The Southern Baptist Theological
Seminary, Louisville, Ky.
NOV 20
New York
Fleming
London
Chicago
H.
Toronto
Revell Company
Edinburgh
and
1990
Copyright, 191 1, by
FLEMING
New
H.
York:
REVELL COMPANY
158
Fifth
Avenue
Chicago: 123 North Wabash Ave.
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London:
21
Edinburgh:
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Square
Street
To
The Rev. James Stalker, M. A,, D. D,
Professor in the United Free
Church
College,
Aberdeen,
Teacher,
Preacher,
Inspirer of Preachers
Preface
is
IT
now
a good
many
years since the beauty of
Paul's apologetic for preaching in 2 Corinthians
i2-vi. 10
ii.
with
much
made
first
its
that has entered
my
study of the Greek text with a
that
gripped
first
my
appeal to me.
life, it
was the close
Greek exegesis
class in
heart with
As
noble pane-
this
gyric on the ministry of the servants of Jesus Christ.
not mere rhapsody on Paul's part, but a magnificent exposition of the preacher's task from every
It
is
point of view.
I
have made
it
my
duty and joy to
present this lofty spiritual interpretation of the minsucceeding classes of theological
ster's work to
Last
students.
November
in
South Carolina
I
made
" as pre-
an address on " The Glory of the Ministry
cheer
sented by Paul in this passage. It brought
and hope to the hearts of some of the toilers for
Christ to the extent that a number of them privately
asked
me
to write a
little
book on the
subject.
I
appeal.
have not been able to get away from
this
My
know much
life
is
constantly with ministers.
I
disapof the struggles, ambitions, hopes, joys, and
pointments of preachers of the Gospel, both young
7
PREFACE
8
old.
for
all
The
and
critical, if
have not
They
fallen in pleasant places
are subject to
not always easy in an unsympathetic atmosphere
really are.
I
have written
and to see things
this
and
his mission
whom
as they
book out of love
Some one may
preachers of the Gospel of Jesus.
tonic and ozone, as he
may
distinctly-
not at times harsh, towards the minister.
to preserve the right spirit
for
much misun-
Modern and pubUc opinion is
derstanding.
It is
lines
of them.
find
comes close to the heart of
Hfe, in Paul's
Some,
bracing words.
the ministry no longer has the old charm,
recover their
love.
first
Some, who have been
disposed to speak unkindly of ministers as a
may
for
class,
Some young
be led to revise their judgment.
men, who look out on the wonderful modern world,
may
as
catch a glimpse of the light in the face of Jesus,
did Paul on the road to Damascus, and yield to
the appeal in that Face for a world lost in sin, a
world that
calls
that the Spirit of Christ
and take
not
in
a
the
where
it
ministry,
of our
of
by
is
pray
little
book
The volume
Paul's
though that
conception
of the ministry
writers
with this
needed.
is
exposition
grand
Paul's
ideas
it
mere
may go
I
of Jesus.
for interpreters
is
own
the heart of
related
sufficient
to
is
glorying
it.
modern
use of the great
time on the preacher's problems.
These are shown to share Paul's enthusiasm.
The
PREFACE
9
flame of the Lord that burned in Paul's breast blazes
yet.
Many
swer the
call
of the noblest spirits of our time anof Christ with joy and gladness of heart.
The substance
dresses
before
of this
the
book was delivered
Tabernacle
Bible
(Atlanta, Ga., March, 191 1), but the
in ad-
Conference
book has been
written independently of that occasion.
A. T. Robertson.
Louisville^
Ky,
—
—
———
1
Contents
I
The
Joy—
Disheartened Preacher's
The New
Standpoint
.
13
.
51
II
The Glory
that
Faded
The Modern Problem
III
The
Light in the Face of Jesus—
The
Attraction of Christ
83
.
IV
With Open Face
The
Preacher's Privilege
113
.
V
This Treasure
in
Earthen Vessels
The Human
Limitations
141
.
VI
The Weight of Glory—
The
.
10
Invisible Consolation
VII
Well Pleasing Unto Him
The
Preacher's
Passion
.
Master
•
•
^79
.
207
VIII
In Glory and Dishonour
Taking Life
II
as It Is
I
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
—THE NEW STANDPOINT
(2 Cor, a. i2-iii. 6)
.
.
« I had no relief for my spirit
But thanks be unto God, who always
leadeth us in triumph in Christ."
.
—5
Cor. a. 13 f*
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY—
THE NEW STANDPOINT
The Ground of Paul's Discouragement
I.
IT
was chiefly the situation
that Paul
He
had founded.*
very greatly.
seemed
It
in Corinth, a
church
loved this church
to have the greatest
opportunity for usefulness and power of any of the
European churches.
It
The
wealth and progress.
by
Julius
in a
new atmosphere
city
had been restored
Mummius
destroyed
to the Gospel than
It
it.
was more
Athens where a fondness
for philosophical speculation
foothold.'^
of
Caesar after being in ruins for a hundred
years since
open
was
made
Corinth had been
it
more
hard to win a
fertile
ground.
Indeed, Paul had succeeded only too well there, for
Two
the Jews soon grew jealous of his power.^
years
*
Paul had lived and laboured in this great and
wicked metropolis.
had seen the
become a
* Acts
*Acts
It
had not been
ruler of the Jewish
Christian.^
xviii.
I-20.
xviii.
II, 18.
He
'Acts
xvii.
15
in vain.
He
synagogue, Crispus,
had received from
16-34.
^
Gallio,
Acts xviii. 5-17.
6 Acts xviii. yf.
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
l6
new
the
proconsul, the
first
Roman Empire
preach the Gospel in the
"
heart.
have ye not many fathers
One
had followed another
disaster
Paul feared the very worst.
away
modern
of the
the
in
*'
that
Few
work
after
left it.
The
^
He could
upon me daily,
Corinth.
which presseth
weighed upon him unceasingly.
ate
into
how
to preach:
soul
upon
pressed
Almost
anxiety for
like
corroding
" In nothing
Paul's
'
2 Cor.
*
xi.
rwv
28 ^
rust.
No
But
iv.
it
church
heart quite so heavily as did
iT:i<JTaai<s
fiot
ij
kad^
i][iipav^
i)
Epochs
[xipijiva
ikkX-qniibv,
iizi-ffzaaiq standing upon.
Phil.
'^
knew
Paul
be anxious." ^
^
fxipi/iva.
6 /jLTjdkv fisptfivare.
Present imperative with
implies that they were anxious.
"Quit being anxious."
•
all
The anxiety
» Ramsay, "St. Paul the Traveller,"
pp. 257 f.; Robertson, "
in the Life of Paul," pp. 165 f.; Acts xviii. 12-17.
2 I Cor. iv. 15.
Tzaatbv
all
not shake off
preach than to practice.
to
easier
is
his
pressure^ was like a nightmare
that
his
work of
preacher's difficulties confronted Paul
at
the churches."
he has
till
sadder experiences
to the preacher than to see the
heart crumble
for
had come to the work
of mishaps
series
in Corinth.
;
begat you through the Gospel."^
in Christ Jesus I
come
Province of
the
For though ye have ten thousand
tutors in Christ, yet
But a
in
that gave
Paul loved the church in Corinth with his
Achaia.'
whole
new standing
a
Christianity
permission to
official
fx-/j
7
THE NEW STANDPOINT
that in Corinth.
with
great
these very
1
was a richly endowed church
It
spiritual
and
gifts
But
possibilities.*
endowments of grace had become the oc-
The
casion of envy and faction.
showed
divisions
themselves even at the Lord's Supper in unseemly
and
scramble
There was schism
wait for one another.
of Christ and the
members were
The very
another.^
of disorder and
confusion.^
ApoUos and
sides
for
against ApolIt
was so bad
would not stay nor would he return to
Some
Corinth, though Paul urged him.^
praised the
oratory of Apollos, others probably thought
Some thought
" flowery."
one
were scenes
They took
Cephas and against Cephas.^
that Apollos
body
in the
hostile towards
services in church
Paul and against Paul, for
los, for
They would not even
selfishness.^
him too
that Paul's speech
no account,^ while others stoutly defended Paul
was of
as the
founder of the Church and the gifted Apostle of the
The household
Gentiles.
of Chloe^ in particular re-
ported to Paul in Ephesus the sad situation.
had probably not been
Peter
to Corinth, but there
had
been a momentary breach between Paul and Peter at
Antioch over the question of
1 I
3 I
^ 1
^
Cor.
Cor.
Cor.
Acts
'2
i.
4-9, 12-14.
xii.
i.
3 I
4
25.
10-13;
social affiliation with
i"'
xviii. 27-xix.
Cor. X. 10.
I
21
;
i
ff.
;
I
Cor. xi, 18
Cor. xiv.
iv. 6ff.
Cor. xvi. 12.
81 Cor.
iv.
II.
ff.,
33.
1
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
8
the Gentile Christians/ and the Judaizers had been
swift to
as
on
make
the most of
it
and had claimed Peter
As
their side in the controversy with Paul.
a
matter of fact Peter was really with Paul and he had
shown merely momentary weakness when the Judaizers,
under the unwarranted use of the name of James,
refused to recognize the Gentiles as Christians unless
they became Jews
the
silenced for
ence,^ but
These Judaizers had been
also.
moment
at the
Jerusalem confer-
had reopened the controversy on a more
extensive scale than
They had come
before.
Corinth and had used the
name
of their campaign against Paul.
partisan use of the
name
to
of Peter in support
There was
also a
of Christ by one faction in
the Church.
Doctrinal issues thus became mixed
with
personahties
intense
and
Few
jealousies.
modern churches have had a more deplorable schism
than was a reality in Corinth.
morality was winked at
by the
ing was so intense that the
Besides, gross im-
The
majority.^
members would go
against one another before heathen judges.'*
were abuses concerning marriage.^
feel-
to law
There
There was
a
breach between the enlightened and the unenlight-
ened elements of the Church on the subject of meats
offered
1
to
idols.^
Acts XV. 1-35; Gal.
' I
Cor.
V.
4 I
Cor.
The
liberal
«
ii.
vi.
i-ii.
and the reactionary
Acts xv. 1-30; Gal.
^ i
Cor.
vii.
« i
ii. i-io.
Cor. viii.-x.
THE NEW STANDPOINT
were
parties
daggers'
at
to
deny the
poor
saints
with each other.
points
Some of them had gone so
far in doctrinal error as
The
resurrection.^
19
collection for the
Jerusalem, which Paul had pushed
in
with energy elsewhere, had sadly fallen behind in
Corinth,^
and no wonder, with
fusion rampant there.
preacher's heart.
He
wrote them a
he sent Timothy,
see
letter
his
which
Corinth, but had
this is
situation
to
come
He
in
It is
possible that
Corinth because Paul
Paul had indeed intended to
meanwhile sent Timothy.
soon, but did not wish to
come
did later speak of a " third time,"
probably intention, not
fact.
^
Indeed the
was so bad that Paul did not wish to go to
Corinth.
case.^
Then
to the Church,^ seems not to have been
with a rod.^
but
lost to us.^
is
Timothy, though warmly
do.^
himself was expected.^
He hoped
and con-
beloved son in the gospel, to
Timothy was mistreated
to
strife
was enough to break any
very successful in his mission.
go
the
Paul rose to the occasion grandly.
what he could
commended
It
all
He
He must
needs come with sorrow in that
remained away on purpose and allowed
8 I Cor. xvi. I f.; 2 Cor. viii. and ix.
Cor. XV.
4 I Cor. iv. 17.
^ I Cor. xvi. 10.
Cor. V. 9, II.
6Cf. Findlay, "Paul" in Hastings's B. D.; Robertson, "Epochs
in the Life of Paul," p. 191.
' I Cor. iv. 17-21.
82 Cor. xii. 14; xiii. I.
9 2 Cor. i. 15, 23; ii. i ; xii. 21.
* I
3 I
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
20
himself to be charged with fickleness
come while
rather than
and cowardice ^
*
his indignation
was
such
at
Meanwhile, the Church sent a special deputa-
heat.
(Stephanus,
tion
Fortunatus, Achaicus)^ to
Paul.
Paul wrote the powerful Epistle called First Corinthians in
which he poured out
his heart to
them. After
Timothy Paul
sent Titus,
who seemed
the return of
to be
made
of sterner stuff than Timothy.
sible
that
Paul sent another letter with Titus, de-
manding an apology
so, that
If
letter is
for the treatment of
lost
to
pos-
It is
Timothy.
