{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_22141/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_22141","id":"gutenberg_22141","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/22141","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Patton, Francis L. (Francis Landey), 1843-1932"],"text":"E-text prepared by Stephen Hope, Fox in the Stars, and the Project\nGutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (https://www.pgdp.net)\n\n\n\nNote: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this\n      file which includes the original illustration.\n      See 22141-h.htm or 22141-h.zip:\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/1/4/22141/22141-h/22141-h.htm)\n      or\n      (https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/2/2/1/4/22141/22141-h.zip)\n\n\n\n\n\nJOY IN SERVICE.\n\nFORGETTING, AND PRESSING ONWARD.\n\nUNTIL THE DAY DAWN.\n\nREV. GEORGE T. PURVES, D.D., LL.D.\n\nThe Teacher and Pastor.\n\nPrest. F. L. Patton, D.D., Ll.D.\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n[Illustration: _Copyright 1900 By F. Gutekunst._\n\nHand written signature: George T. Purves]\n\n\n\nAmerican Tract Society\n150 Nassau Street, New York\n\nCopyright, 1901,\nby American Tract Society.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                                                 PAGE\n\nJOY IN SERVICE,                                                     7\n\n  \"Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that\n  sent me, and to finish his work.\"\n\nFORGETTING, AND PRESSING ONWARD,                                   45\n\n  \"Forgetting these things which are behind, and reaching forth\n  to those things which are before, I press towards the mark for\n  the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.\"\n\n\"UNTIL THE DAY DAWN,\"                                              83\n\n  \"The things which are not seen are eternal.\"\n\n                    *      *      *      *      *\n\nTHE TEACHER AND PASTOR,                                            87\n\n  Address of Dr. F. L. Patton, at the funeral of Dr. Purves.\n\n\n\n\nJOY IN SERVICE.\n\n\n_\"Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent\nme, and to finish his work.\"_--JOHN 4:34.\n\n\n\n\n\nJOY IN SERVICE.\n\n\nThis is one of the sentences that dropped from the lips of Christ,\nwhich let us into his personal spiritual life and in some measure lay\nbare his mind. To be permitted thus to share his confidence is one of\nour greatest privileges. Viewing him from a distance, we may admire his\ncharacter; viewing him in history, we may confess his incomparable\npower; viewing him when convincing us of our own sin, we may adore him\nas our Saviour; but we desire, and may have, a still more intimate\nacquaintance. He tells us about himself. He describes here and there\nhis personal inner life. He permits us to share his secrets, and all\nthat we otherwise feel of reverence, admiration, and gratitude gives\nnew value to these disclosures of the spiritual life of the God in man.\n\nNow, in the words before us, Christ describes his joy in the service of\nthe Father. They reveal a devotion so complete as to entirely control\nhis mind. They reveal a soul so absorbed in doing the Divine will as to\nbe insensible for the time to ordinary physical needs. They reveal a\nself-consecration which is absolute, and yet which is so spontaneous\nand glad as to be self-sustaining; so that Christ needed no other\nsupport in serving the Father than simply the opportunity of such\nservice. We, on the contrary, require support to enable us to serve. We\nmust be rewarded for our work, must be encouraged by sympathy, must be\nfed with promises and spiritual gifts, in order to be strong enough to\ndo our duty. Christ found duty its own reward, service itself joy,\nobedience a source of renewed strength. His will was one with the\nFather's; and thus he discloses the, to us, marvelous spectacle of one\nwho could truly say, Not my desire or my duty, or my purpose is, but my\nmeat--my food--my source itself of life and strength--is to do the will\nof God, and to finish his work.\n\nAnd yet our Lord Jesus was a very genuine man. He did not impress\nobservers with the common insignia of holiness. It was the Pharisees,\nnot Christ, who stood at the corners of the streets to make long\nprayers, who enlarged the borders of their phylacteries and chose the\nchief seats in the synagogues. It was the Baptist, not Jesus, who\nclothed himself in a garment of camel's hair and ate locusts and wild\nhoney. Jesus, on the contrary, lived the outward life of other men,\nconsorted with them in their usual places of resort, dressed and spake\nas they did; so that, in outward manner, it was impossible to\ndistinguish him from the common mass in which he moved. All the more\nprecious, therefore, is this revelation of his inner life. What a soul\nwas his! The thought uppermost in his mind was devotion to the Father's\nwill. The joy which most gladdened his lonely life was the joy of\nunknown, but sublime and perfect, obedience. He had been pointing a\nSamaritan woman, sitting by the wellside, to the salvation of God; and\nthough she was but one, and that to human eyes an unworthy\nsubject,--though she was a Samaritan and an open sinner,--his soul\nfound such intense pleasure in bringing her--as the Father had sent him\nto bring men anywhere--to the knowledge of the truth, that fatigue and\nhunger were forgotten, and all his energies were absorbed in the\ndelight of the task. In this I think Christ appears simply Divine. No\nlater fame or success, no gaudy robes of human praise, no gilded crown\nof human admiration, are needed to adorn him. He discloses the very\nideal of a godly life. All our poor efforts at obedience, all our faint\naspirations after the knowledge and love of God, all our unfulfilled\nprayers, and falling flights, and unredeemed promises and sin-stained\nattempts to serve, confess the ideal perfectness of him who could\ntruthfully say, \"My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to\nfinish his work.\"\n\nI. Let us first, then, draw a little closer to this peerless soul, in\nwhich there was such perfect sense of the worth of infinite things, and\nlet us note more particularly, and appreciate as far as we are able,\nthis phase of the character of the Son of Man.\n\nI have said that Christ was a very natural man. But he was more than\nthat. I am sure that none can study his character without admitting and\nadmiring the perfect proportion in which truth evidently lay in his\nmind. This is one of the rarest beauties of character. Most of us are\nvery one-sided. We can grasp but a part of truth; and in order to grasp\nthat part firmly, we have to absolutely let other truth go. In order to\nbe devoted to duty as we see it, we commonly have to leave other duties\nuntouched. Our spiritual growth ought to take just this direction of\nincluding broader views of truth and duty, of obtaining a conception of\nlife in which the various elements shall be held in their proper\nrelations and proportions; no one allowed to eclipse the others, but\neach modified to a proper extent by the presence and influence of the\nrest. I say this is a rare achievement. No one but Christ has ever\nachieved it perfectly. It is easy to see that even the apostles,\ninspired as they were, did not equally appreciate all sides of\nrevelation. They have their distinguishing doctrines and points of\nview.\n\nIt is still easier to see that Christian churches and theologians\ndiffer for this same reason, and to a much greater extent. No creed, no\nchurch, no theology, that builds on the Word of God, can be wholly\nwrong. Its difference from others must lie in its partial appreciation\nof the truth, in its inability to take in all truths in their relative\nproportion. And so in literature and science and philosophy some men\nare impressed with material evidences, others with moral. Some men are\npoets, others are logicians; some critical, others dogmatic. The hope\nof the future for the Church and for humanity is in the slow\napproximation and combination of these partial views, until at last,\n\"in the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, we\nshall come unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the\nfullness of Christ.