{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_13460/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_13460","id":"gutenberg_13460","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/13460","summary":null,"tags":["Category: How To ...","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life -- Presbyterian authors","Christianity"],"text":"HOW TO BECOME LIKE CHRIST\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n  How to Become Like Christ\n  The Transfiguration\n  Indiscreet Importunity\n  Shame on Account of God's Displeasure\n  Naaman Cured\n  The Lame Man at the Temple Gate\n\n\nHOW TO BECOME LIKE CHRIST.\n\n\"But we all, with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of\nthe Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even\nas by the Spirit of the Lord.\"--2 COR. iii. 18 (Revised Version).\n\nI suppose there is almost no one who would deny, if it were put to\nhim, that the greatest possible attainment a man can make in this\nworld is likeness to The Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly no one would\ndeny that there is nothing but character that we can carry out of\nlife with us, and that our prospect of good in any future life will\ncertainly vary with the resemblance of our character to that of Jesus\nChrist, which is to rule the whole future. We all admit that; but\nalmost every one of us offers to himself some apology for not being\nlike Christ, and has scarcely any clear reality of aim of becoming\nlike Him. Why, we say to ourselves, or we say in our practice, it is\nreally impossible in a world such as ours is to become perfectly\nholy. One or two men in a century may become great saints; given a\ncertain natural disposition and given exceptionally favouring\ncircumstances, men may become saintly; but surely the ordinary run of\nmen, men such as we know ourselves to be, with secular disposition\nand with many strong, vigorous passions--surely we can really not be\nexpected to become like Christ, or, if it is expected of us, we know\nthat it is impossible. On the contrary, Paul says, \"We all,\" \"we\nall.\" Every Christian has that for a destiny: to be changed into the\nimage of his Lord. And he not only says so, but in this one verse he\nreveals to us the mode of becoming like Christ, and a mode, as we\nshall find, so simple and so infallible in its working that a man\ncannot understand it without renewing his hope that even he may one\nday become like Christ.\n\nIn order to understand this simplest mode of sanctification we must\nlook back at the incident that we read in the Book of Exodus (xxxiv.\n29-35.). Paul had been reading how when Moses came down from the\nmount where he had been speaking with God his face shone, so as to\ndazzle and alarm those who were near him.\n\nThey at once recognised that that was the glory of God reflected from\nhim; and just as it is almost as difficult for us to look at the sun\nreflected from a mirror as to look directly at the sun, so these men\nfelt it almost as difficult to look straight at the face of Moses as\nto look straight at the face of God. But Moses was a wise man, and he\nshowed his wisdom in this instance as well as elsewhere. He knew that\nthat glory was only on the skin of his face, and that of course it\nwould pass away. It was a superficial shining. And accordingly he put\na veil over his face, that the children of Israel might not see it\ndying out from minute to minute and from hour to hour, because he\nknew these Israelites thoroughly, and he knew that when they saw the\nglory dying out they would say, \"God has forsaken Moses. We need not\nattend to him any more. His authority is gone, and the glory of God's\npresence has passed from him.\" So Moses wore the veil that they might\nnot see the glory dying out. But whenever he was called back to the\npresence of God he took off the veil and received a new access of\nglory on his face, and thus went \"from glory to glory.\"\n\n\"That,\" says Paul, \"is precisely the process through which we\nChristian men become like Christ.\" We go back to the presence of\nChrist with unveiled face; and as often as we stand in His presence,\nas often as we deal in our spirit with the living Christ, so often do\nwe take on a little of His glory. The glory of Christ is His\ncharacter; and as often as we stand before Christ, and think of Him,\nand realise what He was, our heart goes out and reflects some of His\ncharacter. And that reflection, that glory, is not any longer merely\non the skin of the face; as Paul wishes us to recognise, it is a\nspiritual glory, it is wrought by the spirit of Christ upon our\nspirit, and it is we ourselves that are changed from glory to glory\ninto the very image of the Lord.\n\nNow obviously this mode of sanctification has extraordinary\nrecommendations. In the first place, it is absolutely simple. If you\ngo to some priest or spiritual director, or minister of the Gospel,\nor friend, and ask what you are to do if you wish to become a holy\nman, why, even the best of them will almost certainly tell you to\nread certain books, to spend so much time in prayer and reading your\nBible, to go regularly to church, to engage in this and that good\nwork. If you had applied to a spiritual director of the middle ages\nof this world's history and of the history of Christianity, he would\nhave told you that you must retire from the world altogether in order\nto become holy. Paul says, \"Away with all that nonsense!\" We are\nliving in a real world; Christ lived in a real world: Christ did not\nretire from men. And He says all that you have to do in order to be\nlike Christ is to carry His image with you in your heart. That is\nall. To be with Him, to let Him stand before you and command your\nlove, that will infallibly change you into His image. I do not know\nthat we sufficiently recognise the simplicity of Christian methods.\nWe do not understand what Paul meant by proclaiming it as the\nreligion of the spirit, as a religion superior to everything\nmechanical and external. Think of the deliverance it was for him who\nhad grown up under a religion which commanded him to go a journey\nthree times a year, to take the best of his goods and offer them in\nthe Temple, to comply with a multitude of oppressive observances and\nordinances. Think of the emancipation when he found a spiritual\nreligion. Why, in those times a man must have despaired of becoming a\nholy man; But now Paul says you will infallibly become holy if you\nlearn this easy lesson of carrying the Lord Jesus with you in your\nheart.\n\nAnother recommendation of this method is that it is so obviously\ngrounded on our own nature. No sooner are we told by Paul that we\nmust act as mirrors of Christ than we recognise that nature has made\nus to be mirrors, that we cannot but reflect what is passing before\nus. You are walking along the street, and, a little child runs before\na carriage; you shrink back as if you were in danger. You see a man\nfall from a scaffolding, crushed; your face takes on an expression of\npain, reflecting what is passing in him. You go and spend an evening\nwith a man much stronger, much purer, much saner, than yourself, and\nyou come away knowing yourself a stronger and a better man. Why?\nBecause you are a mirror, because in your inmost nature you have\nresponded to and reflected the good that was in him.\n\nLook into any family, and what do you see? You see the boy, not\nimitating consciously, but taking on, his father's looks and\nattitudes and ways; and as the boy grows up these become his own\nlooks and attitudes and ways. He has reflected his father from one\ndegree of proficiency unto another, from one intimacy, from one day's\nobservation of his father to another, until he is the image of the\nold man over again.\n\n\"Similarly,\" says Paul, \"live with Christ; learn to carry His image\nwith you, learn to adore Him, learn to love Him, and infallibly,\nwhether you will or not, by this simple method you will become,\nChrist over again; you will become conformed, as God means you to\nbecome conformed, to the image of His Son.\"\n\nThis has been tested by the experience of thousands; and it has been\nfound to be a true method. Every one who spends but two minutes in\nthe morning in the observation of Christ, every one who will be at\nthe pains to let the image of Christ rise before him and to remember\nthe purity, the unworldliness, the heavenliness, the godliness of\nJesus Christ, that man is the better for this exercise. And how\nutterly useless is it to offer any other method of sanctification to\nthousands of our fellow-citizens. How can many of our fellow-citizens\nsecrete themselves for prayer? If you ask them to go and pray as you\npray in your comfortable home, if you ask them to read the Bible\nbefore they go out at five or six o'clock in the morning, do you\nexpect that your word will be followed? Why, the thing is impossible.\nBut ask a man to carry Christ with him in his mind, that is a thing\nhe can do; and if he does it once, if only once the man sees Christ\nbefore him, realises that this living Person is with him, and\nremembers the character of Christ as it is written for us in the\nGospels, that man knows that he has made a step in advance, knows\nthat he is the better for it, knows that he does reflect, for a\nlittle, even though it be but for a little, the very image of the\nLord Jesus Christ; and other people know it also.\n\nNow, if that is so, there are obviously three things that we must do.\nWe must in the first place, learn to associate with Christ. I say\nthat even one reflection does something, but we need to reflect\nChrist constantly, continually, if we are to become like Him. When\nyou pass away from before a mirror the reflection also .goes. In the\ncase of Moses the reflection stayed for a little, and that is perhaps\na truer figure of what happens to the Christian who sets Christ\nbefore him and reflects him. But very often as soon as Christ is not\nconsciously remembered you fall back to other remembrances and\nreflect other things. You go out in the morning with your associates,\nand they carry you away; you have not as yet sufficiently impressed\nupon yourself the image of Christ. Therefore we must learn to carry\nChrist with us always, as a constant Companion. Some one may say that\nis impossible. No one will say it is impossible who is living in\nabsence from anyone he loves. What happens when we are living\nseparated from some one we love? This happens: that his image is\ncontinually in our minds. At the most unexpected times that image\nrises, and especially, if we are proposing to ourselves to do what\nthat person would not approve. At once his image rises to rebuke us\nand to hold us back. So that it is not only possible to carry with us\nthe image of Christ: it is absolutely certain that we shall carry\nthat image with us if only we give Him that love and reverence which\nis due from every human being. Who has done for us what Christ has\ndone? Who commands our reverence as He does? If once He gets hold of\nour affection, it is impossible that He should not live constantly in\nour hearts. And if we say that persons deeply immersed in business\ncannot carry Christ with them thus, remember what He Himself says:\n\"If any man love Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love\nhim, and we will come unto him.\" So that He is most present with the\nbusiest and with those who strive as best they can to keep His\ncommandments.\n\nBut we must not only associate with Christ and make Him our constant\ncompany: we must, in the second place, set ourselves square with\nChrist. You know that if you look into a mirror obliquely, if a\nmirror is not set square with you, you do not see yourself, but what\nis at the opposite angle, something that is pleasant or something\nthat is disagreeable to you; it matters not--you cannot see yourself.