The plan was
us.^
for
Titus to
come back via Macedonia and meet Paul
Troas.^
Paul was to leave Ephesus about Pentecost
for
Corinth
through
at
At Troas he
Macedonia.^
would thus meet Titus and learn how things went
in
Corinth.
But our best
laid plans " aft
gang agley."
seems to have had a well-nigh
Ephesus soon
ourselves
Paul
sickness
after writing First Corinthians.
"
in
We
have had the sentence of death within
ourselves."^
seemed
fatal
Death came so
to get the "
answer
"
close to Paul that he
^
in speech.
The
peril
^ 1 Cor. xvi. 17.
2 2 Cor. x. 8-1 1.
i. 15-20.
scholars hold that 2 Corinthians x.-xiii. is this lost letter
which has been put in the wrong place in 2 Corinthians. I do not
accept that view.
See Robertson, " Epochs in the Life of Paul,"
»
2 Cor.
*
Some
p. 196.
6
2 Cor.
ii.
'
2 Cor.
i.
I2f.; vii. 5-7.
9.
^ i
8
Cor. xvi. 5-8.
'« sentence."
The
THE NEW STANDPOINT
was so great that
he
it
is still
So he seemed
writes.'
21
a vivid reality to Paul as
Thus
be dying.^
to
it
was out of his experience that Paul could write so
sympathetically about death.'
weakness the daily duties of
In his great physical
life
were a burden to
him, not to mention the serious situation in Corinth.
His weakened nerves would make the troubles seem
magnified a hundredfold.
But
this
wrought
trius
was not
While Paul was
state a riot occurred in
The whole
in the theatre.^
city
was soon
mob
an uproar
in
Paul, probably because of his sick-
was not found, though
difficulty
his
companions
in travel,
Paul could with
be restrained from rushing into the theatre.
The Asiarchs helped
Paul's hfe
the disciples restrain Paul.^
was saved, but
to remain in Ephesus.
Macedonia.^
who
Deme-
Ephesus.
Gaius and Aristarchus, were seized.
for
in this over-
had organized the silversmiths into a
against Paul.
ness,
all.
it
He
was not prudent
left in
him
rather short order
Paul was somewhat like the preacher
has resigned without a call to another
departure from
for
So
field.
His
Ephesus was sudden and uncere-
monious, but he had the world before him.
used to moving on
when he was no
Will he be more welcome in Corinth
*
Historical present perfect.
<
Acts xix. 23-28.
5
2 2 Cor, vi. 9.
Acts xix. 29-31.
He was
longer welcome.
?
^
and
v.
«Acts xx.
I.
2 Cor,
iv.
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
22
PauVs
2.
He
Restless Spirit at Troas
was apparently alone
It
was not yet time
was
at
for Titus to arrive at Troas.
go to Macedonia.^
call to
God's providence he
the hand of
God
ward
in
is
gospel of Christ."
it
had
in Troas.
had come
" for the
Paul had evidently looked for-
^
to this opportunity to be a blessing to Troas.
Besides, " a door was opened unto
It
It
Perhaps
here again.
is
He
it.
Then
much work
not been possible for Paul to do
in
to Macedonia.*
Troas that Paul had met Luke and had re-
ceived the
Now
Timothy
at Troas, for
and Erastus had already been sent on
was not a mere general
me in
the Lord."
^
situation, but apparently
Paul means to say that direct appeals came to him to
speak a word for Jesus.
had no rehef
for
my
brother."
^
he
writes, " I
The
spirit."
my
spirit,
It is
it off.
tension
of any kind.
because
1
had become
it
was chronic.
He
12.
" I
found not Titus
acute.
He
It
my
had
could not
needed Luke, who was probably
hold of him and bring him back
Many a preacher has
Acts xix. 29-41.
ii.
I
use.
a vivid reality to Paul now, as
found himself caught
in the coil of circumstances, as
*2Cor.
was of no
In truth, he was incapacitated for work
in Philippi, to take
to health.
it
have not had any release for
gone on so long that
throw
But
2 Acts
62 Cor. ii.
was Paul, when he
^2 Cor. ii. 12.
Historical present perfect
xvi, 8-10.
13.
THE NEW STANDPOINT
cannot respond to the
23
calls for service that
come
to
him, cannot enter the doors that open to him. This
His heart is
is a dangerous hour for the preacher.
in
Then when
danger of rebellion.
closed, the door that
ness, resentment
no happiness
zest
it
He had
was
idleness
lost his
He was
He knew that
despair.
otherwise.
more miserable alone than
is
There was
the heart.
Paul in Troas.
for
door
to large fields of useful-
may harden
work and
for
opened
the
was not yet time for Titus to come, for Paul had
But, none
the
less, his
spirit chafed at the limitations of his plight.
Every-
come on ahead
of time.
thing seemed to have gone wrong.
joy any more
charges
made
against some ministers to-day
shown by
is
seized with a feverish desire to
a
call to
more hopeful
field,
move on
to pastures new.
drudgery
in the tasks of
at the
toil
temptation
life.
humdrum
The
real
One
is
The gold
is
only steady,
ministry.
The
to give up the ministry
calling.
oversensitive and imagines
insults.
just
There comes a sense of
may even come
and enter some other
is
to resign this field, to
every-day
in a rather
Paul.
of the
go elsewhere, to get
end of the rainbow, and here
plodding
One
for Paul's restless spirit.
this restlessness of spirit here
a
There was no
all
difficulties
ministry are magnified out of
At such
a time one
is
kinds of slights and
and problems of the
all
proportion to the
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
24
In such a case a minister
facts.
is
in
danger of becoming
bitter
is
He
in jeopardy.
towards the world,
own
jealous of other ministers, disgusted with his
Thus he
task.
will lose his
compass and
drift
out to
sea.
The Standard (Chicago) for January
In
there
is
printed the following letter
"My Dear
Jim:
I
am
191
1,
Yesterday
I
7,
:
through.
handed in my resignation, to take effect at once, and
this morning I began work for the
Land
Company. I shall not return to the pastorate. I
think I can see into your heart as you read these
words and behold not a little disappointment, if not
disgust.
I don't blame you at all, for I am somewhat disgusted with myself. Do you recall the days
in the seminary when we talked of the future and
painted pictures of what we were to do for the kingdom of God ? We saw the boundless need for unselfish Christian service and longed to be out among
men doing
I shall
our part towards the world's redemption.
never forget that last talk on the night before
our graduation. You were to go to the foreign field
and I to the First Church, of
We had brave
dreams of usefulness, and you have realized them.
As I look back across twenty-five years I can see some
lives that I have helped, and some things which I
have been permitted to do that are worth while but,
sitting here to-night, I am more than half convinced
.
;
God never
intended me to be a minister.
If He
not big enough and brave enough to pay
the price.
Even if it leads you to write me down a
coward, I'm going to tell you why I've quit.
" To be perfectly honest with you, money has had
that
did, I
am
THE NEW STANDPOINT
25
do with my decision. I think you will not
with being mercenary in those days when
you knew me well, and I am not conscious of caring
any more for money now than I did then. I have
never desired to be rich I do not now desire to be.
I have not gone into business with any expectation
of making a fortune, but I do want to have something for the years when I can no longer work, and
I do
for my family, if I should be taken from them.
want to be able to meet my bills as they fall due.
month ago in our ministers' meeting an old minister,
shabby almost to raggedness, arose and told us that
he and his wife were on the verge of starvation. He
had no money, his credit was exhausted, they had no
food, no coal, and were about to be put upon the
We
street because they could not pay the rent.
raised some thirty dollars among us and gave it to
him, and I suppose he will go to the home for aged
I saw myself in him.
ministers but it scared me.
What reason have I to expect that I shall not be
where he is twenty years from now ?
" Frugality ?
Well, I have not been thriftless.
Wife and I have tried hard to lay by a little each
year.
We did get $500 saved up, and then Edna
was taken with tuberculosis and it all went, and much
more, before God took her home. I had ^1,000 per
They paid it
year from the church at B
promptly, and possibly some men would have been
We tried
able to save something out of it each year.
Once the church thought of inour best, and failed.
much
charge
to
me
;
A
;
.
creasing the pastor's salary, but Deacon Edmunds
argued that the minister should trust God said that
when he began hfe he only had an income of ^200
spoke of the joys of Christian
for the first year
sacrifice
pointed to the Saviour of the world and
His self-abnegation, and the salary was not increased.
I may say that the deacon is supposed to be worth
;
;
;
26
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
Then
I was called to this
have been here seven
years, and there has never been a month since the
beginning when my salary has been paid promptly.
At times the church has owed me ^600 and ^700.
I have borrowed and paid interest, have
stood off
my creditors until I was ashamed to go upon the
street, have scrimped and twisted and wiggled until
my soul was raw. I've had enough.
Other things have contributed to my decision.
In these years I have found not a few earnest, unselfish, consecrated Christians.
I do not believe that
I am specially morbid or unfair in my estimate.
So
far as I know my own heart, I am not bitter.
But
through all these years a conviction has been growing within me that the average church-member cares
precious little about the kingdom of God and its advancement, or the welfare of his fellow men. He is
a Christian in order that he may save his soul from
hell, and for no other reason.
He does as little as he
can, lives as indifferently as he dares.
If he thought
he could gain heaven without even lifting his finger
for others, he would jump at the chance.
Never
have I known more than a small minority of any
church which I have served to be really interested in
and unselfishly devoted to God's work. It took my
whole time to pull and push and urge and persuade
the reluctant members of my church to undertake a
little something for their fellow men.
They took a
covenant to be faithful in attendance upon the services of the church, and not one out of ten ever
thought of attending prayer-meeting.
large percentage seldom attended church in the morning, and
not
field
less
at
than ^200,000.
;^i,200 per year.
I
'
'
••
,.
A
number
mean anything
a pitifully small
seem
in the evening.
It
did not
to them that they had dedicated themselves to the service of Christ.
" I am tired; tired of being the only one iathe
to
THE NEW STANDPOINT
whom
church from
real sacrifice
27
expected; tired
is
of straining and tugging to get Christian people to
Hve Hke Christians tired of planning work for my
;
people and then being compelled to do
see
when
it
myself or
undone tired of dodging my creditors
would not need to if I had what is due me;
left
it
I
;
tired of the affrighting vision of a penniless old age.
I love Him.
I am not leaving Christ.
I shall still
try to serve Him.
" Judge me leniently, old man, for I cannot bear
your
to lose
friendship.
" Yours as of old,
'*
The
ter.
William."
editor vouches for the genuineness of this let-
It is
probably an actual experience, an extreme
instance of a broken-hearted preacher of to-day.
But a most notable instance of struggle and
umph
is
revealed in the " Early Letters of Marcus
In his Diary for March
Dods."
8,
i860, p. 382,
read this confession of his experience as a
tioner "
:
No
"
tion to give
to
me on
work
me,
;
up
this
work
writing sermons
is
we
proba-
this
am
temptation appeals
not
fitted for pastoral
often the hardest labour to
is
terrible.
—
I
I
often stand before a door
unable to ring or knock
—sometimes
away without
A
me
'•
day passes without strong tempta-
the ground that
visiting
costs
tri-
entering.
lowness of
a great deal to throw off
is
of this, and a real doubt whether
better for myself
and
all
I
whom
it
have gone
spirit that it
the consequence
it
would not be
may
concern that
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
28
should at once look for some work that
I
this, that
is
when
I
have hitherto had so
work only because
He
was, in
fact,
my
me
Dods came
in the best of
comfort in the
little
habitual state
unspiritual."
is
a probationer for six years, a really
young
terrible experience for a
cus
am
I
work go from me, and
spirit these disinclinations to
fear
could
However, the one thing that has kept
overtake.
going hitherto
I
I
to
But Mar-
minister.
New
be the principal of
College
and one of the chief Biblical scholars and preachers
of the world.
But
gone,
He
it
may be
noticed that deep
did not occur to
it
down
as Paul
had
to quit the ministry.
was entitled to pay which he did not receive
from the Church
at Corinth.*
pay
to receive a man's
not receive
it
He had
apostle.^
was
He
for his
proved
for not taking
pay
at
Corinth
like a regular
seen days in Corinth when he
but he had kept his
in want,"
his right
work, but he would
from a church hke that
which taunted him
"
him
manhood and
independence and " was not a burden on any man."
