into this august and awful presence? Does the thought of the modern
disciple journey in this distant pilgrimage? Or do we now regard it as
unpractical and irrelevant? There is no more insidious peril in modern
religious life than the debasement of our conception of the practical.
If we divorce the practical from the sublime, the practical will
become the superficial, and will degenerate into a very lean and
forceless thing. When Paul went on this lonely pilgrimage his spirit
acquired the posture of a finely sensitive reverence. People who
live and move beneath great domes acquire a certain calm and stately
dignity. It is in companionship with the sublimities that awkwardness
and coarseness are destroyed. We lose our reverence when we desert the
august. But has reverence no relationship to the practical? Shall we
discard it as an irrelevant factor in the purposes of common life?
Why, reverence is the very clue to fruitful, practical living.
Reverence is creative of hope; nay, a more definite emphasis can be
given to the assertion; reverence is a constituent of hope.
Annihilate reverence, and life loses its fine sensitiveness, and when
sensitiveness goes out of a life the hope that remains is only a
flippant rashness, a thoughtless impetuosity, the careless onrush of
the kine, and not a firm, assured perception of a triumph that is only
delayed. A reverent homage before the sublimities of yesterday is the
condition of a fine perception of the hidden triumphs of the morrow.
And, therefore, I do not regard it as an accidental conjunction that
the psalmist puts them together and proclaims the evangel that "the
Lord taketh pleasure in them that fear him, in them that hope in his
mercy." To feel the days before me I must revere the purpose which
throbs behind me. I must bow in reverence if I would anticipate in
hope.
Here, then, is the Apostle Paul, with the redemptive purpose
interweaving itself with all the entanglements of his common life, a
purpose reaching back into the awful depths of the eternities, and
issuing from those depths in amazing fulness of grace and glory. No
one can be five minutes in the companionship of the Apostle Paul
without discovering how wealthy is his sense of the wealthy, redeeming
ministry of God. What a wonderful consciousness he has of the sweep
and fulness of the divine grace! You know the variations of the
glorious air: "the unsearchable riches of Christ"; "riches in glory
in Christ Jesus"; "all spiritual blessings in the heavenly places
in Christ"; "the riches of his goodness and forbearance and
long-suffering." The redemptive purpose of God bears upon the life of
the apostle and upon the race whose privileges he shares, not in an
uncertain and reluctant shower, but in a great and marvelous flood.
And what to him is the resultant enfranchisement? What are the
spacious issues of the glorious work? Do you recall those wonderful
sentences, scattered here and there about the apostle's writings, and
beginning with the words "but now"? Each sentence proclaims the end
of the dominion of night, and unveils some glimpse of the new created
day. "But now!" It is a phrase that heralds a great deliverance!
"But now, apart from the law the righteousness of God hath been
manifested," "But now, being made free from sin and become servants to
God." "But now in Christ Jesus ye that once were far off are made nigh
in the blood of Christ." "But now are ye light in the Lord." "Now, no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus." These represent no
thin abstractions. To Paul the realities of which they speak were more
real than the firm and solid earth. And is it any wonder that a man
with such a magnificent sense of the reality of the redemptive
works of Christ, who felt the eternal purpose throbbing in the dark
background and abyss of time, who conceived it operating upon our race
in floods of grace and glory, and who realized in his own immediate
consciousness the varied wealth of the resultant emancipation--is it
any wonder that for this man a new day had dawned, and the birds had
begun to sing and the flowers to bloom, and a sunny optimism had taken
possession of his heart, which found expression in an assured and
rejoicing hope?
I look abroad again over the record of this man's life and teachings,
if perchance I may discover the secrets of his abiding optimism, and I
am profoundly imprest by his living sense of the reality and greatness
of his present resources. "By Christ redeemed!" That is not a grand
finale; it is only a glorious inauguration. "By Christ redeemed; in
Christ restored"; it is with these dynamics of restoration that his
epistles are so wondrously abounding. In almost every other sentence
he suggests a dynamic which he can count upon as his friend. Paul's
mental and spiritual outlook comprehended a great army of positive
forces laboring in the interests of the kingdom of God. His conception
of life was amazingly rich in friendly dynamics! I do not wonder that
such a wealthy consciousness was creative of a triumphant optimism.
