties of others, and terribly
aggravates the agonies of the road. And how
different is all this to the mood of the " natural
man," and to the principle by which he orders
his goings. With him it is ever " the weak
est to the wall," crushed against the wall by
the thoughtless, brutal energy of the strong.
With him "might is right," and the "first
come " must be " first served." With the
Christian the first to be served is the brother,
for the Christian counts " other better than
himself." He makes a place for him, shares
his interests, and seeks to guide his feet into
the ways of pleasantness and peace.
" Not looking each of you on his own things,
but each of you also to the things of others."
The measure of our Christian growth may be
estimated by the circles of our sympathetic
interest. What is the circumference of our
outlook? Are my sympathies represented by
my umbrella, and do they merely cover myself ?
Or are they something like a garden tent, and

68 THE HIGH CALLING
do they cover a family? Or are they like a
great marquee, and can all the people in the
village find shelter beneath its roof? Or still
grander and nobler, do they find their symbol
in the overarching firmament, and do they em
brace, " all nations and kindreds, and peoples
and tongues " ? What is the scope of my sym
pathetic circle? They tell us that the concen
tric rings in the interior fibre of a tree record
its age and the story of its growth. And most
sure I am that the concentric rings in the soul-
interests of a Christian tell the story of his
growth in grace. How large is the circle of
our prayers ? How many of " the things of
others " find hospitality in our fervent peti
tions? Are they mostly concerned with " our
own things," or do they reach out to grasp the
needs of a race? Have our prayers grown
with our years, or is it the same little ring
which characterised our childhood ? If a man's
prayers do not grow bigger and deeper and
more unselfish every year, there is something
wrong with his roots. And as it is with our
prayers, so it is with our services. How far

\ THB THINGS OF OTHERS 69
does our beneficence reach? Over what dis
tance do we feel the pangs of the race? Can
we hear the call from afar? Can we hear " a
cry from Macedonia ? " Or is the far-off
land a silent land in which we have no interest,
and to which we render no service ? If that be
so, then we need the great Renewer to " re
store our souls," to open out the blocked senses,
to clear away the impediments from the high
ways of our life, in order that we may have
ready communion with our brother, a quick
and intimate correspondence with his joy and
pain. " And a highway shall be there, and
a way." Yes, our Lord is a great maker of
roads, and if we only place ourselves entirely
in His hands. He will open out to us the un-
visited needs in our brother's life, so that we
shall look not only on " our own things," but
also " on the things of others,"

X

THE MIND THAT WAS IN CHRIST
JESUS
"Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ
Jesus" (Phil. ii. S-ii).
That is the only likeness which is truly fun
damental. It is the only affinity which reveals
real kinship. When we have the mind of any
body we share the very springs of their being.
It is so much more than a resemblance in de
tached and single habits ; it is to have their way
of feeling, their way of doing things. It is
to be like them in the pattern-chamber of the
life, where conduct is originally fashioned, and
where all the outside issues are finally deter
mined. It means that our chambers of
imagery are furnished alike, that we are " one
in the secret things we contemplate and love."
If we are like anybody in mind, we shall re
semble them in everything. And is it not full
70

THE MIND IN CHRIST JESUS 71
of gracious inspiration that the possibility is
held before us of sharing "the mind of
Christ " ? It is possible that, even though the
walls of our minds be covered with unclean
imagery, or with conceptions altogether mis-
proportioned and untrue, they can be com
pletely refurnished, and graced and glorified by
" the things of Christ." We can be " renewed
and transfigured in mind."
" Who, being in the form of God." Our
Saviour Christ shared the essential attributes
of the Divine. It will be an ill day for ust
when we belittle our conception of the Lord. 1
A small Saviour invariably means a cheap re
demption. If there be nothing behind and
beyond the Carpenter of Nazareth, then He
takes His place in the common ranks of the
long succession of prophets; His ministry is
just the crusade of the ordinary reformer, and
His progress is but the march to a marty4;^
crown. If we would touch the unique and aw^v
ful mystery of Calvary, we must reverently
move beyond the regions of Nazareth and
Bethlehem into "the glory which I had with

^72 THE HIGH CALLING
Thee before the world was." It is in that
supernal glory that we begin to feel the awe-
inspiring significance of the Crucifixion. Be
fore our Saviour was " born in Bethlehem of
Judea," He was "in the form of God"; it is
there we must stand, in reverent imagination,
if we would even faintly realise the mysterious-
ness of the cries upon the Cross, If this
previous glory be forgotten or eclipsed. Cal
vary becomes a common execution.
" Counted it not a prise to be on an equality
with God, but emptied Himself." Our Saviour
did not clutch at His Divine prerogatives,
clinging to them with avidity, and ambitiously
displaying His equality with God. Love is al
ways sacrificial; it sacrifices majesty and dig
nities for the sake of lowly service. To clothe
another in fine raiment love lays aside its own
imperial robe. When love is in the heart,
greatness delights to walk unrecognised. Had
our Lord approached us in the awful attire of
His heavenly splendours He would never
have got near to us. Our fear would
have closed our doors, and we should never

THE MIND IN CHRIST JESUS 73
have dared to ask Him to "abide with us,"
and to eat with us at a common board. His
very glory would have been His bar. But He
" emptied Himself." And that was the begin
ning of a marvellous self-renunciation which
culminated upon Calvary. He " emptied
Himself," He stripped Himself of the glories
of heaven in order that He might not terrify
and paralyse the men on earth whom He came
to save. A little while ago a great cricketer,
whose tremendous bowling is known through
out the world, might have been seen in a tiny
garden playing cricket with a little fellow not
five years old. But the swift bowler had emp
tied himself and was tossing the lightest, gen
tlest balls to suit the feebleness of his little
playmate. "¦ Taking the form of a servant." And in
that form, though He did not make us afraid.
He held us in continuous wonder. " He took
a towel," the apron of the slave, " and girded
Himself and began to wash the disciples' feet."
And this was the menial service He loved, and
in which He daily rejoiced. What is the dis-

74 • J 0* THE HIGH CALLING
tance between this on the one hand — " In the
form of God," and this on the other hand —
" He took a towel and girded Himself " ? It
is the descent from the throne to the footstool.
He clothed Himself in the characteristics of
a slave, " being made in the likeness of men.
And h'eing found in fashion as a man, He
humbled Himself." Still deeper is the descent
in this self-imposed degradation: He strides
down the steps into the lowest conditions in
which man can be found, determined to touch
the bottom, " becoming obedient unto death,"
the grim presence which every other man has
to obey, tasting its bitterness, drinking its cup,
" yea, the death of the Cross." Death at its
worst! The death of a common malefactor,
^ death not only attended with the intensest
suffering, but also with intensest shame. And
this is the vast reach of our Lord's condescen
sion; He stooped even lower than the footstool
of the slave, even to a humiliation which many
escaped, that, in experiencing the deepest sor
rows of our earthly lot. He might become
our Saviour and our acknowledged Lord,

THE MIND IN CHRIST JESUS 75
" Wherefore also God highly exalted Him."
He is back now to the throne! As is the
humiliation, so also is the exaltation. "And
gave unto Him the name which is above every
name " — a rank and dignity which none of
the sons of men can ever share. For what
ever may be our privileges and attainments
in grace He will always be- beyond us, the
superlative excellence, the origin and fountain
of all our own. Our proudest title will be
dim compared with His; it will be as mild sun
shine in contrast with the blazing splendour
of the resplendent sun. " That in the name of
Jesus every knee should bow, ¦ of things in
heaven and things on earth and things under
the earth." Everything shall pay homage to
Him on bended knee — all creation, all things
whatsoever, and wheresoever they be. " And
that every tongue should confess that Jesus
Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
Such is the doxology that the whole world
will join in singing to our ascended and glori
fied Lord,

XI
WORKING OUT ONE'S OWN
SALVATION
" Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed,
not as in my presence only, but now much more
in my absence, work out your own salvation"
(Phil. ii. 12, 13).
And that introductory word "wherefore"
dares to link our little life with the glorious
life of our exalted Lord. The Apostle fixes
his wondering gaze upon the humility of the
Lord Jesus as He moves from the throne to
the footstool, and enters into human lot, and
stepping into our coldest needs touches even
the chills and the darkness of death. " Where
fore," with this silent-compelling glory of the
Lord before our eyes, " work out your own
salvation." And indeed the way of sacrifice is
the only appointed road of salvation. It is
only by descending into another man's lot, and
76

ONE'S OWN SALVATION 77

lifting him out of his difficulty, that we can
possibly raise ourselves. In the Christian life
it is pre-eminently true that to stoop is,^to con
quer. The heavenly road seems to go down, but
the descent is the secret of ascension. We
" take root downward," but only in order that
we may " bear fruit upward." " No man, by
taking thought can add one cubit unto his
stature," but this is precisely what he can do
if only he is " taking thought " for others. If
we take upon us " the form of a servant," we
shall most assuredly acquire the mien and ma
jesty of the monarch. Wondrous things
emerge in our own character while we seek to
serve and beautify our brother. All strength
which is consecrated to the service of others
reacts upon our own powers, and incites and
develops them. Our spiritual powers are like
bulbs which are ours as the gifts of God's
grace, but in multitudes of lives they remain
like bulbs in the florist's window, unopened and
unrevealed. They are not " worked out," and
this because we have not brought the right

¦j

78 THE HIGH CALLING
ministry to bear upon them — we have not pro
vided the requisite conditions. The man who
never descends into the lot of others, among
the sorrow-stricken, or the fallen, deprives him
self of the very elements which he needs for
the fertilisation of his own powers. If we
are to " work out " ourselves, it is absolutely
essential that we should be workers for others.
We can never share in the exaltation of our
Lord unless in our own degree we share the
pain and weariness of His humiliation, " Now
this that He ascended, what is it but that He
first of all descended ? "
" Work out your own salvation with fear
and trembling." And this is the mood in
which we are to do our service, but we may
at once assure ourselves that it is not the
cringing, fearful mood of the slave. Our
Father does not want slaves about His feet;
He seeks sons and daughters, moving in " the
glorious liberty of the children of God." He
does not wish us to creep in fear along life's
way, as though at any moment we might feel
the lash about our shoulders. " Henceforth I

ONE'S OWN SALVATION 79
call you not bond-servants but friends." But
there is the fear of the lover as well as the
fear of the slave, and this is a fear which
only heightens and clarifies our joy. The
lover is tremblingly sensitive to his loved one's
presence. He knows the wish of the dear one
before it is uttered. The birth of the desire
marks the beginning of his service. He is like
a most delicate " receiver " which trembles
at the impact of the faintest vibration and
registers its approach. And such is to be our
sensitiveness to the presence and will of our
God. We are to be so delicately sensitive to
wards Him as to discern the faintest indication
of His purpose. We are to be like aspen-
leaves in the light breath of a summer's morn
ing; we are to be sensible of His breathings.
We are not to work among our fellows and
lose the " love-touch " with our God. We are
to keep ourselves tremblingly alert to the
Eternal, in order that in any and in every mo
ment we may receive the message of the Eter
nal mind. And so it is not the servility of the
slave which is enjoined in the words "with

>>

80 THE HIGH CALLING
fear and trembling." It is the exquisite re
sponsiveness of the devoted lover.
"For it is God which worketh in you.
Amid all our working God is not passive.
He is no mere spectator; He is a fellow-la
bourer with the saints. We are called upon
to be tremblingly alert because our God is
ever about and within us in wonder-working
ministry. It is only possible for us to " work
out " in proportion as He " works in." He
worketh in us " to will." The initial impulse
is of His creation. No decree is born which
. is not the offspring of His brooding over us.
Every holy initiative springs from Him, and
from Him alone. But holy impulse might
only mock us if we were denied the requisite
power for its maturity. Desire would only
add to our burden if there were no possibility
of attainment. Far better be without the im
pulse if we can never reach the goal. But our
God worketh in us, "to will and to do," He
" inspires the earliest impulse," He " directs
the final achievement." He creates the desire,
and provides the resource for its accomplish-

ONE'S OWN SALVATION 81
ment. He creates the hunger, and He supplies
the bread. He conveys to us, by the ministry
of His good Spirit, the power to do, the power
to become, the power to realise the amazing
purposes of " His good pleasure."
This is a word abounding in inspiration. It
offers both life and light for our ministry in
the service of others. The Valley of Humility
is an exceedingly gracious place if we walk it
in the fear of the Lord. It is not a stony
waste, but a garden full of fair and fragrant
flowers, with the birds singing on every side.
Let us descend its slopes, and we shall not have
taken many steps before we shall find some of
the sweet " lilies of peace " growing about our
feet.

XII
THE SPIRIT OF REPINING
"Do all things without murmurings and disputings"
(Phil. ii. 14-16).
The Apostle here puts his finger upon the
two tempers which so frequently mar and ruin
our Christian service — the spirit of repining,
which robs our labour of all sweetness, and the
spirit of wrangling, which despoils it of all
holy strength. We go out to the work of sal
vation, but our enterprise is nipped and frozen
at the heart. We set about it with " murmur
ings." The wheels are not working smoothly
in "the oil of joy"; they grate and grind in
the grit of a hard reluctance. There is a half-
backward pull in all our movements, and our
goings do not attain to a splendid and irre
sistible crusade. I am more and more con
vinced that reluctance in service can be traced
to want of praise in our prayers. Men take
to duty sadly because they do not sing enough
83

THE SPIRIT OF REPINING 83
in the presence of their Lord. The murmur
in labour is born of murmur in prayer. We
come to our God with our complaints, with the
sad story of our surging needs; but we do not
come nearly often enough with our songs,
gladly rehearsing our benefits in "the light
of His countenance." Many cry "God be
merciful!" who never shout "God be
praised ! " We do not come before Him " in
the multitude of His mercies," but rather in
the multitude of our complaints. Our feeble
song is almost drowned in the clamour of our
wailing. Now, amendment must begin here
if we would have our labour march to music.
We must go into the Lord's presence, and
very deliberately count our blessings. We
must tell the story slowly, in order that our
souls may take it in. We must repeat the
story until our hearts glow in the contempla
tion, until we have changed the " spirit of
heaviness " for the " garment of praise." As
soon as praise warms up our prayers, eager
ness will warm up our service. When our
lips are laden with the confession of God's

84 THE HIGH CALLING
mercies, our feet will be swift in " the wajf
of His commandments." We shall do all
things " without murmurings."
And then there is the second mood to which
the Apostle refers, and which so frequently
destroys the efficacy of Christian service — the
spirit of wrangling. There are some people
who appear to be incapable of doing anything
without quarrelling over it. They turn every
thing into a controversy. In every proposal
they must be " on the other side." They love
disputings. They waste so much energy over
incidentals that they have little or no strength
left for the essentials. When the real cam
paign begins they are already spent upon the
field. And what applies to individuals applies
also to the larger life of the Church. The
energy of the sects is leaking away in petty
disputings and idle controversy, while the real
work of the Kingdom is neglected and anaemic.
We quarrel over a banner, or over the style
and colour of our uniform, or over the pri
ority of the various regiments on the field, and
all the time the enemy is rampant, and consol-

THE SPIRIT OF REPINING 86
idating his forces and usurping the place and
functions of King Emmanuel. I know only
one way to stop the unhallowed contention and
thereby to stop the waste, and that is by a
closer and more praiseful walk with God. If
all the sects would more rapturously contem
plate " the goodness and mercy of God," the
majority of these " disputings " would vanish
" like cloud-spots in the dawn." This, I think,
we may say, that the most bitter disputants are
just those souls who are not restful and sunny
in themselves, but rather disturbed and clouded
in the dull mood of repining. If we could only
get the " murmurings " out of the individual,
we should get the " disputings " out of the
Church. " That ye may be blameless and harmless."
This assuredly would be the character which
would result from such a spirit and such a
service. Our innermost character would be
without alloy, no base element mixing with it;
and it would be without blemish, having no
obtrusive or secret infirmity. It is pathetic to
notice how far we are away from this healthy

86 THE HIGH CALLING
and wholesome attainment. There is so much
bad stuff mixed up in our personality — so much
ill-temper, so much illicit compromise, so much
secret delight in sin, — and this base stuff is
very contagious, and sends its nefarious influ
ence far beyond ourselves. " Evil communica
tions corrupt good manners." " Know ye not
that a little leaven leaveneth the whole lump? "
It is our Lord's gracious purpose that our
moral and spiritual substance be inherently
pure and good, having nothing putrid and cor
rupting about it, and glowing with a con
tagious health. " Children of God without
blemish in the midst of a crooked and perverse
generation." Yes, that is to be our ministry in
the world. Our wholeness is to expose the
broken, crooked life of the world. The only
way to reveal crookedness to itself is by the
ministry of straightness; and perversity can
never be shown in its true colours except in
the light of the truly converted.
We may talk about the black as much as
we please; talking about black will not unveil
its blackness; that can only be accomplished by

THE SPIRIT OF REPINING 87
putting it side by side with the white. And
Christians are to supply the white, they are to
provide the clean, pure foil against which sin
will appear " exceeding sinful," and all that is
awry may be seen against the background of a
perfect integrity, " Among whom ye shine as
lights in the world, holding forth the word of
life," But our ministry in the world is to be
more than an exposure of the world's defects;
we have to proclaim " the word of life " in
which the world may find the hope and possi
bility of its own perfection. We are not merely
to flash the searchlight upon wayward men,
we are so to shine before them that they
may see our good works and glorify our
Father which is in heaven. Our work is not
only to reveal, but to redeem. We must cer
tainly show men their rags, but we must also
direct their despondent eyes to " the robe of
righteousness " and " the garment of salva
tion." We are apostles not only of light, but
also of life. And to this great ministry we are
called by this clarion appeal of the Apostle
Paul.

! !

88 THE HIGH CALLING
" That I may have whereof to glory in the
day of Christ, that I did not run in vain neither
labour in vain." Their gracious ministry will
be his radiant crown. When his pupils have
attained unto a fruitful peace, then will the
teacher himself enter into rest. He will find
his reward in their salvation.

