♦The Law is Universal, austere, but immeasurably glorious♦
Jesus maintained that the Law of the Harvest--the Law of Death unto
Life--is universal. It holds as truly of every man and woman who would
be in line with the Purpose of God as it did of the Christ. Devotion to
Self kills the true Self; for the true centre of Man is not Self, but
the Father. Hence the often-repeated demand of Jesus that His servants
should follow Him in His life and death. Such surrender of the Self as
His must, in their measure, be theirs. It is the only true human living,
the living day by day in harmony with the fundamental Law.
The demand seems, until it is in some measure experienced, far too high,
too austere, for the common human life. Many shrink back from it in
fear. But those who know something of the forth-going life which takes
the place of the old self-centred life know that it is immeasurably
fuller, richer, nobler than the old; for they make the great discovery
that the true glory of the child is that he should be in sympathy with
the Father, in the joy of the harvest of a loving heart.
V
♦No distinction between layman and saint♦
♦The Law of Desire as taught by Christ♦
It is a unique fact, though quite in the nature of the case, that in
the thought of Jesus no distinction is drawn between layman and saint.
All are called to be saints. The Law applies to every man. And it is
no less startling to note that the Law of the death of self unto the
finding of the greater self may be fulfilled in the ordinary daily human
life. As we have already noted, there was no apartness in His own life;
accordingly, there are no religious orders in His Kingdom; “they are in
the world,” “I pray not that Thou shouldest take them out of the world”;
these are His own words. The reason is to be found in the Christian
definition of the Law of Desire. Buddhism and Christianity are at one
in the demand that the desires of the Self-life must die. But Christ
substitutes for it a Desire so gracious, so fruitful, that it easily
chokes all other desire, and makes even of the fascinating world a safe
abode. This Desire is the Father. He is possessed by a passion for the
Father, for His presence, His love, the fulfilment of His Purpose. The
Law of the surrender of Desire becomes the most gracious free impulse of
human nature. To die to self is the lesson of love. Uttermost allegiance
to the King is an all-absorbing, consuming Desire. It is the old thirst
for God, for the living God which distinguished the old seers of Israel,
who foresaw that the thirst must be satisfied some day.