\" Meanwhile, at the beginning of our Christian\nhistory, Christ stands perfect. To see this is to appreciate his\nauthority. As Paul said, He is the corner stone of the spiritual temple\nwhich the Divine Spirit is building.\n\nI do not mean that he taught explicitly all the truth which later times\nhave discovered, or which after him apostles taught. But he laid the\nliving germs of all later religious truth, and he held them in such\nperfect proportion that when the long course of history shall be\nfinished, when that which is in part shall have been done away, and\nthat which is perfect shall have come, the result will be but the\nreproduction on a large scale of the already perfect stature of Christ.\n\nAnd this is particularly manifested in Christ's views of life. His\npeerless spirituality did not make him an ascetic. His clear vision of\nthe future did not lead him to despise the present. His love of God did\nnot destroy his love of nature or of man. His hatred of sin did not\ncause him to shun the sinner. Hence, though our Lord was the model of a\nreligious man, he was no enthusiast, still less a fanatic. The\nenthusiast is a man who sees but part of truth and magnifies it out of\nits proportion; and the fanatic is one who, in addition to this, hates\nwhat he cannot understand. According to Isaac Taylor, \"Fanaticism is\nenthusiasm inflamed by hatred.\" But Christ exaggerated nothing and\nhated no man. He hated sin, but no sinner. His boundless, tender love\nitself prevented such moral distortion. And, therefore, he is the ideal\nor model of human life. We do not feel that in striving to imitate even\nhis most spiritual qualities we shall become impractical or unnatural.\nWe do not feel this in the case of most other holy men. They become\nexamples of one virtue by exaggerating it. But Christ never did this.\nLofty as the view of life was which he discloses in our text, sublime\nas was its spiritual consecration, it existed in him in harmony with\nthe life which by its thoroughly human and practical features proves\nthat we too, in at least some measure, can make even his highest traits\nour exemplars. Look, therefore, at this text which discloses his mind,\nand mark its principal elements.\n\n    1. There is first disclosed the strong and constant consciousness\n    that he had a distinct errand in the world. He knew that he had\n    been born for a purpose, that a divine aim was in his coming, and\n    that a positive result would follow his life. This sense of a\n    definite errand was expressed by him on numerous occasions; in some\n    of them quite incidentally, and in others more directly. You\n    remember how, as a boy in the temple, he said to his mother, \"Wist\n    ye not that I must be about my Father's business?\" You remember\n    how, at the marriage in Cana, he said to her again, \"My hour is not\n    yet come.\" So with that precious phrase which on several occasions\n    fell from his lips, \"The Son of Man is come to seek and to save\n    that which is lost.\" He regarded himself as one sent from God; and\n    when his life was about over he lifted up his eyes to heaven and\n    said, \"Father, the hour is come; I have glorified thee on the\n    earth; I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.\"\n\n    So in our text, \"My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and\n    to finish his work.\" He was here on a special errand, and that\n    errand was always before his mind. Earth was but a place of\n    appointed work. Life was to him an office, a stewardship. He had\n    this consciousness, even when he seemed to be accomplishing\n    nothing. It gave unity to all his acts and words. To Galilean\n    peasants and to Jewish scribes he could speak with equal assurance,\n    because his errand was to both. Yet he knew its limitations. He\n    said to the Syro-Phoenician woman, \"I am not sent save to the\n    lost sheep of the house of Israel.\" He had come do a special work\n    among the Jews, and in that a work for all mankind. He had not come\n    to be glorified. He had not come to be ministered unto, but to\n    minister. But he had come on a distinct errand; and whatever be\n    your doctrine of Christ's person, you must confess that he\n    considered himself no accident of history; that he did not regard\n    his life work as originating in his own choice; that his sense of a\n    mission did not come as an afterthought to him, or grow clear as he\n    advanced in life. He felt his special errand from the start. It was\n    always before his mind, so that life was to him the performance of\n    a given task and the fulfillment of an assigned duty.\n\n    2. But furthermore, our text discloses that, to Christ's mind, this\n    errand of his in the world derived its sanctity from the fact that\n    it was the will or wish of his Father. Every man is governed by\n    some controlling motive or class of motives. The lowest of all is\n    the motive of personal gain and pleasure, and the sorrows and sins\n    of men chiefly spring from the tyranny of this degraded passion.\n    Higher than it is the motive of pity and compassion, which may lead\n    us to do good for the sake of benefiting others. This is the spring\n    of much charity and philanthropy, and, so far as it goes, it is of\n    course to be commended. But there is a higher motive than even it,\n    and Christ reveals it to us here. It is the wish to do God's will.\n    Such was his motive. To him the will of the Father was the perfect\n    good. He knew of nothing nobler than it, so that the whole energy\n    of his character consisted in the force of obedience.\n\n    This phrase may carry us back to that time in the counsels of the\n    Godhead when, as we conceive such matters, the Father determined to\n    save the world that had rebelled against him. The question was,\n    where to find a Saviour; and the spirit of the Divine Son was\n    manifested in his self-dedication to the work. He, too, loved man,\n    but that was not his main motive. He loved the Father. He\n    appreciated the Father's wish to save. He gave himself to carry out\n    that wish. \"Lo, I come,\" said he, \"to do thy will, O God.\" Thus we\n    may perceive, I think, the deep reality in the Divine Sonship of\n    Christ; and certainly on earth this was his controlling motive. He\n    was obedient even unto death. To obey to the very least particular\n    the Father's will was the principle of his being. To him the\n    Father's will was not hard, stern law, as we with our rebellious\n    instincts so often regard it; it was the Father's wish. When love\n    exists between two persons, the will of one it is the other's joy\n    to do, if possible. Love impels to its accomplishment. Love\n    rejoices in being of service, in giving the loved one pleasure, in\n    carrying out the other's desire. So the will of God was, to Christ,\n    his Father's wish. Obedience was the mainspring of his soul's life,\n    and his errand in the world derived its sanctity and its glory--in\n    spite of man's antagonism and in spite of apparent\n    fruitlessness--from the fact that it was the will of God. In this\n    Christ discloses the very highest spiritual life which it is\n    possible to conceive. How marvelous was this! He who has won the\n    greatest influence over the race, he before whom the head bows in\n    adoration, he who has changed already the course of history, and\n    will change it until every knee has bowed to him, was one whose\n    supreme wish was to be an obedient Son. Instead of conquering by\n    selfishness he conquered by self-abnegation. Instead of doing his\n    own work, he gave himself up to doing his Father's. Here is at once\n    a miracle of history and a model of life of which man would never\n    have dreamed.