He had
of
even " robbed other churches, taking wages
them
made
that
I
might minister unto you."
tents with
living while
Aquila and
he preached
He
had
Priscilla so as to get
in Corinth.^
But he would
have none of the money of the narrow element
» I
Cor.
ix.
6-18,
»
2 Cor.
xi.
5-12.
a
•
Acts
xviii. 3f.
in
THE NEW STANDPOINT
On
Corinth.*
the other hand,
some
29
of the Church in
Corinth accused Paul of sending Titus to raise the
collection
chief
He
standpoint.
they said, was
impugned from every
But, while
this
all
work
ened, too discouraged to
due to the very intensity of
we know, Paul
He
give up the ministry.
not
the
the collection was de-
was called a worldly man ^ and an
interloper* also.
did
whom
for
motives were
His
signed.
Paul,
himself.^
for
"poor saint"
was disheart-
at Troas, but
it
of Christ, not to his indifference nor selfishness.
he could not stay
If
he could go on elsewhere.
The Gloomy Journey
3.
It
at Troas,
was
his interest in the cause
to
Macedonia
was with a heavy heart that Paul turned away
from the open door in Troas to push on into the un"
certain future.
But taking leave of them
forth into Macedonia."
Troas.
at
It
^
There were, then,
I
Avent
disciples
was probably a journey alone.
He
could take ship at Troas for Neapolis and then go
on
to Philippi.
hood.
the
It is
At
possible,
Philippi
brother of Luke.^
conjured up
all
was Luke
in all likeli-
even probable, that Titus was
But
Paul's
mind doubtless
the evil contingencies at Corinth.
2 Cor. xii. 16 ff.
2 Cor. x. 14 f.
He made an orderly and courteous departure.
ii. 13,
62 Cor. viii. 16, 18; xii, 18. Titus is not mentioned in Acts.
Cf. Souter. «' Luke," in Hastings's D. C. G.
1
2 Cor.
xi.
3
2 Cor.
2 Cor.
X. 3.
5
10.
2
4
30
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
The
ship went
when we were come
no
but
relief,
"
too slowly for him.
all
into
we were
Macedonia our
For even
on every side
afflicted
out were fightings, within were fears."
had
flesh
;
with-
Much
*
as
Paul longed to see Titus, he yet dreaded to hear his
report.
Suppose the Church has refused
from
position
its
rowed down
The
?
to recede
matters at Corinth had nar-
to a Pauline
and an anti-Pauline con-
His whole position and influence as an apostle
test.
How
were involved.
sharp
2
letter
He went on
about
his
had they taken the rather
which he had
felt
head and premonition
time he speaks of his flesh
the way.
compelled to write ?
Philippi with the clouds of doubt
to
He had
^
as
This
in his heart.
having no
found that unrest of
spirit
rest
on
brought
unrest to the flesh in sleepless nights, and miserable
days.
He knew what
this restlessness
truth the
of
insomnia^ was.
mind and body
voyage was one of
all
He
has had
the way.*^
In
affliction in everything.^
had reached the stage when nothing agreed with
He
him.
All the world seemed awry and he could not
set
right.
it
He
was out of tune with everything.
What he means by
>
*
8
«
'
2 Cor.
2 Cor.
2 Cor.
" fightings without,"
« 2 Cor. vii. 8.
2 Cor. xi. 27.
Present perfect tense.
Note the anacoluthon due to Paul's passion.
2 Cor. vii. 5.
vii. 5.
vi. 5 ;
vii. 5.
cf.
^
* 2
we do not
Cor.
vii. 5.
THE NEW STANDPOINT
The words suggest
know.
He had
sort.
actual conflicts of
These were
apprehensions.
the mind.
It
is,
in truth, a
new enemies
old or
(Jews, Gentiles, or Judaizers), for he
" fears within "
*
Perhaps on board
some
the ship Paul encountered
The
some
with " wild beasts at Ephesus,"
fights
probably referring to his enemies.
of foes.2
31
had many kinds
were the ever present
his worst foes, those of
mournful picture that the
great apostle has drawn of himself at this crisis in
We
his Hfe.
not a just picture of himself which
It is
it
see Paul here in his hour of weakness.
There
between
by the world
dark side
There
is.
off the light.
boast of his
Judaizers
at
in
is
Jesus and
able to look on the
life,
he knows what the
when Paul
Indeed,
work
at
sympathy
plenty of cloud in his
is
but
who may be thrown down
Paul
If
spirit.
bright side of the preacher's
trials
of
this greatest of all the ministers of
the humblest one to-day
set
bond
thus a
is
get,
on the world
a true portrayal of his outlook
is
this juncture.
we
is
life
to
driven to
comparison with that of the
Corinth
it
which he counts.^
is
the
He
catalogue
of his
has his " prisons," his
"stripes," his "shipwreck," his "perils" of various
kinds,
thirst."
his
" watchings
" If I
must needs glory,
things that concern
1 1
Cor. XV. 32.
often,"
2
my
2 Cor.
"
hunger and
I will
glory of the
his
But
weakness."
xi. 26.
^
2 Cor.
just
xi.
now
23-33.
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
32
He
Paul cannot glory even in his weakness.
He
glory in anything.
spirit
This
and
in
body.
cannot
a broken man, broken in
is
Who
can help Paul now?'
not the time for Paul to take stock of his
is
ministry.
The Rebound of Heart at Philippi
4.
Without a word of explanation Paul leaps out of
the Slough of
Despond and
heights of joy.^
He
springs like a bird to the
soars aloft like an eagle with
"
proud scorn of the valley beneath him.
be unto God who always
Christ."
A
^
But thanks
leadeth us in triumph in
high-strung nature like that of Paul
capable of such extremes of emotion.
tears lie close to each other.
Joy
Laughter and
lives
next door to
Many
sorrow, ay, in the same house and heart.
preacher can bear glad
from night to day.
We
sudden, even violent, digressions
and the matter,
>
2
S.
2 Cor.
in
a
testimony to the psycho-
logical correctness of Paul's description of his
transition
is
^
sudden
are accustomed to
in Paul's writings,
the light of his relations with
xi. 29,
Bachmann, Der Zweiie Brief des Pauliis an
" Aus der Tiefe in die Hohe."
124, says
die
Korinther.
:
3
4
2 Cor.
ii.
14.
Instead of giving details of the information which Titus brought
to him in Macedonia (vii. 6), he bursts out into a characteristic
doxology, which leads him into a long digression, the main topic of
the epistle not coming into view again until vi. II."
Bernard,
" Expositor's Greek Testament," in loco.
'«
THE NEW STANDPOINT
33
Corinth, would be sufficiently clear from the knowl-
edge that Titus met Paul
in Philippi with better
At once
from Corinth than he had anticipated.
clouds had lifted and the sky was clear again.
at the
the
But,
is
completely carried
coming of
Titus, too entirely
at this point in the Epistle,
away with joy
news
Paul
swept off into rhapsody to make any explanation of
He
emotions.
his
in the Epistle
just this
is
'
make
does
the explanation later
come back
after he has
rhapsody with which
to earth.
book
this
cerned, but, before proceeding with that,
it
will
is
It
con-
be well
to notice Paul's explanation of his state of exaltation.
" Nevertheless
He
that comforteth the lowly,
even God, comforted us by the coming of Titus."
The word
"
comfort
in this Epistle.
tion
and consolation.
child after a
coming only, but
®
one, particularly
son in the gospel, his " true
faith,"
^
also
but he was even more
in you, while
^
The
"
"
:
And
not by
by the comfort wherewith
your mourning, your zeal
joiced yet more."
*
common
news which he bore
he was comforted
4
a
Paul was glad to see Titus,
this
common
rejoiced at the
ing,
^ is
combines the notions of exhorta-
he dearly loved
for
his
It
"
^
he told us your longfor
longing
^ 2 Cor. vii. 6.
2 Cor. vii. 5-16.
Titus i. 4.
Eager longing in the Greek. Cf. Phil.
i.
me
"
^
;
so that
I re-
was to see Paul
^
Call to one's side.
5
2 Cor.
8.
vii. 7.
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
34
and
that from Corinth after
made
Paul
tails,
Titus
tell
that had passed.
all
it
over again
^
with
the names, what they said, etc.
ing story to recount, as
many
It
ing
of the
result
" zeal "
rebuke and the
was a charm-
mourn-
"
Titus.
sorrow
had
As
a
come
and the cause that Paul stood
for Paul
^
the de-
all
The
by
was due to the rebuke sent
2
like
Possibly
a true pastor knows,
especially after troubles have come.
"
message
his ears to hear a
was music to
it
for.
known that the sharp tone of the Epistle
would wound many of them. It had cost him bitter
The pang of those sharp words
tears ^ to write it.
Paul had
that
had to be spoken was part of
/ Indeed, he had
after
it
sorrow
regretted
was gone and
is
it
turned into joy.
^
that he
was too
" I
ye were made sorry, but that
unto repentance."
sort since
it
bore
Hence Paul had
^
had written
late.
fruit in
it
not that
ye were made
a change of
it,
But Paul's
rejoice,
The sorrow was
really
was comforted and
now
Paul's misery.
sorry
of a godly
mind and
done them no harm.
^
life.
So Paul
did his soul good to see " the
joy of Titus,^ because his spirit hath been refreshed
Present participle, possibly repetition.
2Cf. Matt. ii. 1 8.
3 The same word has a bad sense in 2 Cor. xii. 20.
4 2 Cor. ii. 4.
He wrote with " tightness of heart."
6 2 Cor. vii. 8.
6 2 Cor, vii. 9.
Note the difference between " sorrow " and " repentance."
' According to God's standard.
8 2 Cor. vii. 13.
1
THE NEW STANDPOINT
by you
for " refreshed "
The word
all."
35
*
is
the one
used by Jesus in His gracious invitation to the weary
and
heavy-laden
the
" I
:
you
give
will
rest."
^
Paul joys in the joy of Titus, the happiness of an old
preacher in a young preacher
a most
and dehcate
difficult
who
task.
has accomplished
Paul had not in-
deed wholly given the cause up when he sent Titus
and had gloried
now
that
and
is
Paul's
inthians."
them
of
to him.
" heart
mouth
"I
He
is
glad
justified.^
So
mood towards the Corinthians
in a tender
own
Indeed, " our
^
some
words are more than
his
then Titus
in
enlarged " towards them.
is
open unto you,
is
rejoice that in
good courage concerning you."
everything
^
O
I
Cor-
am
of
Heart and hope
have come back to Paul about Corinth and so about
The word for " courage " is the same
one used by Luke of Paul when the brethren from
all
things.
Rome, having heard
the party " as far as
Three Taverns
;
of Paul's arrival,
The Market
whom when
God, and took courage."
than
human
to
things are sweeter
The
life
is
peculiarly rich in the love of the brethren.
fellowship.
a large part of his reward.
inner hfe of a
1
*
Rest again.
2 Cor. vii. II.
man and rare
2
5
The
of Appius and
in
is
meet
Paul saw, he thanked
Few
^
came
preacher's
He comes
life
This
close to the
Christian love knits heart
Matt, ii, 28.
2 Cor. vii. 13.
^2 Cor.
^
vii, 14 f.
Acts xxviii. 15.
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
36
For the moment Paul forgets that there
to heart.
is
a stubborn minority
who have
was only the majority
and
Church
at
had come over
that
*
But
view of things.
his
in the
left
Corinth
resisted every appeal for conciliation.
was evidently such
it
Church
a strong majority that the
It
to Paul
is
saved from
schism and the obstinate faction can be handled.
Paul will
led
by
come
his
latter part
to
pay
his respects to this minority
malignant enemies, the Judaizers, in the
of the Epistle.'*
It is this
double aspect
of the report of Titus that explains the twofold char-
But we are not here concerned
acter of the Epistle.
with Paul's treatment of this pugnacious element
save to express the hope that they came over to his
side before he
came
they must have
to Corinth.
left,
tion in Acts XX. 2
f.
for Paul
though
full
will write
of joy and
master of the situa-
it is
interesting to note
happy once before when
The
in prison.^
which he
they did not,
Before leaving the discussion
of Paul's situation in Philippi,
that Paul was
is
If
from
Epistle to the Philippians,
Rome some
commands
to rejoice,
that time will again be a prisoner.
longer a prisoner in
here, even
spirit.
He
years hence,
is
though Paul
at
But he
is
is
now no
free as a bird as
he shakes off the depression which had chained
spirit to
es Cor.
ii.
the earth.
