To My Younger Brethren Part 4

19, 24.]. Christ fills his present life [iv. 13.]; when he dies, he will be so 'with Christ' that it will be 'far better' than this present life, though it is full of Christ [i. 21, 23.]. He is the willing but most real bondservant of Christ [i. 1.]. His relations with Christ so fill him with peace and the power of peace, that extremely irritating rivalry and opposition at Rome does not irritate him, but occasions holy joy, and the suspense about life and death in which Nero keeps him is powerless, wholly because of Christ [i. 12, etc.], to evoke anything but a statement of the dilemma of blessings which life and death in the Lord are to him [i. 21, etc.]. On the other hand, as the whole Epistle indicates, every pure human sensibility circulates naturally in this supernatural atmosphere [_E.g._ ii. 27, 28; iv. 10.]. And meanwhile, though 'perfect,' in respect of reality of union and communication with his Lord, he is not yet 'perfected' in respect of application and results; the goal, the prize, is yet to come. [iii. 12, 14.]

"And so I shut my Epistle to the Philippians, leaving very much more in it for the next occasion. Such a study has not demanded long hours. It has asked only interest, purpose, and painstaking, a few such fragments of daily time as we must, yes, _must_, make and take for the Bible, if we are not to starve our people and ourselves. Suffer me to repeat it with deep earnestness; we must, we absolutely must, not merely devotionally read but devotionally search and penetrate this divine Book. And what shall come of the effort? By the grace of G.o.d, sought in the deep joy of a profound submission, it shall come that we shall each one realize, with a vernal newness and delight, that Christ is mine; that the springs and secrets of this life in Him are mine, for the realities of my home, my parish, my study, my soul. I go (it is for each one of us to say it) with renewed thirst and certainty to Him the eternal Fountain; I live, I live, yet not I; and therefore I can work.

It will be 'with fear and trembling,' as I know myself to be indeed in the eternal Presence; yet it will be also in the power-giving 'peace that pa.s.seth understanding, keeping the heart and thoughts, in Christ Jesus,' a keeping that is not meant to vanish outside holy places and holy hours, but to do its strongest and serenest work in the midst of crookedness and perverseness, under the stress of toils and burthens, as truly for me to-day as for the Philippians and their Teacher then."

"_The Spirit breathes upon the Word And brings the truth to sight; Precepts and promises afford A sanctifying light._

"_My soul rejoices to pursue The steps of Him I love, Till glory breaks upon my view In brighter worlds above._"

COWPER.

CHAPTER IV.

_THE DAILY WALK WITH OTHERS_ (i.).

_When the watcher in the dark Turns his lenses to the skies, Suddenly the starry spark Grows a world upon his eyes: Be my life a lens, that I So my Lord may magnify_

We come from the secrecies of the young Clergyman's life, from his walk alone with G.o.d in prayer and over His Word, to the subject of his common daily intercourse. Let us think together of some of the duties, opportunities, risks, and safeguards of the ordinary day's experience.

A WALK WITH G.o.d ALL DAY.

A word presents itself to be said at once, about the connexion between the secret and the common walk of the servant of G.o.d. The former is never to _give way to_ the latter; it is to _run into_ it, underground.

"To walk with G.o.d _all day_" is to be our distinct and practical purpose, and not merely a sweet sentiment and holy aspiration of the hymn-book. The man who prays in secret is to be the man who knows how to pray secretly in public. The man who pores over the Word all alone is to be the man who, out in the open field of life, "sins not" because he has "hid that Word in his heart" [Ps. cxix. 11.]; and who, being called upon by circ.u.mstances, however casually, to show himself actually a true "man of the Book," is internally ready to do so. Nothing short of "a life with Christ behind our work," always and everywhere, is to content us Pastors. To live that life is from one point of view our wonderful _privilege_, in our living union with our blessed Head. From another point of view it is our truest and deepest _work_, as we watch and pray over our privilege, and draw upon our Head in the holy diligence of faith.