XIII
THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE
" // / am offered upon the sacrifice and service of your
faith, I joy" (Phil. ii. 17, 18).
What a man is this apostle, in his masculine
strength, in his exquisite courtesy, in his con
stant readiness to spend and be spent for
others. Many Christians are satisfied with ex
penditure in which there is no " shedding of
blood." They give away what they can easily
spare. Their gifts are detached things, and
the surrender of them necessitates no bleeding.
They engage in sacrifice so long as it does not
involve life; when the really vital is demanded
they are not to be found. They are prominent
at all " triumphal entries," and they willingly
spend a little money on gay decorations — on
banners and palm-branches; but when " Huz-
zahs " and " Hosannas " change into ominous
murmurs and threats, and Calvary comes into
sight, they steal away into safe seclusion. But
89

90 THE HIGH CALLING
here is an apostle who joyfully anticipates this
supreme and critical demand. He is almost
impatient at his own dribblings of blood-
energy in the service of the Kingdom ! He is
eager, if need be, to pour it out. He has just
mentioned his labours in the ministry of the
Churches, but he feels as though these labours
are scarcely worth the naming, and he turns his
eager, ambitious eyes to vaster possibilities still,
even to the laying down of life itself. " If I
am offered " (literally, poured out as a drink
offering) " upon the sacrifice and service of
your faith, I joy."
Let us pause to realise a little more fully
the strong and gracious figure which the
Apostle employs. First of all he addresses
these Philippian converts in their newly ac
quired and gloriously dignified role of priests
unto God. He conceives them as standing and
ministering at the altar; the victims of the
sacrifice are not goats or lambs but their own
faith and the fruits of it. It is a beautiful and
inspiring figure. Only occasionally could they
go to the temple altar, and take their offering

THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE 91
with them. This altar was in their own hearts,
in the temples of the Holy Ghost, and the fire
could burn continually, and the sacrifice never
need cease, and these disciples were independ
ent of the official priesthood; each and every
man could wear the sweet, clean linen, and
stand by his own altar fire, and place upon the
consecrating flame the fruits of his own
thought and life. It is the privilege of the
Christian priesthood to offer everything in the
holy sacrifice. We can offer our thought, our
purposes, our desires, our affections, our cour
tesies, our social intercourse, our daily labour,
our daily bread, our moments of leisure, the
season when merriment breaks through the
dreary commonplace like bubbling springs
through desert sands, our sorrows and our
joys, — we can take them all and with clean
hands place them upon the altar so that the of
fering shall be unending, and the smoke of
sacrifice rises night and day.
If on our daily course our mind
Be set to hallow all we find,
New treasures still, of countless price,
God will provide for sacrifice.

92 THE HIGH CALLING
And all this is just what these Philippian
Christians were doing. These priests and
priestesses were busy at their altars, the jailer
and his household, and Lydia and her friends
of the prayer-meeting who met by the river
side. And now the Apostle, suffering impris
onment at Rome, felt that his own offering was
one with the offering made at Philippi; so
much so, that it seemed to him as but one
altar, and that if he is called upon to die for
the faith, it will be hke the pouring out of a
drink offering upon their own sacrifice. Each
sacrifice will be enriched by the presence of the
other, and they at Philippi, and he at Rome,
will co-operate in sending heavenward " the
odour of a sweet smell, acceptable unto God."
And for all this the aged warrior is ready. " I
am now ready to be offered." " If I am of
fered upon the sacrifice and service of your
faith, I joy."
And now let us note how the Apostle coun
sels his fellow-believers to seek and find their
joy in one another's sacrifice. " / joy, and re
joice with you all. For the same cause also do

THE ALTAR OF SACRIFICE 9S
ye joy, and rejoice with me." This is the great
secret in imparting a sense of buoyancy and tri
umph in the Christian life. No man ever
sacrificed himself without entering into " the
joy of the Lord." But let us also remember
that our own joy is more than doubled when
we enter into the sacrificial joy of others, and
regard our offerings as placed upon the same
altar. Another man's joy brings tonic to our
own, as his joy is braced and invigorated by
ours. I wonder, when our Saviour saw the
poor widow casting " two mites into the treas
ury," and saw that it meant the shedding of
blood, whether He linked the deed with the
already looming and stupendous transaction of
Calvary ? Surely it must have been so. Surely
our Lord found joy in her sacrifice, as surely
in the after-days the poor widow found eternal
joy in His. The sacrificial spirit is one, and
all the sons of sacrifice are priests at the same
altar. We in this latter day are one with the
"bleeding saints" of all time; we can rejoice
with all the martyr band which in every age
has spent its treasure in the cause of the King
dom of God.

XIV
MY SON TIMOTHY
"/ hope in the Lord" (Phil.ii. 19-24).
Every flower in Paul's life springs out of a
common bed, even out of his Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ. He has no wish that is not
rooted in Jesus, no hope that does not find its
sustenance in Him. He is indissolubly one
with the Saviour^ and everything is vitalised by
the communion. Many Christians only root
their crises " in the Lord," the great purposes
and events which come now and again; but the
apparently smaller matters, the wishes of the
ordinary day, the plan of the moment, the com
monplace journey, the humdrum coming and
going, are given such precarious nutriment as
they may be able to find apart from the risen
Christ. It is altogether beautiful when a life
not only has its great oaks and palm trees em
bedded " in the Lord," but also its more fragile
94

MY SON TIMOTHY 95
and tender things, its wishes, its courtesies, its
delicate impulses, and its trembling hopes.
And what is this hope that is so fed and
sanctified " in the Lord " ? " To send Tim
othy shortly unto you." Here is a fine and
heartening glimpse into the complete consecra
tion of the Apostle's life. Could anything be
more ordinary than this sending of a message
of inquiry, and yet the purpose is to be quick
ened by the breath of the Lord ? Everything
in Paul's life is to be made " alive unto God."
All the events in his life, big or little, are to be
like the coins of the realm, every one stamped
with the face of the King. The mistake so
many of us make is that we allow the smaller
coins to go unsealed with the superscription of
the King; the halfpennies and the pennies are
not sanctified; the consecration service is only
held for the pounds. In Paul's life it seems as
though the consecration service never ends.
" That I also may he of good comfort, when
I know your state." This saintly apostle takes
heart from other people's progress. He feels
the glow of the sunshine which rests upon

96 THE HIGH CALLING
others. He is buttressed about by their
strength. The water is very sweet and re
freshing which he draws from another man's
well. Surely this is one of the enriching
secrets of the " communion of saints." It is
the purpose of our Lord that His people should
be bound together by the ministry of their
manifold gifts and graces, that we should visit
one another's lives as we visit one another's
gardens, and return home inspired by the
scent of new perfumes, the vision of new
flowers, and the combination of new glories.
And perhaps our neighbour-disciple will give
us a sprig or a root from his garden where
with to enrich our own, and he will accept one
from ours, and so we shall all be the wealthier
for every man's inheritance " in the Lord."
"For I have no man likeminded, who will
care truly for your state. For they all seek
their own, not the things of Jesus Christ."
And this is the very opposite to the gracious
and open disposition we have just considered.
Here is the consecration of selfishness. Here
is the sanctification of heedlessness, the building

MY SON TIMOTHY 97
of high, thick walls of exclusiveness, over
which we cannot look into our neighbour's gar
den, and in which there is no door to permit
of gracious visits and friendly intercourse.
Here are people marching beneath the Lord's
banner, but not intent on the Lord's affairs.
They are engaged in a selfish quest, and are
not crusading in the broad, general interests
of the Kingdom of God. And yet they are
professed members of the Christian Church!
That is the pity and the tragedy of it, and thej/
exist in every age. The pity of it is this, that
they never seek the things ^f_others; and the
tragedy of it is this, that they never find their
own. They seek realities and"^scover countef^
leits; they seek joy, and find only a fickle hap
piness; they seek comfort, and find only mould
ering " comforts " ; they seek peace, and find
only material ease. If a man makes up his
mind to ignore his brother, he will never find
himself. If we want really to find our own,
we must seek them in " the things of Jesus
Christ," and those " things " are beyond our
own garden wall, and concern the interests and

98 THE HIGH CALLING
welfare of our brother. No man can forget
his brother, and at the same time know his
Lord. " If man love not his brother whom
he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he
hath not seen? "
" But ye know the proof of him, that, as a
child serveth his father, so he served with me
in furtherance of the gospel." Beautiful it is
when Christian men have stood the test of ex
acting experience, and are now men of " ap
proved " character, most evidently stamped
with the hall-mark of the Son of God. It is a
gracious attainment when men readily open
their doors to us, and receive us as the accred
ited representatives of the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so it was with youthful Timothy. He was
always running other people's errands, lifting
other people's burdens, making sympathetic in
quiries at other people's doors. His prayers
were just crammed with other people's mis
eries and other people's needs. In all his great,
roomy, hospitable supplications there was
hardly a corner for himself. He almost for
got himself in his remembrance of others. And

MY SON TIMOTHY 99
so it came to pass that the Lord remembered
him, and conveyed to him " hidden manna "
and " hidden treasure," and Timothy became
strong and beautiful before the gaze of his
fellow-men. He " put on the Lord Jesus
Christ," but he " wist not that his face shone,"
or that he appeared so chivalrous and comely in
" the garments of salvation." For in Timothy
was fulfilled the great spiritual law that " he
who loseth his life shall find it." " Him, there
fore, I hope to send forthwith," and this young,
trustworthy ambassador shall be a living bond
of spiritual communion between the imprisoned
Apostle and his spiritual kinsmen far away.

XV
BROTHER AND FELLOW-WORKER
"Epaphroditus, my brother" (Phil. ii. 25).
" My brother." It is a word which takes us
down into the heart, aye, a word expressive of
kinship, of closest intimacy — of blood relation
ship. It literally signifies " born of the same
parent," but we have taken the word and lifted
it away from all material connections, and we
now use it to express affinities and relationships
of a higher kind. Two men may be mentally
born of the same intellectual parentage. Two
poets may trace their sonship to the same head.
They were born at the same fountain, and the
marks of the common birth are unmistakable in
both. But the word " brother " has a finer
significance still. We now lift it quite above
all suggestion of mere mental currency — of in
tellectual blood — ^to express the subtler currents
that move in the remotest places of the soul,
100

BROTHER AND FELLOW-WORKER 101
When Paul uses the term "brother" he is
away in the sphere of purposes and motives,
where hopes and fears are born, where prayers
begin to ascend, and where the marvellous
powers of grace are experienced and enjoyed.
He is away in the new life that is born of
Christ, "He that drinketh My blood hath
eternal life "; he is away in that blood-relation
ship. Paul and Epaphroditus had both drunk
of that parentage, and that marvellous current
flowed in their spiritual veins. Each was born
of God, and they were brothers in Christ.
And what times they had together! The
spirit of each vibrated and responded to each
other. In their sorrows deep called unto deep,
and they discovered how brave and sweet was
their comradeship in the Lord. They thrilled
to each other's joy, and handed round the cup
of each other's delight. They had inter
changed revelations, and had passed whole
nights in repeating into each other's ears the
story of the Lord's dealing with them. " Epaph
roditus, my brother." When Paul had a
wound, Epaphroditus knew just where to put

102 THE HIGH CALLING
the balm. If Paul were a little depressed be
cause his services were imprisoned, and his
spirit was a little feverish and heavy, Epaphro
ditus knew just what window to open, and
what blind to pull up in order to let in the air
and light of God. And if Epaphroditus was
sick or in trouble, Paul was an expert hand in
bringing to his spirit exuberance and grace.
Each of them just flowed with the gracious
sympathy of the Lord, and because they were
one in Christ, their lives interpenetrated each
other with the ever-embracing influences of
redeeming grace.
"My fellow-worker." Epaphroditus was a
man who was not afraid of hack-work. If
there was a bit of service, a bit of grey drudg
ery, which would be accompanied by no flying
banners and no brass bands, Epaphroditus was
the one to do it. He never asked the colour
of the service; if anything, he preferred the
grey. It is easy to be a show horse, and to
prance round the ring to the accompaniment of
music and popular applause. But to be a com
mon hack, working the gin, or, worse still, just

BROTHER AND FELLOW-WORKER 103
carrying fodder for the show-horse, is not
an alluring service. But how much we are
indebted to the willing drudge. Now Epaph
roditus was perfectly willing to do the hack
work. He was " your messenger." He was
the errand boy of the Church. He was your
" minister." He was the servant of the party.
I have been thinking that if the little company
at Philippi kept a minute-book you would find
many such entries as these : " It was moved
by Clement, and seconded by Euodias, that
our brother Epaphroditus be requested to make
arrangements for the visitation of all the
Churches in Macedonia." This resolution,
like all such resolutions, would be carried
unanimously, and Epaphroditus quietly carried
it out. Or here is another : " It was moved
and seconded that our fellow-worker, Epaphro
ditus, be requested to collect subscriptions for
our distressed brethren in Jerusalem." And
again he would quietly carry it out.
Or here is another: "That our fellow-
worker, Epaphroditus, be requested to journey
to Rome, to convey our good will to our

104 THE HIGH CALLING
brother Paul, and to take him some token of
our regard." I say you would often find
entries of this sort, as indeed you find them in
the minute-book of every Church in our land.
There are one or two or three to whom every
Church turns and offers its hack-work and by
whose service the more showy life of the
Church is made possible. They rarely, if ever,
appear on the platform. They carry no ban
ners, there is nothing distinguished about their
goings; they just take up a little bit of plain
commonplace work and it is thoroughly done.
And it has a beauty of its own because it is no
hack-work to them at all. They just rejoice
in it, and along what to others would be a
monotonous road, they find the birds and the
flowers of the Kingdom, and the sweet and
blessed company of the Lord.
It is the way the Master went.
Shall not the servant tread it still ?
But Epaphroditus was more than a worker —
he was a fellow-worker. There is much sig
nificance in that prefatory word " fellow,"
Epaphroditus could work with other people.

BROTHER AND FELLOW-WORKER 106
It is a beautiful grace. We sometimes say
of a horse, "It is no good in a pair, it must
be by itself." We sometimes say there are men
who are too angular to work with other men,
and they must go alone. Epaphroditus was a
grand fellow to work with, and Paul rejoiced
in his companionship. He had most genial
tendrils of sympathy, and he put them out and
tenderly laid hold of others and laboured with
them in most genial accord. Surely this is
typical of the healthy member of the Church of
Christ. It is a good thing to be a worker;
it is a better thing to be a fellow- worker; it
is best of all to be a fellow-worker in the
Lord. "And fellow-soldier." What a trans
formation! Here is the hack become a war-
horse. Aye, and that is natural. It is the
men who are willing for hack-work who are
never found wanting when there is battle in
the air. It is just those elements in character
that go to fashion a splendid drudge which con
tribute also to fashion a glorious warrior. It
was because Cromwell's peasants were such

106 THE HIGH CALLING
brave and splendid men in the obscure road of
drudgery, that they responded to the first blast
of the bugle and became invincible in arms.
Epaphroditus was not far to seek when there
was some abuse to fight against in the city of
Philippi. He was a knight of the Lord's table,
and he went out redressing human wrongs.
There is one other trait in the portrait of
Epaphroditus which is given by his friend the
Apostle Paul. Let us mark this exquisite self-
forgetfulness. " He longed after you all, and
was sore troubled because ye had heard that he
was sick." He had no trouble concerning his
own sickness, he was only troubled because
other people were troubled about him. Their
anxiety concerned him more than his own pain.
Is not that a beautiful example of " a heart at
leisure from itself " ? Epaphroditus got right
out of his own trouble to inspect and feel the
needs of others ; and, because others were care
worn about him, he longed after them all that
he might set their fears at rest. He never
seemed to think about himself, " he hazarded
his life " in service. He disregarded it.

BROTHER AND FELLOW-WORKER 107
thought nothing of it, just thought of his mis
sion and went about it in single and prayerful
regard. Service of that kind is attended by
tremendous power, for life that is sacrificed re
appears in the very might of the Almighty
God,

XVI
HONOURING THE KING'S SOLDIER
"Receive him therefore in the Lord with all joy"
(Phil. ii. 29, 30).
That is how we are to treat Epaphroditus
when he comes our way. First of all, our re
ception is to be hallowed by the conscious pres
ence of the Lord Himself. It is to be " in the
Lord." The Apostle Paul will not have us
merely applaud the minister, as though his do
ings were a purely human achievement, with
no secret correspondence in the Lord. We are
far too ready to applaud the servant and for
get the Master, to indulge in flattering words
rather than engage in reverent praise. It is
one of the perils of our time, and one which
our religious press has greatly intensified.
Epaphroditus of our day is dragged before the
108

HONOURING THE KING'S SOLDIER 109
gaze of the envious or admiring crowd; his
articles of dress are described, his oddities of
manner, his private habits, his personal sor
rows, his recreations, — until, in the multitude
of trivialities, the servant's Lord is crowded
out. How different is all this from the recep
tion we are now considering. Epaphroditus
must be received " in the Lord." The light of
that August Presence is to fill the scene, and
in that pure radiance all petty personal trivial
ities will be eclipsed.
When Christ's Presence is realised in the re
ception, it will be the Christliness of His servant
which will shine in the light; we shall look from
the One to the other, from the Sun to its re
flection, and our souls will instinctively assume
the attitude of homage, and our words of
eulogy will be spoken with reverence on our
knees. A reception of this kind will most in
evitably unseal the fountains of joy. If we only
flatter a man, we may drink the perilous waters
of self-satisfaction; if we receive him "in the
Lord," " with joy " shall we draw water " out

110 THE HIGH CALLING
of the wells of salvation." When we receive
" in the Lord," we shall also be glad in the
Lord. "¦ And hold such in honour." We impover
ish ourselves when we withhold honour from
the honourable. For here is a great law of
life; when we truly honour the honourable we
become identified with it. When we honour
genuine nobility we enlist ourselves in the same
chivalrous order. No man can pay true
homage to a hero without, in the very
homage, acquiring something of the heroic
spirit. And so our mode of reception con
stitutes our measure of receptiveness. We ap
propriate what we approve, and while I honour
Epaphroditus I am growing into his likeness.
" He that receiveth a righteous man in the
name of a righteous man, shall receive a
righteous man's reward." And so my homage
is not something detached and external, some
thing which has no vital correspondence with
my own life; it establishes a kind of highroad
along which the glory or shame of my brother
passes inevitably into my own soul. When a

HONOURING THE KING'S SOLDIER 111
man honours a good man he becomes enriched
by the homage.
"Because for the work of Christ he came
nigh unto death, hazarding his life to supply
that which was lacking in your service toward
me." And this is why I should hold him in
honour — because he himself honoured his Lord
above all things. He went " nigh unto death,"
staking his very life " for the work of Christ."
So many of us are anaemic in our spiritual ven
tures, there is little or no blood in them. We
take up the work of Christ, but our service is
not vitalised by the sacrifice of our life. And
so our work is never really alive; it is some
times galvanised into the appearance of life,
but the activity is only artificial, and it never
communicates life to others. The measure
of sacrifice in our labour is just the measure
of our dynamic. No blood, no life; no life, no
power. When we hazard our life in the service
our power is superlative, for we then engage
the mighty, co-operative ministry of the Lord
who shed His blood for all men.
Epaphroditus did not turn back when his