5
f.
We
owe
22 Cor.
his
this matchless discus-
x-xiii.
'Acts xvi. 25.
THE NEW STANDPOINT
sion
of the Christian ministry to the very dejection
*
The rebound was
of heart in Paul.
The
depression had been.
the
reaction was
from the
of this glory shines
precedes
Paul's
in
He
imaginary.
more
the
all
is
It
treatise
The
on
brightness
brilliantly against
of doubt and disaster which im-
black cloud
troubles
equal to
noted,^
rest of the Epistle.
the glory of the Christian ministry.
mediately
high as the
and purposes, a separate
for all intents
the
as
This digression, as already
action.
really quite distinct
is,
37
outburst
this
of
were
ministry
real,
was a manly man,
if
joy.
The
not merely
ever there was
one.
His
real
still
after
he meets
Titus,
though greatly lessened.
He
has a
new Hght
on the problems
over his
new
life
That
at Corinth.
and forth
light flashes
He
the future.
into
mood
to estimate his
and that of others.
preacher to reach a
of despondency.
It is
final
own
back
has a
Now
sense of the relative values of things.
in the right
is
life
are
difficulties
he
ministerial
a great mistake for any
conclusion in his
moments
One can see better in the light
The light will come if one press
The young man who is struggling
than in the dark.
on towards
it.
with the sense of duty that
of the
Gospel
chance to get
*
2 Cor.
ii.
will
this
i2-vi. 10.
him
calls
be wise
if
to be a preacher
he gives himself a
high view of the ministry as set
*
See beginning of
this section.
38
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
forth
by Paul
is
in his
moment
The
of ecstasy.
the truest as well as the best.
highest
The temptation
is
easy to settle the question of being a preacher on
the dead-level of business,
venience.
will
I
expediency, and
con-
do not believe that many young men
be led into the ministry by mathematical com-
putations on the cost of living and the salary nor on
modern thought
the relations of
real " Sky-pilot "
spirit.
as
It
is
is
No
the spiritual view of the eternal values
seen by Paul in this prophetic passage that will
win and hold the noblest type of
of Christ.
him.
at
to the Bible.
ever found with that calculating
Nothing
man
to the service
else will really get
Get into close grip with Christ,
if
its
your heart to put you into the ministry.
puts
sorry,
you
in,
you
but count
will stay in
it
grip on
He is tugging
and you
If Christ
will
not be
your chief glory to have been
counted worthy of that high dignity.'
It is
probably
true that the ministry to-day does not stand as high
men as it once did. This
may be due partly to the presence of some unworthy
men in the ministry. There v^^as a J^das among the
apostles.
There have always been unworthy men
relatively in the eyes of
in
every calling.
than anywhere
But
else.
it
hurts
more
But, after
all,
tn ^he ministry
P&u\ does not
here speak of the appeal that the ministry makes to
*3Tim.
i.
12.
THE NEW STANDPOINT
He
the world.
If
one has
man
that,
gives God's view
of the ministry.
nothing else really matters.
" Let a
so account of us, as of ministers of Christ, and
stewards of the mysteries of God.
me
39
of you, or
judgeth
But with
.
a very small thing that I should be judged
is
it
.
.
man's judgment
of
me is
the Lord."
.
So Paul
^
is
He
.
.
that
going to sing
Hear what he
a paean of praise for the ministry.
has to say of the appeal that this noblest of earth's
What is it in the ministry
man so gifted as Paul ?
vocations makes to him.
that gripped
The
5.
He
on
Paul
and
and held a
New
has a
Interpretation of Paul's Ministry
new
is
The sun
standpoint.
the mountain
when
He
here sheer above the clouds.
near,
up and down,
obstacles that
in the clear
seemed so large
often shines
dark in the valley.
is
it
can see
empyrean.
in his
path have
far
The
now
disappeared wholly from view or have assumed their
true proportion
fresh
in this
world-view.
Let us
stand upon the mountain with Paul and catch his view
of the worth and dignity of service to Christ.
begins with the interpretation of his
own
Paul
ministry in
view of the new light and outlook, but he soon
widens his horizon to include the ministry as a
calling
and
he
treats
1 1
it
Cor.
in
iv.
its
1-4.
fundamental and
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
40
way
eternal relations in a
to cheer every preacher's
heart.
Triumph After
(a)
Paul
Paul's.
march through the
in
triumph
captive in God's triumphal
God
ages.
in Christ."
meaning of
But God's triumph, not
All.
Christ's
is
'
There
is
bold image.
this
it.
No
no doubt
does
been found, and
Col.
in
ii.
them
15
in
as to the
not
Paul uses
it,"
it
word has
of Jesus
His victory on the
"
over the principalities and powers.^
the captive
who
is
mean
King James' Version
instance of this sense of the
" triumphing over
cross
always leadeth us
It
" causeth us to triumph " as the
has
"
led in the Conqueror's train,
He
is
and in
whom men see the trophy of the Conqueror's power." ^
It is
the splendid image of a
Roman
triumphal pro-
cession, and,
though Paul had not seen one, he had
yet heard of
its glories.^
sometimes kept
at
Distinguished captives were
Rome
the conqueror's procession
for years in order to grace
when
it
took place.
Thus
JuHus Caesar held Vercingetorix, the famous chief
Gaul
who came
near plucking victory out of Caesar's
hands, a prisoner in
great triumph.
1
2
Rome
for six years
Then he had him slain.
2 Cor. ii. 14.
For the examples in
Greek
literature
see
Denney, " Expositor's Bible," 2 Corinthians,
4 Bernard, " Expositor's Greek Testament," in
» Denney, p. 88.
until his
So Claudius ^
Bachmann, 2 Kor.,
S. 129.
3
in
p. 87.
loco,
THE NEW STANDPOINT
Paul
triumphed over Caractacus.
But
very occasion in mind.
**
of
that
to
parallel
When God
4I
may have had this
Paul's case
is
not quite
Vercingetorix or Caractacus.
wins a victory over man, and leads His
captive in triumph, the captive too has an interest in
what happens
;
any true sense,
it is
the beginning of
him."
for
Even
'
tions
and disappointments God
It
easier to see the
is
passed through a
in a
New
crisis.
all
in Paul's
tribula-
has been victorious.
hand of God
Prof.
triumphs, in
after
we have
David Smith, D. D.,
Year's article in The British Weekly
tures a captain looking
one morning
^
pic-
at the terrible
crags on each side of the narrow pass through which
the ship had passed in the storm at night into the
"
harbour.
ness ? "
he
His glory
now.
— did we pass through
in the dark-
God was using Paul for
"
Indeed, he dares say " always
falteringly asked.
in
it
all.
What seemed
to be defeat
he now knows
is
The good news brought by Titus has thrown
victory.
an
Did we
electric flashlight across
has revealed
God
the stormy billows and
—
" Standeth God within the shadows
Keeping watch above His own."
The
sense of the nearness of
ministry
1
is
Denney,
God
in his
own
life
the overmastering conviction of Paul.
p. 88.
and
He
*Dec. 29, 1910.
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
42
probably means to include Timothy
the " us."
and Titus ^
'
Indeed, he seems to have a vision of the
whole long
God through
who have been instruments
line of willing captives of
the ages, past and present,
pushing on the work of the kingdom.^
in
in
If
Paul
is
able to find joy in the midst of his misfortunes, he has
way
pointed the
secret
lies
But
point.
for
this
is
The
every preacher of Christ.
looking at one's
in
from God's stand-
life
only possible
" Christ
" in Christ."
the element in which that constant triumph of
is
takes place."
F.
^
W.
Robertson
feat of the true-hearted
full
is
is
victory."
right: "
^
It
surrender to Christ that Paul here
God
The
de-
the joy of
is
He
feels.
has
cut loose from the entanglement of things of sense
and has swung back to the old joy
The Incense Bearer.
{b)
the
Roman triumph
tions."
"
^
says that at
full
of fumiga-
a very
is
He now
victor's
natural
one,
thinks of himself, and
ministers of Christ, as incense bearers in God's
march of
^
^
burned before the
transition
therefore, for Paul.
all
the temples were"
Incense was
The
chariot."^
in Jesus.
Plutarch
2 Cor.
i.
victory.
He maketh
**
manifest through us
2
I.
Meyer, 2 Corinthians, in loco.
6" Life and Letters and Addresses,"
8
2 Cor.
ii.
13
;
vii.
5
fF.
* Ibid.
p.
618.
''Aemil. Paul., C. 32.
'
" Incense smoked on every altar as the victor passed through the
streets of
8
Rome."
Denney, in
loco.
Gould, American Comm., in
loco.
THE NEW STANDPOINT
43
The
the savour of His knowledge in every place."
" savour "
the "
and
The knowledge
knowledge
God
of
" are in opposition.*
in Christ
sweet perfume along the triumphal
the wonder of
it
" through us."
This
in
way of God.
fragrance
due to no merit
is
but to the fact that he
ister,
is
that the
is
thus diffused like
is
is
near to
But
spread
is
in the
min-
God because he
But
the procession so rich in the grace of God.
there
a sense of humble gratitude on Paul's part
is
he contemplates the great honour thus placed
as
upon him and other preachers of the Gospel,
God along
spreading the knowledge of
Preaching
^
that of
the way.
the thing most immediately in Paul's
is
mind, but he quickly turns the image round.
we
that the incense bearer
with the perfume that he himself
preacher
so
is
The
figure
ment.^
The
life
common
is
really leading in
*
Genitive of apposition.
*
" In every place," also
Cf. Lev.
15.
i.
9, 13, etc.
odour
triumph
persuasively for Him."
ii.
*•
But " the
refreshes the heart.
'2 Cor.
The
perfume.
is
in
the Old Testa-
of the true minister of Christ
thus redolent with that
•*
He
filled
with Christ^ that he exhales
filled
Christ.
is
For
so
are a sweet savour of Christ unto God."
doubtless means
is
**
^
;
^
lowliest
will
This
of sanctity "
is
life
speak
is
which
which God
infallibly
and
true of every follower
at Corinth as at
Ephesus.
Meyer, in
•*
®
loco.
Denney, in
loco.
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
44
of Jesus
who
bears witness to Christ in his hfe.
usually true that
men
influence of holy living
But
it is
found
it
all
clear testimony to Jesus.
The
and Pharisees
scribes
with John and with Jesus.
impossible to please
to be "
and
not always true.
fault
things to
save some."
all
all
Paul found
men, though he laboured
men, that
I
may by
all
He now
he was misunderstood on every hand.
knows
He
better.
Paul
careful
is
any
slip
on
his part to his
"to cut off occasion from them
that desire an occasion."
am
who
has plenty of enemies
still
are only too glad to turn
hurt.
means
had recently seemed to Paul that
It
^
It is
are responsive to the pervasive
As
^
I
write these words,
I
concerned about the complete misapprehension
of the conduct of one of the noblest of ministers.
One
brother writes
me
that
lose faith in the ministry!
writes
is
minister
make one
This very brother who so
it is
enough
largely responsible for the conduct of the
whom
he so severely
criticizes.
has one supreme consolation that
It is
to
found
in the
words
"
is
But Paul
open to us
unto God."
God, whatever men think, when a
It is
life
all.
a joy to
manifests
God of Christ.
(c)
The Peril of Preaching. The joy is mixed
with sadness, for all are not saved. God is, however,
Christ.
That
glorified " in
* I
Cor.
ix, 22.
life is
them
redolent to
that are saved,
and
in
2
them
2 Cor.
that
xi. 12.
;
THE NEW STANDPOINT
perish
death
to the one a savour from death unto
;
Hfe."
to the other a savour of Hfe unto
that was resisted.
knew
effect of
preaching
perishing ^
and
right before his eyes Paul
like a " savour
Paul
'
Among those who were
by sad experience the hardening
is
45
his ministry
from death unto death."
a bit obscure, but
is
like "
seemed
The idiom
^
The
This odour arises from death and causes death.^
Law
rabbis " called the
but an aroma
an aroma
mortis to the evil."
vitcE to the good,
The
^
thus one familiar to Paul in his old
who
hear his message
because they reject
penalty of
there
human
it.
will
But that
"
There
progress out of
is
Paul
is
life
into
it
the other hand,
them
" a savour from hfe unto
are saved
by
in sin
"
a bright side to the picture, for in
is
sad
men
that
the inevitable
is
On
freedom.