\nAnd unless we as mirrors set ourselves perfectly square with Christ,\nwe do not reflect Him, but perhaps things that are in His sight\nmonstrous. And, in point of fact, that is what happens with most of\nus, because it is here that we are chiefly tried. All persons brought\nup within the Christian Church pay some attention to Christ. We too\nwell understand His excellence and we too well understand the\nadvantages of being Christian men not to pay some attention to\nChrist. But that will not make us conform to His image. In order to\nbe conformed to the image of Christ we must be wholly His. Suppose\nyou enter a studio where a sculptor is working, will he hand you his\nhammer and chisel to finish the most difficult piece of his work or\nto do any part of it? Assuredly not. It is his own idea that he is\nworking out, and none but his own hand can work it out. So with us\nwho are to be moulded by Christ. Christ cannot mould us into His\nimage unless we are wholly His. Every stroke that is made upon us by\nthe chisel and mallet of the world is lost to His ideal. As often as\nwe reflect what is not purely Christian, so often do we mar the I\nimage of Christ.\n\nNow how is it with us? Need we ask? When we go along the street, what\nis it that we reflect? Do we not reflect a thousand things that\nChrist disapproves? What is it that our heart responds to when we are\nengaged in business? Is it to appeals that this world makes to us? Is\nit the appeal that a prospect of gain makes to us that we respond to\neagerly? That is what is making us; that is what is moulding and\nmaking us the men that we are destined to be. We are moulded into the\ncharacter that we are destined to live with for ever and ever, by our\nlikings and dislikings, by the actual response that we are now giving\nday by day to the things that we have to do with in this world. We\nmay loathe the character of the sensualist; no language is too strong\nfor us when we speak of him: but if we, in point of fact, respond to\nappeals made to the flesh rather than appeals made to the spirit, we\nare becoming sensual. We may loathe and despise the character of the\navaricious worldly man; we may see its littleness, and pettiness, and\ngreed, and selfishness: but do our own hearts go out in response to\nany offer of gain more eagerly than they go out to Christian work or\nto the interests of Christ's kingdom? Then we are becoming worldly\nand avaricious; we are becoming the very kind of men that we despise.\n\nOf course we know this. We Know that we are being made by what we\nrespond to, and the older we grow we know it the more clearly; we see\nit written on our own character that we have become the kind of men\nthat we little thought one day we should become, and we know that we\nhave become such men by responding to certain things which are not\nthe things of the Spirit. Never was a truer word said than that he\nthat Soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption, and he\nonly that soweth to the Spirit shall reap life. That is what in other\nterms Paul here says. He says, \"If you set yourselves square with\nChrist, you will become like Him; that is to say, if you find your\nall in Him, if you can be absolutely frank and honest with Him, if\nyou can say, 'Mould and fashion me according to Thy will; lead me\naccording to Thy will; make me in this world what Thou wilt; do with\nme what Thou wilt: I put myself wholly at Thy disposal; I do not wish\nto crane to see past Christ's figure to some better thing beyond; I\ngive myself wholly and freely to him'--the man that says this, the\nman that does this, he will certainly become like to Him. But the man\nwho even when he prays knows that he has desires in his heart that\nChrist cannot gratify, the man that never goes out from his own home\nor never goes into his own home without knowing that he has responded\nto things that Christ disapproves--how can that man hope to be like\nHim?\"\n\nWe must then associate with Christ, and we must set ourselves\nsquarely; we must. be absolutely true in our entire and absolute\ndevotion. Surely no man thinks that this is a hardship; that his\nnature and life will be restricted by giving himself wholly to\nChrist? It is only, as every Christian will tell you--it is only when\nyou give yourself entirely to Christ that you know what freedom\nmeans; that you know what it is to live in this world afraid of\nnothing. Superior to things that before you were afraid of and\nanxious about, you at length learn what it is to be a child of God.\nLet no man think that he lames his nature and makes his life poorer\nby becoming entirely the possession of Christ.\n\nBut, thirdly, we must set Christ before us and live before Him with\nunveiled face. \"We all _with unveiled face_ reflecting as a mirror.\"\nThrow a napkin over a mirror, and it reflects nothing. Perfect beauty\nmay stand before it, but the mirror gives no sign. And this is why in\na dispensation like ours, the Christian dispensation, with everything\ncontrived to reflect Christ, to exhibit Christ, the whole thing set\na-going for this purpose of exhibiting Christ, we so little see Him.\nHow is it that two men can sit at a Communion table together, and the\none be lifted to the seventh heaven and see the King in His beauty,\nwhile the other only envies his neighbour his vision? Why is it that\nin the same household two persons will pass through identically the\nsame domestic circumstances, the same events, from year to year, and\nthe one see Christ everywhere, while the other grows sullen, sour,\nindifferent? Why is it? Because the one wears a veil that prevents\nhim from seeing Christ; the other lives with unveiled face. How was\nit that the Psalmist, in the changes of the seasons even, in the\nmountain, in the sea, in everything that he had to do, found God? How\nwas it that he knew that even though he made his bed in hell he would\nfind God? Because he had an unveiled face; he was prepared to find\nGod. How is it that many of us can come into church and be much more\ntaken up with the presence of some friend than with the presence of\nChrist? The same reason still: we wear a veil; we do not come with\nunveiled face prepared to see Him.\n\nAnd When we ask ourselves, \"What, in point of fact, is the veil that\nI wear? What is it that has kept me from responding to the perfect\nbeauty of Christ's character? I know that that character is perfect;\nI know that I ought to respond to it; I know that I ought to go out\neagerly towards Christ and strive to become like Him; why do I not do\nit?\" we find that the veil that keeps us from responding thus to\nChrist and reflecting Him is not like the mere dimness on a mirror\nwhich the bright and warm presence of Christ Himself would dry off;\nit is like an incrustation that has been growing out from our hearts\nall our life long, and that now is impervious, so far as we can see,\nto the image of Christ. How can hearts steeped in worldliness reflect\nthis absolutely unworldly, this heavenly Person? When we look into\nour hearts, what do we find in point of fact? We find a thousand\n,things that we know have no right there; that we know to be wrong.\nHow can such hearts reflect this perfect purity of Christ? Well, we\nmust see to it that these hearts be cleansed; we must hold ourselves\nbefore Christ until from very shame these passions of ours are\nsubdued, until His purity works its way into our hearts through all\nobstructions; and we must keep our hearts, we must keep the mirror\nfree from dust, free from incrustations, once we have cleansed it.\n\nIn some circumstances you might be tempted to say that really it is\nnot so much that there is a veil on the mirror as that there is no\nquicksilver at all behind. You meet in life characters so thin, so\nshallow, that every good thought seems to go through and out of them\nat the other side; they hear with one ear, and it goes out at the\nother. You can make no impression upon them. There is nothing to\nimpress, no character there to work upon. They are utterly\nindifferent to spiritual things, and never give a thought to their\nown character. What is to be done with such persons? God is the great\nTeacher of us all; God, in His providence, has made many a man who\nhas begun life as shallow and superficial as man can be, deep enough\nbefore He has done with him.\n\nTwo particulars in which the perfectness of this method appears may\nbe pointed out. First of all, it is perfect in this: that anyone who\nbegins it is bound to go on to the end. The very nature of the case\nleads him to go on and on from glory to glory, back and back to\nChrist, until the process is, actually completed, and he is like\nChrist. The reason is this: that the Christian conscience is never\nmuch taken up with attainment made, but always with attainment that\nis yet to be made. It is the difference not the likeness that touches\nthe conscience. A friend has been away in Australia for ten years,\nand he sends you his likeness, and you take it out eagerly, and you\nsay, \"Yes, the eyes are the very eyes; the brow, the hair are exactly\nlike,\" but there is something about the mouth that you do not like,\nand you thrust it away in a drawer and never look at it again. Why?\nBecause the one point of unlikeness destroys the whole to you. Just\nso when any Christian presents himself before Christ it is not the\npoints of likeness, supposing there are any, which strike his\nconscience--it is the remaining points of difference that inevitably\nstrike him, and so he is urged on and on from one degree of\nproficiency to another until the process is completed, because there\nis no point at which a man has made a sufficient attainment in the\nlikeness of Christ. There is no point at which Christ draws a line\nand says, \"You will do well if you reach this height, and you need\nnot strive further.\" Why, we should be dissatisfied, we should throw\nup our allegiance to Christ if He treated us so. He is our ideal, and\nit is resemblance to Him that draws us and makes us strive forward;\nand so a man is bound, to go on, and on, and on, still drawn on to\nhis ideal, still rebuked by his shortcomings until he perfectly\nresembles Christ.\n\nAnd this character of Christ that is our ideal is not assumed by Him\nfor the nonce. He did not change His nature when He came to this\nearth; He did not put on this character to set us an example. The\nthings that He did, He did because it was His nature to do them. He\ncame to this world because His love would not let Him stay away from\nus. It was His nature that brought Him here, and it is His nature to\nbe what He is, and so his character is to become our nature; it is to\nbe so wrought in us that we cannot give it up. It is our eternal\ncharacter, and therefore any amount of pains is worth spending on the\nachievement of it.\n\nThe second point of perfectness lies here. You know that in painting\na likeness or cutting out a bust one feature often may be almost\nfinished while the rest are scarcely touched, but in standing before\na mirror the whole comes out at once. Now we often in the Christian\nlife deal with ourselves as if we were painters and sculptors, not as\nif we were mirrors: we hammer and chisel away at ourselves to bring\nout some resemblance to Christ in some particulars, thinking that we\ncan do it piecemeal; we might as well try to feed up our body\npiecemeal; we might as well try to make our eye bright without giving\nour cheek colour and our hands strength. The body is a whole, and we\nmust feed the whole and nourish the whole if any one part of it is to\nbe vigorous.