A Letter of Credit Part 112

"'And the priest shall take some of the blood of the trespa.s.s offering, and the priest shall put it upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot. And the priest shall take some of the log of oil, and pour it into the palm of his own left hand, and shall sprinkle of the oil with his finger seven times before the Lord: and of the rest of the oil that is in his hand shall the priest put upon the tip of the right ear of him that is to be cleansed, and upon the thumb of his right hand, and upon the great toe of his right foot, upon the blood of the trespa.s.s offering.'"

"I do not see the meaning of that," said Rotha.

"Yet it is very simple.--Head and hand and foot, the whole man and every part of him was cleansed by the blood of the sacrifice; and whereever the redeeming blood had touched, there the consecrating oil must touch also.

Head and hand and foot, the whole man was anointed holy to the Lord."

"_Upon the blood of the trespa.s.s offering_. O I see it now. And how beautiful that is! and plain enough."

"Turn now to Rom. xii. 1."

"'I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of G.o.d, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to the Lord.'"

"You understand?"

"Partly; I think, only partly."

"The priests of old offered whole rams and bullocks upon the altar as tokens and emblems of the entireness with which the wors.h.i.+pper was given to G.o.d; the whole offering was consumed by fire and went up to heaven in smoke and fume, all except the little remainder of ashes. We are to be _living_ sacrifices, as wholly given, but given in life, and with our whole living powers to be used and exist for G.o.d."

"Yes," said Rotha. "I see it now."

"Are you glad to see it?"

"I think I am. It makes me catch my breath a little."

"Why?"

"It must be difficult to live so."

"Not if we love Christ. Indeed if we love him much, it is impossible to live any other way."

"I understand so far," Rotha said after a pause; "but I do not quite know what you are coming to."

"I am coming to something serious; for I do not know whether in this matter you will like what I like."

In Rotha's eyes there flashed an innocent unconscious response to this speech, saying plainly that she could like nothing else! It was so innocent and so unconscious, and withal so eloquent of the place he held with her, that Mr. Southwode could have smiled; did smile to himself; but he would not be diverted, nor let her, from the matter in hand; which, as he said, was serious. He wished to have it decided on its own merits too; and perceived there would be some difficulty about that. Rotha's nature was so pa.s.sionately true to its ruling affection that, as he knew, that honest glance of her eyes had told but the simple truth. Mr. Southwode looked grave, even while he could willingly have returned an answer in kind to her eyes' sweet speech. But he kept his gravity and his composed manner, and went on with his work.

"Read one more pa.s.sage," he said. "1 Cor-vi. 20."

"'Ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify G.o.d in your body and in your spirit, which are G.o.d's.' That is again just like the words in Leviticus," said Rotha;--"head and hand and foot redeemed, and head and hand and foot belonging to the Redeemer."

"Exactly," said Mr. Southwode. "That is not difficult to recognize. The question is, will we stand to the bargain?"

"Why?"

"It costs so much, to let it stand."

"It has not cost _you_ much," said Rotha. "I should not say, by your face, it has cost you anything."

"It has cost me all I have."

"Well, in a way--"

"Truly," he said, meeting her eyes. "I do not count anything I have my own."

"But in practice--"

"In practice I use it all, or I try to use it all, for my Master; in such way as I think he likes best, and such as will best do his work and honour his name."

"And you do not find that disagreeable or hard," said Rotha. "That is what I said."

"Neither disagreeable nor hard. On the contrary. I am sure there is no way of using oneself and one's possessions that gets so much enjoyment out of them. No, not the thousandth part."

"Then what do you mean by its 'costing so much'?"

"Read 1 Cor. x. 31."

"'Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of G.o.d.'" Rotha read, and this time did not look up.

"What do you think of going by that rule?"

"You mean, for Christ's sake," said Rotha slowly. She knew she was willing to go by any rule for her lover's sake. "Mr. Southwode, I do not think I ever studied it out."

"Shall we study it out now?"

"O yes, please! But you must help me."

"Let us come to particulars. What sorts of things that are bought with money, for instance, do you take most pleasure in?"

Rotha looked up, curious, questioning, wondering, pondering, very honest.

"I do not know what _most_," she said. "I take so much pleasure in everything. Books especially. And pictures I delight in. And--do not laugh at me, Mr. Digby! I always did,--I take pleasure in nice, pretty, comfortable, becoming, dresses and clothes generally. So do you, don't you?"

It went beyond Mr. Southwode's power of gravity, the quaint frankness of this speech; and he laughed. Rotha joined in the laugh at herself, but looked seriously for the answer.

"It is a comfort to talk to you," he said. "One can get at the point. And here we have it, Rotha. I think your liking of all the things specified is thoroughly justified and perfectly right; and as you suggest, I share it with you. Now comes the question. The word says 'whatsoever'; therefore it covers books and pictures and dresses too. Take then the homeliest instance. Are you willing, in buying a gown or a bonnet or anything else, to do it always, as well as you know how, to the glory of G.o.d?"

"How can it be done so?"

"Think. If this is your rule, you will choose such a bonnet or gown as you can best do your work--G.o.d's work,--in. Therefore it will not be chosen to give the impression that you wish to excite attention or admiration, or that you wish to impose by your wealth, or that dress occupies a large place in your thoughts; it _will_ be such as suits a refined taste, such as becomes you and sets off your good qualities to the very best advantage; and it will not cost more than is truly necessary for these ends, because the Lord has more important work for his money to do. Perhaps I rather overrate than underrate the importance of good dressing; it is an undoubted power; but really good dressing is done for Christ, as his servant and steward equips herself for his service; but she uses no more of the Lord's silver and gold than is needful, because that would be unfaithfulness in stewards.h.i.+p."

"But that makes dressing a n.o.ble art!" cried Rotha. Her eyes had looked eagerly into the speaker's eyes, taking in his words with quick apprehension.

"Carry out the principle into all other lines of action, then; and see what it will make the rest of life."

"'To the glory of G.o.d.' The Bible says, eating and drinking?"

"Yes."