\n\n    3. As a consequence of all this we can perceive in the language of\n    the text Christ's joy in the discovery of a special opportunity of\n    carrying out the highest purpose of the Father's will. It would\n    seem that his meeting with the Samaritan woman awakened almost a\n    state of excitement in his mind. It lifted him above the reach of\n    physical desires. This I suppose was because he recognized in that\n    meeting an opportunity of doing what he knew was dearest to his\n    Father's heart. His errand was to ultimately save the world, and\n    now he was engaged in saving at least one soul. No doubt his\n    devotion to the Father's will sustained him, even in the darkest\n    hour. When the will of God consigned him to the hatred of men, to\n    the rejection of the people, to the bitter sorrow of the cross, he\n    could bow his head in humble compliance and say, \"Thy will, not\n    mine, be done.\" But he knew well that the Father willed his sorrows\n    in order to the world's salvation, and that the object dearest to\n    the Father's heart was the recovery of lost souls. He himself has\n    told us of the angels' joy over such. And he has described the\n    whole object of his appearing to man by these matchless words: \"God\n    so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that\n    whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting\n    life.\" And therefore his love of God the Father, no less than his\n    love of man, made him hail with especial joy such an opportunity as\n    this. We may fairly say that Christ followed the lead of\n    providence. He did himself what he requires of us; he was quick to\n    recognize opportunities. He heard in them a divine call; and by all\n    his sense of his mission among men, by all his desire to please the\n    Father, did he hail the rising faith of that Samaritan and rejoice\n    in bringing to her the message of salvation. Hence I say his\n    evident excitement, if we may use the phrase. Hence his\n    obliviousness to hunger. Hence his forgetfulness of his former\n    fatigue. \"Lift up your eyes,\" he cried to his disciples, \"and look\n    on the fields, for they are white already unto harvest.\" The\n    Father's will would be accomplished, and in the joy of service his\n    soul found its food. He wanted nothing else. Such fruitful\n    obedience was to him its own reward.\n\nI say again, therefore, what a spiritual life was this! Praise itself\nseems almost to defile it. It was perfect. It was sublime. Thus can we\nunderstand his sinlessness. We can imagine no higher ideal; and\nmarvelous to say, here was the ideal realized. We cannot wonder any\nlonger that over this Jesus of Nazareth God should say, \"This is my\nbeloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.\"\n\nII. And now, while admiring, we are to ask if it is possible for us to\nimitate in principle this spiritual life, of which the Master gave so\nfine an example. Possibly, you may say, we may imitate some of the\nleast remarkable traits, but scarcely this. And yet this lies at the\nroot and soul of the rest: imitation of them is but external and\nspurious if it does not reach this. Only by this can we have real\nfellowship with him.\n\nWe are met at the outset by man's natural reluctance to even think of\nregarding the will of God as aught but repulsive. Very often objection\nis openly made to the spiritual view expressed by Christ. God, it is\nsaid, must surely want to educate us into the love of virtue and truth\nfor their own sakes. He does not want merely to conquer us, to break\nour wills by superior power. He wants to lead us to share his own\nspirit and life; and, therefore, would not ask us to submit merely to\nhis will. To train men, therefore, to merely obey is not so noble as to\ntrain men to reason, or to love truth and righteousness for their own\nsakes. But we reply that we should attain to the most exalted love of\ntruth and righteousness and every other noble thing in no way so well\nas through loyalty to God. Certainly God does not want to merely\nconquer us by force, but of all things in the world that is the one not\nexhibited in Jesus Christ. His was the obedience of love. It sprang\nfrom his admiration of the Father's nature. And so must ours. God has\nlaid us under immeasurable obligations of gratitude. He has\ncondescended to reveal himself to us. He has given proof of his wisdom,\nhis love, his holiness, his righteousness. And, therefore, the will of\nGod is no arbitrary commandment. It is the wish of our dearest Friend.\nIt is the direction given from the world's Pilot. It is the direction\nof infinite wisdom and righteousness and love; and to be devoted to his\nwill is but to be confident that all his glorious attributes are being\nexpressed for our guidance.\n\nAnd then, what should we say of one who seeks after truth and\nrighteousness, and yet does not yield obedience to him who is the\nsource of all things--the truth, the righteousness? We should probably\nconclude that his search was a fancy, his aspiration an illusion. No!\nWhat we need is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, to feel\nthat he is the wisest, the most lovely--the embodiment and the source\nof all other wisdom and goodness; the Sun by which the other planets\nshine, by whose rays the world of nature receives its life and beauty.\nWe need to love God supremely; and if we do, then the will of God will\nseem to us always good, even as it did to Christ.\n\n    \"Man's weakness, waiting upon God,\n      Its end can never miss;\n    For men on earth no work can do\n      More angel-like than this.\n\n    \"He always wins who sides with God.\n      To him no chance is lost;\n    God's will is sweetest to him when\n      It triumphs at his cost.\n\n    \"Ill that he blesses is our good,\n      And unblessed good our ill;\n    And all is right that seems most wrong,\n      If it be his sweet will.\"\n\nLet man behold, through Christ, the infinite Father, the source of all\nlife and blessedness and good, and man will put God first, and find his\nhighest glory in acting out the prayer, \"Thy will be done on earth as\nit is in heaven.\"\n\nBut even so, we are met by the further difficulty that, unlike Christ,\nwe are not always sensible of being sent on any special errand into the\nworld. We lose what aim we have, amid the diversities of toil to which\nwe are compelled. We lose what breadth of view we have, amid the\nmultitude of trifles of which our lives are composed. We can imagine\nChrist's sense of his mission, and how it could absorb him; but what in\nour lots can correspond? It may indeed be true that, unlike Christ, you\nhave no clear idea of why God sent you into the world. Few have, but it\nwould seem to quite remove God from actual government of the world to\nsay that, therefore, he had no purpose. That glowing picture which the\napostle paints of the rising temple should forbid the doubt. Every\nstone has its place and is needed. It may need to be broken and hewn,\nto be polished; it may be hid in an unseen place within the wall; no\nman may notice it. But the Builder meant it to be there, and it\ncontributes its share to the work before which the ages of eternity\nshall fall in wonder; that work which is to manifest to the\nprincipalities and powers in the heavenly places the manifold wisdom of\nGod. We may dismiss the doubt therefore, since God is God. We have been\nmade and sent here for a purpose. God's will is meaning to use us, and\nit is our duty and privilege now to carry out, as far as possible, that\nwill of him that sent us, so far as he has made it known. And\ncertainly, brother man, enough of the Father's will is made known to\nteach us our work.\n\nWe may rejoice to do his will as revealed _in conscience_. He has\nplaced within the soul of man a guide which, within certain limits, and\nas applied to special acts and circumstances, infallibly indicates his\nwill. So far as it acts, no man can say he is ignorant; and the true\nchild of God will give heed and say, \"This is the will of God.