I have spoken already of this vital connexion between the walk with G.o.d in secret and the secret walk with G.o.d in public. But it bears reiteration. It is something gained if we only remind one another, with the emphasis of repet.i.tion, that such a life is our bounden duty and our blissful possibility:--

"You may always be abiding, if you will, at Jesu's side; In the secret of His Presence you may every moment hide."[10]

[10] I quote from a beautiful hymn, beginning, "In the secret of His Presence." It is given in part in several recent hymn-books, but for its complete form see _From India's Coral Strand_, (_Home Words_ Office, Paternoster Buildings,) a collection of the poems of its gifted writer, a Hindoo Christian lady, Miss E.L. Goreh.

But now, what will be the surface and expression of such a hidden life, as the young Clergyman pa.s.ses through his busy common day?

LIFE IN LODGINGS.

Let me speak first of his life indoors, that is to say, probably, in his lodgings. There the day at least begins and ends; and, in more ways than he is aware of till he sets himself to consider, he may--or may not--glorify his Master _there_. He is quite certain to be watched, whether the eyes are friendly or unfriendly to himself and to his message and ministry. He will be watched of course not only as a man but as a Minister. And the results of the observation may be most important, for good or for evil, to the immediate observers; and they are pretty sure to reach many other people through them. "What shall the harvest be?"

SELF-RESPECT.

Let one result be, a clear impression in the house that you, the new Curate, are a man of SELF-RESPECT. Perhaps that _word_ will not be used, any more than its Greek equivalent, [Greek: aidos], that n.o.ble pre-Christian ethical term which lay ready and waiting to be glorified by the Gospel. But let Self-respect be your principle and your practice, and it will leave its impression, by whatever word the impression may be described. Let the man be seen by those who are about him, and who in one way or another wait on him, to be _quite simple while quite refined_ in ways and habits; to be active and wholesome in the hours he keeps; to hold self-indulgence under a strong bridle (shall I say, not least the self-indulgence which cannot do without the stimulant and without _the pipe_?); and he will be in a fair way to commend his message indoors.

Let him be seen, without the least affectation, but unmistakably, to find his main interests, within doors as well as without, in his Lord and His cause and work; to be the avowed Christian at all hours; and he will be doing hourly work for Christ. With it all, let him be seen to be "gentle to others" while "to himself severe"; let him, while always self-respectful, be always watchfully CONSIDERATE; and his light will s.h.i.+ne; he will be an OEcolampadius, a _House-light_, indeed.

CONSIDERATENESS.

On that last point I must dilate a little; on the point of Considerateness. I remember a conversation a few years ago with one of our college servants, an excellent Christian woman, truly exemplary in every duty. She was speaking of one of my dear student friends now labouring for the Lord in a distant and difficult mission-field, and giving him--after his departure from us--a tribute of most disinterested praise: "Ah, Sir, he _was_ a consistent gentleman!" And then she instanced some of my friend's consistencies; and I observed that they all reduced themselves to one word--Considerateness. He was always taking trouble, and always saving trouble. He was always finding out how a little thought for others can save them much needless labour. The things in question were not heroic. The thoughtfulness for others concerned only such matters as the bath, and the shoes, and the clothes, and some small details of hospitality. But they meant a very great deal for the hard-worked caretaker, and they were to her a means of quite distinct "edification," upbuilding, in the a.s.surance that Christ and the Gospel are indeed practical realities. I break no confidence when I add, by the way, that my friend had not always been thus "a consistent gentleman." But the Lord had found him, and he had found the Lord, in the midst of his University life; and he had learnt most deeply and effectually, at the feet of Jesus, the consistency of Considerateness.

I do press this aspect of our daily walk with all earnestness on my younger Brethren. I press it on them at least _to think about it_ with painstaking attention. No Christian man, as such, means for one moment to be selfish. But lack of attention does in very many cases indeed allow the real Christian to contract, or to continue, selfish habits.