Just glance at some of the apostle's auxiliaries: "Christ liveth in
me!" "Christ liveth in me! He breathes through all my aspirations. He
thinks through all my thinking. He wills through all my willing. He
loves through all my loving. He travails in all my labors. He works
within me 'to will and to do of his good pleasure.'" That is the
primary faith of the hopeful life. But see what follows in swift and
immediate succession. "If Christ is in you, the spirit is life." "The
spirit is life!" And therefore you find that in the apostle's thought
dispositions are powers. They are not passive entities. They are
positive forces vitalizing and energizing the common life of men.
My brethren, I am persuaded there is a perilous leakage in this
department of our thought. We are not bold enough in our thinking
concerning spiritual realities. We do not associate with every mode
of the consecrated spirit the mighty energy of God. We too often
oust from our practical calculations some of the strongest and most
aggressive allies of the saintly life. Meekness is more than the
absence of self-assertion; it is the manifestation of the mighty power
of God. To the Apostle Paul love exprest more than a relationship. It
was an energy productive of abundant labors. Faith was more than an
attitude. It was an energy creative of mighty endeavor, Hope was
more than a posture. It was an energy generative of a most enduring
patience. All these are dynamics, to be counted as active allies,
cooperating in the ministry of the kingdom. And so the epistles abound
in the recital of mystic ministries at work. The Holy Spirit worketh!
Grace worketh! Faith worketh! Love worketh! Hope worketh! Prayer
worketh! And there are other allies robed in less attractive garb.
"Tribulation worketh!" "This light affliction worketh." "Godly sorrow
worketh!" On every side of him the apostle conceives cooperative and
friendly powers. "The mountain is full of horses and chariots of
fire round about him." He exults in the consciousness of abounding
resources. He discovers the friends of God in things which find no
place among the scheduled powers of the world. He finds God's raw
material in the world's discarded waste. "Weak things," "base things,"
"things that are despised," "things that are not," mere nothings;
among these he discovers the operating agents of the mighty God. Is it
any wonder that in this man, possessed of such a wealthy consciousness
of multiplied resources, the spirit of a cheery optimism should be
enthroned? With what stout confidence he goes into the fight! He
never mentions the enemy timidly. He never seeks to underestimate his
strength. Nay, again and again he catalogs all possible antagonisms in
a spirit of buoyant and exuberant triumph. However numerous the enemy,
however subtle and aggressive his devices, however towering and
well-established the iniquity, however black the gathering clouds, so
sensitive is the apostle to the wealthy resources of God that amid it
all he remains a sunny optimist, "rejoicing in hope," laboring in the
spirit of a conqueror even when the world was exulting in his supposed
discomfiture and defeat.
And, finally, in searching for the springs of this man's optimism, I
place alongside his sense of the reality of redemption and his wealthy
consciousness of present resources his impressive sense of the reality
of future glory. Paul gave himself time to think of heaven, of the
home of God, of his own home when time should be no more. He loved to
contemplate "the glory that shall be revealed." He mused in wistful
expectancy of the day "when Christ who is our life shall be
manifested," and when we also "shall be manifested with him in glory."