\"\nConscience will itself be re-enforced by being so regarded; and it is\npractically impossible to question conscience, as to most of the\npractical duties of life, without plainly hearing, \"This is the way.\"\n\nBut we may further rejoice to do his will as revealed _in Scripture_.\nHere he has gone beyond the starlight of conscience and flooded the\nworld with the sunlight of his revelation. The Scriptures contain the\nwill of God for our salvation. They speak in no doubtful tone. We may\nbe as certain as Jesus was what the will of the Father is. Paul called\nhimself an apostle \"by the will of God\"; so may we. \"This is the work\nof God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.\" It is the will of\nGod that we trust him, that we serve him, that we be holy as he is\nholy, that we extend his knowledge. These are as absolute commands as\nare those of the Decalogue; and the true child will take this\nrevelation for his guidance, and by its light will try to carry out his\nFather's will.\n\nBut you may say, \"Much of this direction is general, it is not specific.\nWhat is the specific will of God for me?\" I answer therefore, finally,\nthat we may, like Christ, rejoice to do his will as revealed _in\nprovidence_. I have tried to show that even Christ followed where the\nFather led, embraced opportunities, met new circumstances, prepared for\n\"the hour.\" And certainly we are to do so. The will of God for each one\nof us is unfolded by the events of life. These are not causeless. They\nare not a chance medley of good and bad. God rules: not a sparrow falls\nwithout him. And therefore, as providence unrolls the will of God for\nus, the true child is to accept and obey. Now he brings an opportunity;\nnow he lays a burden. Now he tries us with prosperity; now with sorrow.\nNow he sends us into battle and temptation; now he lays us on beds of\npain and idleness. Now he wounds, and now he heals; the way opens under\nhis Divine guidance. It may lift us up, it may cast us down. As with\nChrist, I say, so with us. It may give us a soul to save, it may cause\nour plans to be rejected, it may lead to Gethsemane, it may translate\nus to glory; but in all it is the will of him that sent us, the work he\nhas for us to do. In all, infinite wisdom, the Father's goodness, and\neternal righteousness move. He shows the way, and man's highest\nprivilege--yea, man's strength and food--is to do his will, because we\nlove and trust and adore him so entirely that what he wishes, that we\nare glad to do.\n\nI hold, therefore, before us Christ's joy in service as not beyond our\npower to imitate; and I ask if conscience and reason do not testify\nthat this is the loftiest ideal in life which we can have. When we\nreach heaven, this will be realized. But here, in the desert, now, in\nthis world of sin, is the time to begin. I do not show you so exalted a\nJesus as to put him beyond the reach of imitation. He came to make us\nlike himself. And I ask if any other ideals of life can compare with\nthis--if they are not poor and mean--if this does not soar above them.\nYou claim to seek nobility and greatness and victory. Here they are.\nCome, learn from Jesus the love of God. Let it win your heart; and as\nat his feet you look in that infinite, eternal sea of love, whose\ndepths are fathomless and whose billows break on the shores of\ntime--that love of God to man out of which Christ came to save our\nsouls by death--as you gaze on it, rise with this resolve: \"By thy\ngrace, O Christ, I too will joy to do the will of him that sent me, and\nto finish his work.\"\n\n\n\n\nFORGETTING, AND PRESSING FORWARD.\n\n\n_\"Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto\nthose things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of\nthe high calling of God in Christ Jesus.\"_--PHILIPPIANS\n3:13, 14.\n\n\n\n\nFORGETTING, AND PRESSING ONWARD.\n\n\nWe are not to take the first part of this text too literally, nor press\nthe apostle's words too closely. He certainly did not mean to say that\nhe had forgotten all his past life and blotted out the memory of all\nthat lay behind him. The Bible must be interpreted naturally, as you\nwould interpret the language of ordinary writers. If we were to take\ntexts =out of their connections and press the literal meaning of every\nclause and word, we would soon make the book a bundle of contradictions\nand reduce it to an actual absurdity. Unfortunately this has sometimes\nbeen done, and not a few of the differences of opinion which believers\nof the Bible have among themselves arise from such false and\nunreasonable methods of interpretation. So, as I have said, Paul did\nnot mean that he had really forgotten the things that lay behind him.\nIn fact, he refers again and again to his past life and experience. In\nthis very chapter he relates his pedigree. Often he refers to his state\nof mind before he became a Christian--to his spiritual unrest and vain\nefforts after peace. Still oftener does he recount the story of his\nconversion, and hold himself up to all ages as a miracle of grace and a\nmonument of Divine mercy. He was very far, therefore, from having\nforgotten the way along which he had been led. It had been too\nmomentous both for himself and others. It had been too full of both\nstorm and sunshine not to be worth remembering. It had written, as with\na pen of steel, lessons of law and love upon the soul of the apostle,\nand in characters too deep ever to be obliterated.\n\nWhat, then, did Paul mean when he here describes himself as \"forgetting\nthose things which are behind and reaching forth unto those things\nwhich are before\"? He meant his language to be understood comparatively\nand relatively. He was thinking chiefly of the new life which had been\nopened before him by Jesus Christ, and of the enthusiasm and devotion\nwith which he pursued it. He likens himself to a contestant in a\nfoot-race, whose eye is bent on the track before him, not on that\nbehind his back--who is ever measuring in thought the distance yet to\nbe traveled until the prize is won. He meant, therefore, that he was so\nabsorbed in the new pursuits and duties given him by Jesus Christ that\nhis past life was comparatively forgotten. He did not mourn the honors\nin the Jewish Church which he had lost by becoming a Christian. He did\nnot dwell upon the anger of his Hebrew friends, now that he had the\nfriendship of Christ himself. He did not regret the sacrifice he had\nmade, since a better reward had been bestowed upon him. He did not let\npast troubles hamper present actions, nor past successes cause him to\nrest upon his laurels, nor past services satisfy him, nor past losses\nembitter him. He turned resolutely to the future. He pushed ahead in\nhis divinely appointed way. He let the dead past bury its dead, while\nhe was absorbed in the living present and the coming future. Speaking\nrelatively, in comparison with the absorbing business of his life, he\ncould say, \"Forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forth\nunto those things that are before, I press toward the mark for the\nprize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.\"\n\nThus understood, St. Paul's language becomes exceedingly suggestive of\nthings that it is worth our while to forget, and the way in which we\nshould forget them. Like him, we are not required to blot out the\nremembrance of the past. There could be no improvement if we did not\nremember past mistakes and profit by them. It is often our sweetest joy\nand highest pride to think of the days that are no more, of the\nwondrous history of mankind, of our own journey as Providence has led\nus on, and above all things, of him whom we are to hold in everlasting\nremembrance. But we must keep life's balance true. Some people are\nalways living among the gravestones, regretting what is now inevitable,\nmourning over losses that cannot be repaired, thinking the days of old\nbetter than those which are to be--and wasting their energies in\nsorrowful reminiscences and wistful longings for a perished past,\ninstead of using their energies in the accomplishment of what may be\ndone for the winning of better crowns. It is against this practice that\nthe apostle's experience warns. This practice makes progress\nimpossible. It is a source of misery. It fetters the Christian mind. It\ndoes not know that the resurrection has taken place. It makes life a\nthrenody instead of a hosanna. We are to turn from the past that we may\nobtain the better future. Let me give you an example of the way in\nwhich we are to forget the things which are behind, and reach forth\nunto those things that are before.