\n\nSo it is with character. The character is a whole, and you can only\ndeal with your character as a whole. What has resulted when we have\ntried the other process? Sometimes we set ourselves to subdue a sin\nor cultivate a grace. Well, candidly say what has come of this.\nJudging from my own experience, I would say that this comes of it:\nthat in three or four days you forget what sin it was that you were\ntrying to subdue. The temptation is away, and the sin is not there,\nand you forget all about it. That is the very snare of sin. Or you\nbecome a little better in a point that you were trying to cultivate.\nIn that grace you are a shade improved. But that only brings out more\nastoundingly your frightful shortcoming in other particulars. Now,\nadopting Paul's method, this happens: Christ acts on our character\njust as a person acts upon a mirror. The whole image is reflected at\nonce. How is it that society moulds a man? How can you tell in what\nclass in society a man has been brought up? Not by one thing, not by\nhis accent, not by his bearing, not by his conduct, but the whole\nman. And why? Because a man does not consciously imitate this or that\nfeature of the society in which he is brought up, does not do it\nconsciously at all; he is merely reflecting it as a mirror, and\nsociety acts on him as a whole, and makes him the man he is. \"Just\nso,\" says Paul. \"Live with Christ, and He will make you the man that\nyou are destined to be.\"\n\nOne word in conclusion. I suppose there is no one who at one time or\nother has not earnestly desired to be of some use in the world.\nPerhaps there are few who have not even definitely desired to be of\nsome use in the kingdom of Christ. As soon as we recognise the\nuniqueness of Christ's purpose and the uniqueness of His power in the\nworld, as soon as we recognise that all good influence and all\nsuperlatively dominant influence proceeds from Him, and that really\nthe hope of our race lies in Jesus Christ--as soon as we realise\nthat, as soon as we see that with our reason, and not as a thing that\nwe have been taught to believe, as soon as we lay hold on it for\nourselves, we cannot but wish to do something to forward His purposes\nin the world. But as soon as we form the wish we say, \"What can we\ndo? We have not been born with great gifts; we have not been born in\nsuperior positions; we have not wealth; we are shut off from the\ncommon ways of doing good; we cannot teach in the Sabbath school; we\ncannot go and preach; we cannot go and speak to the sick; we cannot\nspeak even to our fellow at the desk. What can we do?\" We can do the\nbest thing of all, as of course all the best things are open to every\nman. Love, faith, joy, hope, all these things, all the best things,\nare open to all men; and so here it is open to all of us to forward\nthe cause of Christ in the most influential way possible, if not in\nthe most prominent way. What happens when a person is looking into a\nshop window where there is a mirror, and some one comes up\nbehind--some one he knows? He does not look any longer at the image;\nhe turns to look at the person whose image is reflected. Or if he\nsees reflected on the mirror something very striking: he does not\ncontent himself with looking at the image; he turns and looks at the\nthing itself. So it is always with the persons that you have to do\nwith. If you become a mirror to Christ your friends will detect it in\na very few days; they will see appearing in you, the mirror, an image\nwhich they know has not been originated in you, and they will turn to\nlook straight at the Person that you are reflecting. It is in that\nway that Christianity passes from man to man.\n\n\nTHE TRANSFIGURATION.\n\n\"And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, He took\nPeter and John and James and went up into the mountain to\npray.\"--LUKE ix. 28-36.\n\nThe public life or our Lord falls into two parts; and the incident\nhere recorded is the turning point between them. In order that He\nmight leave behind Him when He died a sure foundation for His Church,\nit was necessary that His intimate companions should at all events\nknow that He was the Christ, and that the Christ must enter into\nglory by suffering death. Only then, when they understood . this,\ncould He die and leave them on earth behind. Now it is just at this\npoint in His life that it has become quite clear that the first\narticle of the Christian creed--that Jesus is the Christ--had been at\nlast definitely accepted by the disciples. Very solemnly our Lord has\nput it to them: \"Who say ye that I am ?\" No doubt it was a trying\nmoment for Him as for them. What was He to do if it had not now\nbecome plain at least to a few steadfast souls that He was the\nChrist--the Messenger of God to men? Happily the impulsiveness of\nPeter gives Him little space for anxiety; for he, with that generous\noutburst of affectionate trust which should ring through every creed,\nsaid, \"Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.\" You see the\nintensified relief which this brought to our Lord, the keen\nsatisfaction He felt as He heard it distinctly and solemnly uttered\nas the creed of the Twelve; as He heard what hitherto He could only\nhave gathered from casual expressions, from wistful awe-struck looks,\nfrom overheard questionings and debatings with one another. You see\nhow at once, He steps on to a new footing with them, as He cordially,\nand with intense gratitude, says to Peter, \"Blessed art thou, Simon\nBarjona.\" In this Divinely-wrought confession of Peter's, He finds at\nlast the foundation stone of the earthly building the beginning of\nthat intelligent and hearty reception of Himself which was to make\nearth the recipient of all heaven's fulness. But as yet only half the\nwork is done. Men believe that He is the King, but as yet they have\nvery little idea of what the kingdom is to consist. They think Him\nworthy of all glory, but the kind of glory, and the way to it they\nare ignorant of. From, that time forth, therefore, began Jesus to\nshow unto them how He must go unto Jerusalem and suffer many things,\neven of the men who ought chiefly to have recognised Him, and to be\nraised again the third day.\n\nOnce before our Lord had been tempted in another way to the throne of\nthe universal dominion of men; again this temptation is pressed upon\nHim by the very men who should have helped Him to resist it; His\nclosest, His warmest, His most enlightened friends, those who stand\non quite a different plane from the world at large, are His tempters.\nSatan found in them an adequate mouthpiece. They, who should have\ncheered and heartened Him to face the terrible prospect, were\nhindrances, were an additional burden and anxiety to Him.\n\nNow, it is to this conversation that the incident known as the\ntransfiguration is linked by all the evangelists who relate it--the\nfirst three. It was six days after (or, as Luke says, eight days\nafter) this conversation that Jesus went up Mount Hermon for the sake\nof retirement and prayer. Plainly He was aware that the great crisis\nof His life had come. The time had come when He must cease teaching,\nand face His destiny. He had made upon His disciples an impression\nwhich would be indelible. With deliberation they had accepted Him as\nthe Messiah; the Church was founded; His work, so far as His teaching\nwent, was accomplished. It remained that He should die. To consecrate\nHimself to this hard necessity, He retired to the solitude of Mount\nHermon. We start, then, from the wrong point of view, if we suppose\nthat Jesus climbed Hermon in order to enjoy spiritual ecstasy, or\nexhibit His glory to those three men. Ecstasy of this kind must come\nunsought; and the way to it lies through conflict, humiliation,\nself-mastery. It was not simply to pray that Jesus retired; it was to\nengage in the great conflict of His life. And because He felt,\nHimself so much in need of kindness and support, He took with Him the\nthree companions He could most depend upon. They were loyal friends;\nand their very presence was a strength to Him. So human was Jesus,\nand now so heavily burdened, that the devotedness of these three\nplain men--the sound of their voices, the touch of their hands as\nthey clambered the hill together, gave Him strength and courage. Let\nno one be ashamed to lean upon the affection of his fellow-men. Let\nus, also, reverently, and with sympathy, accompany our Lord and\nwitness, and endeavour to understand, the conflict in which He now\nengaged. It has been suggested that the transfiguration may best be\nunderstood as a temptation. Undoubtedly there must have been\ntemptation in the experience of Jesus at this crisis. It was for the\npurpose of finally consecrating Himself to death, with all its\npainful accompaniments, that He now retired. But the very difficulty\nof this act of consecration consisted just in this: that He might, if\nHe pleased, avoid death. It was because Peter's words, \"This be far\nfrom Thee,\" touched a deep chord in His own spirit, and strengthened\nthat within Himself which made Him tremble and wish that God's will\ncould in any other wise be accomplished--it was this which caused Him\nso sharply and suddenly to rebuke Peter. Peter's words penetrated to\nwhat was lurking near at hand as His normal temptation. We may very\nreadily underrate the trial and temptation of Christ, and thus have\nonly a formal, not a real, esteem for His manhood. We always\nunderrate it when we do not fully apprehend His human nature, and\nbelieve that He was tempted in all points as we are. But, on the\nother hand, we underrate it if we forget that His position was wholly\ndifferent from ours. That Jesus had abundant nerve and courage no\nreader of the Gospels can, of course, doubt. He was calm in the midst\nof a storm which terrified experienced boat-men; in riots that\nthreatened His life, in the hands of soldiers striving to torment Him\nand break Him down, in the presence of judges and enemies, He\nmaintained a dignity which only the highest courage could maintain.\nThat such a Person should have quailed at the prospect of physical\nsuffering, which thousands of men and women have voluntarily and\ncalmly faced, is simply impossible to believe. Neither was it\nentirely His perception of the spiritual significance of death which\nmade it to Him a far more painful prospect than to any other.\nCertainly this clear perception of the meaning of death did add\nimmensely to its terrors; but if we are even to begin to understand\nHis trial, and begin is all we can do--we must bear in mind what\nPeter had just confessed, and what Jesus Himself knew--that He was\nthe Christ. It was this which made the difference. Socrates could\ntoss off the poison as unmoved as if it had been a sleeping-draught,\nbecause he was dying for himself alone. Jesus could only with\ntrembling take into His hand the fatal cup, because He knew that He\nwas standing for all men. If He failed, all failed. Everything hung\nupon Him. The general who spends the whole night pacing his tent,\ndebating the chances of battle on the morrow, is not tormented with\nthe thought of his own private fate, but with the possibilities of\ndisaster to his men and to his country, if his design or his skill\nshould at any moment of the battle fail. Jesus was human; and we deny\nHis humanity, and fail to give Him the honour due to it, if we do not\nrecognise the difficulty which He must always have felt in believing\nthat His single act could save the world, and the burden of\nresponsibility which must have weighed upon Him when He realised that\nit was by the Spirit He maintained in life and in death, that God\nmeant to bless all men. It was because He knew Himself to be the\nChrist, and because every man depended upon Him as the Christ, and\nbecause, therefore, the whole blessing God meant for the world\ndepended upon His maintaining faith in God through the most trying\ncircumstances--it was because of this that He trembled lest all\nshould end in failure. It was this which drove Him, again, and again,\nand again to the hills to spend all night in prayer, in laying His\nburden upon the only Strength that could bear it.