Obrázky na stránke
PDF
ePub

SPIRITUAL PURPOSE

In spiritual purpose He stands incomparable through the ages. Confucius had reverence for age and Gautama Buddha for suffering, but Jesus Christ was ever consumed with consciousness of God. This was the strength of His life. He said so. "My meat it is to do the Father's will." His definition of life showed it: "This is life, to know Godand Jesus Christ." God is a spirit and they that worship must worship in spirit and in truth."

This spiritual capacity He exemplified in very practical living.

"When the golden evening gathered on the shore of Galilee, When the fishing boats lay quiet by the sea,

Long ago the people wondered, tho' no sign was in the sky, For the glory of the Lord was passing by.

Not in robes of purple splendour, not in silken softness shod,

But in raiment worn with travel came their God,

And the people knew His presence by the heart that ceased to sigh

When the glory of the Lord was passing by.

For He healed their sick at even, and He cured the leper's

sore,

And sinful men and women sinned no more,

And the world grew mirthful hearted, and forgot its misery

When the glory of the Lord was passing by.

Not in robes of purple splendour, but in lives that do His will,

In patient acts of kindness He comes still;

And the people cry with wonder, tho' no sign is in the sky, That the glory of the Lord is passing by.”

We cannot but acknowledge Him as the incomparable one in every realm, whether it be in mental life, moral purpose, or spiritual passion. If He is the matchless personality of all, how natural that the preëminent One should be made preëminent in all the things of life. Making Him preëminent in our hearts, how different would be our ambitions. Ah, the trouble is we think we love Him, but we love self better. If we really love Him we can say with Bernard of Clairvaux:

"Jesus Thou joy of loving hearts,

Thou life of life, Thou Light of men,
From the best bliss that earth imparts,
We turn unfilled to Thee again."

Making Him preëminent in our thoughts what magnificent achievements might not be accomplished in spiritual things. How many present thoughts would be displaced! How we should grow until we become like the heavenly-minded Summerfield. We become what we think.

Making Him preëminent in our choices, how different would be the ordering of our lives. Then we would prefer real worth to display, helpfulness rather than self-ministering.

Making Him preëminent in the use of possessions would see what a recognition of stewardship. You can hear His voice even now: "He that loveth father or mother or son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me."

Making Him preëminent in national affairs and public conduct would banish "the thousand wars

of old," would bring in the thousand years of peace, would usher in the golden age of brotherhood and social justice and civic righteousness. And why should it not be so? We know that honour shall best be given His preeminence, not by inscribing His name in some magnificent temple of fame, but by human hearts filled with the spirit of His love and human lives inspired by the strength of His presence. Recognizing His imperial worth, you, O Paul, from your narrow prison cell need not plead that "In all things He might have the preëminence." From spiritual realms, even now, you can hear the glorious company of saints and martyrs give Him honour, while on earth the increasing company of rich and poor, of learned and unlearned, chants:

"If Jesus Christ is a man,

And only a man,

To him will I cleave,

And to him will I cleave alway.

If Jesus Christ be God and the only God,

Then I swear, I'll follow Him

Through heaven and hell,

Through earth, sea, and the air."

While Orient and Occident alike swell the

anthem:

"All hail the power of Jesus' name,

Let angels prostrate fall.

Bring forth the royal diadem,

And crown Him Lord of all."

V

GREATER AND LESSER LOYALTIES

"He that loveth father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me."-MATT. 10: 37.

OYALTY is a great word. It is synonymous

[ocr errors]

It is

with the noblest elements of the soul. expressive not of fleeting sentimentalism, but of that heart's devotion which is true even unto the uttermost. If ambition drags forward the chariot of progress, loyalty, like hooks of steel, holds the flaming axletree in place, through all the dust and turmoil of its career. If reason and necessity decree that which must be done, loyalty with triumphant spirit and patient tread will march forward, unshod, even though the roadway be covered with molten iron and strewn with broken glass. There is nothing which speaks to the human spirit with such instant and touching response as does the sight of loyalty to country, to duty, to home, to responsibility. The engineer who stuck to his throttle despite the looking of death in the face, the fireman who scaled the burning walls without a moment's hesitation, the mother who rushed into the flames to rescue her children-these achieve a deathless immortality in the hearts of men, but more than

this they prove the divinity of the human spirit. These all followed beneath the banner of loyalty.

In many an unsuspected place you see the footprints of loyalty. Many interesting features reward the observer in the Congressional Library at Washington.

Within a glass case is an exhibition whose record is worth the observance of every passer-by and the indelible memory of every youth. It is a neat vellum page note-book about two inches thick. Its pages are covered with Japanese characters. It bears an inscription stating that it was presented by the Japanese Ambassador at Washington. It is the record so carefully and accurately kept by an officer in the Japanese Navy as he was going to his death imprisoned beneath the waters in a submarine that failed to rise in obedience to her machinery. Thus he writes of the coming death: "Words of apology fail me for having sunk His Majesty's submarine No. 6. My subordinates are killed by my fault, but it is with pride that I inform you that the crew to a man discharged their duties as sailors should with the utmost coolness until their dying moments. We now sacrifice our lives for the sake of our country, but my fear is that disaster may affect future development of submarines. Continue their study and we can then die without regret. Sailors on a submarine must be cool in the midst of danger and very painstaking. They must be brave and daring in the handling of the boat. People may laugh at this opinion in view of failure, but the

« PredošláPokračovať »