\n\nI. It is worth our while to forget old doubts and questionings, through\nabsorption in the practical application of the truth brought us by\nJesus Christ. Most of the doubts and questionings which men have on the\nsubject of religion are very old. Their hair is gray with the anxious\nthought of many centuries. They may be represented by old men, with\nwrinkled foreheads and feeble knees, pretending by dress and manner to\nbe young. But you would be surprised to find how old they are, these\nquestions that disturb your religious faith and hinder you from the\nperformance of your whole duty.\n\nThere, for instance, is that weary question about the reason why God\nallowed sin and misery to enter into his world--a question which men\nare still pondering, under which they are still restless and sometimes\nunhappy. But lo! it is as old as human history. The ancient Brahmins\nwrestled with it. We find it echoed in the hymns of Chaldea that date\nfrom the days of Abraham, in the songs of Greece, and in the literature\nof the age of Solomon; and neither philosophy nor science, neither\ndiscovery nor accident, has to this day been able to frame a\nsatisfactory answer.\n\nIn like manner the question how to harmonize in thought the absolute\nsovereignty of God, who ruleth over all and designed the end from the\nbeginning, with the freedom and responsibility of man, is an ancient\nproblem which no answer has been found able to finally solve. Hindoo\nphilosophy settled it by fatalism, making man nothing and deities all.\nGreek thought vibrated between the two extremes; and from the beginning\nof Christian history the problem has vexed the ingenuity and taxed the\npatience of the Church. It is not peculiar to Calvinism. It is a\nproblem which has ever risen up before inquiring minds and baffled the\nwisdom of the greatest who have grappled with it.\n\nAnd so, too, most of the specific doubts about and objections to\nChristian doctrine have descended to us from remote generations. Modern\nphilosophy turns out to be only a careful repetition of speculations\nwhich were indulged in by the earliest thinkers. Most of the really\nimportant objections to the Bible were raised by the shrewd and\ncultured antagonists whom ancient paganism put forward as its\nchampions. There can scarcely be a new theory devised, for the human\nmind has long since gone over the whole ground with plowshare and rake.\nNothing is more instructive and entertaining to the student of\nChristianity than to recognize in ancient times the faces with which he\nis familiar in our day, although they may be dressed in different\nclothes and speak another tongue. He will hail them as well-known\nfamilies, and will return with the conviction that, so far as the\nreligious doubts and questionings of the human mind are concerned,\nthere was some truth in the declaration of Solomon, that there is\nnothing new under the sun.\n\nI do not mean to say that progress is not being made in religious\nthought as well as elsewhere. I think there is. God's truth is being\nbetter understood. God's Word is being read more intelligently. Light\nis falling from many a source and on many a fact. Neither do I mean to\nsay that these old problems should not be considered, if for no other\nreason than that men may be reminded that some of them are insoluble by\nus, and that what we do know concerning them may be fairly and wisely\nstated. But I think it clear that they should not be allowed to burden\nus nor to keep us back from the performance of practical duty. For,\nmark you how progress has been made even while these dark questionings\nremained unsolved. Jesus and the apostles did not attempt to answer\nthese philosophical questionings which had been and would be raised by\ninquiring minds. They gave us certain positive, practical truths, and\ntold us to test them by actual trial, and obtain the good which they\nwould be sure to bring. Christianity in later years did not triumph by\nconfuting the objections raised against it on the part of culture. It\nanswered many of them indeed, but its triumph came from the practical\nreligion which it introduced, and from the effects of faith in Jesus\nwhich blessed individuals and society. So, while the human intellect\nhas been wrestling with the giant problem of life, the being of God has\nsilently been established. Overhead has been the battle of the\nelements, as on earth the quiet growth of the seed of truth which fell\nfrom the Master's hand. While the Titans have been warring in the air,\nthe power of God's love and the offer of his Gospel have been making\nthe world better. The laws of Christ have been closely applied to human\nconduct; the beauty and the majesty of Jesus have won their way to the\nhearts of millions. Thus progress in righteousness, in the love of God,\nand in the practical application of the Gospel, has gone forward, while\nthese profound problems have remained, and hover like clouds above the\nfretful world.\n\nI judge, therefore, that in view of these facts it is worth our while\nto forget these doubts and questionings. History has proved that many\nof them are both hopelessly dark and have nothing whatever to do with\nthe attainment of happiness and peace of mind. That they will ever\ncease to engage the attention of some would be too much to believe.\nEvery new generation will undertake the task of settling them. But it\nwill soon be glad to leave the task to generations following. It is,\ntherefore, not material for a man to consider them. There are things\nbefore him which can be done and questionings which can be probably\nsolved. His own personal Christian duty is as clear as sunlight. That\nChrist is worthy of his following is manifest to every unperverted\nmind. That men need to have Christ's teachings taken home to them, and\nthat man himself needs to practically walk with Christ and do his\nservice, the clear facts demonstrate. It is worth his while to forget\nthose doubts and leave those problems unsolved. It is not wise to let\nthem burden him or keep him back from service. Let him leave them\nbehind him, and bend his strength to the racetrack of acknowledged\nduty, and perhaps when he has reached the goal he may be in fitter\ncondition to deal with them. I am certain that then he will thank God\nthat he did not let them hold him back from the glorious prize.\n\nII. Again, it is worth our while to forget our trials and sorrows,\nthrough absorption in the pleasure and gains of Christian work. Not\neveryone by any means can do this. Not a few dwell on the trials they\nhave had, until they become veritable burdens, invisibly borne on weary\nshoulders. Under the palsy of regret, energy for new duties becomes\nenfeebled. Some are embittered by regret, fretful under the apparently\nhard ordainments of Providence, carrying within their mind sour\nthoughts of God and of those who are more fortunate, so that the world\ngrows dark to them, loses its beauty and loveliness, and life ends in\nwelcome death. Others simply grieve, striving to be patient and\nsubmissive, but knowing not what balm to apply to their wounds or where\nto find consolation. Few things are sadder than the spectacle of such\ncherishers of bitter memories; and yet how they nurse their regret and\nattach an almost sacred dignity to their sorrows, and refuse to\nundertake the duties and privileges which are before them, as though\nfettered by the past.