It is a
know
be hardened
was
figure
life.
to every faithful minister to
thought
^
faith to faith."
from
more
life.
that
life."
^
There
the
joy comparable to that of witnessing
This
conversion of souls under one's own ministry.
no
is
to have
was the joy of Jesus « and it is possible for us
A ministry in which souls are not saved misses
it.
It is small wonder that, in
the chief joy of service.
a ministry,
view of the solemn responsibility of such
1
2 Cor
8
Here not " sweet odour."
6
Meyer, in
'
ii
15
f.
-
^
Present participle in the Greek.
i. 17 ; cf. 2 Cor. iii. 18.
Rom.
^ Bernard, in
loco.
Present participle in the Greek.
loco.
«
John
iv.
32.
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
46
Paul asks
"
:
The Greek
And who
order
these things
sufficient for these things ?
even more emphatic
is
who
is
sufficient
is
in the bold contrast of hfe
The word
Many a
" sufficient "
preacher has
The
for his task.
enough
cult
make
means
fit
of unreasonable
One can become
" or " quahfied."
may
is
well sink be-
minister.
It
The
difficulties.
call for
no one
life
sufficient for
often surprises us
such a
question of
as this fraught with
we
by the bold turn of
But Paul
He
does
not
"
Word
mean
that
of God.
the
He
*
By
" the
many
"
who
Paul
majority were like the
They were many,
tree.
For
many, corrupting the Word of
the majority held with Paul.
the juniper
dares to
!
probably has in mind the Judaizers
did corrupt the
Judaizers.
He
" sufficient for these things "
are not as the
God."
his thought.
Paul's Courage in Pre aching.
is
com-
the answer that
such awful consequences for weal or woe.^
(d)
diffi-
is
demands of preachers.
Paul seems rhetorical and to
say that he
meet
not ready
a sort of packhorse for the
munity's burdens and
is
has sketched
" these things."
has arrived, but he
stoutest heart
for
the nature of the case, but people
in
all sorts
"
"And
:
utter inadequacy to
work of the modern
fore the
?
and death
felt his
He
such a situation.
He
"
"
as a matter of fact, but
Paul
does not
Bernard, in
loco.
is
not
feel that
now under
he alone
is
THE NEW STANDPOINT
He
loyal to Christ.
47
not bringing an indictment
is
He
against the ministers of Christ as a class.
who had crept
alas
The word
istry, as
they
ing "
used either for a
is
comes
still
mean
to
do,
is
ex-
into the min-
posing the hypocrites
for " corrupt-
!
retailer or a huckster.
It
" adulterate," for the temptation
was
often yielded to then as now, to put the best apples
on top of the
The
the basket.
and show.
barrel, the best strawberries
good
One
at the
afraid to face
men
sound to the
core.
will
be
made a
plausible plea
Paul, in contrast, grounds his confidence
on two reasons.
are as
Judaizers
on top of
is
His berries
his sincerity.
bottom
He
is
not
with the gospel message, for
it is
He
found out
is
as at the top.
not afraid that something
He
make him ashamed.
to
preaches a whole gospel with no mental reservations
and a pure gospel with no
visions of Ezekiel
of the betrayal of
saw a hole
(viii.
7-13) there
God by His
in the wall
found a door.
He went
In one of the
flaws.
is
a vivid picture
ministers.
Ezekiel
and he went through and
in
and he found " every form
of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and
idols of the
round about.
men
house of
And
Israel
there stood before
:
the
portrayed upon the wall
them seventy
of the elders of the house of Israel."
Jehovah said unto Ezekiel
all
"
Then
Son of man, hast thou
seen what the elders of the house of Israel do in the
THE DISHEARTENED PREACHER'S JOY
48
man
dark, every
in
chambers of imagery?
his
they say, Jehovah seeth us not
Alas, and alas
saken the land."
of Paul
;
The
!
In
not appoint himself to this task.
seized in spite of himself
was doing
in the sight of
He
looks at
it
God, speak we
from various
He
of his authority.
He
him.
like a
God
He
He
Gentiles.
one with
also
this
*'
made
nant;
is
is
God on
He
never
the unsearchable riches
He,
«
less
He can
never
than the least
not sufficient of himself to face any
is
any one
sufficient in
from
God who
new cove-
But our sufficiency
is
us sufficient as ministers of a
the
letter,
brought Paul and the
equipped them
diamond.
the source
not worthy to bear that story to the
message, nor
not of
multi-
has not yet exhausted the
news often enough.
of the saints,
himself.
is
speaks with the eye of
of Christ " that forever challenge him.
that
did
vi^as
of God,
He
in Christ."
sides.
It is just "
riches of Christ.
tell
As
*'
speaks in the sphere of Christ.
goes beyond Christ.
he
and turned round when he
words and turns the idea over
plies
He
fact,
utmost against Christ.
his
for-
other reason
that he bears God's commission.
is
for
Jehovah hath
but of the
rest
into the
for the service.
"
God
spirit."
God
ministry and
Such confidence
have we through Christ to Godward."
complacency, but trust in
;
that
It is
fills
not
self-
Paul with
holy courage to face a hostile and unbelieving world
THE NEW STANDPOINT
49
with the story of redemption in Christ Jesus.
The
Corinthians ought not to misunderstand him.
He
is
He
not praising himself.
troduction to
when he went
them
needs no letter of in-
ApoUos had,
as
for instance,
His work in Corinth
open
all
letter to
duction
is
be read of
after all a
implies that one
with
all
their
very heart.
may
to see them, or as the Judaizers
have claimed to have.
is
men.
very cold and
a stranger.
A
is
an
letter of intro-
lifeless
thing.
It
But the Corinthians,
shortcomings, are written in Paul's
The
pastor
to the truth of Paul's
who
words
reads this bears witness
as
he
calls
up the
faces
of friends tried and true in this church or in that
who have been bound
" in Christ."
to
him with hooks of
steel
II
THE GLORY THAT FADED—THE
MODERN PROBLEM
{2 Cor.
**
ill.
Moses,
6-16)
who
put a veil upon his face."
—2 Cor.
in. ij.
II
THE GLORY THAT FADED— THE MODERN
PROBLEM
PAUL
reminded of the ministry of Moses
is
representative of the
as
Old Covenant, probably
because of the activity of the Judaizers in
Corinth
who
Mosaism.
It
claimed
is
Jewish propagandists.'
method
gorizing,^ a
casion.^
be
to
But
more than mere
it is
that Paul
knew how
to use
alle-
on oc-
Exodus xxiv.-xxxiv. and
draws a wonderful
parallel in the
The whole system
of Judaism
Judaism of
is
This passage
is
worthy of the
beclouded
monialism.
It
Paul's bold
ness of a
Covenant.
closest study
by the
by
sacerdotalism
and
cere-
pathetic to think that, in spite of
and unanswerable exposure of the weak-
mere sacerdotal
the Greek and
Meyer, in
is
New
vision of the spiritual min-
preacher of to-day whose
is
his day.
set in the boldest
contrast to the ideal ministry of the
1
of
But, in the present instance, Paul keeps close
to the historical situation in
istry
exponents
the
thus an indirect polemic against the
ecclesiasticism, to-day in
Roman Churches
are to be found just
2
loco, foot-note.
3 I
Cor. X, 2
;
Gal.
53
iv. 25.
Bernard, in
loco,
THE GLORY THAT FADED
54
the Jewish conception of the ministry which Paul
is
condemning.
It is
undoubtedly true also that the
wide-spread influence of these two great Churches has
measure shaped popular opinion of the min-
in large
ister as priest
and
cleric rather
than as prophet, herald,
The
downfall, the inevitable
servant, teacher, pastor.
downfall, of this Jewish conception has brought untold
harm
to the ministry
Paul places the preacher
any
sense.
tive
and
He
the
is
God and comes
man
intensely
is
modern
ministry to-day has lost
looks in the face of
The problem
in
many
which to some
dearest
others
hope
all
in
is
now
before
The
phases.
its
many
people.
calling of the
lost.
It
min-
was once the
every Scottish home, as in
many
over the world, that the boy would become
a minister of Jesus Christ.
with tender pathos
criticism
of
glory for
its
There was once a halo about the
ister
of ecclesiastical
to talk with the people as prophet,
not as priest nor ecclesiastic.
Paul
not easy for
of high spiritual preroga-
the
man who
the
It is
se.
pinnacle upon which
not one of officialism in
is
man
not
privilege,
He
station.
is
per
The
people to distinguish.
how
the cold blast of
has smitten this
Bonnie Scotland.*
to justify the
1
Ian Maclaren has told
fair
flower
Numerous modern
modern
denial of Jesus in
« Beside the Bonnie Briar Bush."
modern
of faith
in
novels seek
its
appeal to
THE MODERN PROBLEM
Paul graphically seizes upon
the youth of to-day/
Moses on Mount Sinai and uses
the picture of
with powerful
Paul does not at
A
Real Glory
all
mean
to
law was with glory
"
Sinai,
The
and the seventh day
He
called unto
left
Moses.
divine glory was on the face of
with
wonderful
came
to pass,
Sinai with the
Moses
a
on the face of Moses.
radiance
simplicity
it
forty days
These
^
communion with God
forty nights of
of external
glory of Jehovah
and the cloud covered
out of the midst of the cloud."
and
of the
The coming
Indeed, the ministry of the
^
Old Covenant was glory .^
abode upon Mount
fact of the
deny the
glory that belonged to Moses.
;
it
effect.
I.
six days
55
and power.
mark
The
It is told
"And
it
when Moses came down from Mount
two
tables of the testimony in Moses'
hand, when he came
Moses knew not
down from
the mount, that
that the skin of his face shone
reason of his speaking with Him."^
The charm
by
Hes
The "God
of
the unconsciousness of Moses.
"« had appeared unto Abraham as He did to
glory
an angeF as
Stephen whose face shone like that of
in
he began to speak.
.
Cf. "
Robert Elsmere."
c
Acts
vii.
2
;
Gen.
It
xii. I.
has sometimes happened that
»
2 Cor.
iii.
'
7-
'
Acts
vi.
^ Cor.
15
J
iii.
9-
vii. i f.
THE GLORY THAT FADED
56
the modern minister comes to the pulpit from the
God on
throne of grace with the glory of
He
himself
is
unconscious of his heavenly radi-
all
ance as he breaks the bread of
But they know
it
in their hearts.
"
his face.
life
and thank God
to the people.
for the testimony
And when Aaron
and
the chil-
all
dren of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face
shone
and they were
;
They
felt
afraid to
awe
a solemn
come nigh him."
They
in his presence.
The
manifest power and glory.
rabbis
felt
God
in truth the other Presence, the Presence of
had a
*
in
fiction
that this glory was from the hght of creation,^ but
that
mere
is
trifling.
was the
It
which Jehovah dwells that
Moses.
he
is
called so often into the closest fellowship with
ministerial
There
A
lege, but
this
the
^
»
of course, no special
may
not live up to his rich privi-
there for him.
it is
of God."
He
his
draws him to communion with
radiant glory, no
Presence
his side
itself
preacher
with God.
is,
approach to the Throne of God, but
very work of
on
ineffable glory in
the countenance of
the highest crown of the minister that
It is
the Eternal God.
God.
filled
had to
There
way but
is
no way to put
the " Practice of
Moses had actually been
call
Aaron and
the rest to
and they gradually drew nigh and
Ex. xxxiv. 30.
Meyer, in loco ; Eisenmenger, Entdeckt. Judenth.,
listened
I., S.
369
f.
THE MODERN PROBLEM
to his message from God.^
when
speakable responsibility
with the
is
a
moment
a man's soul
is
of un-
ablaze
God and his audience are - in
Then the deepest mark is
infinite."
Word
tune with the
It
57
of
There are mountain peaks in
when the tongue is
the experience of most men
Then
of God.touched by the coal from the altar
made upon
one
is
the soul.
able to
power.^
-cry" with
It
is
at
such
into the kingsupreme moments that souls are born
John
ministry.
dom, that men are called into the
physician and was
A. Broadus had expected to be a
A. M.
towards that end, but he heard
studying
- Parable of the
Poindexter preach one day on the
get away from that
Talents," and he could never
sermon.
