Picture a man walking on a dark night along a lonely mountain trail. A deadly viper lies across his path. He steps across the venomous thing; it coils and strikes,--just a moment too late! The traveller passes on, never to know the danger he was in. So with us in our journey through life. We may never know the hidden {206} dangers; we may never know the grace that came through the prayer or good works of some far-off soul, that saved us. But what courage does the thought infuse!
I had thought myself alone on this far outpost of temptation. I knew not how my soul could be reinforced by my comrades in the strife. But the help came. I was made strong; and that which might have been a grievous and hurtful battle was to me an easy victory.
Such is the power of intercession,--here a heart lifted up to God, yonder a soul made strong; here a spirit wrestling with Him, yonder a crown of victory won.
"The weary ones had rest, the sick had joy that day And wondered how.
The ploughman, singing at his work, had prayed, 'God help them now.'
"Alone in foreign lands, they wondered how Their feeble word had power.
At home the Christians, two or three, had met To pray an hour.
"So we are always wondering, wondering long Because we do not see Some one, unknown perhaps, and far away, On bended knee."
{207}
II. _The Church's Treasury of Grace_
Since, then, no soul in the Church of God, whether in this world or beyond, can increase in grace without that same grace flowing also into my soul and helping me, the recollection of the Communion of Saints and the vast treasury of spiritual power upon which I can continually draw must be a never-failing source of hope and courage.
I may be far from the state of spiritual perfection that constitutes what the Church calls a Saint, but no gift of grace is ever laid hold upon by a Saint in which I do not have a share. The gifts of God, in whatever form they may come, and upon whomsoever they may be directly bestowed, are "for the edifying of the Body of Christ,"[10] for the enriching of every member thereof.
Nor do these graces operate but for a little time, and then lose their activity. Once the grace of God is set in operation, it goes on forever. The sanctity of the Saints moves on through the ages. The Church to-day is strong with the strength which long labour and faithfulness won for the Apostles and Prophets, the Confessors, the Martyrs, the Virgins. The grace {208} bestowed upon St. John in his earthly life still holds its place in the Body of Christ, and so long as I am in that Body that very grace which was given to him helps me, and is a part of the defence of my soul in the hour of battle, if I will only rise up to use what God is offering me.
More wonderful than this, however, is the relation of the Saints in glory to my soul. Not only am I helped by the grace they received in their earthly pilgrimage, but every access of glory given them in their heavenly life is a like increase of grace to every member of the same Body of which I am a part, and so an added help to me.
Thus wondrously does the law of divine grace work. When the Saints on earth go on from strength to strength, their strength flows into me; when the Saints in heaven pass, in their unceasing progress, from glory to glory, I again am made the beneficiary of what is given them.
All this, however, operates on one condition. Am I keeping the channels open through which the life and strength of the Body flow into the members? If I bind fast a member of my body with a cord the circulation ceases, and strength and life begin to ebb in that member.
If I permit myself, a member of the Body of Christ, to be bound with a cord of sin, the circulation of {209} the divine life and grace is cut off from me, and grace begins to fail, strength is reduced, and spiritual death will ensue, unless by penitence I cut the cord and let the life-blood flow freely once again.
Prayer and faithfulness in the use of what I already have will keep the channels open. Every cry of my soul to God, every effort to do His will, every resistance of the Evil One, produces a stronger, more vigorous circulation in the Body, that makes my strength greater, my life richer, with the communication of all that the Body of Christ possesses for the edifying of its members.
III. _God's Interest in Our Victory_
There is among men to-day a wide-spread notion of Christianity that bases everything upon a spirit of utter selfishness. It tells me to think always of my own soul; that if I find a reasonable assurance that this soul of mine will in the end "be saved," I need give no thought to further service of God. In short it is a strange and monstrous belief that teaches me to look out for myself, to serve God for just what I can get out of Him, to drive as shrewd a bargain with Him as I can, and win heaven on as cheap terms as is in any way possible. It is a Christianity, falsely so called, that leaves out of consideration the {210} most important fact of all, namely, that God has an infinite interest in me and my victory, because His first relation to me is that of a tender, loving Father whose heart yearns over me, who loves me with an everlasting love.[11]
When I think of this, I can understand how strong an encouragement I can draw from the consideration of His interest in the issue of the battle to which He calls me. My victory involves the destiny of my soul, but the destiny of my soul involves the eternal honour of God.
(1) Our Lord has gone to prepare a place for me. This place is awaiting me, a place in the heavenly choirs among those whose eternal occupation is to serve God day and night in His temple. What that service is in its nature and detail I know not. But one thing I know; that so deeply is it bound up with the divine interest and honour, that God counted it worth while to sacrifice the life of His eternal Son, amid the torments of the Cross, in order to win me for that service.
There is the place awaiting me; the heavenly ranks are not full; the heavenly task is not yet done: a rift is in the heavenly praises, a hand wanting in the work, until I come thither to have my part among those who are counted worthy of the eternal rest of Paradise, {211} but who nevertheless rest not day nor night from His perfect service.
When I think of all this, I see that my relation to God cannot be a selfish one. God has infinitely more at stake than I have; my victory is infinitely more to His interest than it is to mine, just because He is so infinitely greater than His creature. Seeing that this is so, we can understand how mightily He will strive to give us the victory. No matter what undreamed of gifts of grace are needed, He stands ready to bestow them. Having given such infinite hostages already to make sure of us, nothing can be too great with which to equip us if it be necessary to our victory; for the victory is bound up in the bundle of life with the everlasting honour of the Godhead. "He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things."[12]
(2) Time and again in Holy Scripture does the Holy Ghost lead the inspired authors to call upon God for help and deliverance "for His Name's sake." The expression is so common that we pass it over too often, as though it were a mere adjuration which, like many that find their way into human speech, has no real significance. But the Holy Spirit never uses {212} language in this meaningless fashion, and a few moments' consideration will show us how definite and deep a meaning there is in this expression used so constantly in Holy Writ.