\n\nOn the other hand, it is only fair to remark that human nature shows\nmarvelous elasticity and capacity to forget. The really wonderful thing\nis that men and women are so well able to forget the trials and sorrows\nthrough which they pass. When we think how heavy these are in nearly\nevery life--how bitter the partings are as we journey along the\npathway, how much disappointment and loss there are in the experiences\nof even the more fortunate--the marvel is that there are so many happy\nfaces and that the sorrows of humanity are so soon forgotten in the\nenjoyment of other things.\n\nAs the vegetation soon springs up on the battlefield, as ruined houses\nare transformed into fertile hillocks, and the plain where man and\nhorse rolled in awful carnage becomes ere long the harvest field of the\nfarmer, so the pains and griefs of human life are buried under the new\nlabors and pleasures which beckon to themselves the human mind. Thank\nGod it is so. He has made us thus elastic and self-governing that we\nmay not be cast down. Otherwise history would stop, and earth become a\ngraveyard; and the fact that this is part of our natural constitution\nindicates that it is wise and right to turn from even the keenest trial\nand the most sacred grief to the summons which the Father brings to us\nto further work. For it is impossible to suppose that these evil events\nare sent to us for their own sake. That would be an outrageous\nimpugnment of the goodness and mercy of God, especially when he has\ndistinctly declared that he does not willingly afflict or grieve the\nchild of man. They are meant to discipline our souls--to show us truth\nmore clearly, to open to our minds the realities of life, and to guide\nus into the ways of thinking and acting which are better than those we\nfollowed before. And if so, then they will do their work only when they\nare themselves relatively forgotten in the new life to which they\nintroduce us.\n\nThe gardener prunes the vine that it may bring forth more fruit. He\ncuts off useless branches that others may replace them, stronger and\nfresher; and the pruning is to be forgotten in the ripening clusters\nthat are gathered in consequence of it. The gold is refined that the\nalloy may be disengaged from union with the precious metal; and when\nthe latter is purified, its worth far exceeds the trial through which\nit had to pass. And who of us cannot glean from our own lives\nillustrations of a like character? Looking back through the mist of\nyears, we can recall the failures that at the time nearly broke our\nhearts; losses that nearly crushed us, but which it now requires a\npositive effort to remember, so completely have they merged into the\nlife for which Providence meant them to qualify us. Those gloomy days\nwere meant to be forgotten. They were meant to merge into a nobler\nlife. They were like the sharp pain of a surgeon's knife--the pain soon\npasses away, but the benefit of it remains. God never meant them to\nlinger as phantoms in our memories, to absorb our thought and claim our\nsole attention. He meant them to make us patient, and stronger for\nother tasks, for the doing of which this discipline was required.\n\nWe should be very careful, however, to drown our pains and sorrows not\nin selfish work and pleasures, but in Christian work and in the joys of\nChristian service. Let us use no intoxicating cup to cover with\noblivion our troubles and cares. Some plunge even into actual\ndissipation that they may kill the sting of memory. Others resort to\nbusiness and social pleasures. But then the forgetfulness is\nshort-lived and bitter, and you truly add new causes for further regret\nin years to come. It is worth our while to forget our trials and\nsorrows, if we do so by becoming absorbed in better living and in\nChristian work. Go out of thyself and serve others. Forget thyself in\nthinking of thy fellow-men. Reach forth unto the things that are before\nthee. Help the unfortunate. Raise up the fallen. Teach the ignorant.\nKeep thy mind busy with useful thoughts. Give thy brain and hand to\nuseful toil. Forget thy own pains and griefs in ministering to those\nwhich others have. It will then indeed be worth thy while to dismiss\nthem from command of thee, for they will never be of so much use as\nwhen they thus stimulate kind and gentle deeds. It is thus that thou\nwilt \"find in loss a gain to match,\" and rise on \"stepping stones of\nyour dead self to higher things.\"\n\nIII. So, too, it is worth our while to forget our so-called successes\nand our earthly reverses by absorption in those ends of living which\nChrist has taught us to be really good and great. It was in this sense\nparticularly that St. Paul used our text. The things which he forgot\nwere his noble Jewish birth, his upright training, his successes and\nhonors in the eyes of his fellow-countrymen. Not even a Roman was\nprouder of his birth than a Jew was of his. Before that young Jew of\nTarsus high honors rose, ready almost to lay themselves at his feet. He\nattained the highest culture which his master Gamaliel could give him.\nThe way was open for him to become a noted man in his nation, a leader\nin Church and State. He valued these things. He did not toss them from\nhim without an effort, but he did toss them from him. In the sense in\nwhich I have explained it, he forgot them: \"What things were gain to\nme, these have I counted loss for Christ.\" That he might follow the\ntruth and serve the Lord, he turned his mind away from all the honor\nand gain which the Jewish world could offer him. He did so absolutely.\nHe did not let his mind dwell on the sacrifice which he had made. He\ndid not repine over his loss. He cheerfully and joyfully pursued his\nway of Christian service, and never allowed himself to be deterred in\nit for a moment by any thought of the sacrifices which he had made,\nrightly thinking that nothing that the whole world could give him was\nworth comparison with the prize of the high calling of God in Christ\nJesus.\n\nNow, certainly it is harder for us to forget the glittering prizes\nwhich the world offers us than anything else. It is hard to persuade\nourselves that they are really behind us; that we have left them in the\nrear and gone on by them to something greater and better. They absorb\nthe energy of most of us, these imaginary piles of glittering dollars\nthat we think we see one day ours, these famous honors in professional\nor public life that we hope one day to have. They are the corruptible\ncrowns for which the majority of men are striving, and which fill the\nsouls of millions with selfish and sordid thoughts. But let the light\nin on these earthly prizes, and how apt they are to turn out tinsel and\nbrass! Finery that is quite resplendent by gaslight often appears\ntawdry and poor in the rays of the morning sun. So when the realities\nof life are felt by the soul, when the mind's supreme need of truth and\nof the fellowship with God are realized, then do the dollars and crowns\nfor which this poor world struggles seem mean enough to awaken the\ncontempt and even the hatred of those who have been deceived by them.\nOn the other hand, the true life which Jesus has revealed will stand\nthe test of the most searching investigation: when the blazing light of\neternity falls on it, it is still found to be real gold. The life which\nfollows Christ in doing good, which forsakes its own pleasure at the\ncall of those in need, which loves and works for God--the life which is\nat harmony with God and at peace with its fellow-men--that life appears\nmore and more beautiful as we try it, and its reward more and more\nworthy of our toil.\n\nI say, therefore, that these paltry things which men call success and\nhonor are worth forgetting, if their place be taken by those ends of\nliving which Christ has taught us to be really great and good. We need\nnot fret if we lose them; we need not care if we never win them.\nSeeking greater prizes, why should we repine if the baubles and tinsel\nare not had? I say to you, forget them. Go higher up. Seek wisdom and\nrighteousness, truth and character. Lay up treasures in the heart, and\ndo not be bound and limited by fancied good which, at the longest, will\nsoon fade away.