It
questioned
if
useful service
sermon.
istry
the
him
sent
It
may be
a more
Dr. Poindexter ever performed
preaching of this
in his life than the
There
is
under God.
work
into the ministry.^
still
glory and power in the min-
One way
of the ministry
is
to enlist
to pray for
more men
in
more labourers
Another way is to live close
demonstraGod and preach with the power and
Paul gathered many young minSpirit.
as Jesus
to
commanded.^
tion of the
isters
a joy
1
4
6
Titus, who were
about him, like Timothy and
But the man wins more men to
to his heart.
^ Isa. xl.
' Isa. vi. 6 ff.
f
xxxiv
A. Broadus," p. 52 fRobertson, " Life and Letters of John
Matt. ix. 38 ; Luke x. 2.
Ex
M
6.
THE GLORY THAT FADED
58
the ministry
on
own
his
unconscious of any special halo
is
He
head.
sees only the face of Jesus his
Syria was once " the Cradle of the Prophets."
Lord.
That
who
is
case, but
no longer the
it is
*
an honour to a
church or a land to be a " hot-bed for preachers."
2.
"
A
Hidden Glory
And when Moses had done
he put a
veil
on
his face."
^
speaking with them
Paul interprets
it
thus
:
" so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly
face."
upon the
^
They
face of
felt as if
Moses
for the glory of his
they were looking right at the
sun and they could not stand the
brilliant light.
who
deed, the sun will put out the eyes of those
We
to gaze directly at his light for long.
smoked
resort to
glasses or take advantage of an eclipse to
look steadfastly in the face of the sun.
took the
In-
dare
veil off
only
when he went
in to
So Moses
speak with
on when he came out to speak
the Lord and put
it
with the people.^
There was a great gulf between
the people and Moses.
giver
who
beheld
God
Christianity leads us
lets
'
Judaism had the one law-
while the people tarried below.
all
to the
mount
of vision,
and
the lowliest pass through the fences, and go up
where the blazing glory
*
"
is
seen.
The Intercollegian f Jan., 1911, p. 86.
2 Cor, iii. 7.
Moses
2
4
veiled the
Ex. xxxiv. 33.
Ex. xxxiv. 34 f.
THE MODERN PROBLEM
with unveiled face are to shine
is
We
shone with the irradiation of Deity.
face that
laren^
59
among men."
Mac-
*
right also in saying that Paul's habit of
" going off at a word," as illustrated in this passage
about Moses and the
but
veil, is
not a mark of confusion,
of the fervid richness of the apostle's mind,
'*
which acquires force by motion, and,
wheel, catches
Old
Dispensation
So, he continues,
revolves."
fire as it
in this scene on the mount, "
—a
we have a picture of the
partial
through a
veil, flashing
here in a
rite,
like a chariot-
revelation,
gleaming
through symbols, expressed
there in a type, there again in an ob-
scure prophecy, but never or scarcely ever fronting
the world with an unveiled face and the light of
shining clear from
it.
Christianity
teachers ought to be, the opposite of
and they are to have, no
where plain speech
is
is,
God
and Christian
all this.
It has,
esoteric doctrines,
no hints
possible,
no
reserve,
no use of
symbols and ceremonies to overlay truth, but an
telligible
in-
revelation in words and deeds, to men's
understandings.
It
clare the thing as
and they are
it
is."
plentifully to de-
Paul means to cast no
reproach upon Moses or the Old Covenant by this
contrast.
fullness
*
The people simply could not stand the
Even if it was
of light which Moses had.
Maclaren, " Expositions of Holy Scripture," 2 Corinthians, in
^Ibid.
loco,
THE GLORY THAT FADED
60
merely the skin of his face that shone with external
glory,
not
was too bright
it
enjoy the
charge
modern
inner light
of
they did
The
Christianity.
sometimes made to-day against the min-
is
istry that
for their eyes since
it is
the profession of obscurantists.
Either
ministers are dishonest in not being true to
what they know and pander to the ignorance of the
people or they have closed their minds to
and progress.
in
some
Both of these charges are
quarters
given to
newspaper sensation.
the preacher
As
a result
who
made
is
is
made
a
Notoriety always comes to
betrays his Lord or his gospel.
some young men
that the ministry
man who
freely
light
and occasionally some colour
by a minister whose defection
it
all
is
are
made
to
an unworthy calling
does not wish to wear shackles.
beheve
for a free
Hear Lord
Morley, for instance, in his famous essay on Compro-
mise
:
"
These cases only show the
essential
and
profound immorality of the priestly profession, which
makes a man's
using his
living
will
his abstaining
from
mind, or concealing the conclusions to
which the use of
time
depend on
his
come when
mind has brought him.
The
society will look back on the
doctrine that they that serve the altar shall live
by
the altar as a doctrine of barbarism and degradation."
Lord Morley
nostic,
and
is
an outspoken free-thinker and ag-
his indictment of the ministry
can thus
THE MODERN PROBLEM
be discounted.
ously
But the matter
is
6l
taken very
seri-
by Rev. Canon Danks/ of the Church of Eng-
who calls them "words of very serious import to
men who have entered or who wish to enter the min-
land,
He
istry."
says
"
:
They
more than any other
for ordination.
by the
Nor
express the thought which,
cause, deters able candidates
has their force been lessened
and the popular theology
five
gap between the
lapse of time, for the
years ago.
tween
.
.
the theological
is
wider
There
.
is
student
now than
and the untaught
dent that such a situation exists in
dents
for
gerated
may be
influence, but
replies in behalf of the
Hooker and
evi-
number
of stu-
partly due
now
to
this
it
is
He
a real problem.
Church of England
"
:
Were
Butler emissaries of intellectual dark-
ness, slaves themselves
Thirlwall,
is
quarters
Danks has probably somewhat exag-
Dr.
its
in the
It
many
the ministry, once so serious and
happily disappearing,
cause.
thirty-
a greater gulf be-
believer or unbeliever than ever before."
and the wide-spread decrease
critics
and enslaving others
?
Were
Lightfoot, Westcott, Creighton, Robert-
son of Brighton, Maurice, Kingsley, Stanley, Jowett
— were
all
these obscurantists, stunting the mental
growth of their time
?
On
the contrary, they were
1 Article,
" The Clergy, Conscience, and
Hibbert Journal^ Jan., 191 1.
Free Inquiry,"
The
THE GLORY THAT FADED
62
among
most
the
profound, and free
alert,
intelli-
gences of their time, teaching and emancipating
their
own and
so far as
I
Nor
succeeding generations.
is
there,
know, any reason to suppose that they were
in the least conscious of thinking in fetters, or acting
This
a part."
is
found to-day with
are "
that they
Indeed, the fault
a pertinent reply.
many men
in the ministry
is
hidebound reactionaries," but that
But
they are entirely too advanced and radical.
their very presence
to
Lord
and work constitute an answer
Moses was
IMorley's charge.
scious of the glory
the people
not
on
at first
his face, but the
made him aware
uncon-
conduct of
of the radiance.
not acting a part to hide his face with the
delivered his message with covered face.
It
veil.
It is
was
He
no
deception for the minister to-day to keep his inmost
self to himself.
new
light
is
He
does not claim omniscience.
coming, more
may come.
becoming to the herald of the
called
upon
He
God.
wait and learn like other men.
his beliefs, not his doubts.
has
But,
come between him and
upon
to act the hypocrite
Modesty
He
Cross.
to parade his doubts nor
ecstasies of his life with
If
all
is
is
not
the hidden
must be wiUing to
One should preach
when a real breach
Christ,
he
is
not called
and to go on mumbling
phrases and words that have no meaning to him.
The door
is still
open
for
him
to
go out of the minis-
THE MODERN PROBLEM
try of Christ
He must
when
there
63
no freedom within
is
be his own judge when to keep
still
on
it.
less
important matters and when to speak his mind on
But there
vital issues.
is
never reason for whimper-
ings
on the limitations of the ministry
one
is
much
in
Lord Morley says
of what
movement
in the
Modernism."
It
to-day a
called "
Pope Pius
X
to such
is
Roman
is
this, that it will
true.
Then,
There
tell,
Catholic Church
its
but " what
destruction.'
we can
fore-
be one of the most momentous
recorded in history."
^
it is
chiefly because
Romanism has sought to put clamps upon
human spirit, as the later Judaism of Paul's day
that this crisis has come.
against medieval
is
an extent that he has turned
The outcome no one can
crises
never, unless
has aroused the wrath of
the whole power of the Vatican to
see
;
the grip of a priestly hierarchy.
Romanism
the
did,
Protestantism stands out
as Paul's interpretation
of a free Christianity rises above the fettered Judaism
of his time which he once proclaimed and sought to
force
upon the
Christians themselves.
Roman CathoHc
priests in Italy
A
group of
have addressed a
He has issued a Syllabus, two Encyclicals (1907, 1909), and
September, 19 10, used the Motu propria to compel every professor, every new confessor, priest, and canon to take the oath of
orthodoxy.
2 Prof, Giovanni Luzzi, D. D., Florence, in the January, 191 1,
Hibbert Journal, article, " The Roman Catholic Church in Italy at
1
in
the Present
Hour."
1HE GLORY THAT FADED
64
letter to Pius
they say
"
:
X
entitled "
Our
society
What zue zvaiit," in which
has now for many years
*
held entirely aloof from the Church, which
as
siders
an ancient and inexorable
The Church
it
foe.
con-
.
.
.
considered an obstacle to the happi-
is
ness of nations
the priest
;
common, ignorant
is
insulted in public as a
and Chris-
parasite; the Gospel
expressions
of a decayed
tianity are
regarded as
civilization,
because they are entirely insufficient to
answer to the
freedom, justice, and science
ideals of
which are shaking the masses."
not
come from Lord Morley, but
cry of
The
This portrayal does
Roman
trouble
is
Catholic
priests
just here that
tinguish between
priest
in his noble panegyric
is
men do
not always dis-
and preacher.
Paul
on the ministry
calling
is
not
men
decayed Judaism nor to the corrupt and cor-
to the
Romanism of the future, but
Gospel of the Son of God which
rupting
Men
the despairing
about Romanism.
could bind
kingdom.
to the glorious
not bound.^
is
Paul, but not the gospel of the
He was bound in the spirit with allegiance
to Christ, but
had no
that the truth
would make men
fear of man.^
free.
Jesus had said
It
was God's
purpose to give the world a message which would be
1 Quel che vogliano.
Journal article.
» 2 Tim. ii. 9.
Quoted by Professor Luzzi
in the Hibbert
»
Acts xx. 23.
THE MODERN PROBLEM
delivered boldly and openly without
"
the face.
65
any
veil
upon
Having therefore such a hope, we use
who
great boldness of speech, and are not as Moses,
put a
veil
means
**
upon
telling
his face."
^
" boldness "
The word
Paul glories in his freedom
it all." ^
God
as a minister of Christ.
has
come
in Christ
and
the Light has been tempered to the eye of man.
A
3.
expressly
Paul
Temporary Glory
calls
attention
to
the transient
aspect of the glory on the face of Moses as a symbol
of the passing glory of the Mosaic ministry and so
of Judaism
—
who put
" Moses,
a veil upon his face,
that the children of Israel should not look steadfastly
So
on the end of that which was passing away."^
verse seven he says
Moses
:
Meyer ^ takes
away."
'*
Which
glory was passing
Paul's language to
mean
that
practiced " dissembling " with the people since
he did not wish the people to see the glory on
face die away, else they
and
in
his
work.
would
lose respect for
his
him
However, he does not think that
Paul regarded this act as immoral on the part of
Moses.
he said
Paul
is
in verse
not in verse thirteen denying what
seven about the hght being too
I2 Cor. iii. 12.
'Cf. John vii. 13 where
®
2 Cor.
iii.
13.
it is
bril-
translated " openly."
*
/«
loco^
THE GLORY THAT FADED
66
liant for the
The language
people to look upon.*
verse thirteen undoubtedly
in
a purpose to
presents
prevent the people of Israel from seeing the departure of the glory on the countenance of Moses.^
Some have even supposed
that Christ
meant by
is
" the end of that which was passing away."
that
is
There
quite beside the mark.
is
But
^
no direct
statement in Exodus concerning this second point
made by
Paul,
though the transient nature of the
glory on the face of Moses
It
is
is
kept^ putting the veil on and
far
plain in the context.
clear in the consciousness of
beyond
Paul's
off.
Moses since he
But one
remarks on the story
accuse Moses of dissembling.