112 THE HIGH CALLING
own Calvary loomed before him. He strode
out, and climbed the ominous hill with a song.
All the great servants of God have put their
all into the venture, and in the holy crusade
have dared the world, the flesh, and the devil.
They have never staggered at the cost; they
have never flinched at the demand of blood;
they have called out all their reserves, and
their last ounce of energy has been gladly con
secrated to the cause of their Master's King
dom. Of men and women of this splendid
type it has been truly said that " the blood of
the martyrs is the seed of the Church." Yes,
every drop of sacrificial blood is a seed of in
finite potency, and it will work for ever and.
for ever in the glorious Church of our Lord,
No drop is ever lost — wastefully spilled upon
the heedless ground, " He that loseth his life
shall find it,"
Epaphroditus was never nearer to his Lord
than when he came " nigh unto death " for the
work of the Lord. We approach our Lord by
the altar stairs of sacrifice. And so, when
Epaphroditus began to suffer, he also began to

HONOURING THE KING'S SOLDIER 113
" enter into the joy of his Lord." " When the
burnt offering began, the song of the Lord be-
gan also." As soon as we become partakers of
the sufferings, we most assuredly become par-/
takers of the glory, ****«4

XVII
REJOICING IN THE LORD
" Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord "
(Phil. iii. I).
And this counsel wells up from the heart
of a man who is in captivity in Rome. The
whole of this Epistle might be very fitly de
scribed as a song in the night ; the music of its

gladness rises out of circumstances which are
not friendly to light-heartedness and buoyancy
of spirits. But the hostility only seems to give
vigour to his joyful praise, as a great tempest
wakes louder and clearer strains in an ^olian
harp. His joy is not rooted in circumstances,
but " in the Lord." It is the same hallowed
soil in which we have found the roots of his
hopes and his purposes, and even the smaller
initiatives of his crowded days. Nothing is
planted in an alien soil — everybody is rooted in
God. And so here is joy growing vigorously
114

REJOICING IN THE LORD 116
side by side with hope and faith and love, and
all drawing their ample nutriment from " the
unsearchable riches of Christ." And if they
are rooted in the infinite, how can they be dis
turbed by changes in the finite? " for he shall
be as a tree planted by the waters, that spread-
eth out her roots by the river, and shall not
see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be
green; and shall not be careful in the year of
drought, neither shall cease from yielding
fruit." In this rich, fat, nutritious soil the im
planted roots never die.
And so the Apostle counsels his readers to
seek after joys which suck their strength from
the infinite. For even in the C!hristian life we
are always in danger of being enticed into su
perficialities, and of seeking our delights and
satisfactions in thin and easily exhausted re
sources. And the peril is just this, that the su
perficiality yields a little nutriment, and we are
deceived by the fresh and speedy growth. A
certain joy springs up immediately. I once
planted some grains of wheat in a saucer. The
growth was very swift, and the green, tender

116 THE HIGH CALLING
blade seemed to exult in its strength. But al
most as speedily the blade began to sicken and
droop; all its resources were spent, "and be
cause it had no deepness of earth it withered
away." And so it is with all joys that are
rooted in temporal circumstances, in the shal
low saucer of earthly relationships; their sus
tenance is pathetically Umited, and for lack of
food they fade and die. Christian joy is
rooted " in the Lord," and will endure while
God endureth; and therefore does our Master
say to all who are thus abiding in Him, " Your
joy no man taketh from you."
" To write the same things to you, to me, in
deed, is not irksome, hut for you it is safe."
Paul is not afraid to repeat his lesson even
though it be in the nature of a friendly warn
ing. I cannot but think that "the same
things " refer to the dissensions in the Philip
pian Church, the unlovely rents in what ought
to have been a seamless robe. He had pos
sibly written an earlier letter than this, or he
had sent a message by his delegates, or he may
be referring to some previous personal inter-

REJOICING IN THE LORD ll-r
course which he had had with the Philippians,
But in whatever way it had been given, the
Apostle now repeats the warning. He is a
" faithful minister of Jesus Christ." So long
as the cleavage remained, the trumpet could
not be silent. He did not shrink from saying
unpleasant things, and from saying them again
and again, if the life of professed disciples of
his Lord was crooked and perverse. It is the
peril of the Christian minister that he is
tempted to be suave and smooth, to use words
like butter rather than like swords, to ring a
merry wedding peal rather than make the alarm
bell resound through the town. " I like my
minister," I once heard a man say, " he never
makes me feel uneasy." The ministry of this
negligent pastor was acting like a lullaby, and
the souls of his hearers slumbered in a sleep
which was never disturbed by startling mes-
sages. If we are faithful to our Lord it must
be sometimes our office to make people uneasy,
to reveal to them their sins, and especially those
darling sins, which supply an opiate to the
conscience, and make their victim unconscious

118 THE HIGH CALLING
of their presence. We must not cry " Peace !
Peace ! " when there is no peace. We must
rather proclaim our warning again and again,
because for them safety can only follow alarm.
But if we copy the great Apostle in the fidel
ity of his stewardship, let us also imitate his
gracious, because grace-born, courtesy. There
is an exquisitely delicate tact in this very
epistle, which can only belong to one who has
been a diligent pupil in the school of Christ,
Can anything be more tender than the associa
tion of a glowing exhortation to rejoice, with
the reminder of his oft-repeated warning?
And more than that, would not the contagion
of the Apostle's own fervent joy fill his letters
with a genial influence, removing all icy resent
ment in his readers, and preparing the way for
his severe admonitions ? A man who is rejoic
ing " in the Lord " can burn away all barriers
in his ministry, and by means of a kindling
courtesy can find entrance into hearts even
when he desires to lodge a reproof. And so
we must keep the Apostle's association un
broken. The very fire of our rebukes must be

REJOICING IN THE LORD 119
identical with the flame that burns in our most
sacred joy. We must inspire men even while
we reprimand them. While we point out their
deficiencies they must feel as though we were
giving them wings.

XVIII
LIVING IN THE STREETS
"Beware of the dogs" (Phil. iii. 2, 3).
There is no more familiar sight in Eastern
cities than the herds of dogs which prowl about
" without a home and without an owner, feed
ing on the refuse and filth of the streets, quar
relling among themselves, and attacking the
passer-by." And it is in this vagrant, outside
life that the Apostle finds his figure of speech.
It was a favourite figure by which the Jew ex
pressed his conception of the conditions of the
Gentile world. All who were beyond the circle
of his own race were outside the home, living
in the streets, feeding on garbage and unclean
ness, or on the crumbs and offal of life's feast.
But the Apostle lays hold of the figure, reverses
the application, and uses it to express the con
dition of the Jews.
And this is the form of his indictment: It
120

LIVING IN THE STREETS 121
is you who are living in the outside streets.
It is you who are contented with the externals,
and satisfied with the mere crumbs of religious
nutriment. You give the emphasis to life in
the flesh, and you ignore the inner sanctuary
of the Spirit. You think much of the " mutila
tion " of the body, and you give little concern
to the consecration of the soul. You abide in
ordinances, you boast of fleshly pedigrees, you
glory in " outward things." And what is this
but the life of dogs — ^life spent in the streets?
And it is all the more pathetic because you are
called to something infinitely better, even the
settled life of the home, the bounty of a well-
filled table, and all the gracious intimacies of
a spiritual feast.
And so the great Apostle bids his readers
beware of this most seductive peril in religion,
the peril of dwelling in the streets. Streets are
not homes — they are only the helpful means
by which we reach our homes. But we are
continually tempted to remain in the streets in
stead of walking through them to our homes.
Ritualism is a street, and to many people an

122 THE HIGH CALLING
exceedingly pleasant and inviting one, and
when used as a means and not an end it is often
a most gracious convenience for reaching " the
secret place " of our Lord. But it is possible
so to emphasise the ritual as to forget "the
secret place " to which it is meant to lead, and
to find so much delight in the mode of approach
that we never arrive. We may think more of
a posture than we do of a disposition, more of a
form of prayer than of the spirit of prayer,
more of a sacrament than of the Lord. And
this is to be " dogs " picking up things in the
streets, instead of " children " sitting with our
Father at " the feast of fat things " which He
has provided for them that love Him.
And so it behoves us to " beware." There
are always evil-workers about, men and women
who will drag down the high spiritualities of
religion and ensnare us in the small temporal
ities of external ordinance and worship. They
will emphasise circumcision and fasting, and
the wearing of phylacteries, and the washing of
hands ; but they have no mind for the humility
which weeps and prays in secret, which rears a

LIVING IN THE STREETS 123
sanctified altar where the sound of human ap
plause is never heard, and which shuts out all
earthly clamour in order that it may listen to
the voice of the Eternal God. And it is so
easy to listen to these superficial callings, to
forsake the " Holy of holies," and to loiter in
the outer halls and passages of religion, and
even to find our satisfaction in the streets. And
the Apostle therefore unfolds the true life of
the child, the rich, intimate life of God's fam
ily circle, as opposed to this precarious life of
the dogs in the streets. To " worship God in
the Spirit," our feet are not to halt until we
have reached the inner and most holy realm of
the Spirit. Every street must lead up to this.
Every bit of ritual must be a finger-post point
ing to this. Every form and ceremony, every
posture, every means of grace, every sacrament
must bring us into " the secret place of the Al
mighty." Even the Bible must not be our
goal; it must be a street through which we pass
to our Lord. " Ye search the Scriptures . . ,
and ye will not come to Me." We must press
through all these external ministries until, hav-

124 THE HIGH CALLING
ing left them all behind, we are temporarily in
dependent of them, and we breathe and hold
communion in the glorious fellowship of the
Holy Ghost.
" And glory in Christ Jesus." Here is a sec
ond characteristic of the inner life, the spiritual
home-life, as contrasted with the life of the
streets. Men who abide in the outsides of
things have their eyes fastened upon the shrine,
and not upon the treasure it contains.. They
think more of the material temple than of " the
invisible Church," more of an ecclesiastical
privilege than of a spiritual grace, more of a
fleshly pedigree than of a mystic kinship with
the Lord. They put their " confidence in the
flesh," and they glory in the things of the flesh.
But the child of the home of God experiences
a certain detachment from these externals; the
material obtrusiveness drops away as soon as
he comes into the presence of the Lord. The
flame of the little lamp is no longer wanted
when it has led us into the radiant home of God.
It can then be put out. We will give thanks
for its kindly ministry but in the brightness of

LIVING IN THE STREETS 125
His presence we will glory in the Lord. Let
us never allow the flesh to usurp the throne of
the spirit. Let us never burn incense to our
nets. " He that glorieth let him glory in the
Lord."

XIX
REVISING THE BALANCE-SHEET
"But what things were gain to me, these I counted
loss for Christ" (Phil. iii. 7-9).
And what coveted treasures Paul had been
able to count among the " gains " of his past
life! He seemed to have belonged to almost
every kind of aristocracy which excites the
dreams and kindles the aspirations of men. I
think there is abundant suggestion that he
moved in the aristocracy of wealth. Most as
suredly he was a member of the jealous aris
tocracy of culture. With equal certainty we
can affirm that he held high place in that ec
clesiastical aristocracy which guards its por
tals with such sleepless vigilance. And with
out doubt he gloried in the " blue blood " of a
distinguished religious pedigree, which gave
him kinship with the most exalted circles in his
nation's life. Here, surely, are "gains" to
126

REVISING THE BALANCE-SHEET 127
boast about, and to enumerate as precious as
sets on the credit side of life's accounts. And
yet here is the Apostle deliberately transferring
them to the other side and counting them as
" loss for Christ."
The value of our judgments altogether de
pends upon the quality of our standards. If
the standard is mean, the judgment is corre
spondingly worthless. A flock of sheep seen
against a background of dirty road may appear
pure and clean; seen against a background of
newly fallen snow they appear defiled. Every
thing depends upon the standard, the ideal
which provides the test. A little hill may ap
pear stupendous to one who has never seen a
mountain; to the man who is familiar
with the uplifted splendours of the Himalayas
it appears but a molehill on the plain. Glass
may be considered brilliantly beautiful until we
have seen the fascinating radiance of a dia
mond. When the Apostle Paul regarded his
aristocratic possessions as great gains, he had
never seen the Lord; but when "the glory of

128 THE HIGH CALLING
the Lord " blazed upon his wondering eyes
these things faded away into shadow and even
eclipse. And it was not only that the Apostle's
former gains were cheapened in the effulgence
of the Lord, and stood revealed as contemptible
nothings in his hands ; it was that he ceased to
think of them at all, they vanished entirely
from the mind where they had been treated as
supreme and sacred deposits. Henceforth,
everything was to be judged by " the glory,"
and nothing was to be allowed, to compete
with the holy covetousness for its full pos
session. " Yea, and I count all things hut loss, for the
excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my
Lord." Ruthlessly the old balance-sheets are
swept away. That passionate pursuit of the
old gains is now diverted into a new course,
and all the concentrated energy of his mighty
will is devoted to acquiring the secret of the
risen Christ. " For whom I have suffered the
loss of all things." Everything had gone which
men thought worth having — ^home, reputation,
means, material prospects, all had been sacri-

REVISING THE BALANCE-SHEET 129
ficed when he closed with the Nazarene. It is
even so to-day when a Jew transfers his al
legiance to the Lord Jesus. It was once my
blessed privilege to be the human minister in
leading a very clever young Jew into the light
and liberty of Christ. As soon as constraining
grace had done its work, and the decisive step
was taken, my friend was summarily bereft of
all tender human relationships, stripped bare
to poverty, and in very literal truth he " suf
fered the loss of all things." But what cared
my rejoicing friend or what cared the exultant
Paul? " / do count them as refuse." Yes, com
pared with the " feast of fat things " which is
provided by the Lord, everything else is but
as refuse, the scraps which are thrown to the
dogs from their master's table. Who is going
to trouble about these things when the gracious
host is " satisfying the ijiouth with good
things " ? Who is going to fill his nights with
weeping and wailing because he has lost a
" precarious living " when he has found eternal
life itself? Who will fret his heart away be-

130 THE HIGH CALLING
cause he has ceased to be a vagrant when he, on
the other hand, has found a home ?
And why did the Apostle esteem these things
as refuse? " That I may win Christ." That
to Paul is now the only gain worth naming.
His one ambition shall be to clear away the
lumber, and offer a roomier and more glorious
hospitality to his Lord. He will " pull down
his barns and build greater"; he will seek a
manifold enlargement of being — of thought, of
imagination, of affection, of will; he will push
back the confining walls in order that in the
more comprehensive life he may be able to en
joy the richer and freer presence of his Lord.
" That I may win Christ, and he found in
Him! " For long enough he had been on the
outsides and circumference of things : now he
had discovered the true centre of all things,
and his burning desire was to be found in that
centre, drawing his very life from that foun
tain, his own veins filled with the blood-cur
rents which flow from that redeeming heart.
And in what guise does he wish to be found ?
"Not having mine own righteousness which

REVISING THE BALANCE-SHEET 131
is of the law." No, he will leave that behind,
as a poor artificial accomplishment of the past
years, a manufactured garment, and not the
natural and winsome attire which is akin to the
glory of " the lilies of the field." His past
righteousness was " put on " : now he covets a
righteousness which has " grown out," the in
evitable creation of redeeming grace, the
righteousness which is born "through faith in
Christ, the righteousness which is of God hy
faith." He is abundantly willing to lose the
thin and fading robe of reputation if only he
can gain the splendid and incorruptible gar
ment of a sanctified character. And that
splendid garment is not the product of works,
the fashion of human hands ; it is the workman
ship- of God, the finished creation of His
abounding grace.

XX
IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST
"That I may know Him" (Phil. iii. lo, ii).
And this is knowledge of an advanced and
matured kind. Paul is not to be satisfied with
matriculation, he must take his degree with
honours. He will not settle down among the
rudiments content with the bare outlines of
spiritual attainment, he must pass from stage to
stage, through veil after veil, deeper and deeper
into the marvellous arcana of the grace and
love of God. That should be the characteristic
ardour of the Christian. But the trouble is
that so many of us get into the first standard
and there we remain, because we have no pas
sionate desire to pass into the second. We do
not "grow in grace and in the knowledge of
our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." And so
we grow old in years, but we are wearing the
mental and spiritual garments of childhood.
132

IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST 133
If I may write it reverently we must appear as
pathetically grotesque to those " who look with
other eyes than ours," as a full-grown man
would look to us if he were wearing the habits
of a little child. Our conceptions of the Lord
are no bigger than they were when first we met
Him. Our sympathies are no richer, no more
comprehensive. Our prayers have not
creased in grasp and range. We are "
where we were." We are pitiable spech
of " arrested growth." But here is Paul,
an eagerness for spiritual knowledge which
bears him along from " grace to grace," " from
strength to strength," and " from glory unto
glory." Every hew discovery awakens new
wonder, and every new wonder intensifies the
ardour of his quest. Every day brings its own '
surprise, while every day there stretches before
him the untraversed continents o'f " the un
searchable riches of Christ."
" And the power of His resurrection." And
this, too, he would know in Christ. Many
people can recount the evidences for the resur
rection who are strangers to its power. They

134 THE HIGH CALLING
know the facts of history, but the facts have no
corroboration in personal experience. They
have no doubts aboiit the sunshine, but they
have no intimacy with its fertilising warmth.
They do not doubt " that Jesus rose again," but
they have not " set to their seal that it is true."
Now Paul was passionately keen to know not
only the fact but the power of the fact. He
recognised that in the resurrection of Jesus
amazing forces were at work, and that if he
could only come into the sweep of their tre
mendous current he would be uplifted in their
strength, and all deadly imprisoning cerements
would be left behind. If he could only become
one with the Man who snapped the bars of
death, and walked out of the tomb, then no
grave should ever hold him, no matter whether
the bondage were of moral or material corrup
tion. His own dynamic of renewal must be
found in the power of the resurrection of his
Lord. And so all minor ministries were as
signed their own subordinate place — the petty
forces of wealth, of culture, of friendship — and
he esteemed all things but loss that he might

IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST 135
become united with the superlative power of
God, " which worked in Christ when He raised
Him from the dead."
"And the fellowship of His sufferings."
That is a phase of the Apostle's ambition which
may well make us wonder. We can under
stand the intensity of his desire to experience
the power of his Saviour's resurrection; but is
it not strange that he should be equally eager to
become intimate with his Master's pangs as
well as with His triumph? Ah, but the share
in the triumph is impossible without some share
in the pang. No one can " enter into the joy
of the Lord," who has not also been with
Him in His temptations. When the sons of
Zebedee's children asked, " that they might sit,
one on His right hand, and the other on His
left, in His kingdom," the Lord made this ap
parently cold and ungracious reply : — " Are ye
able to drink of the cup that I drink of ? " And
yet the reply was full of light and grace. We
must share the cup if we would share the
throne. We must share the ploughing and the
sowing if we would really share in the song of

136 THE HIGH CALLING
the harvest-home. We must "go out after
that which is lost," if we would deeply rejoice
with Him when the lost one has been found.
We must taste the bitterness if we would also
taste the exquisite sweetness. And so the
Apostle is ambitious to know " the fellowship
of His sufferings." He would go with Him
down the dark lanes, and into the chill, lonely
places of Gethsemane, and climb some little
way up the slopes of Calvary, if perchance he
might the better appreciate the light and
warmth and glory of the resurrection morning,
"Becoming conformable unto His death."
Here is the deep, innermost secret of the mys
tery of personal identification with the Lord,
We can so merge ourselves in Christ, so " know
him," " so become one with Him," as to be in
corporated into the virtues of His unspeakable
sacrifice and death. We need not be daunted
and distressed by our inability to trace the lines
of the mystery, and because our eyes cannot
peer far into the darkness. To become one
with Christ, by the abiding attitude of faith,
and by the unbroken mood of surrender to His

IDENTIFIED WITH CHRIST 137
will, is to become identified with all that He is,
and therefore with all that He did, and there
fore with all that He shall do in ages yet to
come. Our union with Him shall include the
wealth of its inheritance, the energy and the
efficiency of His sacrifice, and we shall mani
fest the incorporation by refiecting in our own
degree a gracious willingness to give our lives
in seeking the redemption of His brethren.
" Becoming conformable unto His death, if by
any means I might attain also unto the resur
rection of the dead." One with Him in the
likeness of His death, one with Him in the like
ness of His resurrection.