\n\nIV. Once more, and most earnestly of all, do we say that it is worth\nour while to forget our old sins and errors, in the joy of that\nforgiveness which God has provided to every repentant sinner. Forget\nthem? It may be impossible wholly to forget them. The memory of them\nwill sting. Their effects often remain long after they have been\nforgiven. As I have said, Paul did not literally forget them. He\nmourned over them to the day of his death, and even thought himself the\nchief of sinners, because he had persecuted the Church of God. But he\ndid not allow them to trouble him any longer, heinous though his sins\nhad been, for God's forgiveness of the repentant sinner is full and\ncomplete. He does not receive us on probation. He does not promise\nforgiveness hereafter. He offers it now. \"Though your sins be as\nscarlet, they shall be as white as snow.\" He welcomes every penitent as\nthe father of the prodigal did his wandering boy, stopping his\nconfession with the kiss of love and saying, \"This my son was dead, and\nis alive again.\" He forgives and forgets. He bears no anger. He keeps\nno malice. He blots out the record of our misdeeds. He covers it with\nthe merits of his blessed Son.\n\nSurely, then, it is worth our while to forget them also. We need not be\nburdened with them. So long as we have not repented of them, we may\nwell be crushed under their load; but when we have cast them upon God,\nwe are forever free. Let them go down into the pit of eternal oblivion.\nLet there be no phantom rising from the grave of buried sins to\naffright us. Looking to the Christ, their power is all gone. Oh, what a\nrelief this is! See how men are driven by an accusing conscience--longing\nfor deliverance from themselves, since in themselves they carry the\nexecutioner of broken law. Hear them crying out for waters of Lethe to\ndrown the sting of memory. Again see them courting death in the vain\nhope of finding deliverance from their shame. But death will bring no\ndeliverance to the impenitent. Behold Dives: \"Son, remember!\" There\nare no waters of Lethe. There is only one way of securing peace and\nforgetfulness--confession, repentance, and faith in Jesus Christ. Then\nwe may forget our sins and errors. Over them is sprinkled the atoning\nblood. Justice is satisfied; and forgetting the things which are\nbehind, reaching forth for the things which are before, we may with\nelastic step and happy hearts press toward the mark for the prize of\nthe high calling of God in Christ Jesus.\n\nThere are, then, some things worth forgetting. It is not wise nor right\nto be forever halting under the bondage of that which Jesus Christ came\nto destroy. In order that we may rise to a higher life we must forget\nthe lower. Why should we be forever killing foes that are already dead,\nclinging to the memories of things whose purpose has been served,\ndallying with toys when time has brought greater prizes to contend for,\nand groaning under sins for which Christ has brought redemption? No,\nlet us believe and go forward. The future will be better than the past.\nThe way is open; on to attainment! forward to the victory! Make Jesus\nChrist your Saviour. Take him altogether, and for all he is. Then will\nthe glorious life and joy into which he leads us swallow up the doubts\nand fears and sins of former days. These will be forgotten in the\nenjoyment of God's loving mercy and guiding hand. I plead with you to\ntake these truths to heart. Turn your face heavenward. Go forward to\nthe Promised Land. Break your fetters and live for the new things which\nGod hath prepared for those that love him.\n\n\n\n\n\"UNTIL THE DAY DAWN.\"\n\n\n_\"The things which are not seen are eternal.\"_--I CORINTHIANS 4: 18.\n\n\n\n\n\"UNTIL THE DAY DAWN.\"\n\n\n    Awake, my soul! The eternal day is breaking,\n        The darkness of the world is pierced with lights,\n    And rays, prophetic of the morn's arising,\n        Already gleam far up the eastern heights.\n\n    The day of painless life and tireless vigor,\n        The day of widening knowledge of the best,\n    The day when earth's deceits and adumbrations\n        Shall change into the truth in glory dressed.\n\n    O soul of mine, let not dull sleep bewitch thee;\n        Let not the gilded fantasies of sense\n    Cause thee to slumber when heaven's light is shining,\n        And God's dear voice is summoning thee hence.\n\n    Thine earthly life is but a preparation\n        For grander toil and never-ending joys.\n    Thou wast not meant to find it satisfactory,\n        Its keenest sorrows are its broken toys.\n\n    Already has thine opening eye caught vision\n        Of things more real, of gladness more profound,\n    When, through the rupture of this earth's relations,\n        The voice of God and truth has uttered sound.\n\n    Then bend thy gaze to the predestined future,\n        Anticipate the life that draweth nigh;\n    Awake, my soul, and contemplate the portion\n        Of those whose lot is fixed with Christ on high.\n\n    Think of the seed that bloometh into flower;\n        Think of the thought that shapes itself in deed;\n    Think of the chaos ordered into beauty;\n        Think of the Child that for the world did bleed.\n\n    Mark what portentous prophecies of power\n        All these suggest as thine intended goal,\n    When day, now breaking, shall at last be entered\n        And the grand promise shall itself unroll.\n\n    Soul! let the voice of Christ, thy sure Forerunner,\n        Summon thee now into the heavenly life.\n    Soon shall the brightness of the day flow o'er thee,\n        Soon peace shall end thy bitter earthly strife.\n\n    Thine are these mansions; thine the Father's bosom;\n        Thine the high paths that sinless feet have trod.\n    Thine is to be the light that faileth never,\n        The endless life of fellowship with God.\n\n_December 29, 1895._\n\n\n\n\nTHE TEACHER AND PASTOR.\n\nFrom President F. L. Patton's address at the funeral of Dr. Purves.\n\n\nWe all felt the terrible shock when word came to us on Wednesday\nmorning that Dr. Purves had died suddenly the night before. We knew\nthat he was suffering under an acute attack and that in recent months\nhe had been subject to such attacks, but we did not suppose that his\nillness was of a nature that was likely to prove fatal.\n\nThis congregation, the First Presbyterian Church of Princeton, the\nPrinceton Theological Seminary, and Princeton University have sustained\na great loss. All connected with these institutions feel that they have\nsuffered a personal bereavement, for Dr. Purves had a singular power of\nlaying hold upon the affections of those to whom he stood related.\n\nWe admired him as a preacher and as a teacher. We were impressed with\nhis goodness and with the genuineness of his religious life, but,\nbeyond all that, we loved him as a man. The story of his life is\nfamiliar to us all. He was born in the city of Philadelphia on the 27th\nof February, 1852. After graduating at the University of Pennsylvania,\nhe entered Princeton Theological Seminary, remaining there after the\ncompletion of his curriculum for a year of graduate study.\n\nIt was during this year in Princeton that he came under the quickening\ninfluence of his great friend and teacher, the beloved Dr. Caspar\nWistar Hodge, and that he acquired that taste for New Testament study\nwhich he so assiduously cultivated during his two pastorates in\nBaltimore and Pittsburg, and which ended in his being the unanimous\nchoice of the directors of the Princeton Theological Seminary as the\nsuccessor of Dr. Hodge.\n\nIt was a matter of great doubt to him and to his friends whether he\nshould give up the pulpit to take the professor's chair, for he had\nsingular qualifications for both positions. He was an eloquent\npreacher, and his services were especially acceptable to young men, who\ncame in throngs to hear him on Sunday evenings.