He
in
is
going
Exodus
probably
first
to
put
the veil on because the brightness he found " was so
Then he
resplendent as to dazzle the beholders."^
realized that,
when he
out the
the people would note that the glory
veil,
did speak to the people with-
was no longer on
his
countenance.
kept up that plan
not
made
is
How
plain, but the
long he
day came,
probably soon, when he had to speak without the
1 Bernard,
in loco, notes that in Ex. xxxiv. 33 " till " in the
Authorized Version has been changed to " when " in the Revised
Version.
But, even so, that does not affect the two points made by
Paul.
2
" That "
8
Cf.
is
Rom.
design, not result.
X. 4.
*
2 Cor.
iii,
13.
Denny, 2 Corinthians, in loco. For a discussion of the interpretation of the Targums, the Septuagint, and Philo, see Bachmann,
Der Zweite Brief des Faulus an die Korinther, S. 156
5
THE MODERN PROBLEM
What Moses
veil.
67
avoided was the people seeing
away each
the glory slowly vanish
There
time.
real parallel here in the experience of
when he has spoken with power concerning
things of God.
there
action
is
dissipate at
A
pression produced.
lest
a violent nervous re-
once the
story
preacher to the effect that,
is
real spiritual
told about a
when he was
when he was out
glory
If
we
is
it.
of
it,
it
;
but,
they wished that he would
The only way
permanent
to have
to continue beholding the glory of the Lord.
Him, we cease
to reflect His
Moses may not have thought
at all (almost
cease looking at
glory.
im-
famous
in the pulpit,
the church wished he would never leave
never enter
the
he steps down among the people,
need of caution
may
a
In the pulpit he has seemed like one
When
inspired.
is
every minister
certainly did not) of his conduct being a type of the
nor was he think-
temporary nature of
his ministry,
ing of the difference
between what he was and what
he had to
hide his
A
teach.'
preacher
is
often tempted to
own person and weaknesses
out of sight in
order to concentrate attention on what he
To
a certain extent this
is
justifiable,
is
saying.
but people will
not allow a clear divorce between preaching and
practice
on the part of the minister.
momentary gleam,
^
"
Moses had a
a transient brightness
Cf.
Meyer, in
loco.
;
we have
a
THE GLORY THAT FADED
68
Moses' face shone, but the lustre
perpetual light.
But the
was but skin deep.
ness."
There
*
Gospel which
greatness of
revealed,
is
all,
maineth
is
and with
in the Gospel."
this surpassing difference
glory,
in glory."
:
**
For
if
New
Paul exults in
which passeth
message to man.
will
shall
demand
for ministers of the
it
ing lost
was
its
in the
takes on
first
continue because there
new
in
phases.
man
is
Gospel to-day
century.
each
The
than
the fullness of God's
new
continue to get
Nor
is
The
just the
That
Human
generation.
light
it.^
has preach-
power over the hearts of men.
cry that comes
re-
The
in Christ.
never get beyond
same
as
which
redemption of
Jesus
We shall
on that message, but
that
Paul boldly champions the
for the
the Gospel of Christ.
His true
it
that
much more
^
Testament ministry
no higher word
true
^
permanence of the glory and service
is
The
"
not true of Judaism.
God
away was with
its
a finality in the revelation of the
is
is
glory, once for
we have is
own like-
light that
inward, and works transformation into
is
a
life
printing press brings the
newspaper, the magazine, and the novel.
The
tele-
phone, the automobile, the electric car revolutionize the habits of
men.
But no printed page can per-
^
Maclaren, « Expositions of Holy Scripture," in
loco.
'
Denney, in
3
Works
loco.
2 Cor.
iii.
II.
G. B. Foster's " Finality of the Christian Religion
are mere passing leaves.
*
like
THE MODERN PROBLEM
manently
supply
looked into the face of
face of sinful
men and
words the sense of
The
Christ.
of the
the place
man who
has
God and now looks into the
presses home with burning
and the redemption
sin
who
minister
69
in Jesus
does this has a great
hearing to-day and will always be greeted by glad
This
hearts.
is
the eternal call for preachers, the
heart-hunger^ of sinful
men
God
unveihng of their
for
Christ, for the
in
all
upon
the touch of heart
moving of the
Spirit of
for the
God.
Roman
so.
A
The
to speak for
call of
God and
will
may
human sympathy,
But even so God
God.
system or to
to this
who can
that.
hear His voice and see His
He
is
will find
not
men
face.^
A71 Overshadowed Glory
4.
The
greatest spirits of
Catholic hierarchy, a Jewish scribism
power
bound
mighty
Protestant scholasticism,^ a
lose the gift of spiritual insight, of
of
real selves,
heart, for the
time have responded to this
continue to do
knowledge of
glory on the face of Moses passed away, but
there was a real glory in the Old Covenant.
was and there
still is.
the less to the greater.
»
Cf. Stalker, «
'
Denney, in
It is
an argument
There
at first
from
" If the ministration of death
The Preacher and His Models,"
p,
25
f.
loco.
Commenting on the coming of the Rev. J. H. Jowett from
Birmingham to New York, The British Weekly, Jan. 26, 1 891,
speaks of " The Call for Preachers " and quotes from a saying of
3
.
THE GLORY THAT FADED
70
.
.
came with
.
ministration
how
glory,
shall not rather the
of the spirit be with glory
?
"
The
'
condition admits the glory of the Old Dispensation
and by a
rhetorical question argues the greater glory
New
of the
"
Dispensation.
For
of condemnation hath glory,
if
the ministration
much
rather doth the
ministration of righteousness exceed in glory."
*
Paul
admits the glory of the Old, but claims the
much
richer glory of the
New.
In
itself this
paragement of the true Judaism.
passeth
away was with
remaineth
is
in glory."
glory,
^
^
if
much more
less to
a self-evident proposition.
is
For
no
is
which
that
which
the greater.
New
"
For
is
Covenant that
the glory of the Old seems to disappear entirely
less.
It
But, in truth, there
of glory in the
greater glory dims the
dis-
that
Three times Paul has thus
used the argument from the
such an overplus
"
verily that
;
the
which
hath been made glorious hath not been made glorious
by reason
of the glory that surpass-
in this
respect,
eth."
In one point at least the old seems to have no
^
glory at
the
all,
New
because of the superabundant glory of
Covenant.^
"
The
veiled
Moses represents
*' In
Luther in Dr. Kawerau's tribute to Spurgeon
the
is not enough that books should be written and read, but
it is necessary that there should be speaking and hearing.
Therefore Christ wrote nothing, but spoke everything.
The apostles
wrote little, but spoke a great deal."
Martin
Church
^
*
:
it
2 Cor.
2 Cor.
iii.
7 f
^
2 Cor.
iii.
9.
»
2 Cor.
iii.
il.
iii.
9.
62 Cor.
iii.
10.
^
2 Cor.
iii.
10.
1
THE MODERN PROBLEM
The vanishing gleam
the clouded revelation of old.
on
7
his face recalls the fading glories of that
abolished."
The
moon
the
rises;
"
*
are bright
stars
herself reigns
sky.
moon
the
till
heaven
in
till
when
splendour pales before the sun; but
shines in his strength, there
which was
the sun
no other glory
is
her
in the
All the glories of the Old Covenant have van-
ished for Paul in the light which shines from the
Cross and from the Throne of Christ."
Paul had
^
already caught the vision of the conquest of Christianity and of the vanishing of Judaism
The Jews
God's
still
Word
till
Israel Zangwill
the times of the Gentiles be
^
even
now
laments
ens the existence of the race
But with Paul there
ism."
Christianity
outdistance
is
John saw
crease."
What
threat-
no
rivalry, so far
does
There was no
:
"
He must
light
increase, but I
The
true Judaism finds
Sometimes a preacher
Christ.^
was to fade before
must de-
John was the herald of the dawn
^
sun arose.
he sees another minister go
*
Maclaren,
'
Luke
John
fulfilled.^
the decay of Juda-
is
Judaism.
clearly that his
that of Jesus
*
:
*'
between John the Baptist and Jesus because
rivalry
4 77^-?
by comparison.
linger in the world as a witness of
<'
Expositions," in
is
far
loco.
its
as the
fulfillment in
sorely tested
beyond him
2
when
in use-
Denney, in
loco.
Rom.
x. 4.
24 ; Rom. xi. 25.
Jezuish Review^ Jan., 1911, p. 391.
xxi.
iii.
30.
^
THE GLORY THAT FADED
72
His light
and popular favour.
fulness
Happy
that of a greater personality.
rejoice in the greater light, " that
may
he that reapeth
dimmed by
is
he
is
he can
if
he that soweth and
rejoice together."
An
'
old
minister will do well to watch his spirit and to find
God
joy in the young ministers about him.
will
keep our going out into activity and our coming in
to the inner shrine.^
there
sits
*'
In that inner
eyes.
in.
It is
of
life
face,
and Shame with
Memory
with tears in her
Regret with her pale
dust on her forehead, and
room
a pitiable thing sometimes, this coming
More than one man has consumed
his life in a
flame of activity because he could not abide the
coming
ing in
'
in.
But,
*
The Lord
—that means help
inward hour of
life."
^
for
keep thy com-
shall
every lonely, impotent,
But Paul stands
in the full
He
glory of Christianity with naught to conceal.
is
not afraid that people will find out something about
the Gospel.
**
at full length,
and
the minister.
St.
own
Paul has painted his
in
every line of
There
is
more
touches the very quick of our
it is
in his writings
life as
in all other writings in existence."
»
*
John
iv.
36.
which
ministers than
Paul speaks out
^
of his heart for the Christian ministry of
»
portrait
the portrait of
«
Cf.
Psalm
Percy C. Ainsworth, " The Threshold Grace."
Stalker, « The Preacher and His Models," p. 18.
all
ages
cxxi. 8.
;
THE MODERN PROBLEM
when he
73
above Judaism and
exalts Christianity
all
other religions in the world and places the Christian
ministry at the summit of
life's
Nothing
callings.
can ever overshadow the true glory of the ministry
of Jesus Christ.
Him whose
message to deliver about
ground of
all
an authentic
" If the pulpit has
existence,
and whose
thought
is
the
will of love
is
the
explanation of the pain and mystery of
life,
the
more
and eager the mind of man becomes, then
cultivated
the more indispensable will the voice of the pulpit be
felt
and a
to be;
pulpit can only be
real
decay of the power of the
due either to preachers themselves,
when, losing touch with the mysteries of revelation,
they
passing
general
down
themselves
let
opinion,
mind
or to
to the level of vendors of
such a shallowing of the
as will render
it
incapable of taking an
earnest interest in the profounder problems of exist-
ence."
5.
At
its
best the
A
Defective Glory
Old Covenant had drawbacks of a
serious nature in spite of
its
istry of the " letter " as
opposed to
"
made
**
letter,
but the
but of the
spirit
giveth
spirit
life."
"^
^
Stalker, "
The Preacher and His Models,"
»
2 Cor.
6.
iii.
It is
spirit."
a min-
God
new covenant
us sufficient as ministers of a
not of the
killeth,
real glory.
:
for the letter
It is
p. 27.
not entirely
THE GLORY THAT FADED
74
what Paul means by these words.
clear
takes
mean
to
it
why God
" the reaso7t
Certainly the scribes had
made
the law
a matter of letter and form, not of spiritual
But
power.
more
it
probable that Paul
is
among
making a
is
cision
Romans
newness of the
in oldness of the letter,"
Jew who
scribes the "
In
the rabbis.
speaks of serving " in
^
is
as in
spirit,
Romans
He
is
deemed
;
a contrast between the
drawn between the law
spirit in
literalism,
by
Paul.^
but
The conand the
as letter
spirituaUife
is
strangled
meant by
is
" letter "
and works
are under the curse of the law
when we
redeemed
Christ has
us from under the curse of the law,^ having
a curse for
us.
The
re-
not the point aimed at here
it is
The law
We
The
man.^
seek to be saved by the law.^
spirits
and not
one inwardly and circum-
mean
does not
by
death.
6 he
29 he de-
ii.
of the law and the spirit of the law.
letter
trast
vii.
that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the
is
letter."
Spirit of Christ
makes
become
alive
our
held in the grip of the law which was death.
law, then,
4
In loco.
Denney, in
'
Cf.
>
and
life
serious charge than the patent misuse of the
law current
The
made
hath
of ministering not to the letter, but to
them capable
the spirit."
Meyer'
Rom.
'
loco.
vii.
while
kills,^
7-24.
Cf.
Rom.