XXI
THIS ONE THING
"Not as though I had already attained"
(Phil. iii. 12, 14).
There was a time when Paul delighted to re
gard himself as " blameless " ; but those were
the days of dimmer vision, when " the glory of
the Lord " had not yet shone upon him. In a
dim light a faded garment may appear present
able. The shabby furniture which passes mus
ter in the gloomy days of winter is revealed as
very dingy and worn when the brighter days of
spring bring sunshine into the room. Paul had
lived in the grey twilight of the Pharisaic ideal,
and secret faults had lain concealed, or had ac
quired the hue of positive graces. But now
that the Light of the World had come all things
were shown in their true colours, and
masquerading virtues stood revealed as pre-
138

THIS ONE THING 139
sumptuous sins. " All things are made mani
fest by the light."
And so now he spoke very humbly and
quietly about himself. He had no large pre
tensions, no fatal self-conceit. " Not as though
I had already attained, either were already per
fect." I have gathered a few flowers, but
they are only a handful from an awaiting con
tinent. Here and there in my life the fruit is
forming, but nothing is yet matured. There
is promise, praised be God; and there is splen
did possibility, but the full performance tarries,
and " the best is yet to be."
" But I follow after." He is not paralysed
by the distance which yawns between him and
the ideal. He does not sit down and weep
tears of bitter impotence. He pursues the
glory with all the intensity of a hound which
has found the trail. And let us remember that
this is the speech of an old man. We are ac
customed to think of age as the season when
the strenuous life is relaxed, when enthusiasm
begins to fade, when the early ardours begin to
cool; but here is a veteran whose "eye is not

140 THE HIGH CALLING
dim," and " whose natural force is not abated,"
but who preserves in his old age the magnificent
forcefulness of his youth. He is as keen as
ever, as uncompromising as ever, following the
gleam. The Lord has laid His hand upon him,
and designated him for splendid dignities, and
he will devote every ounce of his strength to
the accomplishment of his Master's purpose.
" / follow after, if perchance I may apprehend
that for which also I have heen apprehended
hy Jesus Christ my Lord."
"Brethren, I count not myself to have ap
prehended." He will not reckon perfection
as an asset before it comes; such premature
reckoning is the parent of loss rather than of
gain. He will not repeat the folly of his phari-
saic judgment, and glory in a " blameless " life.
He will not dwell in a false serenity; his im
perfections glared before him, and he lived in
the constant sense of his need. " But one thing
I do." Mark how the great Apostle gathers all
his energies together in concentrated and un
divided purpose. Even though the ideal be as
yet remote, even though the shining summit

THIS ONE THING 141
tower beyond him in dazzling splendour, he
will not permit his strength to dribble away in
vagrant endeavours or in futile regrets. He
will have but one aim and one task, and every
limb and every power shall pay tribute to its
sovereignty. His religious ambition shall be
supreme, and in the fierceness of his desire he
will draw every minor yearning to the central
purpose, like tributaries converging upon the
main stream of a glorious river. It is this
concentration which enfolds the secret of the
progressive lives of all the saints of God. They
live for one thing, and for one thing only. So
many of us make our religion one of many in
terests. We take it up for a time, and then
we put it down again. We are religious by
spasms, we are devotional by turns. We as
sume there is a time for everything, and we
often make the heavenly visitor tarry in the
hall, or even at the door, until we have dis
posed of more urgent business. Now, to the
Apostle Paul the urgent business in all business
was just that of religion itself. Life to Paul
was one vast temple, and the market was just a

142 THE HIGH CALLING
part of the temple, and so was his trade, and
so were his friendships, and the one spiritual
atmosphere must possess and pervade them all.
If he were tent-making, the eyes of his soul
were on the heights; in everything his one holy
purpose was to become clothed in the glory of
his Lord.
" Forgetting those things which are behind."
And what will he forget ? Surely, he will re
member his sins, that by the remembrance he
may abide in lowliness and penitence of spirit.
And surely he will remember his mistakes, lest
in forgetfulness he should unhappily repeat
them. What, then, will he forget? I think
he will try to forget his successes. Here lay
the snare of the Pharisee. The Pharisee made
some little moral conquest, and then he sat
down by it, and fondly hugged it and doted
upon it, until he became the prisoner of his own
achievement, and further progress ceased. We
all know that there is such a peril as resting
upon one's oars, and that such resting is the
immediate precursor of retrogression. We
begin to go backward as soon as we cease to

THIS ONE THING 143
go forward. There is no holding one's own in
the spiritual life, except by continually holding
more. .And therefore it is a primary requisite
in all progressive spirituality that we turn our
backs upon our successes, and forget those
things which are behind. " He that loseth his
life shall find it."
" And reaching forth unto those things thai
are before." So far from dwelling indolently
upon past attainments and triumphs, he strains
every nerve and muscle to cover new ground,
and to conquer further heights. " I press
toward the mark." He keeps the goal ever in
view, never allowing himself to be enticed by
the side attractions which may abound by the
way. His eyes are fascinated by the coveted
glory, and the fascination gives eager speed to
his willing feet. And what is the goal which
he contemplates ? It is " the prise of the high
calling of God in Christ Jesus." The Apostle
will not be satisfied with any ideal devised by
his own imagination, or any moral compromise
offered by man. How high does God call me
in Christ Jesus? What does my Lord declare

144 THE HIGH CALLING
to be my possibility? To what glorious destiny
does he lead me ? That shall be my goal, and
that shall be my prize, and I will listen to my
Saviour's voice as to an Alpine horn pealing
forth from the uplifted splendours of the virgin
snow.

XXII
THE RULE OF FAITH
"Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus
minded" (Phil. iii. 15, 16).
But this is not the perfection of holy attain
ment. It is the maturity of grown men who
have " put away childish things." It marks the
passage from the letter to the spirit, from the
husk to the kernel, from the cold rule to the
living principle, from the rudiments of mere
ordinances to the expanding liberty of faith.
And so it is not the attainment of perfection,
but the attainment of the spiritual mood or
posture which will inevitably ensure perfection.
The Apostle has found the way of perfectness,
and in that way sanctification is sure. A little
while ago I lost myself in the mazing windings
of a great city. I asked for guidance, and was
conducted by a willing friend to the required
road. When my feet were on the highway my
145

146 THE HIGH CALLING
friend left me, saying, "Now you're right."
Not that I had arrived, but that I was sure of
arrival. And thus it was with Paul. He
had found "the Way," the perfect Way,
and some day he should most certainly
become like his Lord, for he should see
Him as He is.
Now, many of us are still in the rudimentary
stages of the religious life. We are living, like
the Pharisees, in the outsides of things, in the
dim back streets, and we have not yet found
" the way of holiness " along which walk the
" ransomed of the Lord with songs and ever
lasting joy upon their heads." We play with
ritual, and we do not worship in the Spirit.
We give tithes, but we do not give ourselves.
We fast twice a week, but we are not shedding
our blood in secret sacrifice. We recount our
merits, we do not sing the Saviour's grace. We
make a show of our works, and we do not
" walk by faith." And so we are satisfied, per
suading ourselves that we have reached the
moral summit, when all the time the white
heights are hiding there in a self-created mist.

THE RULE OF FAITH 147
But we must seek the great road of the Spirit,
atnd in that road of far vistas " walk humbly "
with our God.
" Let us, therefore, as many as be perfect,
be thus minded." When we have found the
Way, let us have the mind of the Apostle, and
forget our past attainments in reaching out for
further triumphs. Every day has its own ap
pointed surprise. Every new set of circum-1
stances is the custodian of heavenly wealtl^^
Every new step in the way brings us to a new
portion of the field where hidden treasure
awaits us. Let us, therefore, be " thus
minded," with every part of our being thrilling
in a great expectancy, assured that every mo
ment is just a providential minister, ordained to
still further enrich us with "the grace and
truth which were in Christ Jesus."
"And if in anything ye are otherwise
minded, even this shall God reveal unto you."
If a man lift his eyes unto the hills of the
heavenly calling, and serving God in the Spirit,
shall walk by faith, he shall not be suffered to
lose his way, even though he may make an oc-

148 THE HIGH CALLING
casional slip in judgment. A man who is
fundamentally right, and whose eager purpose
it is to " press toward the mark," shall not be
allowed to wander into the perilous morass, or
out on to the trackless moor. If he makes a
mistake God will graciously put it right : " even
this shall God reveal unto you." I think this
is an exquisitely gracious promise. When a
man is " right with God," his very errors of
tactics shall be governed by the Lord for His
own most Holy ends. Our God does not treat
us as infants who must just be commanded and
controlled. He treats us as men and women
possessed of certain endowments which, if
disciplined, will make us strong and full of
discernment. It is His gracious will to bring
us into holiness and power, into glorious force-
fulness of character; but this could never be ac
complished if He carried us as though we
were logs, devoid of all self-initiative and
power of moral judgment. We are not to be
marionettes but men. And so we have to
"run" and "wrestle" and "follow after"
and " press toward the mark." And if in this

THE RULE OF FAITH 149
holy and strenuous crusade we stumble in judg
ment, God will not permit us to stray into dis
aster and contempt. He will tenderly bend
our erring feet into the Way again, for " even
this shall God reveal unto you."
" Only whereunto we have already attained,
by that same rule let us walk." Yes, we must
remember this. It is by the rule of faith that
our conquests become assured. Faith makes
new conquests, and preserves the spoils of the
old. " This is the victory that overcometh
the world, even our faith." We must not
deliberately leave the highway and turn into
the byways again. " Having begun in the
Spirit, are ye made perfect in the flesh? " We
must not pause in our progress to recover an
effete implement, to re-adopt a condemned
method, and hope to reach still higher stand
ards by expediencies which are obsolete. The
rule of faith must be all-predominant through
out the entire way. It is as necessary to Paul
the aged saint, as to Timothy, who has just
been converted to the service. The same great
fundamental conditions nourish the matured

150 THE HIGH CALLING
oak and the fragile sapling; and faith is as
necessary to the sturdy veteran who is climb
ing the higher peaks of the hills of God as to
the youthful disciple who is just addressing
himself to the lower slopes.

XXIII
IMITATING THE SAINTS
"Brethren, be ye imitators together of me"
(Phil. iii. 17, 19).
But this word is conditioned by another
word of the Apostle's which he wrote in his let
ter to the Corinthians. " Be ye imitators of
me, even as I also am of Christ." With that
implied condition Paul urges his readers to vie
with one another in copying his life. He seems
to say, "pick out the Christly lineaments in
my character and repeat them in your own."
There is no perilous self-conceit in the counsel.
It is just the Holy assurance of confident in
timacy with the Lord. The Apostle knew per
fectly well that no one can enjoy close com
panionship with the Lord without acquiring
some of the beauty of the Lord. It might be
that he " wist not that his face shone," and he
might recognise no semblance to his Master,
161

152 THE HIGH CALLING
but others would assuredly see some signs of
his kinship with the Lord.
We are never good at detecting our likeness
to other people. We sometimes say that a son
is " his father over again," but the son himself
cannot trace the lines of resemblance. And
so it is with the highest relationships, the
kinships of the Spirit. If we are the friends of
the Lord we shall most assuredly be " trans
formed into the same image," even though we
are unconscious of the gracious change. And
therefore does the Apostle Paul, who knows
that for him " to live is Christ," boldly chal
lenge his readers to study his spiritual linea
ments, and to emulate one another in reproduc
ing the Christliness in their own lives,
" And mark them which so walk even as ye
have us for an ensample." There is nothing
more spiritually invigorating than to keep our
eyes steadily fixed on noble men and women.
We appropriate what we contemplate. Our
eyes are more than organs of discernment, they
are channels of reception. Our visions become
our possessions. That is a most sure law in

IMITATING THE SAINTS 153
the spiritual' life. When we admire the good
we unconsciously absorb it. It is so in art,
it is so in literature, it is so in religion. The
master passes into his pupil through the
medium of a persistent contemplation. And
therefore it is well to fix the eyes of one's spirit
upon Paul and Timotheus and Epaphroditus,
to " mark them " if perchance their nobility
may communicate itself to us and so clothe us
with the glory of the Lord. And therefore,
again, I think it is well that every Christian
disciple should always have at hand some great
and shining biography, the record of some
strong and beautiful life lived in steady com
panionship with the King. Such mystical
friendships keep us in tone, they keep us to con
cert pitch, and something of their own spiritual
mastery steals into our own minds and hearts.
" For many walk, of whom I told you often,
and now tell you even weeping, that they are
the enemies of the cross of Christ." The
Apostle is writing these words in tears. They
are the tears of an old man in prison for his
Saviour's sake. Tribulation has not made him

154 THE HIGH CALLING
hard and austere; still less has it made him a
cynic. When he thinks of the inconsistencies
of professing Christians his indignation ex
presses itself in sacrificial tears. And so Paul
was a " partaker of the sufferings of Christ " ;
he was walking over the same bit of road his
Master had travelled when He wept over
Jerusalem. Alas, it so frequently happens that
Christians can frame indictments of their fel
low-Christians, and can do it with delight.
We can gossip about their frailties, their dis
loyalties, their defiled garments, and our speech
affords to speaker and hearer a spicy entertain
ment. We gloat over the scandal; we do not
weep over it. And so it comes to pass that our
speech is inflammatory and not remedial; it
distributes the contagion rather than helps to
destroy it. It would be far better to leave our
brother's sins alone and not even to name them,
unless our warning is suffused by intercessory
tears. And what is this which makes the Apostle
weep? There are men wearing the Christian
name who are " the enemies of the cross of

IMITATING THE SAINTS 155
Christ." They are consecrating self-indulg
ence, exercising a fenceless liberty in the sacred
name of redeeming love and grace. They are
presuming upon the goodness of God; they are
flippantly reckoning upon the unlimited scope
of forgiveness; they even proclaim that they
magnify the grace of God by the extent and
blackness of the sin which they present to Him
for remission. This unfettered liberty becomes
their deepest degradation, for they "glory in
their shame." Now it may be that we cannot
find our own likeness in this description of " the
enemies of the cross of Christ," and yet if
we look closely we shall find that the resemb
lance is not altogether lacking. The style of
the countenances may vary, but the spirit may
remain the same. Do we not presume upon
our knowledge of " the unsearchable riches of
Christ"? Do we not swell our liberty into
license? and should we not fear to do it had
not the Lord revealed Himself in such super
lative glories of grace? Is there not many a
sin which we should never commit were it not
that we confidently reckon upon the endless re-

156 THE HIGH CALLING
sources of our Saviour's love? That is to say,
we are using the very Cross to make us feel
secure in our sin. What the Cross was or
dained to destroy we make the Cross confirm.
If He had not died for us we might have
been more pure; but He died, and in His death
He revealed an infinite love; therefore let us
eat and drink and sin, for He will not see us
destroyed. All such are " enemies of the cross
of Christ"; their "end is perdition"; they
"glory in their shame"; they "mind earthly
things." Yes, they are mundane and grovel
ling; they wear the Christian label, but they
are devoid of the Christian spirit. Their life
has nothing of an upward trend in its move
ments. It has no aspirations, no spiritual
ideals, no heavenly places, no sky. It is life
without wings, "of the earth earthy," and
because it does not enter into the secret of our
Saviour's death, it never experiences the power
of His resurrection.

XXIV
THE HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP
"For our citizenship is in heaven" (Phil. iii. ao).
One can realise the thrill in the Apostle's
vfins as the exultant boast leaped from his lips.
The great Apostle never apologises for his
Saviour. He never indulges in timid excuses
for his religion. He is never ashamed of the
gospel. It is one of his shining characteristics
that he carries it all with holy pride. There
must have been something of rare and conse
crated dignity about his very walk.; I verily
believe that we could not have seen him pass
along the streets without detecting a distin
guished air of large relationships in the man
ner of his going. Yes, his very " walk " must
have been significant. They say that men
whose calling makes them pass their days in
the vast aisles and beneath the spacious domes
of great cathedrals instinctively acquire a cer-
157

158 THE HIGH CALLING
tain stateliness of mien which gives them kin
ship with the glorious pile. And men whose
holy calling leads their feet along the splendid
aisles of Christian liberty, and under the illim
itable dome of redeeming grace, do most assur
edly acquire a certain aristocratic bearing
which reveals their sonship to the Eternal God,
The Roman citizen had an air and a confident
carriage which distinguished him from the
Roman helot and from the common crowd.
And I would that about every professed be
liever in the Lord Jesus Christ there were a
sacred pride of lineage, a birth-mark of high
connections, an incommunicable atmosphere
which would infallibly suggest that his citizen
ship is in heaven. When the Apostle gloried
he gloried " in the Lord."
And here his lips open in hallowed boast
ing of the kingdom into which he has been
free-born. " Our citizenship is in heaven."
That was the kingdom he recognised, and he
rejoiced to believe that his own name was found
among the free burgesses of the blessed state.
He obeyed the decrees of that kingdom. In

THE HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP 159
the midst of human clamour he listened for
" the high calling " of God in Christ. He was
not swayed by the noise of the multitude; he
was constrained by " the still small voice " of
the Lord. He took his commands from the
great white throne. He was afraid of human
imperatives, that are so apt to be warped and
perverted. Many of our ships carry a second
compass, fixed in a more exalted sphere than
the first. For these ships sail into water where
strange, magnetic currents prevail, which per
vert the accuracy of the compass, and render its
guidance perilously delusive. And so the
mariner directs his course by the compass
which is set above the disturbing currents, and
he reaches his desired haven. Paul's citizen
ship was in heaven. He sought his guidance
in "the heavenly places," and he refused to
conform his conduct to the perverted fashipn
of the world. He set his mind on the things
above. And he enjoyed the franchises of the King
dom. His citizenship not only imposed grave
duties, it also conferred sublime privileges.