\n\nHe also had special qualifications as a teacher. He was a ripe scholar,\nand what was a very important factor in the case, he knew, as few men\nknow, how to show the bearing of accurate, minute exegetical study of\nthe Bible to the service of the pulpit. These facts, added to his\nwarmth of temperament, gave him great facility in dealing with\ntheological students.\n\nNone who had the privilege of being his pupil will ever forget his\nhospitality. His house was their home, and they were always welcomed to\nhis table. Many a young minister in the service of the church to-day\nwill recall his relations to Dr. Purves, and the hospitality of his\nhome, as the brightest memory of his seminary days.\n\nIt is rare that we find a man equally capable to do the work of the\npulpit and the professor's chair. And while each sphere furnishes ample\nopportunities for anyone, still, in rare cases, it is perhaps well to\nallow those who are fitted to do so to fill both positions. When,\ntherefore, Dr. Purves, as stated supply to the First Presbyterian\nChurch of Princeton, and afterwards its pastor, added the duties of the\npulpit to those of his professorship, it was felt to be advantageous to\nthe best interests of all concerned.\n\nDuring his life in Princeton he had frequent invitations from prominent\nchurches to become their pastor, but he declined. Through all, I\nbelieve, he felt that his heart was in the work of his chair, and that\nwith a dual position of pastor and professor, he had the widest scope\nfor the exercise of his best powers, and the fullest opportunity for\nthe realization of his highest ambitions. I think I do not misrepresent\nhim when I say it. But when the pulpit of this church became vacant,\nthe eyes of the congregation turned to him. Occupying a foremost place\nin the denomination to which it belongs, it called for a strong man who\ncould administer with great ability its affairs and maintain the high\nstandard of spiritual preaching set by Dr. James W. Alexander, Dr.\nRice, and Dr. Hall.\n\nYou made no mistake, my dear friends, when you felt that the one man to\nfill this vacant place in the American pulpit, and to be added to his\ngreat succession, was Dr. Purves. We were loath to have him leave\nPrinceton, and there were some, perhaps, who were never satisfied\nrespecting the wisdom of his decision, but most of us thought that the\ninterests of the Church at large transcended all local interests, and\nthat they would be best subserved by his acceptance of its call. He\nentered upon the duties here with enthusiasm. His heart and his head\nwere enlisted to their utmost efforts in the work of this church, and\nhe soon found himself absorbed in the many religious and philanthropic\nenterprises that consume the time and exhaust the energy of ministers\nof large churches in great cities. I do not think he worked harder in\nNew York than he did in Princeton, for Dr. Purves was a man who did\nwith all his might what his hands found to do.\n\nOne rarely finds a man with such capacity for hard work and varied\nwork. When he sustained the dual relation of pastor and professor in\nPrinceton, he never allowed the duties of one sphere of labor to be an\nexcuse for slighting the other sphere of labor. He was always up to\ndate in the literature of his department, notwithstanding the exacting\ncalls of his parish. Nor did he find an easy mode of preparation for\nthe pulpit by giving his theological lectures a homiletical form.\nIndeed I sometimes thought it would have been well if he had brought\nsome of his New Testament studies into the pulpit. This was Dr. Hodge's\nmethod, and his sermons were all studies in biblical theology; but Dr.\nPurves, though always a preacher to whom theological students listened\nwith delight for hours, was not distinctively a preacher to theological\nstudents. He was very comprehensive and varied in his range of topics\nfor the pulpit, and was equally acceptable to the undergraduates of the\nuniversity and to the men and women who constitute the congregations of\ngreat cities.\n\nWe cannot understand Dr. Purves as a preacher or as teacher unless we\nknow him as a man. He had a warm heart; he had a keen eye, a good\nmemory for names and faces. He seemed to know more people in Princeton\nthan anyone else. He never loitered or dreamed; he was alert, active,\nenergetic, interested in all good work. The movements of his mind, like\nthose of his body, were quick. He was religious without being austere,\njust as he was companionable without being worldly. He touched human\nlife at a great many points. As a New Testament specialist, it was his\nbusiness to be familiar with the literature and progress of the\nApostolic period. How much he had made himself master of that period\nhis \"Apostolic Age\"[1] will testify. But he had a wider range of\nthought than that. I have heard him preach Thanksgiving sermons that\ninvolved much thought, the result of much reading and clear thinking\nupon political science. While he was far from being disposed to allow\nsociology to supersede theology, yet he recognized that the Gospel had\ngreat bearing on social questions, and he was deeply interested in all\nsociological movements.\n\n      [1] Apostolic Age. Scribner's, 1900.\n\nBut when we judge him as a teacher, we must judge him rather by his\ninfluence upon the minds of his pupils than by the products of his pen,\nscholarly and creditable as they always were. For in a department that\nis so full of activity as that of New Testament literature, it is only\nby incessant study that one can do much original work.\n\nA great teacher cannot always be an author, and a great author is not\nalways the best teacher. Dr. Purves, as all his students will testify,\nwas a great teacher, and by common consent he held, and is recognized\nas having held, a foremost place in the American pulpit. He was not a\ncontroversial preacher. He was not a theological preacher. He was not a\nliterary preacher, though he had command of a finished style.\nPhilosophy had little place in his sermons, and he made no use of the\nsensational topics of the day. He was eloquent rather than brilliant.\nHis sermons were always spiritual. They were compactly, systematically\norganized, with no parade of logic. Of no one could it be more truly\nsaid than of him, that his coming among you was not with the wisdom of\nenticing words of man's pleasing, but in demonstration of the Spirit\nand of power, and that he determined to know nothing among you save\nJesus Christ and him crucified. He was not ashamed of the Gospel of\nChrist, believing it to be the power of God and the wisdom of God unto\nsalvation.\n\nI have spoken of Dr. Purves as I knew him. I have spoken of him in\nreference to his wide relations, because I believe that he belongs to\nthe church at large, but I do not forget that the special grief of this\noccasion falls upon this bereaved congregation. He was a great\npreacher, but he was more than that, he was a great pastor. How\ncomforting he was to the bereaved; how prompt he was to visit the sick;\nhow uplifting and tender his prayers; how precious the communion\nseasons which you and I and others in Princeton and elsewhere have\nenjoyed under his ministrations!\n\nThere are men who are great in the pulpit, but who find the obligations\nof the pulpit are such that they leave them no time for pastoral\nvisitation. There are men who are great in other spheres who give their\nbest efforts to the reviews and journals, and give what time is left to\nthe pulpit. Dr. Purves gave his best to his congregation--heart and\nsoul and spirit he gave to them.\n\nAnd now that he is gone, it is with a full consciousness of our loss\nthat we mourn him. The loss is ours, not his. Our hearts bleed for\nthose who are left behind. We raise anxious questions, when men like\nhim are called away, as to who shall fill the vacant place. But we do\nnot murmur. For him to live was Christ and to die was gain.","title":"Joy in Service; Forgetting, and Pressing Onward; Until the Day Dawn","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":11276}