Many good men quite fail to realize how selfish, practically, it is to be unpunctual. You have your understood mealtimes in your lodging. It may not be always possible to keep strictly to them; the exigencies of work may make it honestly necessary now and again to be out of time. But let nothing less than duty do so for you. The breakfast kept standing because you are not up when you should be may very likely mean much needless trouble and much domestic disarrangement. Guests often brought in without any notice may mean the same.

SIMPLICITY AT TABLE.

Perhaps I need not say, yet I will say it, that the consistent servant of G.o.d, whether at his own table or at his neighbour's, will "take heed unto himself" not even to _seem_ fastidious. There are some men about whom, if you know them, you feel sure that they will _not_ choose the best dish at the table; and there are others, I am afraid, about whom you feel pretty sure that they will. One man will not think, or at least will not seem to think, whether the meat is hot or cold; and another will rather decidedly avoid the latter. Pardon the details; they have something very real to do with our Consistency.

USE OF THE TONGUE.

And indeed we have need to ponder Consistency when we come to "the unruly member." It is not often, perhaps, that the risks of the tongue are specially present in a bachelor's life in lodgings. But they are not absent there. Friends come in, and we will suppose that you and they are waited upon at your meal. What does the servant hear? Much talk about other and absent persons? Unkind or flippant criticisms? Idle, frivolous words? Very likely not, thank G.o.d; for we do want to remember our Lord.

But let us take heed. Nothing is more conspicuously inconsistent in the Christian than needless, unloving discussion of the characters and lives of others; nothing is more keenly noticed when overheard; nothing more breaks the spell of influence for G.o.d.

"_Quisquis amat dictis absentum rodere vitam, Hanc mensam vet.i.tam noverit esse sibi._"[11]

[11] POSSIDONIUS: _De Vita Augustini_, c. 22.

Such was the memento which St Augustine had inscribed upon his dining-table. He found it necessary to remind the Bishops (_coepiscopi_) whom he entertained not to misuse their ordained tongues. And the Pastors of the nineteenth century need it still, quite as much as it was needed in the fifth.

"SET A WATCH."

It is impossible, of course, to lay down exhaustive rules for the Christian guidance of conversation in detail. It is quite certain that the Gospel does not prescribe, or intend, that we should never speak except about things spiritual, or even except about our special duties in the Ministry. But it is quite certain too that the Gospel does prescribe inexorably the utmost watchfulness and self-discipline in the matter of the tongue, for all who name the Name of Christ. "For every idle word that men shall speak they shall give account" [Matt. xii.

36.]; "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers" [Eph. iv. 29.]; "If any man among you seem to be devout ([Greek: threskos]), and bridleth not his tongue, that man's devoutness ([Greek: threkeia]) is vain" [Jas. i. 26.]; "Set a watch, O Lord, before my lips." [Ps. cxli. 3.]

LIFE IN A CLERGY-HOUSE.

I may say a few words in this connexion about the peculiar call for care and consistency where a group of young Clergymen live together in a "clergy-house."

*ITS OPPORTUNITIES AND NEEDS.

It seems to me that such groups must in the nature of the case be _either_ means of the greatest good in the mutual intercourse of their members, _or_ just the opposite. As sure as _corruptio optimi est pessima_, so sure it is that the young Clergyman who is not consistent in temper, word, and habit, is the most unhelpful specimen of the young man; just because of the discord between his ministerial character and his personal. And if, say, three or four young servants of G.o.d (by profession) domicile together and are _not_ consistent, I am afraid they will positively and actively draw one another, without in the least meaning to do so, away from the mind of Christ and the walk with G.o.d. Do they allow themselves to engage in trivial foolish, unkind talk? Do they so valiantly determine "not to be goody-goody" as tacitly to avoid all open-hearted, loving, reverent conversation about their Lord and His truth? Are they much fonder of endless argument than of the Word of G.o.d and prayer? Do their united devotions tend to be formal and perfunctory?