160 THE HIGH CALLING
To be a freeman in the New Jerusalem was to
be free indeed. He was free from the terrors
of the law; he was free from the dark bondage
of unforgiven sin; he was free from the gall
ing yoke of petty ordinance, and he was free
from the paralysing fear of death and judg
ment. To be one of the Lord's freemen was
to drop all ignoble servitude; it was to be
come a son in the Father's house, and to
enjoy "the glorious liberty of the children
of God."
And he rejoiced in the protection of the
kingdom, A British subject has Britain's pro
tection in every corner of the globe. Britain's
army and Britain's navy are at the disposal
of the poorest and obscurest Englishman if
in any part of the world he be made the victim
of oppression. The United Kingdom became
loud with the sound of war because a handful
of her humble fishermen had been maltreated
on the North Sea. Yes, our country's pro
tective power attends our goings. And so it
was with the Kingdom, in whose book of life
the Apostle's name was written. Its marvel-

THE HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP 161
lous resources were pledged to his defence.
" Shall not God avenge his own elect ? "
" Who is he that shall harm you? " The citi
zen of heaven is never abandoned to lonely
and impotent desolation. Invisible allies sur
round us on every side. " The mountain was
full of horses and chariots of fire." There
fore, " Though an host should encamp against
me, my heart shall not fear; though war
should rise against me, even then will I be
confident." " From whence also we wait for a Saviour,
the Lord Jesus Christ." The Apostle had al
ready great possessions, but he had greater
expectations. Even now the heavenly
country gave him something of its treas
ures; some day her gate will open and
he will meet her King. The love-gifts are
unspeakably gracious, but they will pale before
the Lover Himself. Paul's most ardent ex
pectation was centred upon the actual meeting
with the Lord; he watched and waited, and
strained his sight for His appearing. Most
certainly he could have sung with unfaltering

162 THE HIGH CALLING
tongue, " Whom have I in heaven but Thee,
and there is none on earth that I desire beside
Thee." To this devout apostle, heaven was
Jesus, and Jesus was heaven.
" Who shall fashion anew the hody of our
humiliation, that it may be conformed to the
hody of His glory." Yes, before this glorious
meeting can be effected, we must obtain suit
able attire. Our present bodies constitute our
travelling-dress; at the great " appearing" we
shall change into our bridal robes. The
fashion is to be altered. We need not worry
about the wardrobe. Our Lord will see to it.
He will take away all feeling of fearful
strangeness by making us like Himself. We
are to be " conformed to the body of His
glory." So shall we be at home with the Lord.
" I shall be satisfied when I awake with Thy
likeness." "According to the working whereby He is
able to subject all things unto Himself." That
is the Apostle's hope, and the hope of all men.
" He is able." He can make the wilderness
" blossom as the rose." He can make the skin

THE HEAVENLY CITIZENSHIP 163
of the leper " come again as a little child."
He can make a conspicuous saint of the Mag
dalene. He can clothe me with the robe of
righteousness. I shall attain.
And I hope by His good pleasure.
Safely to arrive at home.

xxv
THE UNWITHERING CHAPLET
" Wherefore, my brethren beloved and longed for "
(Phil. iv. i).
The Apostle delights to lead his " children
in the faith " to some lofty spiritual eminence
which commands a vast outlook over their in
heritance in Christ. He loves to be a guide
to " heavenly places," in order that he may
then challenge the spirit to fresh and more
ardent devotion. Nearly all his " therefores "
and " wherefores " are spoken on the heights.
When the soul is feasting in its spiritual Para
dise, and is almost overwhelmed by the con
templated glory, the Apostle steals in quietly
with one of his " wherefores," reminding us
what manner of life such privileged men and
women ought to live. And here the Apostle
has been leading his Philippian converts amid
the massed treasures of the heavenly citizen-
164

' THE UNWITHERING CHAPLET 165
ship, and making their spirits burn in the Chris
tian expectation of ultimate glory. And even
while the glow is on their spirits, and while
the holy wonder still arrests their eyes, he
makes his gentle appeal, with a " wherefore "
which seeks to convert the ardour of con
templation into the sacred fire of more intense
resolve. But before we meditate upon his ap
peal, let us consider the consummately gracious
manner in which it is made.
"My brethren beloved and longed for."
Many a just appeal is spoilt for lack of grace.
The counsel was thoroughly good, only it was
not protected by delicate layers of courtesy,
and so it was resented rather than esteemed.
Now courtesy is not an art, and still less is it
an artifice. We cannot "put it on," It is
not a work, but a fruit. It is natural, not
artificial. It is not made; it grows Gracious
ness is the outer appearance of inward grace,
¦"-'¦¦--..- . ^
To be really courteous we must dwell in the
courts of the King, and sit with Him at His
table. And this is just the explanation of the
exquisite courtesy of Paul; he could not be

166 THE HIGH CALLING
anything else! Can a fig tree bring forth
thistles? If we are ungracious the fault is not
superficial, it must be sought for at the roots,
"My beloved." That is no idle, conven
tional word, a common and familiar mode of
address. When Paul used the word, it was
spirit and it was life. It was a vehicle of affec
tionate energy, and it carried a part of himself.
The Apostle could afford to be prodigal of his
love, because he had an unlimited income.
" We love, because He first loved us." Love
flowed into him from the heavenlies, and it
flowed out again in a thousand different chan
nels to enrich the earthlies. He was only in
stinctively distributing treasure which he had
first of all received.
" And longed for." Love never goes alone.
It is always attended by desire. It ever covets
the excellent for its children. It yearns over
them, and seeks for them the supreme blessed
ness. I wonder if we realise how much we
can do for other people by the ministry of
sheer desire. A holy longing for the good of
others never moves with lame and laggard feet.

THE UNWITHERING CHAPLET 167
I firmly believe that every sacred desire helps
to lift the one on whom it rests. When we
set our desires upon them their strength is re
inforced. Nothing spiritual is impotent. A
hallowed wish is a thing with wings, and is a
sure minister of godly elevation, Happy the
people on whom rest the longings of the
Apostle Paul!
" My joy." Once before have we seen how
the Apostle finds his joy in other people's tri
umph. If our love goes out to others, and
our desires rest upon them, then, most cer
tainly, every sign of their welfare will add to
our delight. And there were men and women
in Philippi whom Paul had seen move out of
darkness into light, and from the dry, desert
waste into " a land of springs." He had heard
their songs of jubilee. He had heard their
cries of wonder as they made discovery after
discovery in the new-found realms of grace.
And their songs enriched his songs, and their
wonder deepened his wonder, and their joy
became his own.
"And crown." This is not the royal or

168 THE HIGH CALLING
priestly diadem. It is the chaplet worn by the
holiday-maker, or by the triumphant athlete.
It is significant of victory and merriment. We
cannot be sure which particular usage is in the
Apostle's mind, but we cannot be wrong even
in assuming the contents of both. The spirit
ual progress of his Philippian converts made
him merry as a holiday-maker, and made him
feel like one who has won a signal triumph.
The fading chaplets of the world he cares noth
ing about. But here is a wreath which he will
wear through life and death, and which will
remain immortally lovely in the eternal day.
When these Philippians are manifested in
glory, then will he be manifested in glory with
them, " So stand fast in the Lord." And that is
the appeal to which all this love and grace and
courtesy have been leading. If all this con
templated glory of heavenly citizenship may be
yours, get your feet firmly planted on the heav
enly road. Don't be seduced by transient fas
cinations. Don't follow a will-o'-the-wisp,
" Stand fast in the Lord." Rivet your

THE UNWITHERING CHAPLET 169
thoughts on Him. Rest your faith on Him,
Suffer no distraction. Let no solitary power
wander away in unlicensed vagrancy. Let all
that is within you " Praise and bless His holy
name."

XXVI
THE MINISTRY OF CONCILIATION
" / exhort Euodia, and I exhort Syntyche, to be of the
same mind in the Lord" (Phil. iv. 2, 3)-
It is almost impossible to realise that the dis
sentient spirit was dividing the women-folk
in the little Philippian Church, The Philip
pian Church was born in a prayer-meeting. A
company of godly women " resorted to the
riverside," and in the sweet morning air held
communion with the Highest. And doubtless
Euodia and Syntyche were found among them.
Surely such conditions would be creative of an
indissoluble fellowship in which misunder
standing and alienation could find no place.
And yet it is clear that estrangement has en
tered, and the Apostle is using his own gracious
influence to effect a reconciliation.
Now the Apostle has not burdened his letter
with any details of the variance, and no good
170

MINISTRY OF CONCILIATION 171
purpose will be served by the exercise of an
uninformed imagination. We know perfectly
well that when a poisonous suspicion arises in
the heart it is because the fires of piety are
burning low. When a foul air possesses the
spirit it is because the windows are not open
toward the Infinite. When human fellowship
is broken it is because communion with God is
not entire.
Believers can never be intimate with the
Lord and yet be estranged from one another.
And therefore, without being unwisely inquisi
tive about the details of this ancient quarrel,
we can be perfectly sure that Euodia and Syn
tyche had relaxed their ties with the Lord.
There is nothing for which the enemy of souls
works and watches so intently as for the slack-
ening of our spiritual attachments. For when
the heavenly is neglected the earthly becomes
unclean. It is amazing in what a tiny pinch of
dirt a weed can find a footing. We do not
need to become deeply carnal to harbour jeal
ousy or suspicion; a pinch of dirt can give
the requisite rootage. When we neglect the

172 THE HIGH CALLING
Lord that pinch is soon available, and all sorts
of noxious growths contend with one another
for a place in our lives.
Now we see how the Apostle puts his finger
upon the secret of the alienation. He exhorts
them to recover their unity "in the Lord."
And that is the only place in which they can
profitably seek it. Any other unifying ministry
would be a merely temporary and patchwork
expedient; the real solidarity can be found only
" in the Lord." Marvellous are the solvents
which work in the presence of the Lord,
Hard thoughts pass away in grace
Like cloud-spots in the dawn.
The only really effective way of removing ice
is by raising the temperature. And when two
people have been " cold " towards each other,
when their conversation and fellowship are
" like ice," it is no good trying to chip away
the encumbrance by the picks and axes of con
ventionality; the only resource is to raise the
temperature, to bring the two lives into His
presence whose grace is as a " consuming fire."

MINISTRY OF CONCILLA.TION 173
It is a very gracious dispensation that their
fellow-believers can help to bring Euodia and
Syntyche into blessed union again. " / be
seech thee, also, true yoke-fellow, help these
women, for they laboured with me in the gos
pel." It matters little or nothing who the true
yoke-fellow is, whether Timothy or Silas, or
Epaphroditus or the Apostle's wife; the fruit
ful matter is that somebody is besought to put
their spiritual energies at the service of these
sundered members of the Church. The quar
rel must not be left alone. The variance must
not be allowed to widen into an appalling gulf.
Misunderstanding must not be permitted to
rankle into hatred and contempt. When two
members of the Church are at loggerheads it is
the holy business of the Church to put them
right. And this, not only for the sake of the
two members themselves, but for the sake of
the entire Church. Moral maladies are con
tagious. Personal variiances are prone to breed
social divisions. " Know ye not that a little
leaven leaveneth the whole lump ? " The entire
force of the Church must therefore be concen-

174 THE HIGH CALLING
trated at the rent, for the purpose of repairing
and healing it.
When the body is wounded, it immediately
marshals a vast army and rallies it at the place
of attack. And so would the Apostle Paul,
when a rent is made in the Church, which is
the body of our Lord. See what force he
calls together. Not only does he beseech his
"true yoke- fellow," but "Clement also, and
the rest of my fellow-workers," all are ex
horted to " help " in ending the estrangement
between Euodia and Syntyche. It is a most
suggestive counsel. Countless bitter divisions
might have been averted if the counsel had been
prayerfully and consistently followed. Small
misunderstandings, which became aggravated
into rabid sectarianisms, might have been
healed at the beginning if only the Church had
massed her conciliatory energies in the presence
of the Lord. But we have allowed pin-pricks
to fester until the blood has been defiled. The
Apostle's is the only effective ministry. If we
are ambassadors of reconciliation our mission
surely includes the conciliation of those who

MINISTRY OF CONCILIATION 175
have been estranged. It is our blessed calling
to " help these women " " to be of the same
mind in the Lord."
And the rank and file have a share in this
glorious work. How delicately and graciously
the Apostle mentions those who have no prom
inence in the administration of the visible
Church : " The rest of my fellow-workers,
whose names are in the book of life." These,
too, are called to the ministry of conciliation.
Perhaps, after all, they are the best equipped
for the service. The Lord has some magnifi
cent peace-makers among the obscure. The
homeliness of their presence, their average
gifts, their fireside piety, their modesty and
restraint, all contribute to make them refined
experts in bringing discordant lives into union
again. The brilliant leader might be hampered
by his very prominence; the unknown and un-
honoured " fellow-worker " may more easily
find the secret door.

XXVII
THE ART OF REJOICING
" Rejoice in the Lord alway " (Phil. iv. 4)'.
And this counsel is given by an old man
who is now the prisoner of Imperial Rome.
It is not the enervating speech of the lotus land;
it is a bracing exhortation ringing through the
stifling air of difficulty and strife. Age is not
frequently associated with such sunny exuber
ance of spirit. Its song is apt to " crack," its
lights burn dim, its disposition becomes de
spondent. Age is so prone to become reminis
cent, and memory is a fertile breeding-ground
of dark and tearful regrets. Age fondly dwells
on " radiant morns " which have " passed
away"; it turns its eyes away from the east
whence new mornings break. And so the
psalm changes into a threnody, and minor tunes
pervade the evening hymn. But here is an old
man in whose vespers the minor note finds no
176

THE ART OF REJOICING 177
place. Hard circumstances have not made him
hard. Apparent failure has not soured him
into a cynic. He retains his fine, appreciative
sense of life's essential sweetness. He has not
become moodily reminiscent of past glories and
of vanished feasts. He feels the days before
him. The pains of to-day are only the birth-
pangs of a better to-morrow. The immediate
difficulty is only a prickly burr which contains
most toothsome fruit. Circumstances may im
pose restraints, they cannot create an orphan
age. Rome may separate the Apostle from his
fellows, she is powerless to separate him from
his Lord. Imprisonment still provides a room
for two, and by no earthly conspiracy can
he be bereft of his great Companion. The
Lord is with him, and so the prison is ablaze
with light. Old age glows with sunny optim
ism. The psalm of adoration rises night and
day. And the captive sends forth to his fel
low-believers the invigorating counsel, " Re
joice in the Lord alway."
Now if this counsel proclaims an attainable
ideal it is very clear that Christian joy is a

178 THE HIGH CALLING
mood independent of our immediate circum
stances. If it were dependent on our sur
roundings, then, indeed, it would be as un
certain as an unprotected candle burning in a
gusty night. One moment the candle burns
clear and steady, the next moment the blaze
leaps to the very edge of the wick, and affords
little or no light. But Christian joy has no re
lationship to the transient setting of the life,
and therefore it is not the victim of the passing
day. At one time my conditions arrange them
selves like a sunny day in June; a little later
they rearrange themselves like a gloomy day
in November. One day I am at a wedding;
the next day I stand by an open grave. One
day, in my ministry, I win ten converts for
the Lord; and then, for a long stretch of days,
I never win one. Yes, the days are as change
able as the weather, and yet the Christian joy
can be persistent. Where lies the secret of its
gracious persistency?
Here is the secret. " Lo ! I am with you
all the days." In all the changing days, " He
changeth not, neither is weary," He is no fair

THE ART OF REJOICING 179
weather Companion, leaving me when the year
grows dark and cold. He does not choose my
days of prosperous festival, but is not to be
found in my days of impoverishment and de
feat. He does not show himself only when I
wear a garland, and hide himself when I wear
a crown of thorns. He is with me "all the
days " — the prosperous days and the days of
adversity; days when the funeral bell is tolling,
and days when the wedding peal is ringing.
" All the days." The day of life— the day of
death — the day of judgment!
Here, I say, is the secret of perennial joy.
The all- vital relationship is not between me and
fickle circumstance, but between me and an
unchanging Friend. If I draw my water from
the wells of circumstance my resources are ex
posed to the peril of drought and convulsions.
If I draw from the wells of salvation, the rich
and bountiful supply shall be found " spring
ing up into eternal life." " Therefore will not
we fear, though the earth be removed, and
though the mountains be shaken in the heart of
the seas, . . . The Lord of hosts is with us."

180 THE HIGH CALLING
Now the Apostle Paul had become an expert
in " the practice of the presence of God." He
had so exercised his spiritual senses that his
discernment had become delicately sensitive
and acute. He had attained to a fine " feel
ing " for God. Until now the Lord's presence
was as evident in the prison as in the temple,
as evident when he stood before Festus and
Agrippa as when he met with the little com
pany of praying women by the riverside at
Philippi. He " felt " his Lord everywhere,
and therefore he could " rejoice in the Lord
alway." To realise the Lord is to " enter into
the joy of the Lord," and "the joy of the
Lord " becomes our strength.
In all his thinkings Paul's first thought was
ever the Lord. All his purposes began in the
Lord, and in the Lord they ended. He did not
call in the Lord just when things had gone
amiss, when he had lost himself in trespassing
over a forbidden moor. To the Apostle the
Lord was his Alpha. He consulted Him at
the beginnings of things. He was also his
Omega; in Him everything found its culmina-

THE ART OF REJOICING 181
tion. And there is no law in life more sure
than this, that if the mind be thus centred and
fixed upon the Lord, the Lord will be ever more
and more clearly manifested, and the heart will
be possessed by a quiet, sunny assurance which
no circumstances can despoil, and which will
remain bright and increasing " even unto the
end of the world."

XXVIII
THE GRACE OF FORBEARANCE
" Let your forbearance be known unto all men "
(Phil, iv. S).
The grace of forbearance is a sure accom
paniment of joy in the Lord. The man whose
spirit is clothed in sunny assurance, and who
rides triumphantly upon his circumstances, will
never be harsh or morose toward his fellows.
When spiritual joy is absent, life is apt to be
come painfully rigorous; its very sadness is
prone to make life hard and insensitive. When
the heart is cold, our behaviour tends to be
thoughtless and obstinate. The spiritual pes
simist is wanting in delicacy, and his touch is
violent. Spiritual joy endows the life with ex-
quisiteness, and confers the power of appre
hending the standpoint of our brother. The
man who rejoices " in the Lord " is spiritually
telepathic, he can read the secret hearts of men,
182

GRACE OF FORBEARANCE 183
He is therefore distinguished by the grace of
forbearance. Now this grace of forbearance or gentleness
is one greatly honoured in the Christian Scrip
tures, But its significance has been sometimes
grievously misinterpreted. Its manifestations
have frequently been suspicious, and lacking in
a noble impressiveness. Real gentleness is
never the issue of weakness; it is ever the off
spring of strength. Weakness can be very
clumsy, and can therefore blunder into painful
outrage. A surgeon with a weak will and a
trembling hand can never be gentle with his
patient. He lacks the terrible resources which
impart the exquisite touch. It is the surgeon
with irresistible will, with iron nerves, who can
hold his hand with such steady control as to
touch a wound like softest thistle-down. A
weak hand would torture the patient; a strong
hand .is the gentle minister of restoration.
And so it is in the higher realms of character.
Effeminate men do not make gentle knights.
We need iron for the making of the finest
blood. If the iron is absent from the character.