He pondered the thought of death as "gain," as transferring him to
conditions in which he would be "at home with the Lord," "with Christ,
which is far better." He looked for "the blest hope and appearing
of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ," and he
contemplated "that great day" as the "henceforth," which would reveal
to him the crown of righteousness and glory. Is any one prepared to
dissociate this contemplation from the apostle's cheery optimism? Is
not rather the thought of coming glory one of its abiding springs? Can
we safely exile it from our moral and spiritual culture? I know that
this particular contemplation is largely absent from modern religious
life, and I know the nature of the recoil in which our present
impoverishment began. "Let us hear less about the mansions of the
blest and more about the housing of the poor!" Men revolted against an
effeminate contemplation, which had run to seed, in favor of an active
philanthropy which sought the enrichment of the common life. But, my
brethren, pulling a plant up is not the only way of saving it from
running to seed. You can accomplish by a wise restriction what
is wastefully done by severe destruction. I think we have lost
immeasurably by the uprooting, in so many lives, of this plant of
heavenly contemplation. We have built on the erroneous assumption that
the contemplation of future glory inevitably unfits us for the service
of man. It is an egregious and destructive mistake. I do not think
that Richard Baxter's labors were thinned or impoverished by his
contemplation of "The Saint's Everlasting Rest." When I consider his
mental output, his abundant labors as father-confessor to a countless
host, his pains and persecutions and imprisonments, I can not but
think he received some of the powers of his optimistic endurance from
contemplations such as he counsels in his incomparable book. "Run
familiarly through the streets of the heavenly Jerusalem; visit the
patriarchs and prophets, salute the apostles, and admire the armies of
martyrs; lead on the heart from street to street, bring it into
the palace of the great king; lead it, as it were, from chamber to
chamber. Say to it, 'Here must I lodge, here must I die, here must I
praise, here must I love and be loved. My tears will then be wiped
away, my groans be turned to another tune, my cottage of clay be
changed to this palace, my prison rags to these splendid robes'; 'for
the former things are passed away.'" I can not think that Samuel
Rutherford impoverished his spirit or deadened his affections, or
diminished his labors by mental pilgrimages such as he counsels to
Lady Cardoness: "Go up beforehand and see your lodging. Look through
all your Father's rooms in heaven. Men take a sight of the lands ere
they buy them. I know that Christ hath made the bargain already; but
be kind to the house ye are going to, and see it often." I can not
think that this would imperil the fruitful optimisms of the Christian
life. I often examine, with peculiar interest, the hymn-book we use at
Carr's Lane. It was compiled by Dr. Dale. Nowhere else can I find the
broad perspective of his theology and his primary helpmeets in
the devotional life as I find them there. And is it altogether
unsuggestive that under the heading of "Heaven" is to be found one of
the largest sections of the book. A greater space is given to "Heaven"
than is given to "Christian duty." Is it not significant of what a
great man of affairs found needful for the enkindling and sustenance
of a courageous hope? And among the hymns are many which have helped
to nourish the sunny endeavors of a countless host.
There is a land of pure delight
Where saints immortal reign;
Infinite day excludes the night,
And pleasures banish pain.
What are these, arrayed in white,
Brighter than the noonday sun?
Foremost of the suns of light,
Nearest the eternal throne.
Hark! hark, my soul! Angelic songs are swelling
O'er earth's green fields and ocean's wave-beat shore.
Angelic songs to sinful men are telling
Of that new life when sin shall be no more.
My brethren, depend upon it, we are not impoverished by contemplations
such as these. They take no strength out of the hand, and they
put much strength and buoyancy into the heart. I proclaim the
contemplation of coming glory as one of the secrets of the apostle's
optimism which enabled him to labor and endure in the confident spirit
of rejoicing hope. These, then, are some of the springs of Christian
optimism; some of the sources in which we may nourish our hope in the
newer labors of a larger day: a sense of the glory of the past in
a perfected redemption, a sense of the glory of the present in our
multiplied resources, a sense of the glory of tomorrow in the fruitful
rest of our eternal home.
O blest hope! with this elate
Let not our hearts be desolate;
But, strong in faith and patience, wait
Until He come!