\n\nBut in retiring in order, with deliberation, finally to dedicate\nHimself to death, this temptation must of necessity appear in all its\nstrength. It is only in presence of all that can induce Him to\nanother course that He can resolve upon the God-appointed way. As He\nprays two figures necessarily rise before Him, and intensify the\ntemptation. Moses and Elias were God's greatest servants in the past,\nand neither of them had passed to glory through so severe an ordeal.\nMoses, with eye undimmed and strength unabated, was taken from earth\nby a departure so easy that it was said to be \"by the kiss of God.\"\nElijah, instead of removal by death, ascended to his rest in a\nchariot of fire. Was it not possible that as easy an exodus might\nbefit Him? Might not this ignominious death He looked forward to make\nit impossible for the people to believe in Him? How could they rank\nHim with those old prophets whom God had dealt with so differently\nand so plainly honoured? Would people not almost necessarily accept\nthe death of the cross as proof that He was abandoned? Nay, did not\ntheir sacred books justify them in considering Him accursed of God?\nWas He correct in His interpretation of the Scriptures--an\ninterpretation which led Him to believe that the Messiah must suffer\nand die, but which none of His friends admitted, and none of the\nauthorities and skilled interpreters in His country admitted? Was it\nnot, after all, possible that His kingdom might be established by\nother means? We can see but a small part of the force of these\ntemptations, but If the presence of those august figures intensified\nthe normal temptation of this period, their presence was also a very\neffectual aid against this temptation. In their presence His\nanticipated end could no longer be called death; rather the\ndeparture, or, as the narrative says, the Exodus. The eternal will\nand mighty hand which had guided and upheld Moses when he bore the\nresponsibility and toil of emancipating a host of slaves from the\nmost powerful of rulers would uphold Jesus in the infinitely\nweightier responsibilities which now lay upon Him. Elijah, also, at a\ncrisis of his people's history, had stood alone against all the might\nand malignity of Jezebel and the priests of Baal; alone, and with\ndeath staring him in the face, he confessed God, and, by his\nsingle-handed victory, wrought deliverance for the whole people.\nTheir combined voice, therefore, says to Jesus, \"Banish all fear;\nlook forward to your decease at Jerusalem as about to effect an\nimmeasurably grander deliverance than that which gave freedom to your\npeople. Do not shrink from trusting that the sacrifice of One can\nopen up a source of blessing to all. Steadfast submission to God's\nwill is ever the path to glory.\"\n\nBut not only must our Lord have been encouraged and heartened by\nrecalling the individual experiences of these men, but their presence\nreminds Him of His relation to them in God's purposes; for Moses and\nElijah represent the whole Old Testament Church. By the Law and the\nProphets had God up to this time dealt with men; through these He had\nrevealed Himself. But Jesus had long since recognised that neither\nMoses nor Elias, neither Law nor Prophets, were sufficient. The\nChrist must come to effect a real mediation between God and man; and\nJesus knew that He Himself was the Christ. On Him lay the task of\nmaking the salvation of the Jews the salvation of the whole world; of\nbringing all men to Jehovah. It was under pressure of this\nresponsibility that He had searched the Scriptures, and found in the\nScriptures what those had not found--that it was necessary that\nChrist should suffer and so enter into glory.\n\nProbably it was not so much any one passage of Scripture which had\ncarried home to the mind of Jesus that the Christ must die. We may\nseek for that in vain; it was His perception of the real needs of\nmen, and of what the Law and the Prophets had done to satisfy these\nneeds, that showed Him what remained for the final Revealer and\nMediator to accomplish. The Law and the Prophets had told men that\nGod is holy, and men's blessedness, even as God's blessedness, lies\nin holiness. But this very teaching seemed to widen the breach\nbetween men and God, and to make union between them truly hopeless.\nBy the law came not union with God, but the knowledge of sin. To put\nit shortly, fellowship or union with God, which is the beginning and\nend of all religion, is but another name for holiness. Holiness is\nunion with God, and holiness can better be secured by revealing the\nholy God as a God of love than by law or by prophets. It is this holy\nlove and lovingness that the cross of Christ brings home to every\nheart. This revelation of the Father, no document and no officials\ncould possibly make; only the Beloved Son, only one who stood in a\npersonal relation to the Father, and was of the same nature, as truly\ndivine as human. Therefore the voice goes forth annulling all\nprevious utterances, and turning all eyes to Jesus--\"Hear Him!\"\nTherefore, as often as the mind of Christ was employed on this\nsubject, so often did He see the necessity of death. It was only by\ndying that men's sins could be expiated, and only by dying the\nfulness of God's love could be exhibited. The Law and the Prophets\nspoke to Him always, and now once more of the decease He must\naccomplish at Jerusalem. They spoke of His death, because it was His\ndeath that was presupposed by every sacrifice of the Law; by every\nprophecy that foretold good to man. The Law found its highest\nfulfilment in the most lawless of transgressions; prophecy found its\nrichest in that which seemed to crush out hope itself.\n\nNothing, then, could have been more opportune than this for the\nencouragement of our Lord. On earth He had found incredulity among\nHis best friends; incapacity to see why He should die; indifference\nto His object here. He now meets with those who, with breathless\ninterest, await His death as if it were the one only future event. In\ntheir persons He sees, at one view, all who had put their trust in\nGod from the foundation of the world; all who had put faith in a\nsacrifice for sin, knowing it was God's appointment, and that He\nwould vindicate His own wisdom and truth by finding a real\npropitiation; all who, through dark and troublous times, had strained\nto see the consolation of Israel; all who, in the misery of their own\nthought, had still believed that there was a true glory for men\nsomewhere to be attained; all who through the darkness and storm and\nfear of earth had trusted in God, scarcely daring to think what would\nbecome of their trust, but assured that God had spoken, nay, had\ncovenanted with His people, and finding true rest in Him. When all\nthese now stand before our Lord in the persons of Moses and Elias,\nthe hitherto mediators between God and man, must not their waiting\neyes, their longing, trustful expectation, have confirmed His resolve\nthat their hope should not be put to shame? The whole anxiety of\nguilty consciences, the whole hope of men awakened, the whole longing\nsigh for a God revealed, that had breathed from the ancient Church,\nat once became audible to His ear. At once He felt the dependence of\nall who had died in faith in the promise. He meets the eager,\nquestioning gaze of all who had hoped for salvation concentrated on\nHimself. Is this He who can save the lost, He who can bear the weight\nof a world's dependence? What an appeal there is here to His\ncompassion! How steadfastly now does He set His face towards\nJerusalem, feeling straitened till the world's salvation is secured,\nand all possibility of failure for ever at an end.\n\nThis, then, was for Jesus an appeal that was irresistible. As the\nfull meaning of all that God had done for His people through Law and\nProphets was borne in upon Him, He saw that He must die. Now, for the\nlast time, He put aside all His hesitations, and as He prays, He\nyields Himself to the will of the Father. Those are the supreme\nmoments in human life when man, through sore conflict and at great\ncost, gives himself up to the will of God. Never was there so sore a\nconflict, and never so much joy as here. His face was transfigured;\nit beamed with the light and peace of heaven that shone from within.\nThe eyes of the disciples closed on a face, every line of which they\nknew and loved--a face full of wisdom and resolve and deep-founded\npeace, showing marks of trouble, of trial, of endurance, of premature\nage; their eyes opened upon a face that shines with a preternatural\nradiance--a face expressing, more than ever face had done, the\ndignity and glory and joy of perfect harmony with God. He was\nGod-possessed, and the Divine glory shone from His face. It was at\nthe moment of his yielding all to God that Jesus attained His highest\nglory. Man's life is transformed when he allows God's will to fill it\nand shine through it; his person is transformed when he divests\nhimself of self-will, and allows God wholly to possess it.\n\nHow easy was it for the disciples at that hour to hear Him; to listen\nnow when He spoke of the cross, which, for Him and for all His\ndisciples, is the path leading from earth to heaven, from what is\nselfishly human to true human glory! It is on the cross that Jesus is\ntruly enthroned. It is because He became the Servant of all that He\nis greatest of all. If anyone could rival Him in the service he would\nrival Him in the glory. It is because He gave Himself for us, willing\nto do all to save us in our direst need, that He takes a place in our\nconfidence and in our heart that belongs to no other. He becomes the\none absolute need of every man, because He is that which brings us to\nGod, and gives God to us.\n\nHear Him, therefore, when, through His Providence, He preaches to you\nthis difficult lesson. If your difficulties and distresses are real;\nif you cannot labour without thinking of them; if you cannot rest\nfrom labour through fear of their possessing you; if your troubles\nhave assumed so hard a form, so real a place in your life, that all\nelse has come to seem unreal and empty, then remember that He whose\nend was to be eternal glory chose sorrow, that He might break a way\nto glory through human suffering. If there is nothing in your lot in\nlife which crosses and humbles you; if there is nothing in your\ncircumstances which compels you to see that this life is not for\nself-indulgence and self-gratification, then still you must win\nparticipation in your Lord's glory by accepting His lowliness and\nheavenliness of mind. It is not to outward success that you are\ncalled in His kingdom, it is to inward victory. You are called to\nmeekness, and lowliness, and mercy; to the losing of your life in\nthis world, that you may have life everlasting.\n\nNotice, in conclusion, the impression made on the disciples, as\ndisclosed in Peter's words, \"It is good to be here.