184 THE HIGH CALLING
the sentiment is watery, and pathetically inef
ficient. And so it is well to remember that
this same Apostle, who counsels his disciples
to be forbearing, also counsels them to "be
strong." If we are not strong we may easily
be brutal; if we are strong it is easy to be ex
quisite. It is people with loose opinions who
are frequently the most intolerant; the man
with the finest conviction is usually the man of
widest and most hospitable communion.
Let me point out one or two characteristics
of this most winsome grace. In the first place,
forbearance, or gentleness, is reasonableness of
dealing, a fine consideration for the claims of
others, the spirit which does not urge its per
sonal rights to the uttermost. It is frequently
true that my highest right is not to claim my
right. That is sometimes forgotten, and the
noblest franchise of the soul remains unexer
cised. Our Lord Jesus, as we have seen in an
earlier part of this letter to the Philippians, had
ja perfect right to be on " an equality with
God "; but He " counted it not a prize " to be
grasped at; He "emptied Himself," and laid

GRACE OF FORBEARANCE 186
the right aside. And so it is with the lives of
His true disciples. They often taste their
sweetest right in the surrender of their rights.
They offer the chief seats to others, and find
an excellent delight in the lower place. And
this is one of the shining characteristics of the
gentle life. It is strong enough to feel the
rights of other people, and to prefer them to its
own. It is always a sign of an impaired and
perverted spirit that it magnifies its own rights,
to the obscuring and subjection of another's.
My own rights are shining with a clear and
smokeless radiance when they illumine and
magnify the rights of my brother.
And so, in the second place, it is very clear
that forbearance includes the element of kind
liness. It is possible for me to recognise and
respect the rights of my brother, and yet for
my behaviour to be unattractive and unpleas
ant. A surrender may be brutal and sullen,
and made to the accompaniment of growling,
thundery murmur. I may yield the crown, and
yet, by the very spirit of the yielding, I may
convert it into a crown of thorns. And this is

186 THE HIGH CALLING
not the forbearance and gentleness of Jesus.
In Christian forbearance there is no sultry
gloom, no ominous grumbling. The atmos
phere is pure and bright and sweet, and the
birds are singing. The spirit is altogether
kindly; how can it be otherwise with a spirit
that is rejoicing " in the Lord " ? How can
there be this hallowed joy in the heart, and a
gloomy frown in the face? True gentleness
must be kindly and sunny; it is "light in the
Lord." And now the Apostle makes a very remark
able addition to his counsel. " The Lord is at
hand." Is this not the introduction of a
jangling discord? We have heard his exhorta
tions to joy and gentleness, but will not this in
trusion of coming judgment plunge the merry
heart into cold eclipse ? Will it not be as when
some stealthy terror appears upon the field of
sight, and all the birds are hushed in fearful
silence? Oh no; that is one of the perversions
of the years, but it was not the experience of
the apostolic days. When the apostles thought
of the Lord's coming, and " of the day of the

GRACE OF FORBEARANCE 187
Lord," their hearts rang out a merrier peal. It
was not the gloom of eclipse, but the daybreak,
when all shadows should flee away. And so
they thought gladly and with longing of His
coming, and their gentleness became still more
refined. It gave courage to their hearts, and
firmness to their steps, and out of that valorous
strength there sprang all the softer graces of
the consecrated life.

XXIX i
THE CURE FOR CARE
"In nothing be anxious" (Phil. iv. 6).
How exacting is the ideal ! Harassing care
is to play no part in the believer's life. Worry
is an alloy which always debases the fine metal
of the Christian character. It mars and spoils
it. And so the counsel is unconditional, and
covers every period and sphere in human life.
Anxiety is to be banished from everything. It
is not to be permitted the smallest foothold in
the Kingdom of our Lord. We are not to be
anxious for money. We are not to be anxious
I for comforts. No, and we are not to be
anxious for holiness. No, and we are not to
be anxious for converts! Just here is the
secret of so many failures. We banish anxiety
from our homes, but we keep it in our churches.
We do not worry about our daily bread, but we
worry about the bread of life. We are not
188

THEI CURE FOR CARE 189
harassed about our business, but we are
harassed about our Christian service. And so
the destructive spirit is not completely and
finally exiled. We allow it a single room, we
do not refuse it the house.
Now we are clearly taught in the word of
God, that anxiety is ever a ruinous minister
even when it is employed in the highest service.
I impair my power for winning converts when
ever I become anxious about them. Anxiety
never reinforces my battalions, it always weak
ens them. And for this reason: the channels
of communion with the Highest are open to me
through faith. Nay, it would perhaps be more
accurate to say that faith itself is the channel
through which the forces of the Highest pour
into my life. The greater the faith, the deeper
the channel; the deeper the channel, the vaster
the flood. " According to your faith shall it
be done unto you." Now, anxiety means the
shrinkage of faith. The shrinkage of faith
implies the narrowing of the heavenly chan
nels. The narrowing of the channels inevita
bly results in the impoverishment of the flood.

190 THE HIGH CALLING
Anxiety is an obstacle to the heavenly, and
therefore it can never pay. And this, I say, is
true of the very highest types of service. A
minister who is anxious and worried about his
ministry is choking up the very channels of his
power, and he is therefore multiplying the
chances of ultimate defeat. I am perfectly
sure that this great law is frequently and even
commonly forgotten, with the consequence that
the forces of the kingdom are most pitiably re
duced. I am persuaded that if the spirit of
harassing anxiety could be cast out of the
Christian Church we should be amazed at the
voluminous energies which would course
through her services. " The river of God is
full of water." Why, then, does it only trickle
through our labours? It is because the chan
nels are choked by great boulders of anxiety,
and by ten thousand petty cares. Only remove
the impediments, and the glorious, invigorating
waters would fertilise all our work.
But how is it to be done? The Apostle
gives us the answer, and in that answer we find
the antidote to care. And here is the first

THE' CURE FOR CARE 191
secret — " by prayer." The word which is here
translated " prayer " refers not to the petitions, ;
but to the mood of the petitioner. It describes
a frame of mind. The soul can be in a prayer- 1
ful attitude, even if it refrains from making
requests. All real prayer begins, not in words,
but in moods. The great mystics have ever
been experts in the knowledge of this secret.
They have disciplined their souls to a reverent
and receptive pose, until, at all times, their
souls have been frankly open to the Divine.
They have bowed in silence before the Lord,
rejecting, in the first place, the clumsy expedient
of words, and they have quietly drawn in
breath in the fear of the Lord. It is here that
we find the explanation of Paul's counsel to
" pray without ceasing." If essential prayer
be a matter of words, the counsel is impossible ;
but if essential prayer be a spiritual posture, it
is possible to obey the counsel throughout all
the changing hours and moments of the years.
Happily, we can school ourselves to this ex
posure. The Lord has made it graciously pos
sible for us to acquire a prayerful spirit, and it

192 THE HIGH CALLING
is in this fundamental, speechless prayerfulness
that the Apostle finds the first defence against
carking care.
But the spirit of prayer will not displace the
ministry of definite speech. The inbroken mood
will express itself in humble request. "By
supplication." The intimacy of silence breaks
into the intimacy of speech. Instead of worry
ing about things, quietly talk them over in the
secret place. " Tell it to the Lord in prayer."
And let us see to it that no well-dressed un
belief be allowed to limit the circle of our holy
intercourse. " In everything ... by sup
plication." Such is the amazing range of our
privilege in the Lord. In whatever sphere of
life the problem presents itself, let us not ad
dress ourselves to its solution in anxious and
lonely application. Let us quietly bring it into
the holy place, and set it in the light of God's
countenance. Yes, let the sacred light fall on
it. Let us patiently await the revelation of the
Lord. " With thanksgiving." Paul would never
omit that element from his receipt when giving

THE CURE FOR CARE 193
his cure for care. Half our worries would im
mediately melt away if we began to sing a
psalm of praise. Some anxieties can resist
everything except thanksgiving. When that
begins, they melt away like icebergs in tropical
seas. The life that is ungrateful is very cold
and icebergs abound in its atmosphere. Let
us raise the temperature and we shall be
amazed at the results. A really thankful heart
is so crowded with the sense of God's mercies
that it can offer no hospitality to worry and
care.

xxx
THE SENTINEL OF GOD'S PEACE
"The peace of God" (Phil. iv. 7).
This is to be the rare fruit resulting from the
culture described in our previous meditation.
This is to be the gift of blessedness enjoyed by
those who walk the paths of piety. If we live
in the mood of prayer, if it be our constant
frame of mind, if, instead of worrying about
our needs, we habitually present them to the
Lord in trustful supplication, and if in all our
communion there sounds the gladsome note of
thankful praise, we shall most assuredly be kept
and sustained in " the peace of God."
Now peace is a word which is most griev
ously misunderstood. The very analogies and
symbols which are used to give expression to
its meaning show how profound is the perver
sion. We go into some chamber of the dead,
194

SENTINEL OF GOD'S PEACE 195
where the hands of a loved one are folded in
the last sleep, and we involuntarily whisper,
" How peaceful ! " Or we withdraw from the
rush and noise of a great city, and find some
secluded nook in the mountain, and there, by
some lonely tarn whose still surface reflects
the stately passages of the clouds or the swift
transit of the homing bird, we are again con
strained to say, " How peaceful ! " But these
are not fitting emblems to express the essential
significance of peace. Peace is not the still
ness of death; nor is it found in the silent stag
nancy of a mountain tarn. Peace is life, it is
motion, it is movement without friction. We
may find its fitting symbol in some great engine-
house when the monster is at work and every
part co-operates with every other part in
smooth and perfect communion. Peace is not
found when every instrument in the orchestra
is silent, but when every instrument is making
its own contribution, and the result is rich and
perfect harmony. Peace is found in the ab
sence of discord; peace is found when every bit
of grit is removed from the wheels, when one

196 THE HIGH CALLING
force works with another force in sweet and
unbroken fellowship.
It is, therefore, very suggestive that the root
of the word, which in the New Testament is
translated " peace," has the significance of " to
join." A joining has taken place, and what is it
but an adjustment between the soul and God ?
Man and his Lord are fitted together and be
come one, and this communion is the innermost
secret of peace. There is no jar in the rela
tionship. There is no reluctance in the inter
course. Will works in will with gracious and
delightful freedom. That is peace — God in
man, and man in God, the soul living and mov
ing and having its being in the Lord.
This is " the peace of God which passeth all
understanding." There is some divergence in
the interpretation of these words, and yet per
haps all the combined interpretations are needed
for a full exposition of their wealth. " Passeth
all understanding." It is a peace which
transcends all power of conception. It is un
thinkable. It can no more be realised by the
uninitiated than a perfume could be realised by

SENTINEL OF GOD'S PEACE 197
one who is destitute of the sense of smell. The
only channel of realisation is the channel of
actual experience. To those who have not
known the peace of God it cannot be even the
subject of a dream. It is infinitely to be pre
ferred to mere knowledge. Knowledge is
good, wisdom is better, but peace is best.
Peace gives a higher and a deeper satisfaction
than all the devices and acquisitions of the in
tellect. Trustful fellowship with the Lord is in
finitely more fruitful than anxious counsels,
than restless timidities, than the constant wor-
ryings of the sleepless mind. The " peace of
God " is easily first, surpassing all the gathered
treasures of mental acquisition, and it passeth
all understanding.
And this peace of God shall " guard your
hearts and your thoughts." It is the figure of
a siege. The life is surrounded by subtle foes,
seeking to gain an entrance into the treasured
pile. Temptations, fears, alarms — all are at
the gates, cunningly waiting for admission.
But within, peace stands as sleepless sentinel
and guard, and life is secure. It is a very

198 THE HIGH CALLING
gracious picture. Our very peace is our de
fence. When there is peace within, when
there is perfect harmony between the soul and
the Lord, there is no discordant element, there
is no internecine strife, and the little kingdom
of man presents to the foe an unbroken and in
vulnerable front. Oneness with God is a unity
invincible. And mark where the vigilant guardianship
is to be concentrated. " Your hearts and your
thoughts." The heart is the seat of thought,
in which all our thoughts and purposes are born.
Hearts and thoughts represent both the soil and
the flowers which spring from the soil. They
are both to be at their best when " the peace
of God " dwells in the life. They are to be
guarded from every foe, defended from every
noxious and poisonous pest. When we are at
peace, the heart-soil will be kept sweet, and the
thought-flowers will be kept beautiful. When
these innermost things are guarded, no plague
comes nigh our dwelling.
And here is the secret of the sure defence.
They are to be guarded " in Christ Jesus." It

SENTINEL OF GOD'S PEACE 199
is the Apostle's familiar phrase. Hearts and
thoughts are to be defended by their intimate
communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. It is
an alliance of the finite and the infinite, and the
alliance is constituted of the trustful and lowly
reliance of man. To rely quietly on the Lord
is to obtain an ally against whom the subtle
and mighty hordes of wickedness cast them
selves in vain. When we have " the peace of
God " we are proof against " the world, the
flesh, and the devil."

XXXI
WHAT TO THINK ABOUT
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, what
soever things are honourable, whatsoever things
are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever
things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good
report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any
praise, think on these things" (Phil. iv. 8).
Here is a man who, after a life full of
menace and turbulence, every road heavy and
bristling with hostilities, has kept his spirit per
fectly wholesome and unembittered. His eyes
are still expert watchers for the sweet and beau
tiful. This passage rests upon the background
of the Apostle's life like a brilliant jewel on
dark plush. He is now an old man, with body
bowed and broken, and he is waiting his trial
at the judgment seat of hard and unsympathetic
Rome. And the counsel which I have quoted
is a counsel born of his old age. " Whatsoever
200

WHAT TO THINK ABOUT 201
things are lovely, think on these things." I do
not think it is an invariable tendency for peo
ple when they are growing old to concentrate
more and more on the lovely, to find an ex
panding delight in optimistic tokens, and to feel
the air sweeter and softer as the day declines.
Old age too frequently shrivels in mind as well
as in body, in hopefulness as well as in en
deavour. But here is the Apostle, a man who
up to the days of manhood had been a jealous
Pharisee and had acquired habits of severe and
rigid exclusiveness, and lo, by the grace of God,
he has broken his prison house, and now he is
growing old cheerfully, uninjured by the
treachery and antagonisms of the way, roam
ing in the wonderful meadows of life's de
lights, and rejoicing in " the glorious liberty of
the children of God."
" Think on these things." " These things "
constitute the prescribed liberty of Christian
manhood. They are a kind of inventory of the
mental furnishings of the Christian life. And
I think everybody will readily grant that the
furnishings are not cheap and stingy, not bare

202 THE HIGH CALLING
and monotonous, but liberal and varied, grace
ful and refined.
Now let me review these glorious possibil
ities, this authorised dominion in Christian
\ freedom of thought.
" Whatsoever things are true." True, not
simply veracious. The word " true " is not
used by the Apostle as we use it in a court of
law, when we enjoin a witness to " speak the
rtruth, the whole truth, and nothing but the
/truth." The things described in a police court
as true are usually ugly and repulsive ; truth is
always beautiful. Truth in a police court is
correspondence with fact. Truth as used in
the New Testament is correspondence with
God. An unclean story may be accurate; an
unclean story can never be true. A story is
true when in very substance it shares the like
ness of Him who is the truth. Veracity ac
curately describes a happening, truth describes
a particular happening. We are therefore en
joined not to think about merely accurate
things, but about accurate things which unveil
the face of God.

WHAT TO THINK ABOUT 203
" Whatsoever things are honourable."
Things that are worthy of honour, worthy of
reverence, the august and the venerable. The
Authorised Version uses the old English word
" honest," which is suggestive of gravity,
seemliness, dignity. There is a certain fine
stateliness in the word, recalling the impressive
grandeur of a cathedral pile. Whatsoever
things make the character of men and women
to resemble the imposing proportions of a
cathedral " think on these things."
" Whatsoever things are just." And yet our
word " just " does not convey the Apostle's
mind and meaning. Justice can be very cold
and steely, like the justice of a Shy lock. It
may mean only superficial exactitude as be
tween man and man. But to be really just is
to be right with God. No man is really just
until he is adjusted to his Maker. Whatsoever
things satisfy the standards of the Almighty,
" think on these things."
" Whatsoever things are pure." But to be
pure is to be more than just. It is to be stain
less, blameless, and unblemished.

204 THE HIGH CALLING
" Whatsoever things are lovely." We are
to bring the amiable and the lovable within the
circle of our regard. John Calvin gives the
meaning as " morally agreeable and pleasant."
I am glad that juicy word came from the lips
of that austere prophet. There are many peo
ple who think that religion is synonymous with
the disagreeable, and that only when things are
unpalatable may we regard ourselves as safe.
Dr. Matheson tells of a young woman who
came to him in great distress over her failure
to fulfil the religious duties of life. He was
aware that at this very time she was living a
life of sacrificial devotion to a blind father,
" I asked if this service of hers was not a
religious duty. She answered, ' Oh no, it can
not be, because that brings me such joy, and
it is the delight of my heart to serve my
father.' " It is a most common and perilous
mistake. There are tens of thousands of
duties and liberties which are juicy and
delicious, and they are the portion of those who
sit down at the Lord's feast.
" Whatsoever things are of good report."

WHAT TO THINK ABOUT 205
Not merely things that are well reported of, but
things which themselves have a fine voice,
things that are fair speaking, and therefore
gracious, winsome, winning, and attractive.
And then, as though he were afraid that the
vast enclosure was not yet wide enough, and
that some fair and beautiful thing might still be
outside its comprehensive pale, the Apostle adds
still more inclusive terms, and says, " // there
he any virtue," whatever is merely excellent;
" and if there be any praise," whatever is in
any degree commendable, — take account of
them, bring them within the circle of your com
mendation and delight, " think on these
things." Fasten your eyes upon the lovely
wheresoever the lovely may be found. Such is
the vast and authorised circle of our mental
hospitality. Let us therefore go about on
journeys of exploration. Let us seek for these
lovely things in humanity, in nature, and in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Everywhere our eyes will
be surprised by gracious discoveries, and in the
brightness of our possessions we shall be " chil
dren of light."

