That is referred to in the one saying by 'he that endureth,' and in
the other 'in your endurance.' Now, it is very necessary for the
understanding of many places in Scripture to remember that the
notion either of patience or of endurance by no means exhausts the
power of this noble Christian word. For these are passive virtues,
and however excellent and needful they may be, they by no means sum
up our duty in regard to the hindrances and sorrows, the burdens and
weights, of which I have been trying to speak. For you know it is
only 'what cannot be cured' that 'must be endured,' and even
incurable things are not merely to be endured, but they ought to be
utilised. It is not enough that we should build up a dam to keep the
floods of sorrow and trial from overflowing our fields; we must turn
the turbid waters into our sluices, and get them to drive our mills.
It is not enough that we should screw ourselves up to lie
unresistingly under the surgeon's knife; though God knows that it is
as much as we can manage sometimes, and we have to do as convicts
under the lash do, get a bit of lead or a bullet into our mouths,
and bite at it to keep ourselves from crying out. But that is not
all our duty in regard to our trials and difficulties. There is
required something more than passive endurance.
This noble word of my texts does mean a great deal more than that. It
means active persistence as well as patient submission. It is not
enough that we should stand and bear the pelting of the pitiless storm,
unmurmuring and unbowed by it; but we are bound to go on our course,
bearing up and steering right onwards. Persistent perseverance in the
path that is marked out for us is especially the virtue that our Lord
here enjoins. It is well to sit still unmurmuring; it is better to
march on undiverted and unchecked. And when we are able to keep
straight on in the path which is marked out for us, and especially in
the path that leads us to God, notwithstanding all opposing voices, and
all inward hindrances and reluctances; when we are able to go to our
tasks of whatever sort they are and to do them, though our hearts are
beating like sledge-hammers; when we say to ourselves, 'It does not
matter a bit whether I am sad or glad, fresh or wearied, helped or
hindered by circumstances, this one thing I do,' then we have come to
understand and to practise the grace that our Master here enjoins. The
endurance which wins the soul, and leads to salvation, is no mere
passive submission, excellent and hard to attain as that often is;
but it is brave perseverance in the face of all difficulties, and in
spite of all enemies.
Mark how emphatically our Lord here makes the space within which
that virtue has to be exercised conterminous with the whole duration
of our lives. I need not discuss what 'the end' was in the original
application of the words; that would take us too far afield. But
this I desire to insist upon, that right on to the very close of
life we are to expect the necessity of putting forth the exercise of
the very same persistence by which the earlier stages of any noble
career must necessarily be marked. In other departments of life
there may be relaxation, as a man goes on through the years; but in
the culture of our characters, and in the deepening of our faith,
and in the drawing near to our God, there must be no cessation or
diminution of earnestness and of effort right up to the close.
There are plenty of people, and I dare say that I address some of
them now, who began their Christian career full of vigour and with a
heat that was too hot to last. But, alas, in a year or two all the
fervency was past, and they settled down into the average, easygoing,
unprogressive Christian, who is a wet blanket to the devotion and
work of a Christian church. I wonder how many of us would scarcely
know our own former selves if we could see them. Christian people,
to how many of us should the word be rung in our ears: 'Ye did run
well; _what_ did hinder you'? The answer is--Myself.
But may I say that this emphatic 'to the end' has a special lesson
for us older people, who, as natural strength abates and enthusiasm
cools down, are apt to be but the shadows of our old selves in many
things? But there should be fire within the mountain, though there
may be snow on its crest. Many a ship has been lost on the harbour
bar; and there is no excuse for the captain leaving the bridge, or
the engineer coming up from the engine-room, stormy as the one
position and stifling as the other may be, until the anchor is down,
and the vessel is moored and quiet in the desired haven. The desert,
with its wild beasts and its Bedouin, reaches right up to the city
gates, and until we are within these we need to keep our hands on
our sword-hilts and be ready for conflict. 'He that endureth to the
end, the same shall be saved.'