\" Peter knew when\nhe was in good company. He was not very wise himself, but he had\nsense enough to recognise wisdom in others. He was not himself a\nfinished saint, but he had a hearty appreciation of those who had\nattained saintliness. He had reverence, power to recognise, and\nungrudgingly to worship, what was good. He had an honest delight in\nseeing his Master honoured, a delight which, perhaps, some of us\nenvy. It was not a forced expression, it was not a feigned delight.\nHe was a man who always felt that something should be said, and so\nhere what was uppermost came out. Why did Peter feel it was good for\nhim to be there? Possibly it was in part because here was glory\nwithout shame; recognition and homage without suffering; but no doubt\npartly because he felt that in such company he was a better man than\nelsewhere. Christ kept him right; seemed to understand him better\nthan others; to consider him more. There was no resentment on Peter's\npart on account of the severe answers he received from Christ. He\nknew these were just, and he had learned to trust his Lord; and it\nsuddenly flashes upon him that, if only he could live quietly with\nJesus in such retirement as they then enjoyed, he would be a better\nman. We have the same consciousness as Peter, that if ever we are\nright-minded and disposed for good, and able to make sacrifices and\nbecome a little heavenly; if ever we hate sin cordially--it is when\nwe are in the presence of Christ. If we find it as impossible as\nPeter did to live retired from all conflict and intercourse with all\nkinds of men; if, like Peter, we have to descend into a valley\nringing with demoniacs cries; if we are called upon to deal with the\nworld as it actually is--deformed, dehumanised by sin; is it nothing\nthat we can assure ourselves of the society and friendship of One who\nmeans to remove all suffering and all sin, and who does so, not by a\nviolent act of authority, but by sympathy and patient love, so that\nwe can be His proper instruments, and in healing and helping others,\nhelp and heal ourselves!\n\n\nINDISCREET IMPORTUNITY.\n\n    \"I gave thee a king in mine anger.\"\n        HOSEA xiii. 11.\n\n    \"Ye know not what ye ask.\"\n        MATTHEW xx. 22.\n\n    PSALM lxxviii. 27-31.\n\nThat God sometimes suffers men to destroy themselves, giving them\ntheir own way, although He knows it is ruinous, and even putting into\ntheir hands the scorpion they have mistaken for a fish, is an\nindubitable and alarming fact.\n\nPerhaps no form of ruin covers a man with such shame or sinks him to\nsuch hopelessness as when he finds that what he has persistently\nclamoured for and refused to be content without, has proved the\nbitterest and most disastrous element in his life. This particular\nform of ruin is nowhere described with more careful, and significant\ndetail than in the narrative of Israel's determination to have a king\nover them like other nations. Samuel, forseeing the evils which would\nresult from their choice, remonstrated with them and reminded them of\ntheir past success, and pointed out the advantageous elements in\ntheir present condition. But there is a point at which desire becomes\ndeaf and blind, and the evil of it can be recognised only after it is\ngratified. God therefore gave them a king in His anger.\"\n\nThe truth, then, which is embodied in this incident, and which is\nliable to reappear in the experience of any individual, is this, that\nsometimes God yields to importunity, and grants to men what He knows\nwill be no blessing to them. \"It is a thing,\" says South, \"partly\nworth our wonder, partly our compassion, that what the greatest part\nof men most passionately desire, that they are generally most unfit\nfor; so that at a distance they court that as an enjoyment, which\nupon experience they find a plague and a great calamity.\" It is\nastonishing how many things we desire for the same reason as the\nIsraelites sought a king, merely that we may have what other people\nhave. We may not definitely covet our neighbour's house or his wife\nor his position or anything that is his; but deep within us remains\nthe scarcely-conscious conviction that we have not all we might and\nought to have until our condition more resembles his. We take our\nideas of happiness from what we see in other people, and have little\noriginality to devise any special and more appropriate enjoyment or\nsuccess. Fashion or tradition or the necessity of one class in\nsociety has promoted certain possessions and conditions to the rank\nof extremely desirable or even necessary elements of happiness, and\nforthwith we desire them, without duly considering our own\nindividuality and what it is that must always constitute happiness\nfor us, or what it is that fits us for present usefulness. Health,\nposition, fame, a certain settlement in life, income, marriage; such\nthings are eagerly sought by thousands, and they are sought without\nsufficient discrimination, or at any rate without a well-informed\nweighing of consequences. We refuse, too, to see that already without\nthose things our condition has much advantage, and that we are\nactually happy. We may be dimly conscious that our tastes are not\nprecisely those of other men, and that if the ordinary ways of\nsociety are the best men can devise for spending life satisfactorily,\nthese are scarcely the ways that will suit us. Yet, like petted\nchildren, we continue persistently to cry for the thing we have not.\nSometimes it is a mere question of waiting. The thing we sigh for\nwill come in time, but not yet. To wait is the test of many persons;\nand if they are impatient, they fail in the one point that determines\nthe whole. Many young persons seem to think life will all be gone\nbefore they taste any of its sweets. They must have everything at\nonce, and cannot postpone any of its enjoyments or advantages. No\nquality is more fatal to success and lasting happiness than\nimpatience.\n\nThis being a common attitude of mind towards fancied blessings, how\ndoes God deal with it? For a long time He may in compassion withhold\nthe fatal gift. He may in pity disregard our petulant clamour. And He\nmay in many ways bring home to our minds that the thing we crave is\nin several respects unsuitable. We may become conscious under His\ndiscipline that without it we are less entangled with the world and\nwith temptation; that we can live more holily and more freely as we\nare, and that to quench the desire we have would be to choose the\nbetter part. God may make it plain to us that it is childish to look\nupon this one thing as the supreme and only good. Providential\nobstacles are thrown in our way, difficulties amounting almost to\nimpossibilities absolutely prevent us for a while from attaining our\nobject, and give us time to collect ourselves and take thought. And\nnot only are we prevented from attaining this one object, but in\nother respects our life is enriched and gladdened, so that we might\nbe expected to be content. If we cannot have a king like other\nnations, we have the best of Judges in abundance. And experience of\nthis kind will convince the subject of it that a Providence shapes\nour ends, even although the lesson it teaches may remain unlearnt.\n\nFor man's will is never forced: and therefore if we continue to pin\nour happiness to this one object, and refuse to find satisfaction and\nfruit in life without it, God gives in anger what we have resolved to\nobtain. He gives it in its bare earthly form, so that as soon as we\nreceive it our soul sinks in shame. Instead of expanding our nature\nand bringing us into a finished and satisfactory condition, and\nsetting our life in right relations with other men, we find the new\ngift to be a curse to us, hampering us, cutting us off in unexpected\nways from our usefulness, thwarting and blighting our life round its\nwhole circumference.\n\nFor a man is never very long in discovering the mischief he has done\nby setting his own wisdom above God's, by underrating God's goodness\nand overriding God's will. When Samuel remonstrated with Israel and\nwarned them that their king would tyrannise over them, all the answer\nhe got was: \"Nay, but we will have a king to rule over us.\" But, not\nmany days after, they came to Samuel with a very different petition:\n\"Pray for thy servants unto the Lord thy God, that we die not; for we\nhave added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.\" So it is\nalways; we speedily recognise the difference between God's wisdom and\nour own. What seemed neglect on His part is now seen to be care, and\nwhat we murmured at as niggardliness and needless harshness we now\nadmire as tenderness. Those at least are our second and wiser\nthoughts, even although at first we may be tempted with Manoah when\nhe saw his son blind and fettered in the Philistine dungeon, to\nexclaim,\n\n  What thing good\n  Pray'd for, but often proves our woe, our bane?\n  I prayed for children and thought barrenness\n  In wedlock a reproach;\n  I gain'd a son And such a son\n  as all men hail'd me happy.\n  Who would be now a father in my stead?\n  Oh, wherefore did God grant me my request,\n  And as a blessing with such pomp adorn'd\n  Why are His gifts desirable, to tempt\n  Our earnest prayers, then giv'n with solemn hand\n  As graces, draw a scorpion's tail behind?\n\nSuch, I say, may be our first thoughts; but when the first bitterness\nand bewilderment of disappointment are over, when reason and right\nfeeling begin to dominate, we own that the whole history of our\nprayer and its answer has been most humiliating to us, indeed, but\nmost honouring to God. We see as never before how accurately our\ncharacter has been understood, how patiently our evil propensities\nhave been resisted, how truly our life has been guided towards the\nhighest ends.\n\nThe obvious lessons are:-\n\n1. Be discreet in your importunity. Two parables are devoted to the\ninculcation of importunity. And it is a duty to which our own\nintolerable cravings drive us. But there is an importunity which\noffends God. There is a spiritual instinct which warns us when we are\ntransgressing the bounds of propriety; a perception whereby Paul\ndiscerned, when he had prayed thrice for the removal of the thorn in\nhis flesh, that it would not be removed. There are things, about\nwhich a heavenly-minded person feels it to be unbecoming to be\nover-solicitous; and there are things regarding which it is somehow\nborne in upon us that we are not to attain them. There are natural\ndisabilities, physical or mental or social weaknesses and\nembarrassments, regarding which we sometimes cannot but cry out to\nGod for relief, and yet as we cry we feel that they will not be\nremoved, and that we must learn to bear the burden cheerfully.\n\n2. On the other hand, we must not be false in prayer. We must utter\nto God our real desires in their actual intensity; while at the same\ntime we must learn to moderate desires which we see to be unpleasing\nto God. We must learn to say with truth:\n\n  Not what we wish but what we want\n    Thy favouring grace supply;\n  The good unasked, in mercy grant,\n    The ill, though asked, deny.\n\nLearn why God does not make the coveted blessing accessible to you,\nand you will learn to pray freely and wisely. Try to discover whether\nthere is not some peculiar advantage attaching to your present\nstate--some more wholesome example you can furnish, some more helpful\nattitude towards others; some healthier exercise of the manlier\ngraces of Christianity, which could not be maintained were your\nrequest granted.