XXXII
THE THINGS WHICH LEAD TO PEACE
" The things which ye both learned and received and
heard and saw in me, these things do; and the
God of peace shall be with you" (Phil. iv. 9),
In our last meditation the Apostle has been
unveiling to us the spacious sphere of Christian
contemplation. Now he passes from thinking
to doing. The transition is perhaps unneces
sary, because the character of our doings is in
evitably determined by the character of our
thoughts, A revolution in a man's mind will
always result in a revolution of the life. If
we alter the patterns in the loom, the entire pat
terns of the finished product will be changed.
It is absolutely impossible to have a beautiful
mind and a repulsive life. " As a man think
eth in his heart, so is he," Whatever may be
the errors and the idle fancies of Christian
Science, in this particular matter they stand
206

THINGS WHICH LEAD TO PEACE 207
upon the truth of the everlasting God. Get the
thought put right and everything will be in
tune. And so I say it was perhaps unneces
sary for the Apostle to add to his counsel about
thinking a further counsel about doing.
But perhaps Paul's further counsel is only
intended to be a particular emphasis of the ad
vice just given. He turns their thoughts to
meditations upon his own life and teaching.
" The things which ye both learned and re
ceived and heard and saw in me, these things
do." Happy the teacher who is not afraid of
the fiearer turning from the message to the
messenger. I looked at a florist's shop the
other day, and I saw a great many packets of
seeds. In the middle of the window there was
an exquisitely beautiful plant in flower, and at
tached to it were these words, " Grown from
our seed," I say thrice blessed is the minister
of God who, when he has been commending the
seed of the word, can point to his own evident
experiences as confirmation of its power and
grace. And thrice miserable are those servants
of God whose speech is utterly belied by their

208 THE HIGH CALLING
life. Now the Apostle Paul is bold enough to
ask his readers to examine the word and works
of grace in his own life. There is no un
worthy conceit in the challenge. He makes no
profession to be perfect as our earlier medita
tions disclose. But he does claim that the Lord
has worked miracles in his own Hfe, and that
the signs of the miracles are open to the
common eye. Why should he not make his
boast in the Lord ? "I know whom I have
believed." " I am persuaded that He is able
to keep." " My life bears witness to my words;
Examine it."
First of all, the Apostle is assured of the
truth of his own message. He is in no man
ner of doubt concerning " the things ye have
learned and received." And we know where
these things made their centre. The Apostle's
teaching gathered itself round about the cross.
The Apostle further taught that no one could
live by the cross without being inspired by the
secret of sacrifice, and impelled to self-cruci
fixion. No one who dwelt in the shadow of
Calvary would be unwilling to shed his own

THINGS WHICH LEAD TO PEACE 209
blood. Calvary must be in some degree re
peated in the life of every disciple. We must
take up our cross and follow Him. I recently
walked over a trackless Alp, guided only by red
marks upon the rocks. I reached my destina
tion by esteeming those bloody sides as the
marks of the right road. And so it is in the
life of fellowship with the Lord. When we
are self-crucified we are on the road that will
bring us at last unto the perfect glory, " These
things do,"
In the second place, the Apostle was per
fectly sure of the trend of his own life. " The
things which ye , , , heard and saw in me."
Again I say, there is no conceit in a man's af
firming that he seeks the things that are above.
There is no rude pride in a man's declaration
that he is " marching to Zion." He may slip
and even fall, but he will fall with his face to
the light. Paul did not speak in lame hes
itancies and in trembling doubts. He did not
whisper; " I hope I am following the Saviour."
He spoke in tones of perfect assurance, and his
confidence acted like a splendid contagion. It

210 THE HIGH CALLING
would never do for an Alpine guide to pause
and hesitate and speak in stammers concerning
his knowledge of the road. He must step out
quietly and confidently, in order that the others
may follow with assurance in his steps. Paul
was just an Alpine guide into the hill country
of the Eternal God. And he was not afraid to
turn to his children, begotten of the faith, and
call them to mark his footprints and follow on.
" The things which ... ye saw in me, these
things do."
And here is the reward of such meditation
and obedience. " The God of peace shall he
with you." And that is everything. If the
King is present at the table, a crust is a feast.
If the Lord is on the battlefield, then amid all
the surrounding turbulence there is a centre of
peace. When the God of peace is in the life
there is a chamber in which the sound of war
fare never comes. A motorist said to me the
other day : " The most tempestuous storm
never gets into my engine." And so it is when
the Lord is with us. The real dynamics of the
life are unimpaired. And what matters it if

THINGS WHICH LEAD TO PEACE 211
the world bruises my skin or denies me
transient comforts, if my heart is sound, and if
all that is within me is kept in the smooth activ
ity of " perfect peace " ? The red road is a
way of constant struggle, but it is also the path
of unbroken peace.

XXXIII
THE SECRET OF CONTENTMENT
"/ have learned in whatsoever state I am, therein to
be content" (Phil. iv. ii). "/ rejoice in the Lord
greatly, that now at length ye have revived your
thought for me; wherein ye did indeed take thought,
but ye lacked opportunity."
I think if David Livingstone could have met
the Apostle Paul he would have described him
as he once described the Master, as " a perfect
gentleman." There is always a most delicate
courtesy in Paul's intercourse with his fellow-
men. He never lays aside his masculine ro
bustness; but there is always a touch as of moss
upon the rock. He never becomes effeminate
in order to be gentle; his tenderness is always
the garment of strength. And in the passage
I have just quoted, how gracious is his refer
ence to the care which the Philippians have
shown toward him. 312

SECRET OF CONTENTMENT 213
How exquisitely does he recall their min
istry in his necessity. He lifts up their deed
until the light of the Lord rests upon it, and
makes it shine in His reflected glory. The Phi
lippians were greatly honoured in their services.
To minister to a minister is to acquire a share
in his reward. Any man who helped the Apos
tle Paul will know how to sing the Apostle's
song. And this is the province of little people
who have not been greatly dowered with impos^k
ing gifts. If I cannot be a Paul I can be a (
Paul's helper. " The Lord be gracious unto the '
house of Onesiphorus, for he oft refreshed me,
and was not ashamed of my chain." I suppose
that Oneisphorus would never realise what he
was doing, and little did he think that he was
bringing refreshing water to the thirsty soul of
the greatest Apostle the world would ever
know. For even so great a man as the Apostle
Paul had need of cups of cold water. I some
times think that great men suffer the greatest
impoverishment in the realm of human kind
ness. In the first place, we are afraid of ap
proaching them lest our offers should seem pre-

214 THE HIGH CALLING
sumptuous and impertinent. Or we think that
such little ministries as ours can never be
needed, and the kindly service is withheld. A
friend of Ian Maclaren has recently told us of
the delicate delight it gave him when anybody
did him a kindness. An individual act of per
sonal grace made his heart sing for many a
day. The Philippians had thus ministered to the
Apostle's needs. But even while graciously ac
knowledging their kindness he makes haste to
boast his contentment in the midst of all his
changing circumstances. He proclaims a cer
tain proud independence of his surroundings
whether they be unfavourable or fair. His cir
cumstances shall never be his masters, they
shall pay homage to him as servants. If in
ways of life he passes through the sunny moods
of June, all well and good. If he passes into
the sullen, chilling moods of November, well
and good. " I have learned in whatsoever
state I am, therein to be content," Sometimes
life is " abased " and all the waters are low, and
no enterprise seems to float, nothing rides forth

SECRET OF CONTENTMENT 215
in the strength of triumph. And sometimes
life abounds, and the waters are at the flood,
and the stranded purposes are afloat again, and
everything rides prosperously. Sometimes life
is filled and sometimes it is hungry. But in all
these sharply antagonistic circumstances the
Apostle proclaims his restfulness in the
Eternal. And he declares that the explanation is to be
found in a certain secret which he has learned.
He has made us familiar with that secret. It
is a certain fellowship with the King, an in
timacy which makes the Apostle laugh at im
possibilities and which turns the most frown
ing providence into a smiling face. No wrinkle
of dissatisfaction shall ever deface the Apostle's
countenance so long as the King is willing to
be a guest at his table. Paul looked out with
contented spirit upon the darker seasons of his
life, and watched with most childlike curiosity
to see how the Lord would use them. He did
not resent a day because it approached with
gloomy front; he eagerly waited to see
its unveiling, I opened a black-edged envelope

216 THE HIGH CALLING
the other day, and found inside a cheque for
a much needed service. It came suggestive of
mourning; its contents were ministers of joy.
And Paul looked well at the darker season for
he knew it would contain something of " the
unsearchable riches of Christ,"
It is a great lesson and one which many of
us are very slow to learn. We perpetuate the
mistakes of the old Jews, and we regard the
gloomy experiences as alien to our good, and
even as expressing the reproach and disfavour
of the Lord. And therefore, how can we be
peacefully contented when the heavens lower
and the darkness steals up to our gate? We
are contented in "the merry May-time; " but
how about the fall of the leaf ? When the chill
comes, does it incite the murmur ? Is our piety
dependent on the seasons ? Is it a fair-weather
creation? We have seen that Paul's content
ment was not the prey of the seasons, flourish
ing or fading just as the air was soft or keen.
His contentment remained unchanged, and the
secret of it all was this, he had learned that
there was a gracious purpose even in the dark

SECRET OF CONTENTMENT 217
cloud, that gloomy experiences were not
chaotic, striking human life like destructive
meteors which whirl outside the range and path
of law. Everything had a beneficent heart, and
its approach was directed by the loving purpose
of God. That is the way to encounter the vis
itor who comes to us in sable robes. Behind
the dark garments there is the King's pres
ence. The plumage is black, but " it is the
Lord who cometh, with healing in His wings."

XXXIV
THE MIGHTY DYNAMIC
"/ can do all things in Him that strengtheneth me"
(Phil. iv. 13),
Yes, but who is the man behind the speech?
The quality in the man's testimony is condi
tioned by the quality of the life which presents
it. If a man has been born with a silver spoon
in his mouth, if life has been a lazy afternoon
in the lotus land of ease, the testimony of his
pretended victories is worthless. What sort of
life is there behind this witness? What
dragons has he encountered ? What sort of a
devil has he met ? And how many times has he
been compelled to fight his way through armed
hosts? Has life been a picnic or a crusade?
The Apostle Paul does not shrink before ques
tionings like these. He has a great history be
hind him. He has run the gauntlet of the
fiercest fires. He has encountered tremendous
218

THE ^HGHTY DYNAMIC 219
obstacles, and he has beaten them into fine dust.
He it is who, at the end of his tempestuous
days, bequeaths this jubilant testimony, " I can
do aU things in Him that strengtheneth me."
What has he done? He has discarded old
prejudices, which had grown upon him like a
skin, I have very deliberately chosen this fig
ure of speech. A prejudice, which at first is
like a loose fitting garment, at last binds life
like a vital skin. This, perhaps, is particularly
true of religious prejudices, and more espe
cially when they take an ecclesiastical form,
Paul had been a Pharisee, a member of the
strictest sect of the Pharisees, narrow and ex
clusive, and possessed by a spirit of keen and
bitter jealousy. And in the strength of the
Lord Christ he had taken those prejudices,
stripped them from him, and had become
clothed in the fine sympathies which are char
acteristic of the Christian redemption.
What else had he done ? He had encountered
the violence and enmity of those who were still
in the bonds of prejudice. There is no an
tagonism like the antagonism of those you

220 THE HIGH CALLING
desert. When a politician crosses the floor of
the House he is followed by intense and bitter
resentment. When a member of a religious
society changes his ecclesiastical home nothing
can exceed the severe enmity of his old co
religionists. And so it was with the Apostle
Paul. He had changed his sphere and he be
came encircled with the malicious persecution
of his old friends. They had no reply to his
message, they would therefore kill the mes
senger. And yet he was not dismayed nor
vanquished. Again and again he returns to
the sphere of violence and persecution and pro
claims anew the evangel of redeeming grace,
" I can do all things."
What else did he do ? He embarked upon a
crusade for the propagation of his new faith.
A disciple of Jesus, he became an Apostle of
Jesus. He went forth to lands afar, carrying
the flame of his evangel to peoples of strangely
varied conditions. Let us think of the strength
and insight required in this manifold variety of
condition and need. Every sphere he entered
seemed to present a circle of new conditions.

THE MIGHTY DYNAMIC 221
Now he was meeting with a few women by the
riverside at Philippi, and now with the philoso
phers at Mars Hill; and again he spake amid
the pomp and luxury of imperial Rome. But
Paul was level to the occasion. Every emer
gency found him fully equipped. " I can do all
things." And how did he do it ? "I can do
all things in Him that strengtheneth me." The
strength was transmitted to him. There was
a great power-house, and the energy was con
veyed to him as a humble receiver. But it was
more than a transmission; it was a personal
transmission. " Him strengthening me." At
either end there is a person, and a power passes
from one to the other. It is not that at one end
there is a great historic hero, a supreme exam
ple in a great gallery of heroes, and at the
other end a living contemporary with searching
and immediate need. No, at either end there
is a living soul, and the Apostle Paul is dealing
with a living communicative energising Christ,
Paul drew his sap, his spiritual force, the power
which made him effective, out of living fellow
ship with the living Christ of God.

222 THE HIGH CALLING
The tragedy in so many professedly Chris
tian lives is here; they have no adequate power
house, and when they are confronted with a
supremely difficult task they fail to cope with
it, and are disastrously overwhelmed. They
draw their power from ideals and philosophies,
and it is as precarious as depending upon the
electricity which we can entice from the clouds.
What we need is a living Personality, who is
Himself " the fountain of life," and who will
pour the floods of His own vitality into our
own impoverished souls. It is only " in Him "
that there is " bread enough and to spare."
When the new and heavy demand has been met
we shall not be exhausted; there is a reserve of
power which keeps us fresh for the next en
counter. If we are to live a vigorous and tri
umphant life, carrying all before us, we need a
mighty dynamic, and we can find it only in the
risen and glorified Lord. " In Him " we " can
do all things," even the apparently impossible,
I was speaking with a Salvation Army ofiicer
some time ago, and he was telling me some
thing of his dark and unregenerate days.

THE MIGHTY DYNAMIC 223
" And, sir," he said, " I had a terrible temper.
In a minute it would change me into a devil."
"I suppose you have conquered it now?" I
said. " Oh no," he replied, " Christ has con
quered it for me." The impossible had been
done. And that is the secret of the victorious
life.

xxxv
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
"Howbeit ye did well, that ye had fellowship with my
affliction" (Phil. iv. 14).
The Apostle always exults in the conception
of fellowship. There is no spiritual privilege
to which he more frequently returns. He re
gards himself as the centre of vast correspond
ences radiating in every direction. He is like
some central telephonic exchange, and his in
timacies are in every quarter. He has fellow
ship with the Divine. The Holy Spirit and he
are in constant communion. There is a cease
less passage of heavenly commerce; aspiration
and inspiration cross each other continually.
And he has fellowship with the human, enter
ing into the secrets of another man's life,
vibrating in ready sympathy with his thought
and feeling. But there is one particular feature
in his conception of fellowship which I wish to

CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP 225
emphasise. He is possessed by an intense de
sire to have communions with the darker
things, both in his fellow-man and in his Lord.
" That I may know Him . . . and the fel
lowship of His sufferings." He was not con
tented to share the triumph of Olivet; he
wanted to feel something of the pang and chill
and loneliness of Cjethsemane. And it is the
same in his relationship with his fellow-men.
He longs to share their burdens, and their
secret sorrows. He will " weep with them that
weep." I am therefore not surprised to find
how heartily he commends the Philippians for
their " fellowship with him in his affiiction.
He had been in ways of necessity and they had
willingly shared his burden. He had been in
the gloom and they had sympathetically walked
with him in the darksome way.
" Not that I seek for the gift; hut I seek for
the fruit that increaseth to your account." I
think that is a most exquisite suggestion of
Paul's unselfish spirit. At the very moment
when he received their gift and feels relief
in his necessity, he is mindful of what is hap-

226 THE HIGH CALLING
pening in the lives of those who have bestowed
the gift. He knows that no man can engage in
any true ministry without some transfiguring
energy entering into his own life. No one can
engage in any true beneficence without person
ally gaining a certain enrichment of life. Paul,
therefore, is assured that while he has received
the gift, the givers have not gone without re
ward. He recognised their kindliness, but he
was also sensitive of their own spiritual en
largement. This is a wonderful sign of spir
itual alertness. He was more elated by their
gain than by their gift. He was jubilantly
sensitive to their growth at the very moment
when they were giving their treasure away.
There is no finer attainment in the spirit than
this. When our exclusiveness breaks up, and
in our moments of personal ecstasy we are
mindful of the light that is breaking in the lives
of others, we are assuredly putting on the Lord
Jesus Christ. But this is not an elementary at
tainment, one to which we easily spring in the
opening stages of the Christian life. It is a
matured grace and it comes as a natural issue

CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP 227
of large communion with our Lord. We may
test the vitality of our communion with Him
by our sensitiveness to our brother, and when
tested by this standard the Apostle is clearly
seen to have the mind of Christ.
But the Apostle's consciousness not only con
tains the element of gratitude, and discernment
of the spiritual enrichment of his brethren, it
also includes the relationship of the gift to the
Lord. For the ministry of man touches God,
and this threefold relationship was in the Apos
tle's mind. He is sensitive in every direction,
and therefore he is not numb to the impact
of human things upon the Divine. " The
things " that came from them were "as an
odour of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable,
well-pleasing to God." Here is a threefold
correspondence which so repeatedly possesses
the life of Paul. There was a felt kindness
offered to him by his friends in Philippi.
There was the fertilising influence of this kind
ness upon their own souls. And there was the
ascending odour of their gift to gratify the
spirit of our Lord.

228 THE HIGH CALLING
It is well for us to remember that every
act has this threefold influence, impinging
upon self and brother and God. When we
are sensitive to all of these, our life is com
plete. The negligence of any one of these im
plies that the holy circle of life is broken.
Now I have said that the attainment of these
large circles of fellowship is a matter of patient
cultivation. But, happily, the possible oppor
tunities of such cultivation are not scattered
and infrequent. Every moment affords a
favourable and congenial season. Every mo
ment of common intercourse gives us the op
portunity of practising brotherly discernment,
and of wistfully considering the spiritual gains
of our brother. There are some saints, and
Paul was one of them, who are sensitive to the
spiritual gains of their brethren as they would
be to a new perfume if their neighbour intro
duced into his garden a bed of mignonette.
But this need not be the acquisition of a few
saints; by patient and assiduous practice it can
become the gift of all.
And surely, too, we can practise the dis-

CHRISTLAN FELLOWSHIP 229
cernment of the pleasure of our Lord. When
ever a kindly deed is done, we can think of
the ascending odour, " an odour of a sweet
smell " most " acceptable " to God. And so
shall we come to " drink of the river of His
pleasures," and " the joy of the Lord " shall
be our strength.