It means nothing less than that our pardon, our deliverance, or whatever it is that is being asked "for His Name's sake," involves the honour of the Divine Name. God's Name is dishonoured among men whenever a Christian sins. A simple illustration will show us how this is. A son leaves the paternal roof; he goes out into the world and disgraces himself. How quickly do men say, "This man did not have the proper, honest training; his parents must have been indeed careless of his bringing-up, since he has turned out so badly." Here we find the father's good name being spoken against because of the sins of the son.
Is not the like thing being constantly said of our Heavenly Father because of the sins of His children? A Christian is guilty of some dishonest, or mean, or selfish act. He is known to the world as a Christian man, and how often have we heard it said, "Well, if he is what you call a Christian, I do not care to be one." Thus is God's Name dishonoured and blasphemed among men, through the sins of His children. He and the power of His Gospel are held to be of small account because those who confess Him {213} fail to be faithful to Him.
Well did the Spirit inspire the holy men of old to pray for deliverance for the sake of His Holy Name, that it might not, through their failure, be brought into disrepute.
So in the time of temptation the Psalmist cries, "Save me, O God, for Thy Name's sake;"[13] and when he fails, his prayer is "For Thy Name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity."[14] Realizing his sins, he asks for forgiveness, but with no selfish motive. He thought not of his own salvation alone. It was the honour of his Father's Name that he had at heart, and so he asked for pardon lest his sins should give the enemy occasion to blaspheme.
Nor is it only for deliverance that the Psalmist prays. His sins being forgiven, he knows that he cannot walk in the paths of righteousness save through the divine guiding, and that if his feet wander from the way, again will that Name be dishonoured. And so he cries, "For Thy Name's sake, lead me and guide me";[15] and again desiring more and more of the divine life of the Spirit, he cries, "Quicken me, O Lord, for Thy Name's sake."[16]
The lesson for our encouragement is clear. So {214} jealous is God of His own Name, so deeply dishonoured is that Name whenever we sin, that the Spirit again and again, in teaching us to pray against the devil, tells us to plead with God on this very basis. When His Name is involved God will rise in His might, and come to our help with a mighty hand and a stretched-out arm. Even if His mighty love were not a motive force, we can trust Him to care for His own good Name, to do His utmost to save us, since the fall of one who is called by His Name will lay His honour in the dust.
(3) Again, consider what is the meaning of each particular defeat to God. Every baptized soul is a point on the far-flung battle line of the Church Militant; every baptized soul is His soldier, made in His image and sealed with His Sign of adoption, and set to defend a definite point in the front of God's army. Is it nothing to Him that such a soul be beaten down by the foe? Is it nothing to Him that His divine image be marred and denied with the marks of the Fiend, and that he who bears it be dragged away a captive of hell?
Unless all revelation concerning His love be false, even the smallest defeat in the battle is to God something at which the imagination staggers when it seeks to grasp it. What would a loving {215} earthly father think to see his beloved child torn from his bosom, and carried away into the power of a savage enemy, consigned to untold and eternal woe? Would he take it philosophically, dismissing the whole affair from his mind after a time, justifying himself that this dread calamity came by the child's fault, and was the result of its own disobedience?
And is our heavenly Father less loving, less tender, of His children, than an earthly father? True, suffering in any human sense, cannot touch the Godhead, but there must be some awful and mysterious thing which human thought can never fathom, and which we dare not seek to understand, that enters, as it were, into the Godhead when souls fail and are lost; or else the Holy Spirit could never have inspired the Apostle to reveal concerning the risen, ascended, and glorified God-Incarnate, that in our surrender to Satan there is a crucifying of Him afresh.[17]
Where then have we warrant for discouragement? When Satan sets the battle in array against my soul, I am not alone. The call to arms rings through all heaven. The Lord Christ Himself goes forth to war in the unconquerable might of His Sacred Humanity. Angels and archangels, and all the glorious company of heaven, spring {216} forward to action.
The great multitude which no man can number, of all nations and kindreds, and people, and tongues, that stand before the throne and before the Lamb, war for me in the might of their ceaseless intercession; and as the vast and splendid front of the armies of the living God sweep on to the conflict, my soul is caught up in the mighty movement and advance, and their spirit becomes my spirit, as we go forth, conquering and to conquer, in God's behalf and mine.
[1] St. Matt. xi, 29-30.
[2] St. John xiv, 1 and 27.
[3] St. John xiv, 13; xv, 7 and 16; xvi, 23 and 24.
[4] St. John xiv, 16.
[5] St. John xv, 16.
[6] St. John xvi, 20, 22, and 24.
[7] St. John xvi, 33.
[8] "Now ye are the Body of Christ, and members in particular."--1 Cor.
xii, 27. See also Rom. xii, 5; Eph. i, 23; iv, 12; and v, 23 and 30; Col. i, 24.
[9] 1 Cor. xii, 26.
[10] Eph. iv, 12.
[11] Jer. xxxi, 3.
[12] Rom. viii, 32.
[13] Ps. liv, 1.
[14] Ps. xxv, 11.
[15] Ps. xxxi, 3.
[16] Ps. cxliii, 11.