\n\n3. If your life is marred by the gift you have wrung by your\nimportunity from a reluctant God, be wise and humble in your dealing\nwith that gift. If you have suddenly and painfully learned that in\nthe ordinary-looking circumstances of your life God is touching you\nat every point, and if you clearly see that in giving you the fruit\nof your desires He is punishing you, there is one only way by which\nyou can advance to a favourable settlement, and that is by a real\nsubmission to God. Perhaps in no circumstances is a man more tempted\nto break with God. At first he cannot reconcile himself to the idea\nthat ruin should be the result of prayer, and he is inclined to say,\nIf this be the result of waiting on God, the better course is to\nrefuse His guidance. In his heart he knows he is wrong, but there is\nan appearance of justice in what he says, and it is so painful to\nhave the heart broken, to admit we have been foolish and wrong, and\nhumbly to beseech God to repair the disasters our own self-will has\nwrought.\n\n\nSHAME ON ACCOUNT OF GOD'S DISPLEASURE.\n\n\"And the Lord said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her\nface, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out from\nthe camp seven days, and after that let her be received in\nagain.\"--NUMBERS xii. 14.\n\nThe incident recorded in this chapter is of a painful character.\nPetty jealousies discovered themselves in the most distinguished\nfamily of Israel. Through the robes of the anointed and sacred High\nPriest the throbbings of a heart stirred with evil passion were\ndiscernible. Aaron and Miriam could not bear that even their own\nbrother should occupy a Position of exceptional dignity, and with\nignorant pretentiousness aspired to equality with him. It is to the\npunishment of this sin that our attention is here called. This\npunishment fell directly on Miriam, possibly because the person of\nthe High Priest was sacred, and had he been incapacitated all Israel\nwould have suffered in their representative; possibly because the\nsin, as it shows traces of a peculiarly feminine jealousy, was\nprimarily the sin of Miriam; and partly because, in her punishment,\nAaron suffered a sympathetic shame, as is apparent from his,\nimpassioned appeal to Moses in her behalf.\n\nThe noteworthy feature of the incident and its most impressive lesson\nare found in the fact that, although the healing and forgiveness\nsought for Miriam were not refused, God is represented as resenting\nthe speedy oblivion of the offence on account of which the leprosy\nhad been sent and of the Divine displeasure incurred. There was cause\nto apprehend that the whole matter might be too quickly wiped out and\nforgotten, and that the sinners, reinstated in their old positions,\nshould think too lightly of their offence. This detrimental\nsuddenness God takes measures to prevent. Had an earthly father\nmanifested his displeasure as emphatically as God had now shown His,\nMiriam could not for a time have held up her head. God desires that\nthe shame which results from a sense of His displeasure should last\nat least as long. He therefore enjoins something like a penance; He\nremoves His stroke, but provides for the moral effects of it being\nsufficiently impressed on the spirit to be permanent.\n\nThree points are involved in the words:\n  1. Our keener sense of man's displeasure than of God's.\n  2. The consequent possibility of accepting pardon with too light a heart.\n  3. The means of preventing such acceptance of pardon.\n\n1. _We are much more sensitive to the displeasure of man than to that\nof God._ Men have several methods of expressing their opinion of us\nand their feeling toward us; and these methods are quite effectual\nfor their purpose. There is an instinctive and exact correspondence\nbetween our feelings and every slightest hint of disapprobation on\nthe part of our acquaintances; and so readily and completely does the\nmere carriage of any person convey to us his estimate of our conduct\nthat explicit denunciation is seldom required. The mode of expressing\nopinion which is cited in the text is the most forcible Eastern mode\nof expressing contempt. When one man spits in the face of another, no\none, and least of all the suffering party, can have the slightest\ndoubt of the esteem in which the one holds the other. If an insolent\nenemy were to spit in the face of a slain foe, the dead man might\nalmost be expected to blush or to rise and avenge the insult. But\ncomparing His methods with such a method as this, God awards the palm\nto His own for explicitness and emphasis. He speaks of the most\nemphatic and unambiguous of human methods with a \"but,\" as if it\ncould scarcely be compared with His expressions of displeasure. \"If\nher father had _but_ spit in her face\"--if that were all--but\nsomething immensely more expressive than that has happened to her.\n\nGod, therefore, would have us ponder the punishments of sin, and find\nin them the emphatic expressions of His judgment of our conduct and\nof ourselves. He resents our shamelessness, and desires that we\nconsider His judgments till our callousness is removed. The case\nstands thus: God. is long-suffering, slow to anger, not of a\nfault-finding, everchiding nature, but most loving and most just; and\nthis God has recorded against us the strongest possible condemnation.\nThis God, who cannot do what is not most just, and who cannot make\nmistakes, this unfurious and holy God, whose opinion of us represents\nthe very truth, has pronounced us to be wicked and worthless; and we\nseem scarcely at all impressed by the declaration. God's judgment of\nus is not only absolutely true, but it must also take effect; so that\nwhat He has pronounced against us will be seen written in the facts\nbearing upon and entering into our life. But, although we know this,\nwe are for the most part as unmoved as if in hearing God's judgment\npronounced against us we had heard but the sighing of the wind or any\nother inarticulate, unintelligible sound. There is a climax of\nignominy in having excited in the Divine mind feelings of displeasure\nagainst us. One might suppose a man would die of shame, and could not\nbear to live conscious of having merited the condemnation and\npunishment of such a Being; one might suppose that the breath of\nGod's disapproval would blast every blessing to us, and that so long\nas we know ourselves displeasing to Him His sweetest gifts must be\nbitter to us; but the coldness of a friend gives us more thought, and\nthe contempt of men as contemptible as ourselves affects us with a\nmore genuine confusion.\n\nGod's demand, then, is reasonable. He would have us feel before Him\nas much shame as we feel before men, the same kind of shame--shame\nwith the same blush and burning in it, not shame of any sublimated,\nfictitious kind. He desires us individually to take thought, and to\nsay to ourselves: \"Suppose a man had proved against me even a small\npart of what is proved against me by God: Suppose some wise, just,\nand honourable man had said of me and believed such things as God has\nsaid: suppose he had said, and said truly, that I had robbed him,\nbetrayed trust, and was unworthy of his friendship, would the shame\nbe no more poignant than that which I feel when God denounces me?\"\nHow trifling are the causes which make us blush before our fellows: a\nlittle awkwardness, the slightest accident which makes us appear\nblundering, some scarcely perceptible incongruity of dress, an\ninfinitesimal error in manner or in accent--anything is enough to\nmake us uneasy in the company of those we esteem. It is God's\nreasonable demand that for those gross iniquities and bold\ntransgressions of which we are conscious we should manifest some\nheartfelt shame--a shame that does not wholly lack the poignancy and\nagitation of the confusion we feel in presence of human judgment.\n\n2. _The consequent possibility of accepting the pardon of sin with\ntoo light a heart._ To ask for pardon Without real shame is to treat\nsin lightly; and to treat sin lightly is to treat God lightly.\nNothing more effectually deadens the moral sense than: the habit of\nasking pardon without a due sense of the evil of sin. We ask God to\nforgive us our debts, and we do so in so inconsiderate a spirit that\nwe go straightway and contract heavier debts. The friend who repays\nthe ten pounds we had lent him and asks for a new loan of twenty,\ndoes not commend himself to our approval. He is no better who accepts\npardon as if it cost God nothing.\n\n3. _The means of preventing a too light-hearted acceptance of\npardon._ Under the ceremonial prescriptions enjoined on Miriam lay\nsome moral efficacy. A person left for a full week without the camp\nmust, in separation from accustomed companionship, intercourse, and\noccupations, have been thrown upon his or her own thoughts. No doubt\nit is often while engaged in our ordinary occupations that the\nstrongest light is flashed upon our true spiritual condition. It is\nwhile in the company of other people that we catch hints which seem\nto interpret to us our past and reveal to us our present state. But\nthese glimpses and hints often pass without result, because we do not\nfind leisure to follow them up. There must be some kind of separation\nfrom the camp if we are to know ourselves, some leisure gained for\nquiet reflection. It is due to God that we be at some pains to\nascertain with precision our actual relation to His will.\n\nThe very feeling of being outcast, unworthy to mingle with former\nassociates and friends, must have been humbling and instructive.\nMiriam had been the foremost woman in Israel; now she would gladly\nhave changed places with the least known and be lost among the throng\nfrom the eye of wonder, pity, contempt or cruel triumph. All sin\nmakes us unworthy of fellowship with the people of God. And the\nfeeling that we are thus unworthy, instead of being lightly and\ncallously dismissed, should be allowed to penetrate and stir the\nconscience.\n\nIf the leprosy departed from Miriam as soon as Moses prayed, yet the\nshock to her physical system, and the revulsion of feeling consequent\non being afflicted with so loathsome a disease, would tell upon her\nthroughout the week. All consequences of sin, which are prolonged\nafter pardon, have their proper effect and use in begetting shame. We\nare not to evade what conscience tells us of the connection between\nour sin and many of the difficulties of our life. We are not to turn\naway from this as a morbid view of providence; still less are we to\nturn away because in this light sin seems so real and so hideous.\nMiriam must have thought, \"If this disgusting condition of my body,\nthis lassitude and nervous trembling, this fear and shame to face my\nfellows, be the just consequence of my envy and pride, how abominable\nmust these sins be.\" And we are summoned to similar thoughts. If this\npursuing evil, this heavy clog that drags me down, this insuperable\ndifficulty, this disease, or this spiritual and moral weakness be the\nfair natural consequence of my sin, if these things are in the\nnatural world what my sin is in the spiritual, then my sin must be a\nmuch greater evil than I was taking it to be.\n\nBut especially are we rebuked for all light-heartedness in our\nestimate of sin by remembering Him who went without the camp bearing\nour reproach. It is when we see Christ rejected of men, and outcast\nfor us and for our sin, that we feel true shame. To find one who so\nloves me and enters into my position that He feels more keenly than\nmyself the shame I have incurred; to find one who so understands\nGod's holiness and is Himself so pure that my sin affects Him with\nthe profoundest shame--this is what pierces my heart with an\naltogether new compunction, with an arrow that cannot be shaken out.