GENERAL INDEX
INDEX TO PREACHERS AND SERMONS
Abbott, Lyman, The Divinity in Humanity
Abraham's Imitators; or The Activity of Faith. By Thomas Hooker
Affection, The Expulsive Power of a New. By Thomas Chalmers
Argument, The, from Experience. By Robert William Dale
Arnold, Thomas, Alive in God
Ascension, The, of Christ. By Girolamo Savonarola
Assurance in God. By George Adam Smith
Atonement, Eternal. By Roswell Dwight Hitchcock
Atonement, The Prominence of the. By Edwards Amasa Park
Augustine, St., The Recovery of Sight by the Blind
Bacon, Leonard Woolsey, God Indwelling
Basil "The Great," The Creation of the World
Baxter, Richard, Making Light of Christ and Salvation
Beecher, H.W., Immortality
Beecher, Lyman, The Government of God Desirable
Bible, The, vs. Infidelity. By Frank Wakely Gunsaulus
Blair, Hugh, The Hour and the Event of All Time
Blind, The Recovery of Sight by the. By St. Augustine
Bones, The Valley of Dry. By Frederick Denison Maurice
Bossuet, Jacques Benigne, The Death of the Grande Condé
Bounty, The Royal. By Alexander McKenzie
Bourdaloue, Louis, The Passion of Christ
Broadus, John A., Let us Have Peace with God
Brooks, Memorial Discourse on Phillips. By Henry Codman Potter
Brooks, Phillips, The Pride of Life
Bunyan, John, The Heavenly Footman
Burrell, David James, How to Become a Christian
Bushnell, Horace, Unconscious Influence
Cadman, S. Parkes, A New Day for Missions
Caird, John, Religion in Common Life
Calvin, John, Enduring Persecution for Christ
Campbell, Alexander, The Missionary Cause
Carlyle, Thomas,--In Memoriam. By Arthur Penrhyn Stanley
Carpenter, William Boyd, The Age of Progress
Chalmers, Thomas, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection
Charming, William Ellery, The Character of Christ
Chapin, Edwin Hubbell Nicodemus: The Seeker after Religion
Character, The, of Christ. By William Ellery Charming
Christ and Salvation, Making Light of. By Richard Baxter
Christ Among the Common Things of Life. By William James Dawson
Christ Before Pilate--Pilate Before Christ. By William Mackergo Taylor
Christ, Enduring Persecution for. By John Calvin
Christ, The Ascension of. By Girolamo Savonarola
Christ, The Character of. By William Ellery Channing
Christ, The First Temptation of. By John Knox
Christ, The Loneliness of. By Frederick William Robertson
Christ, The Passion of. By Louis Bourdaloue
Christ--_The_ Question of the Centuries. By Robert Stuart
MacArthur
Christ, The Spirit of. By Charles H. Fowler
Christ, What Think ye of. By Dwight Lyman Moody
Christ, Zeal in the Cause of. By William Morley Punshon
Christ's Advent to Judgment. By Jeremy Taylor
Christ's Real Body not in the Eucharist. By John Wyclif
Christ's Resurrection an Image of our New Life. By Frederich Ernst
Schleiermacher
Christian, How to Become a. By David James Burrell
Christian Victory. By Christopher Newman Hall
Christianity, The Mysteries of. By Alexander Vinet
Christianity, The Transient and Permanent in. By Theodore Parker
Chrysostom, Excessive Grief at the Death of Friends
Church, The Mother. By Ernest Roland Wilberforce
Church, The Triumph of the. By Henry Edward Manning
Clifford, John, The Forgiveness of Sins
Colonization, The, of the Desert. By Edward Everett Hale
Common Life, Religion in. By John Caird
Common Things of Life, Christ Among the. By William James Dawson
Condé, The Funeral Sermon on the Death of the Grande. By Jacques
Benigne Bossuet
Creation, The, of the World. By Basil
Creation, Work in the Groaning. By Frederick William Farrar
Crosby, Howard, The Prepared Worm
Cuyler, Theodore Ledyard, The Value of Life
Dale, Robert William, The Argument from Experience
Day, A, in the Life of Jesus of Nazareth, By Francis Wayland
Dawson, William James, Christ Among the Common Things of Life
Death, Glorification Through. By Francis Landey Patton
Desert, The Colonization of the. By Edward Everett Hale
Divinity, The, in Humanity. By Lyman Abbott
Drummond, Henry, The Greatest Thing in the World
Dwight, Timothy, The Sovereignty of God
Earth, The Shaking of the Heavens and the. By Charles Kingsley
Education and the Future of Religion. By John Lancaster Spalding
Edwards, Jonathan, Spiritual light
Elect, The Small Number of the. By Jean Baptiste Massillon
Eternal Atonement. By Roswell Dwight Hitchcock
Eucharist, Christ's Real Body not in the. By John Wyclif
Evans, Christmas, The Fall and Recovery of Man
Event, The Hour and the, of all Time. By Hugh Blair
Experience. By Alexander Whyte
Experience, The Argument from. By Robert William Dale
Expulsive Power, The, of a New Affection. By Thomas Chalmers
Faith, Constructive. By Charles Henry Parkhurst
Faith, The Activity of; or, Abraham's Imitators. By Thomas Hooker
Faith, The Story of a Disciple's. By Henry Scott Holland
Fall, The, and Recovery of Man. By Christmas Evans
Farrar, Frederick William, Work in the Groaning Creation
Fénelon, Francois de Salignac de la Mothe, The Saints Converse with God
Footman, The Heavenly. By John Bunyan
Forgiveness, The, of Sins. By John Clifford.