Do they (I come back to that point again) "bridle not their tongues"

about the absent, about those over them, about those who differ from them? Then they are doing each other harm, at a rapid rate, by their collocation. On the other hand, are they each for himself living close to their Master and Friend in the secret chamber and in the inner heart?

Are they walking humbly and gladly with their G.o.d, much in prayer, and having the Scriptures often open? And are they considering one another, to provoke unto love and to good works? Are they remembering generally and habitually the sacredness of the duty of mutual influence and example, in personal habits, and otherwise? Are they determined each for himself to help his brethren in all things pure, and just, and lovable, and of good report, and to strengthen them to endure hardness, and not to be ashamed of the blessed Name? Then they are blessing one another in Christ, as few men otherwise can do. But personal, individual consistency is the absolute requisite to this; each man must follow the Lord _for himself_ in faith and fear.

THE DUTY OF EXAMPLE.

I spoke just above of the sacredness of the duty of example. It is a theme on which I entreat my younger Brethren very often to reflect, with self-scrutiny before their Master: I may be wrong, but I cannot help thinking that here is a duty which is decidedly less remembered now, among young Christian men, than it was in other days. With exceptions many and bright, I yet fear that there is a decline in this matter as a rule. That unhappy _individualism_ which is the bane of our day, and which is the fatal enemy of all true and healthy _individuality_, breathes its malaria through even earnest Christian circles. In the formation or allowance of personal habits, in particular, it is sadly common to see young Christian men practically quite forgetful of the power and responsibility of example. I do not think that this was quite so common twenty or thirty years ago. Not that I wish to take up the futile part of a mere _laudator temporis acti_; I believe that the phenomenon has its reasons, its law so to speak, in the peculiar conditions of our day. But then the Christian man is never to be the slave of the conditions of his day, while he _is_ to "serve his own generation by the will of G.o.d." [Acts xiii. 36.] So I appeal most urgently to my reader, if he should chance to need the friendly call, to awake to a renewed attention to the responsibility of example, and to watch accordingly over consistency in everything.

"FOR THEIR SAKES."

With the humblest reverence may I quote in this connexion the words of our blessed Lord in the High Priestly Prayer? "_For their sakes I sanctify Myself._" So said JESUS CHRIST. [John xvii. 19.] Perfectly holy personally, He was yet always deliberately hallowing Himself, separating Himself, to the Father's will and work, "for their sakes"; because of His relations with His disciples. Shall not we sinners, at whatever interval, yet really, "follow His steps" in this also? "For their sakes," for the sake of our brethren in the Ministry, for the sake of our servants, for the sake of our neighbour of all sorts and kinds, let us "sanctify ourselves" in a daily, willing separation from the way of self to the will of G.o.d, diligently seeking the expression of that will in His holy Word. It is the duty of every Christian. It is _par excellence_ the duty of every Christian Minister, from the oldest Archbishop to the youngest Deacon. To take Orders is to renounce all ideas of a selfishly _private_ life. Our whole life henceforth is "for their sakes"; even in those parts of it which must, from another point of view, be most jealously protected from officialism, and lived as if for the time no one existed but the man and his G.o.d. We are emphatically now "their bondmen for Jesus' sake." [2 Cor. iv. 5.] "Others" have now an indefeasible right not only to our ministry of Ordinances, and to our preaching, and our visiting, but to the example of our habits, of our lives.

MANNER.

Following up the same line of remark, let me say a word about our duty to others in the matter of _manner_. It is sometimes, surely, forgotten by Christian men that they have no right to be careless of their manner.

Many an excellent and otherwise consistent Clergyman seems to a.s.sume that, whether with his brethren or with his parish neighbours, his manner may take care of itself, if he only "does not mean it." But well-meaning is a poor subst.i.tute for well-doing; especially that otiose sort of well-meaning which only means not meaning ill.

*"n.o.bLESSE OBLIGE."