\nAnd this connection of Christ with our sin is actual. If Paul felt\nhimself so bound up with his fellow-Christians that he blushed for\nthem when they erred, and could say with truth, \"Who is weak and I am\nnot weak, who is offended and I turn not?\" much more truly may Christ\nsay, Who sins and I am not ashamed? And if He thus enters into a\nliving sympathy with us, shall not we enter into sympathy with Him,\nand go without the camp bearing His reproach, which, indeed, is ours;\nstriving, though it cost us much shame and self-denial, to enter\nheartily into His feelings at our sins, and not letting our union to\nHim be a mere name or an inoperative tie which effects no real\nassimilation in spirit between us and Him.\n\n\nNAAMAN CURED.\n\nThere is no Scripture story better known than that of Naaman, the\nSyrian. It is memorable not only because artistically told, but\nbecause it is so full of human feeling and rapid incident, and so\nfertile in significant ideas. The little maid, whose touch set in\nmotion this drama, is an instance of the adaptability of the Jew.\nNothing seemed less likely than that this captive girl should carry\nwith her into Syria anything of much value to anyone. Possessions she\nhad none. Friends she might have, only if she could make them. As a\ncaptive in a foreign land she might reasonably have put aside all\nhope of obtaining any influence, and might naturally have sought only\nto benefit herself. But she was a girl with a heart. She at once took\nan interest in her new home, and saw with sorrowful surprise that\nwealth could not purchase immunity from participation in the ordinary\nhuman distresses, nor guarded gates forbid disease to pass in.\nBrooding from day to day over the stories she had heard of Elisha's\npower, and listening to her mistress's account of the failure of\nstill another attempted cure, she exclaims with childlike confidence\nand earnestness, \"Would God my lord were with the prophet that is in\nSamaria! then would he recover him of his leprosy.\" And thus her\nnatural interest in the troubles of other people, her cheerful and\nspirited acceptance of her position, and the sense that taught her to\nmake the most of it, brought her this great opportunity of doing an\nimportant service. No one can lay the blame of his uselessness and\nlack of good influence on his lack of opportunity, if he is in\ncontact with men at all, for wherever there are human beings there\nare sorrows to be sympathised with, wants to be relieved, characters\nto be fashioned.\n\nAnd while this Jewish maid was utilising her captivity, her parents,\nif alive, would be eating their hearts out with anxiety and anguish,\nimagining for their daughter the worst of destinies. Instead of the\nhorrors which usually follow such a captivity, she is cared for in a\ncomfortable home. Little did the parents, think that there was any\nwork to be done in Syria, which none could so well do as their little\ngirl. The Lord had need of her, and knew that when the parents heard\nall they would not resent that their daughter had been thus employed.\nNone of us see much further into the ways of Providence than those\nparents saw. Now, as then, those who are bound up in one another are\nseparated, in order that ends even more important than the growth and\ngratification of natural affections may be attained.\n\nSignificant, also, is the dismay of Joram, King of Israel, when he\nreceived the letter bidding him find healing for Naaman. So little\ndid he believe in Elisha's power that he concluded the King of Syria\nsought to pick a quarrel with him by asking him for a favour he knew\nhe could not grant. But while the king is helplessly tearing his\nclothes in a passion of despair, Elisha sends him a message which, at\nleast for the present, gives him some calmness: \"Why hast thou rent\nthy clothes? Let him come now to me, and he shall know that there is\na prophet in Israel.\" Elisha is ashamed that the King of Israel\nshould have exhibited such weakness before a foreign potentate. He\nfeels that the honour of Israel's God is implicated, and boldly takes\nupon himself the responsibility of the cure. Bold it certainly was,\nand tells of a confident faith that God will be faithful to His\nservants. The king had no such faith. There was a power resident in\nIsrael of which he took no account. Like many other governments, this\nIsraelitish monarchy was unaware of its own resources, because it did\nnot condescend to reckon what was spiritual. Frequently in civil\nhistory you find governments brought face to face with matters for\nwhich they are, with all their resources, incompetent. In modern\nEurope, and as much in our own country as in others, everything gives\nplace to politics. Nothing stirs so much excitement. Differences in\nreligion do not sever men as differences in politics do. We should,\ntherefore, recognise what is here suggested, and should\ncounter-balance an undue regard for political movements and political\npower by the remembrance that the hardest tasks of all are\naccomplished by quite another power, and by a power which the\npolitician often overlooks. What have we seen time after time in our\nown Parliament, but the civil power rending its garments over evils\nwhich it cannot cure? Are not the remedies which have been proposed\nfor prevalent vices absurdly incompetent? And it is the Church's\nshame if she cannot step forward and confidently say, You cannot deal\nwith such things; hand them over to me. There must always be\n\"distempers of society\" which rot the very life out of a nation, and\nfor which legislation and criminal law are wholly inadequate.\nHonest-minded men who will not trifle with alarming abuses, who will\nnot pretend they have found a remedy, must simply rend their garments\nin their presence. And it is well that in our day, as in others,\nthere are men who, trusting in personal effort and Divine aid,\npractically say to Government, \"leave these things to us.\" Christian\ncharity and practical wisdom have, in our day effected a good deal\nmore than the healing of one leprous grandee, even if as yet the\nspiritual force that resides in the community is only spasmodically\nand partially applied to existing evil.\n\nElisha's treatment of Naaman was intended to bring him into direct\nand conscious dependence on God; or, in other words, to produce\nhumility and faith. Some persons are crushed and mastered by pain and\nsickness, and some gain in spiritual worth what they lose in physical\nstrength. But Naaman's disease had as yet done little to instruct\nhim. He came as a great man, with his servants, and chariots, and\npiles of money, to purchase a cure from a skilled man. He did not see\nwhat Elisha plainly saw, that if this blessing came at all, it must\ncome from Israel's God, and that with Jehovah no man Could barter or\nbe on bargaining terms, but must accept freely what was freely given.\nTherefore Elisha refuses even to see him, that Naaman might\nunderstand it was with God he had to do; and by refusing a single\npenny of payment he compelled the Syrian to humble himself and accept\nhis cure as a gift.\n\nAnd probably the incident finds a place in the sacred history because\nit marked an important step in the knowledge of God. It was an early\ninstance of the Conquests which the God of Israel was to make among\nthe heathen, a distinct and legible proof that whoever from among the\noutlying nations appealed to Him for help would receive the blessing\nhe sought. But it was more than this, it emphasized the freeness of\nall God's gifts. Nothing could be purchased from Jehovah; everything\nmust be received as a gift. This was a new idea to the heathen, and\nprobably to many of the Israelites also. Certainly it is an idea that\nis only dimly apprehended by ourselves. Our dealing with one another\nis to so large an extent governed by the idea that nothing can be had\nfor nothing, that we carry this idea into our dealings with God, and\nexpect only what we can earn and claim. It is a wholesome pride that\nprompts us to work at anything rather than be dependent on other men,\nbut it is a most unwholesome and ignorant pride that forbids us to\nacknowledge our dependence on God, and to accept freely what He\nfreely gives. Until we learn to live in God, to own Him as alone\nhaving life in Himself, and to accept from Him life and all that\nsustains it, both physical and spiritual, we are not recognising the\ntruth and living in it. Our good deeds and good feelings, our\nrepentances and righteous intentions and endeavours, are as much out\nof place as a means of procuring God's favour and help as Naaman's\ntalents of silver and pieces of gold. We have God's favour\nirrespective of our merit, and we must humble ourselves to accept it\nas His free gift, which we could not earn and have not earned.\n\nNaaman no sooner saw that Jehovah was a living and true God than he\nperceived that certain practical difficulties would result from this\nbelief. Sometimes men do not connect their belief with their\npractice; they do not let their left hand know what their right hand\nis doing. But Naaman . foresaw that, as hitherto, he would still be\nexpected to enter the temple of the god Rimmon when his master went\nto worship. And he wished Elisha's authority for this measure of\nconformity.\n\nIn our own country men have been severely tested by acts of\nconformity. And nothing gives the conscience of the whole people so\ndecided a lift as when men prefer disgrace or death to a conformity\nwhich they believe to be wrong.\n\nHad Naaman been as uncompromising as Daniel, who would not conform\neven so far as to pray in a different corner of his room, or as the\nChristian soldiers who suffered death rather than throw a pinch of\nincense on the altar before the Emperor's image, possibly Elisha\nwould have given him greater commendation than the mere acquiescence\npronounced in the words, \"Go in peace.\"\n\nBut in exculpation of Naaman it is to be said that he did not hide\nhis new conviction, but built an altar to Jehovah in Damascus. And\nespecially it is to be remarked that in his case these acts of\nconformity were not proposed as a test of his adherence to the\nreligion of the country; and this makes all the difference. Had\nNaaman's master commanded him to bow in the house of Rimmon as a test\nof his acknowledgment of the Syrian god, Naaman would have refused;\nbut so long as it was a mere act or courtesy to his master, the\nformal act of a courtier, from which no inferences could be drawn, he\nmight reasonably continue it. To receive the communion kneeling is\ncustomary in some churches, and so long as one is allowed to put his\nown interpretation on the attitude, no harm can come of it. But at\none time this attitude was the test by which two great and\nantagonistic parties in England were distinguished from one another;\na meaning was put upon the act which made it impossible to every man\nwho could not accept that meaning. Conformity then was sin, unless\nconviction went with the outward act. In many points of conduct this\nis a distinction of importance. There are many things which we may do\nso far as the thing itself is concerned, but which we may not do when\nthe public mind is agitated upon that point and will draw certain\ninferences from our conduct. There are many things which to us have\nno moral significance at all, any more than sitting at one side or\nother of our table; but if a moral significance is attached to such\nthings by other people, and if they invite us to do them or to leave\nthem undone as a test of our attitude towards God or Christianity or\nof our moral bent, then we must beware of misleading other people and\ndefiling our own conscience. Bowing in the house of Rimmon meant\nnothing new to Naaman; it was not worship; it was no more than\nturning round a street corner when the king had hold of his arm. To\nhim the idol was now, as to Paul, \"nothing in the world.