XXXVI ,
THE APOSTLE'S EXCHEQUER
" My God shall fulfil every need of yours "
(Phil. iv. 19, 20).
The Philippian brethren had ministered to
the Apostle ; the Lord, in return, shall minister
to them. It was only through the Lord that
any return became possible. The Apostle was
a poor man. He had " suffered the loss of all
things." He could not "put his hand in his
pocket " and minister to material needs. In
one of his letters he jubilantly describes him
self as " having nothing, yet possessing all
things." And it is in the triumphant conclu
sion of this description that we discover the
secret of his noble pride. His poverty had a
glorious plus. His earthly bank was empty,
but he had another exchequer which was over-
flowingly full. Not a single square yard of
earth could he call his own and yet he owned
230

THE APOSTLE'S EXCHEQUER 231
the Lord of all the broad acres which stretched
themselves in sunny prodigality in every land
and clime. He could not boast of "my
money" but he was most joyfully proud of
" my God." That resource was never impov
erished. The " river of God " was always
" full of water." It was here, therefore, that
he looked for his " return department " when
he wished to requite his friends. The return
kindness travelled by way of God. " My God
shall fulfil every need of yours."
And so the very poorest saint has the won
derful privilege of remitting his love-debts to
the heavenly bank. We can bless our bene
factors through "the heavenly places." Our
own hands may be obtrusively empty, but we
can tell our affairs in the ears of Him who
commands all the hidden treasures and essences
of the universe. It may not be ours to make a
return in " gold, frankincense and myrrh," but
it is always in our gift to send heavenly spices,
soft winds of gracious inspiration, even the
things which the Lord Himself regards as " ex
cellent." And so the poor man can make a

232 THE HIGH CALLING
return to the rich man. Don't let any man sit
down in his material poverty and pine and
mope, because to him belongs only the art and
exercise of receiving; he, too, can lead a posi
tive and active life; he, too, can be a giver,
privileged to co-operate with the Lord in dis
tributing the wealthy merchandise of grace.
It is our glorious prerogative, as the conse
crated children of God, to steer argosies of
benediction to those who have kindly minis
tered to our need.
And how can we be sure of this? The as
surance is given to us in the heartening news
that the Lord is identified with His people in
the vital bonds of an inconceivable intimacy.
" Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least
of these. My brethren, ye did it unto me."
There is a nervously sensitive correspondence
between our affairs and our Lord. To touch
the one is to touch the other. A kindness done
to a saint is incense offered to the Lord. A
service rendered to a finger-tip is discerned in
the court of the mind, and service rendered to
the humblest subject of the kingdom is felt and

THE APOSTLE'S EXCHEQUER
appreciated by the King. How vast, then, is
the range of an apparently local kindness!
We thought we were ministering to a pauper,
and in reality we were conversing with the
King. We imagined that the fragrance would
be shut up in a petty neighbourhood, and lo,
the sweet aroma steals through the universe.
We thought we were dealing only with Paul,
and we find that we were ministering to Paul's
Saviour and Lord,
And therefore, Paul, in his poverty, con
fidently anticipates that the kindness of the
Philippians shall be more than returned by the
Lord who shared it. The vast wealth of the
Infinite shall move in reciprocal response. The
earthly ministry shall be repaid by " riches in
glory." Ahd there one is compelled to lay
down the pen in simple wonder. These
" riches " are " unsearchable," unexplorable,
vein beyond vein, mine beyond mine, continent
beyond continent, every new discovery of the
heavenly treasure sharpening the eyes for the
detection of treasure which is yet concealed.
And it is from this unspeakable and unthink-

234 THE HIGH CALLING
able glory that our kindly services are to be
repaid. Heaven is to move towards us, and
endow us with heavenly gifts and graces. The
great ocean of grace is to flow up to the shores
of our life, and fill every bay and cove with its
shining flood. The man who does a kindness
to a brother will find that he entertains his God.
"According to His riches in glory in Christ
Jesus; " according to the glory that shone and
burned in our Saviour, such shall be the meas
ure of the heavenly movement towards the chil
dren of men.
I do not wonder that the Apostle, after the
contemplation of his Divine resources, should
break into doxology. "Now unto our God
and Father be the glory for ever and ever."
With his growing experience of grace, Paul be
came increasingly grateful, and the letters of
his old age abound in thanksgiving. He had
learned the secret of keeping a wakeful spirit
by the ministry of " a grateful psalm." And
really there is nothing like gratitude for keep
ing people young. The pestering microbes,
which are so destructive of the peace and happi-

THE APOSTLE'S EXCHEQUER 235
ness of old age, cannot live in its fine and tonic
air. To be an expert at the " grateful psalm "
is to be immune from the devil. " No plague
shall come nigh thy dwelling." That man
shall be "compassed about with songs of re
joicing,"

XXXVII
THE CONSECRATION OF COURTESY
"Salute every saint in Jesus Christ" (Phil. iv. 21),
And so every conventionality is to be brought
within the circle of light, and thereby sancti
fied. Even the " bells upon the horses " must
be " holy unto the Lord." The apparently un
necessary is to be hallowed. The Apostle does
not favour a Christian life in which there is
a dark fringe where the trifles of life are
thrown together in heedless and thoughtless
confusion. Everything in the Christian life
must be pervaded by Christian grace and
clothed in sacred beauty. Nay, it may justly
be said that a man's growth in grace may be
measured by the progressive sanctification of
the things " which are least." The Christian
disciple begins with large canvases, he advances
to the small canvas. He draws his picture
236

CONSECRATION OF COURTESY 237
upon a thumb-nail. He puts the Infinite into
the inch.
Therefore I am not surprised that this great
epistle is culminating in the sanctification of
the common salute, the hallowing of the
ordinary courtesies between man and man.
And I think the lesson is by no means gratui
tous. There are many Christians, whose in
tegrity is unimpeachable, who would yield their
life rather than lie, but who are sorely lacking
in fine courtesy, in gracious and winsome be
haviour. They are never suspected, but they
are never liked. Their discipleship is unques
tioned, but they are regarded as boors. We
describe them as " genuine but rough," and in
our more tolerant moments we seek their sym
bol in the prickly chestnut burr, with its kernel
of sweet and toothsome food. The pity is that
there are Christians who make a boast of their
roughness, and their want of grace. They
obtrude their bluntness as a shopkeeper ex
poses a favourite article in his window, and
they find satisfaction in the exhibition.
Now, we cannot too clearly recognise that all

238 THE HIGH CALLING
roughness and bluntness suggest that the grace
of God is being hindered, and its ministry im
paired. It is absolutely sure that "the grace
of the Lord Jesus," if we give it unimpeded
sway, will make us perfectly gracious, beauti
fying even the most conventional relationships
of our life. The Lord who spends such infinite
pains upon a leaf will not permit a courtesy to
go unfinished. And therefore a professing
Christian should be as ashamed of roughness
as he is of falsehood, of discourtesy as he is of
a blazing temper. Truth is grace possessing
human speech; courtesy is grace possessing
common behaviour; and we limit the Holy One
when we hinder His entry into either sphere.
Let us, therefore, bring our " salutes " into
the circle of consecration. Let us take our
conventionalities, our familiar modes of recog
nition, our style of address, our manners, and
let them all be transfigured by becoming chil
dren of light. I am persuaded that there is
nothing which would more profoundly impress
the world than just the illumination of the
ordinary manners of the professing Christian

CONSECRATION OF COURTESY 239
with the grace and light of the Lord Jesus, It
is not our severe morals which attract the
world, but the winsomeness of our approach.
It is surprising how speedily a sweet fragrance
arrests men, and causes them to stand in de
lighted wonder. Some little time ago I heard a
working man give this testimony of his mas
ter, a master who enjoys a wide fame for his
philanthropy : " Ah, sir, but it's the fine way
he speaks to the likes of me that tells." And
so it is. For " though I give all my goods to
feed the poor, and' have not love," a love
which proves itself in tender and sensitive dis
cernment, and in exquisite touch, " I am
nothing." Yes, it is the manner of the
" salute " which tells.
After all, our intercourse with the majority
of men is concerned with very slender relation
ships, and unless we as Christians can make
these slender connections strikingly and start-
lingly beautiful, we have no further meaps of
bringing "the beauty of the Lord" to bear
upon our brethren. It ought to be one of the
most radiant distinctions of Christians that we

240 THE HIGH CALLING
thus enthuse and glorify these threads of com
munion between us and our fellow-men. The
electric energy flows into the flimsiest carbon
coil, and transforms its sombre gloom into sur
passing brightness. And the energies of grace
should flow into thread-like intimacies with our
passing brother, and make them so shining and
winsome that he shall be arrested with the
glory. A Christian's salute, his " Good morn
ing," his " Good night," his " How do you
do ? " should be distinguished from similar
salutes which spring from the lips of men of
the world. Our common conventionalities
must be made the evangelists of our Lord.
But I must not omit to notice that the
Apostle's counsel is more particularly given to
believers in their intercourse with other be
lievers. And surely the counsel is needful and
pertinent. I would to God we more diligently
practised the salute in the modern Church of
Christ. I would that Christians who worship
in the same building would become a little more
expert in the gracious art of Christian recogni
tion. And I would that Christians who wor-

CONSECRATION OF COURTESY 241
ship in different buildings, and under different
forms, would become a little more free and lib
eral in the Christian salute. How coolly we
treat one another; how often we "cut" one
another. And the world is looking on, I de
voutly pray that the readers of this page may
sacredly resolve to foster a more gracious com
munion, and to reaffirm the old apostolic
" salute " as one of the primary graces of the
Christian life.

XXXVIII
THE SAINTS OF CESAR'S HOUSEHOLD
"All the saints salute you, especially they that are of
Cesar's household" (Phil. iv. 22).
That is a very wonderful thing that the gen
tle river of Christian courtesy should be flow
ing from the hard precincts of imperial lust and
tyranny. These members of " Caesar's house
hold " are probably only the slaves and depend
ants of Nero, who were possibly converted
through Paul's teaching whilst he was a pris
oner in the Pretorian barracks attached to the
palace. But this does not in any way diminish
the wonder of the transforming ministry. For
in the courts of sovereigns the dependants usu
ally assimilate the vices of their monarch. They
become dyed in the popular colour, and they
wear the habits of the prevailing fashion. In
this respect vice is like virtue — " it streams
242

SAINTS OF CiESAR'S HOUSEHOLD 243
from the hills, it descends to the plains," and
the lowliest members in the vast fellowship are
prone to be infected with the common con
tagion. But here is a clean, clear river, streaming out
of the very centre of a poisonous swamp. Here
is a sweet spring lifting its healthful waters in
the bitter waste. Here is a white lily spread
ing its radiant purity above a very noisome bed.
This is the kind of miracle to arrest and startle
the world. Goodness in unexpected places!
" He maketh grass to grow upon the moun
tains." That is the wonder of it, that the ten
der thing is growing on the cold and inhospit
able heights. If we had found it in the shel
tered valley where the dews are heavy and
drenching, and where the harsh wind is soft
ened to a wooing caress, it would have awak
ened little or no interest. But to find it grow
ing " upon the mountains," on the very play
ground of the storm, in the very teeth of con
tending blasts — that is the marvel which fasci
nates our notice and regard.
Now, if I may write it very reverently, God

244 THE HIGH CALLING
seems to delight in rearing His beauties in the
most difficult and unlikely places. I recently
found a most exquisite fern, quite away from
any " ferny " fellowship, nestling in a heap of
bare and jagged rocks, and nourishing itself on
the merest pinch of soil. And yet there it was,
lifting its lovely fronds as bravely and trium
phantly as though it had all the wealth of a
moist and luscious forest-bed in which to lay its
roots. This seems to be one of the delights of our
God. Even in our grim, grimy, sooty railway
stations He makes His lichens grow, and we
should see them if only our eyes were suf
ficiently practised and expert in discernment.
But pre-eminently is all this true in the highest
regions of grace. The Lord loves to rear His
saints in unlikely and difficult places, yea, in the
very midst of blasphemy and desolation. He
has a peculiar joy in exhibiting His saints in
Caesar's household. He delights in growing a
disciple in the very ranks of the publicans.
" Even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy
right hand shall hold me."
One of the sweetest and purest souls I have

SAINTS OP CiESAR'S HOUSEHOLD 245
ever met, pure as a snowdrop, and sweet as the
eglantine, was thus wonderingly referred to by
a friend : " And her father was such a drunk
ard ! " Yes, even in that cold, chilly environ
ment the snowdrop grew. A commissioner of
one of our great London " dailies " has recently
been exploring some of the awful, howling
wastes of London's slums. He went into one
court, and up one terrible flight of stairs, where
gin and sweat and swearing and putridity were
horribly commingled, and in the very thick of
it all he heard a woman's sweet, clear, tri
umphant voice singing, " We thank Thee, O
our Father, for all things bright and good."
Yes, and the commissioner discovered that she
was a saint indeed. But how adverse the en
vironment. Where did the lovely fern find
even the requisite pinch of friendly earth ? God
knows, and He provided it. It seems as though
God's plants can laugh at circumstances, that
they can sink strange roots right through their
immediate setting, and reach such marvellous
resources that their inhospitable environment
counts for nothing. " He shall not fear in time

246 THE HIGH CALLING
of drought." " Though an host should en
camp against me, my heart shall not fear." The
word of the Lord abounds in such promises.
" Thou spreadest a table before me in the pres
ence of mine enemies." A feast, with the en
circling but impotent enemies looking on; the
environment most unfriendly, and yet the well-
filled table of the Lord in the midst.
And so we ought not to be despondent con
cerning the very hardest sphere. What could
have seemed more unlikely than that the insig
nificant Jew, the poor, lonely captive in Rome,
should have been made instrumental in unseal
ing fountains of blessedness in the hard, sterile
wastes of the court itself ? But " springs broke
out in the desert," And so let us address our
selves to wilderness-work with a courageous
and singing spirit. God is with us. Let us
put our best into the worst, and let us make the
stony waste resound with the happy song of the
minister of the Lord.

XXXIX
THE GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS
" The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your
spirit" (Phil. iv. 23).
And SO this letter, which began in a prayer
of grace, ends in the same petition. It is a lit
tle volume of graciousness, bound within the
covers of grace. It is therefore a model letter,
and should be regarded as the type of all Chris
tian correspondence and conversation. Inter
course which has its springs in grace, and
which returns to its fountain, will always be
pervaded by vitalising and fertilising power.
Water rises no higher than its source, and the
same law prevails in the realm of human fel
lowship. We don't begin high enough to keep
at a high level. We begin somewhere in the
country of our own self, and therefore our
neighbourly communion does not attain to the
247

248 THE HIGH CALLING
heights. The only hope of a lofty correspond
ence with our fellows is that we begin in " the
heavenly places in Christ Jesus," away in the
spiritual uplands, in the august and mighty
altitudes of grace. And the blessed privilege
of the Christian life is this, that all our affairs
can have mountain origin, and can be children
of the heights. Even a homely letter can take
its rise in grace.
" The grace of the Lord Jesus ! " Yes, but
what is grace ? We can no more define it than
we can define life, or loye, or Grod. But there
are certain aspects of it, which are described in
the Scriptures, and which, in the present stage
of our experience, are really all we need to
know. For instance, whatever it is, in its very
essence, it is something which we have not mer
ited or deserved. We cannot secure it by our
virtue; we cannot earn it by our toil. No man
can put out his hand and demand it as a right.
The outstretched hand must be the hand of a
suppliant, and he must take it as a favour.
Grace is the spontaneous gift of our God to
children who have nothing to offer in return.

GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS 249
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to Thy Cross I cling.
Naked, come to Thee for dress,
Helpless, look to Thee for grace.
Then, in the second place, grace is much
more than a favourable attitude of our God.
It is more than benignity of countenance and
friendliness of regard. It is a real, positive
energy, as real in the spiritual realm as elec
tricity in the realm of matter. Never let us
think of grace as only a passive sentiment — a
sort of indolent good-nature, a pose in which
the awful lightning hides its threatening darts
no more. No, grace is a positive power, an un-
thinkably active beneficence : grace works. If
any one will take the many references made to
grace by the Apostle Paul, and bring this clue
to their interpretation, he will be amazed what
a world of benign activity will open out be
fore him. Here is one, taken almost at ran
dom: "We have good hope through grace,"
That great word surely means more than that
the good Lord has flung open the pearly gates,
and that at the last we shall find an abundant

260 THE HIGH CALLING
entrance into His everlasting kingdom. The
good hope is kept alive, not only by an open
door, but by a present, active ministry of
spiritual force, which is just the grace of God.
The light in the old lighthouses was kept burn
ing by unfailing supplies of oil. And grace
is just the oil-energy in my life, and by its min
istry the light of hope is kept burning in my
soul, and I remain a consecrated optimist, a
child of light.
Or take this other reference of the Apostle :
" Singing with grace in your hearts, unto the
Lord." Am I to interpret this grace as just my
conception of God's goodness, or is it the real
energy of God's goodness working in me? I
know the season when song becomes natural,
and when my life breaks into spontaneous
music like the melody of the brook. It is when
my soul is fresh and buoyant, and I breathe a
spiritual air which is like the new, quick
ening air of the morning. Now, this is
accurately descriptive of one of the ministries
of grace. It purifies the climate of a life, it
washes and cleanses the spiritual atmosphere, it

GRACE OF THE LORD JESUS 251
is concerned with my breath and breathing, and
by the gloriously tonic and invigorating air it
gives elasticity to all my powers, and my very
feet become " like hind's feet," and I spring to
my work with a song. I might multiply sim
ilar examples, for the New Testament abounds
in them, and I think they would bring confirma
tion to the teaching that grace is the beneficent
love-energy of the eternal God, actively min
istering in the lives of men, and seeking their
loveliness in a perfected redemption.
And so grace produces graces; graces are
just its flowers and fruits. To whom, then, is
it given? " He giveth grace to the humble."
Grace can enter the heart of the humble pub
lican who stands afar off smiting upon his
breast, and he goes down to his house " justi
fied"; but the self-satisfied Pharisee is im
pervious to its influence, and dry-rot is proceed
ing within. Pride makes the heart grace-
proof; grace cannot get in. " To this man will
I look, even to him that is of a humble and con
trite heart." Such a one will joyfully find that
" where sin abounded, grace doth much more

252 THE HIGH CALLING
abound," and these energies of the mighty and
loving Redeemer will perfect His love-purpose
until the man is " all light in the Lord." And
therefore we may all heartily and sincerely
offer the Apostle's prayer for one another, for
it is the greatest prayer that can pass across
human lips, " The grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ be with your spirit."

THE END

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