Fowler, Charles H., The Spirit of Christ
Funeral Sermon, The, on the Death of the Grande Condé, by Jacques
Benigne Bossuet
Gethsemane, The Rose Garden of God. By William Robertson Nicoll
Gladden, Washington, The Prince of Life
Glorification Through Death. By Francis Landey Patton
God, Alive in. By Thomas Arnold
God Calling to Man. By Charles John Vaughan
God Indwelling. By Leonard Woolsey Bacon.
God, Marks of Love to. By Robert Hall
God, Preparation for Consulting the Oracles of. By Edward Irving
God, The Government of, Desirable. By Lyman Beecher
God, The Image of, in Man. By Robert South
God, The Saints Converse with. By Francois Fénelon
God, The Sovereignty of. By Timothy Dwight
God the Unwearied Guide. By Newell Dwight Hillis
God's Love to Fallen Man. By John Wesley
God's Will the End of Life. By John Henry Newman
Gordon, George Angier, Man in the Image of God
Government, The, of God Desirable. By Lyman Beecher
Grace, The Method of. By George Whitefield
Greatest Thing, The, in the World. By Henry Drummond
Grief, Excessive, at the Death of Friends. By Chrysostom
Guide, God the Unwearied. By Newell Dwight Hillis
Gunsaulus, Frank Wakely, The Bible vs. Infidelity
Guthrie, Thomas, The New Heart
Hale, Edward Everett, The Colonization of the Desert
Hall, Christopher Newman, Christian Victory
Hall, John, Liberty only in Truth
Hall, Robert, Marks of Love to God
Heart, The New. By Thomas Guthrie
Heavens, The Shaking of the, and the Earth. By Charles Kingsley
Hillis, Newell Dwight, God the Unwearied Guide
Hitchcock, Roswell Dwight, The Eternal Atonement
Holland, Henry Scott, The Story of a Disciple's Faith
Holy Spirit, Influence of the. By Henry Parry Liddon
Hooker, Thomas, The Activity of Faith; or Abraham's Imitators
Hour, The, and the Event of all Time. By Hugh Blair
Howe, John, The Redeemer's Tears over Lost Souls
Humanity, The Divinity in. By Lyman Abbott
Ideal of Life, The Perfect. By George Campbell Morgan
Immortality. By H.W. Beecher
Infidelity, The Bible vs. By Frank Wakely Gunsaulus
Influence, Unconscious. By Horace Bushnell
Influences of the Holy Spirit. By Henry Parry Liddon
Inheritance, The Heavenly. By John Summerfield
Irving, Edward, Preparation for Consulting the Oracles of God
Jefferson, Charles Edward, The Reconciliation
Jesus of Nazareth, A Day in the Life of. By Francis Wayland
Jowett, John Henry, Apostolic Optimism
Judgment, Christ's Advent to. By Jeremy Taylor
Judgment, The Reversal of Human. By James B. Mozley
Justification, The Method and Fruits of. By Martin Luther
Kingsley, Charles, The Shaking of the Heavens and the Earth
Knox, John, The First Temptation of Christ
Knox-Little, William John, Thirst Satisfied
Latimer, Hugh, Christian Love
Life, Christ's Resurrection an Image of our New By Frederich Ernst
Schleiermacher
Life, God's Will the End of. By John Henry Newman
Life, The Perfect Ideal of. By George Campbell Morgan
Life, The Pride of. By Phillips Brooks
Life, The Prince of. By Washington Gladden
Life, The Value of. By Theodore Ledyard Cuyler
Liberty only in Truth. By John Hall
Liddon, Henry Parry, Influences of the Holy Spirit
Light, Spiritual. By Jonathan Edwards
Loneliness, The, of Christ. By Frederick William Robertson
Lord, The Resurrection of Our. By Matthew Simpson
Lorimer, George C. The Fall of Satan