\" But if the\nking had said, \"You must bow to show the people that you worship\nSyria's god,\" then plainly the bowing would have been unjustifiable.\nAnd similarly, if a matter which to us is of no moral significance\nbecomes a test of our disposition or attitude towards truth, we must\nbe guided in our conduct not solely by our own view of the\nindifference of the matter, but also by the significance attached to\nit by other people. There are other points of conduct regarding which\nwe have no need to consult any prophet; points in which we are asked\nto conform to a custom we know to be bad, or to follow and\ncountenance other men in what we know to be unwholesome for us. To\nconform in such cases is to train ourselves in hypocrisy; it is to\nsay Lord, Lord, while we allow the world actually to rule our life.\n\n\nTHE LAME MAN AT THE TEMPLE GATE.\n\nACTS III. 1-8.\n\nAlthough this miracle was followed by consequences so serious as to\nmake it a landmark in the history of those early days of the Church,\nit was not itself the result of deliberation or contrivance. Peter\nand John were, as usual, on their way to evening prayer in the\nTemple. These two men had much to gain from one another, and they\nkept much together. In study, in business, in Christian work, in life\ngenerally everyone is the better of the friend who supplements his\nown character. Happy he whose closest friend of all provokes only to\nlove and good works, and calls out only what is best in him. It is,\nif not essential to the growth and health of the spiritual life, most\ndesirable to have a friend with whom intercourse is absolutely free\nand frank; one to whom it is the natural thing to explain the actual\nstate of the spirit, and utter our most sceptical or our most devout\nthoughts, and who can be trusted to respond charitably,\nconfidentially, and wisely to all communications. The Church owes\nmuch to the friendship of Peter and John, as well as to each\nindividually.\n\nOn how small a contingency did this miracle hinge. Had Peter happened\nto have had a penny he would have dropped it in the beggar's palm and\npassed on, leaving him content with the alms and unconscious of all\nhe had missed. And it is sometimes well for us, as for Peter, that we\nare baulked in our first intentions towards our friends and our first\nattempts at being of use. It is well, for example, that we cannot at\nonce rescue every one out of sickness and poverty, for thereby our\nlove is compelled to a deeper consideration and to a thousand\nkindnesses which find their way to the heart and leave for ever a\ntreasure of happy memory. Our inability to gratify the obvious and\nclamant want of our friend keeps our thought hovering around him\nuntil, at last, we discern how we can confer a better and more\nenduring, because a more difficult and thoughtful, gift.\n\nProbably Peter had often passed this lame man before. To-day the two\nApostles have not together as much as the poor widow with her two\nmites, and they are passing and thinking as little as we sometimes\nthink of leaving the needy to the charity of others, when suddenly it\noccurs to Peter that, after all, he has what may be of more service\nto the beggar than silver or gold. \"What I have, that give I thee.\"\nThe best help we can give is not that which we can give with the\nhand, and which is current coin, which anyone else may give, and\nwhich is of the same value, whoever gives it; but rather that which\nwe communicate from our own heart and soul, and which is our own\npeculiar treasure--the accumulation of a life's experience. To add a\nlittle to anyone's outward comfort is always worth doing; but to\nimpart to another what becomes life and strength and encouragement\nperennially within himself is surely better. Frequently the help we\nchiefly need is nothing outward and material, but that which one bare\nhuman spirit can render to another. But alas! when thrown back upon\nour inward resources, we are so conscious of our poverty that we\nthink sixpence or a shilling is probably of greater value than\nanything which can come straight from our spirit.\n\nOf the lame man little is told us which may give us a clue to his\nstate of mind. He was one of those who had been left unhealed by\nChrist. Often must Christ have passed him, and yet He had never\nspoken nor laid healing hand upon him. Perhaps during the long hours\nthe lame man sometimes thought of this, and bewailed his own\nnegligence in not using opportunities now for ever gone. He could\nonly look with envy and self-reproach on those who had once been\nblind, or, like himself, lame, and whom he now saw in perfect health.\nHis feelings were akin to the remorse of those who imagine that their\nday of grace is gone, and exclaim :\n\n  Thy saints are comforted, I know,\n    And love Thy house of prayer;\n  I therefore go where others go,\n    But find no comfort there.\n\nThere is no despair worth calling despair but despair of salvation.\nBut what Christ has not done, an Apostle may do. The lesser\ninstrument may effect what the more powerful has not effected. A\nfeebler ministry may in some cases produce results which the abler\nministry has not produced.\n\nAnother feature of the beggar's state of mind appears in listless,\nmechanical way in which he asks an alms. He had not even troubled to\nlook up. Too commonly human prayer is the monotonous whine of the\nbeggar that scarcely troubles to consider to whom the petition is\naddressed. Had this man taken the trouble to scan the appearance of\nthose fishermen he would have seen that silver or gold could not be\nexpected. But he had fallen into one chant, uttered as soon as the\nshadow of the passer-by fell upon him. It is a picture of the unreal\nand indifferent spirit in which much prayer is offered. There is no\nharm in asking for certain benefits every day of our life, and no\nharm in using the same words, if we have chosen these words as the\nfittest. But there is harm in allowing a form of words to engender\nmonotony and lifelessness in the spirit, so that we never consider\ncarefully the object of our worship and what it is fit that He should\ngive. This cripple had come to be content with the few coppers which\nwould furnish his supper and bed; all the great world with its\npleasures, its enterprise, its high places lay quite beyond his hope;\nand thus does one find his own soul dying to all that lies beyond\ndaily needs, and forgetful of the great and glorious things that are\nwritten of the heirs of God. It is surely a great art to know \"who it\nis that speaks to us, and what is the gift of God.\"\n\nPeter's first care was to arouse the man. \"Look on us!\" The man's\nattention was commanded. All his life he had been training to know\nfaces, to know who would give and who would not give, who would not\ngive if others were looking, and who would give at the gate of the\nTemple, dropping the coin as into an alms box, without any regard to\nthe want of the beggar. One glance at the frank face of Peter tells\nhim he is about to receive something. That is a man to be trusted.\nThis is a good beginning. Trust in Peter maybe the first step to\ntrust in Christ. But many rest at the earliest stage, believing the\nmessenger, but not coming into personal relations with Christ. Many\npersons wish to be better than they are, and are prepared to do much\nand sacrifice much in order to attain to a satisfactory spiritual\nstate. What is lacking is personal appeal to Christ. They must\nrecognise, with a conviction wrought in their own mind, that Jesus\nChrist is the source of spiritual power, and they must for\nthemselves, appeal directly to Him.\n\nThe boldness with which Peter forms or, it might almost be said,\nforces this personal relation to Christ in the case of this man is\nsurprising. Without a moment's hesitation or inquiry as to whether\nthe man's faith is quickened, Peter cries, \"In the name of Jesus\nChrist of Nazareth, rise up and walk,\" taking him by the right hand\nand lifting him up. Peter could not confer health upon the man in\nspite of his state of mind. If the man had so chosen he might have\ncontinued to lie where he was, a cripple. But simultaneously with\nPeter's faith and authoritative command, the man's own faith was\nquickened. He believed that in this name, that is, at the command and\nin the strength of Christ, he could get up; and he arose. It was the\ncontagious confidence of Peter which begat faith in the lame beggar's\nspirit. And there could not be a more instructive instance of the\nsuddenness with which a human being can be brought into saving\nrelation to Christ. When Peter began his sentence the lame man had no\nfaith, yet he boldly said to him, \"In the name of Jesus Christ arise\nand walk.\" Men may always thus be summoned to believe on the spot and\nto act out the commands of Christ.\n\nBut in order that such a summons be effectual, two qualities in the\napostle are needful. He must not fear failure or rebuff. He must have\nthat humility which seeks the good of others regardless of its own\nreputation. So long as we fear to expose our own feelings, and to\nshow that we are deeply concerned about the welfare of another\nperson, we shall do little in the way of inspiring faith. Our mouth\nis kept shut by the fear of fruitlessly exposing our feelings. We are\nnot sure how our advances will be received. We have not, the loving\nhumility which braves risks to self.\n\nWe must also ourselves have lively faith if we are to communicate\nfaith to others. It was Peter's own faith which carried this man's\nunbelief by storm. In presence of Peter's confidence he could not but\nbelieve. Most men are far more moved by the contagion of others\nstrong feeling and example than by arguments or verbal appeals. For\nthe diffusion of faith it is a man like Peter that is wanted, who\noverleaps the obstacles which other men would stop to examine; a man\nlike Luther, erring perhaps in fine points of doctrine, but giving\nimpetus and force to the whole movement in Christ's kingdom, and\nsweeping along with him a host of weaker and dependent spirits. If we\nare not propagating faith in Christ, it is mainly because our our\nfaith is meagre and timorous. If we are not producing Christians it\nis because we are not ourselves in the present experience of His\nmighty power. And while this is so, our conduct betrays the weakness\nof our faith, and we chill the kindling warmth in other souls instead\nof fanning it into flame, and all that proceeds from us is as the\nfrosty wind of an untoward spring-time, that unseasonably marks every\nspringing thing with death.\n\nPossessed of those qualities, any one may communicate that best of\nall gifts, faith in Christ. The joy of Peter, in discovering that he\ncould impart health and brightness to those who were oppressed by\nvarious human ills, is a joy which may be repeated, and was meant to\nbe repeated, in the experience of every Christian. We are not to look\nhopelessly on the world at large or on our own friends.\n\nWe are not to think that the pleasure we have in being of substantial\nservice to a friend, we cannot have in the case of that which is most\nsubstantial. We are to believe that Christ now has all power in\nheaven and on earth, and that those who have experienced this power\nare expected to be the channel of its communication to others. The\nfaith which strengthens and elevates our own spirit may be\ncommunicated, upon our effort and prayer, to the heart of others.","title":"How to become like Christ","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":16871}