Love, Christian. By Hugh Latimer
Love, Marks of, to God. By Robert Hall
Luther, Martin, The Method and Fruits of Justification
MacArthur, Robert Stuart, Christ--The Question of the Centuries
McKenzie, Alexander, The Royal Bounty
Maclaren, Alexander, The Pattern of Service
Macleod, Norman, The True Christian Ministry
Magee, William Connor, The Miraculous Stilling of the Storm
Man, God Calling to. By Charles John Vaughan
Man, God's Love to Fallen. By John Wesley
Man in the Image of God. By George Angier Gordon
Man, The Fall and Recovery of. By Christmas Evans
Man, The Image of God in. By Robert South
Manhood, The Meaning of. By Henry Van Dyke
Manning, Henry Edward, The Triumph of the Church
Martineau, James, Parting Words
Mason, John Mitchell, Messiah's Throne
Massillon, Jean Baptiste, The Small Number of the Elect
Maurice, Frederick Denison, The Valley of Dry Bones
Melanchthon, Philip, The Safety of the Virtuous
Memorial Discourse on Phillips Brooks. By Henry Codman Potter
Messiah's Throne. By John Mitchell Mason
Ministry, The True Christian. By Norman Macleod
Missions, A New Day for. By. S. Parkes Cadman
Missionary Cause, The. By Alexander Campbell
Missionary Work, The Permanent Motive in. By Richard S. Storrs
Monster, A Bloody. By Thomas DeWitt Talmage
Moody, Dwight Lyman, What Think ye of Christ?
Morgan, George Campbell, The Perfect Ideal of Life
Motive, The Permanent, in Missionary Work. By Richard S. Storrs
Mozley, James B., The Reversal of Human Judgment
Mysteries. The, of Christianity. By Alexander Vinet
Newman, John Henry, God's Will the End of Life
Nicodemus: The Seeker after Religion. By Edwin Hubbell Chapin
Nicoll, William Robertson, Gethsemane, The Rose Garden of God
Optimism, Apostolic. By John Henry Jowett
Optimism. By John Watson
Oracles, Preparation for Consulting the, of God. By Edward Irving
Park, Edwards Amasa, The Prominence of the Atonement
Parker, Joseph, A Word to the Weary
Parker, Theodore, The Transient and Permanent in Christianity
Parkhurst, Charles Henry, Constructive Faith
Passion, The, of Christ. By Louis Bourdaloue
Patton, Francis Landey, Glorification Through Death
Paul Before Felix and Drusilla. By Jacques Saurin
Peace with God, Let us Have. By John A. Broadus
Permanent, The Transient and the, in Christianity. By Theodore Parker
Persecution for Christ, Enduring, John Calvin
Pilate Before Christ--Christ Before Pilate. By William Mackergo
Taylor
Potter, Henry Codman, Memorial Discourse on Phillips Brooks
Pride, The, of Life. By Phillips Brooks
Prince, The, of Life. By Washington Gladden
Progress, The Age of. By William Boyd Carpenter
Punshon, William Morley, Zeal in the Cause of Christ
Reconciliation, The. By Charles E. Jefferson
Recovery, The Fall and, of Man. By Christmas Evans
Redeemer's Tears, The, over Lost Souls. By John Howe
Religion, Education and the Future of. By John Lancaster Spaldin
Religion in Common Life. By John Caird
Religion, Nicodemus: The Seeker after. By Edwin Hubbell Chapin
Resurrection, Christ's, an Image of our New-Life. By Frederick Ernst
Schleiermacher
Resurrection, The, of Our Lord. By Matthew Simpson
Resurrection, The Reasonableness of a. By John Tillotson
Reversal, The, of Human Judgment. By James B. Mozley
Robertson, Frederick William, The Loneliness of Christ
Royal Bounty, the. By Alexander McKenzie