^
the
^
vi. 4.
Gal.
iii.
Spirit
»
Cf.
Bernard, in
«
10.
Rom.
quickens.^
Gal.
iii.
loco.
13.
vii. 25-viii. 11.
.
THE MODERN PROBLEM
**
When
tences
with
the apostle has written these two Httle sen-
—when
kill
'
'
he has supplied
and
make
*
mentions
plainly
written, ajid engraved
**
" the
^
'
dition in Philo
Paul takes up the
to the tables of law
it
life,
the death-chill of the law in his
felt
though the law was good
Old Covenant had merely a
demnation
in itself, yet
^
Paul
not of the law, but of
gel of light
" ministration of con-
that righteousness
insists
and puts forward
^
his ministers as "
*
2 Cor.
iii.
*Ex. xxxiv.
*2
Cor.
iii.
7 f
and
Cor.
lii.
9.
'
7.
5
29.
'Gal.
iii.
21.
Rom.
v.
It is all
There
" thou shalt not."
^2
min-
But the thunders of Sinai
brought only the voice of condemnation.
shalt "
is
Satan poses as an an-
faith.^
isters of righteousness."
" thou
it
The
sin.^
contrast with " the ministration of
in
righteousness."
tra-
Exodus ^ does not say
in
only brought a keener consciousness of
"
The
Sinai.
was that the words were graven on
though the narrative
Paul had
own
^
contrast with
in
"
brought down by Moses on Mount
so.
as far
an effective
ministration of death,
on stones
and applies
" letter "
stone,
*
spirit
'
—he has gone
in stating
the ministration of the spirit."
word
and
But Paul turns the idea over a few times.
contrast."
He
'
the sense which they
alive,' in
mind of man can go
letter
*
bear in the Christian revelation
as the
75
Vita Mos,
20
f.
;
vii,
^2 Cor.
iii.
is
2.
7-12.
xi. 15.
a
THE GLORY THAT FADED
76
majesty more transcendent about the
tion/ but the dominant note
New
ministers of the
New
Dispensa-
The
grace, not law.
is
Covenant have hope and
cer-
They bear a message of cheer, not of mere
tainty.
condemnation.
It
still
is
a terrible thing to
fall
into
God after having trodden
God and having done despite
the hands of the Hving
under foot the Son of
unto the Spirit of His grace, more terrible than
ter of Christ
not a mere denouncer of
is
he has to cry aloud and spare not
He
of old.
This
How
who
will
Old Covenant and those of the New.
good things
!
"
^
to see a minister of Christ
them
Paul
true in a sense not understood
is still
like the prophets
respond to the grace of
beautiful are the feet of
tidings of
though
the greatest difference between the
is
ministers of the
"
evil,
the herald of the Gospel, the bearer of
is
pardon to sinners
God.
it
But the minis-
was under the Mosaic dispensation.^
by
that bring glad
knew
to be
this
Isaiah.^
It is
sad
who is still at Sinai, who
who is still proclaimwho has not caught the
under the Old Covenant,
ing the message of death,
vision of love
nant.
and grace and hope
Paul's appeal
is
for
in the
men who
message of the Cross, not of
Sinai.
Jesus the emancipation of the
human
^
Heb.
ii.
8
Rom.
X. 15.
1-4
;
xii.
will carry
spirit
2
lii.
7
Covethe
Paul sees in
25-29.
4 Isa.
New
;
Heb.
cf.
from the
x.
26-31.
Nahum
i.
15.
THE MODERN PROBLEM
The
bondage of the law.
had frozen the
the real
There
Paul
life
chill
of mere formalism
out of Judaism as
it
has destroyed
power of many expressions of
to-day the same
is
peril in
Christianity.
sacerdotahsm that
The emptiness
in Judaism.
feared
77
spirit.
He
bitter experience the dry-rot of
mere
negative rules was abhorrent to his free
had known by
and
religiosity
sanctity
of mere
sanctimoniousness.
Professional
He saw
was repellent to Paul's nature.
in
the Christian ministry the exponents of God's love
and of personal
No
piety.
greater peril confronts
the minister to-day than the one Paul found in the
Judaism of
priest.
his day.
The
priest
The prophet disappeared
dried
scribe split hairs over
meant.
vital
up
in the
the scribe.
in
what prophet and
The
had
priest
Traditional interpretation took the place of
Love
experience of God.
the inner
life
and
of the external killed
crucified Jesus of
emphasis on the spiritual
life
Nazareth
His
for
and rebuke of the mere
ceremonialism of the scribes and Pharisees.
Stephen
went the way of Jesus when he rebuked the Pharisees
for their perversion of real religion
the spiritual interpretation of the
as
expounded by
Jesus.
and sought to give
kingdom
of
God
Paul turned from persecut-
ing Pharisee to spiritual interpreter of Jesus and
took the place of Stephen
joiced.
in
whose death he had
Jesus and Stephen fought
official
re-
Pharisaism
THE GLORY THAT FADED
78
Paul took up the battle
Judaism.
in the current
with Pharisaism within the Christian fold which was
seeking to put the
upon the
soul was stirred to
all
The one hope
Christianity of Jesus.
rescue for the soul of
with
perverted Judaism
fetters of their
man was
in
jeopardy.
depths and he met the issue
its
the force of his nature.
He
in the thick
is
of the fight with these Judaizing Christians,
were attempting to destroy
when he draws
and
of
The
and
legalism
very
battle
spiritual
Romans.
afterwards.
difficulties of
to enter the
tianity
Christianity,
spiritual
between the bondage
has never
Christianity
Paul set up his standard in 2 Corinthians,
Galatians,
years
who
the contrast here between Judaism
Christianity.
ceased.
of
Paul's
and
lists.
failure
Luther took
The
peril
is
it
up hundreds of
always
real.
The
the struggle challenge great spirits
The
of
evident perversions of Chris-
some
ministers to be apostles
of freedom in Christ should not repel the best spirits
of our time.
They should
to fight for the soul of
man
bind him whether king or
traditionahst
or
the rather hear the call
against
all
who
priest, state or
innovationist.
The
need to keep himself close to God
if
seek to
church,
minister
he
is
will
to fight
against the mighty forces of reaction and radicalism.
Paul had to beat off the Judaizers with their narrowness on the one
hand and the Gnostics with
their
THE MODERN PROBLEM
79
and philosophic looseness on the other.
false liberality
of Christ to-day needs constant re-
The preacher
newal of his spiritual
life
to avoid this
empty
sionalism into which Judaism had sunk.
an
as
call
initial
may
be,
it
will
A
long on such a memory.
Valuable
''
not do to trade too
ministry of growing
The soul
power must be one of growing experience.
must be
God and enjoy golden hours
The truth must come to the
touch with
in
of fresh revelation.
minister as the satisfaction of his
answer
profes-
to
his
perplexities."
'
own needs and
the
Religiosity
not
is
religion.
6.
The
Ineffective
of the people.
its
failure to
The
work the
story of Israel
that of desertion of God.
after the idols of the nations
letter of the
the Captivity
around them
in spite of
Elisha, Isaiah,
Jere-
:
'•
law and missed
But
their
God
again.
Hear Paul ^
minds were hardened
;
for until
very day at the reading of the Old Covenant the
same
»
till
renewal
After the Restoration the Jews stuck to the
miah.
this
spiritual
The people kept going
prophets like Samuel, Elijah,
again
Glory
saddest thing about the history of the Old
Covenant was
is
An
veil
Stalker, "
*2 Cor.
iii.
remaineth,
it
not being revealed to them
The Preacher and His Models,"
14
f.
p. 53.
THE GLORY THAT FADED
8o
that
it
done away
is
whensoever Moses
ple
day."
Oh,
and
see,
you a heart
to
ears to hear, unto this
knew when he
people have sinned a great
this
day,
to see the bhndness of his peo-
Indeed, at Sinai Moses
*
this
heth upon the
veil
" But Jehovah hath not given
:
know, and eyes to
"
a
read,
is
Moses hved
heart."
But unto
Christ.
in
cried
:
and have
sin
But even so Moses
made them gods
of gold."^
loved his people so
much that he wished to be blotted
if God could not forgive them.^
out of God's book
So Paul
felt
about the Jews
:
" I could wish that I
myself were anathema from Christ for
sake,
my
Paul
knew only too
kinsmen according to the
my
brethren's
But
flesh."*
well the tragedy^ of Judaism,
Jesus came unto His own and His own received
Him not.^ He had himself tried to lift the veil that
how
rested
on the heart of the Jews, but had found
hard to do.^
They had
bitter
it
its
analogue in a
had
*
Deut. xxix. 4.
Rom. ix. 3.
•John i. II.
s
The
2 Cor.
iii.
14.
veil
on
^
the face of
like
tough
Moses had
on the heart of the people.
veil
to hide the glory
4
Paul
to the Gentiles.
was to preach to an unresponsive
audience, whose thoughts were hardened
gristle or leather.
very
them
thrust the Gospel from
and compelled Paul to turn
knew how
it
on
*Ex.
«
Cf.
'Cf. Acts
his face
from them and they
'Ex.
xxxii. 31.
Conder, " The
xiii.
44 ff.;
He
xxxii. 32.
Hebrew Tragedy."
xvii.
5;
xviii. 14, etc.
1
THE MODERN PROBLEM
became unable
to see the glory after the other veil
The message
gone.
Covenant
*
of Moses
is
written in the
may know
the " riches of the
glory of his inheritance in the saints."
he
Old
eyes of their heart ^ have not been en-
lightened that they
Israel
was
(Testament), but the people have no eyes
The
to see.
8
saith, All the
day long did
**
But
as to
spread out
I
my
hands to a disobedient and gainsaying people."^
Paul found hope in the fact that the Gentiles will
Good may come
hear.^
remain.*
veil
see
on
in the
end to the Jews who
But, meanwhile, the Jews
Some
their hearts.
some beauty
of
them
Others
in Jesus.^
ish liberalism as treason to
Moses.
are beginning to
^
resent this Jew-
The breach
tween the current Judaism and Christianity
But, that
is
not
all.
Some
Some,
modern
alas,
find
Gospel of Christ no longer charms their
that they have an unresponsive people
are dead to the spiritual appeal,
mammon
fear
man.
The
*
Heb. ix. i6 f.
Acts xxviii, 28.
Cf. Montefiore, "
'
Cf.
1
be-
exists.
who
life
and
that
the
own
souls,
whose hearts
are slaves to
and greed and who do not love God nor
faded from the
*
still
ministers find a wider
breach between the currents of
the message of Christ.
have the
still
light has
God
hills.
Cf.
gone out and the glory has
2
Eph.
pity that preacher and
i.
18.
»
Rom. x. 21.
5 Rom. xi.
The Religious Teaching of Jesus " (1910).
The Jewish Review October, 19 10.
y
THE GLORY THAT FADED
82
"
turn his face towards Jesus.
But whensoever
[the heart] shall turn to the Lord, the veil
away."
*
By
"
Christ can hft
"
Lord
the
it
taken
Paul means the Lord Jesus.
veil
of spiritual ignorance and
from the heart of Jew and Gentile,
indifference
preacher and people.
What
is
No
one
the world to-day needs
is
else
can do that.
the look at Christ,
the look of trust with the heart, the turning from
Moses and
rabbi,
of philosophy
that
will
is
in the
from
and
mammon
and
self,
from pride
self-righteousness, to the Light
Face of
There and there alone
Christ.
be found spiritual rejuvenation.
1
2 Cor.
iii.
1
6.
Ill
THE LIGHT IN THE FACE OF JESUSTHE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
(2 Cor. iv.
The
light
glory
of
Christ."
4-6)
of the
God
in
knowledge of the
the face
of Jesus
—2
Cor. iv. o.
Ill
THE LIGHT IN THE FACE OF JESUS-THE
ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
The Face of Jesus Christ
I.
PAUL
not probably
did
He
flesh.
once knew
know
Him
Jesus in the
" after the flesh,"
^
means
but that expression almost certainly
once looked upon Christ as men of the
persecuted
world still do. He had once hated and
that he
Jesus.
It
sometimes objected that Paul discounted
is
the earthly
places,
more
"
of Jesus.
life
He
especially in the
tells
us in several
opening chapters of
he does not regard the searching out
evidence as of any importance." ^ That is
Galatians, that
of historic
surely
Gardner again
fixion
much
reading
we
"
:
into
Paul.
Hear Professor
Within a generation of the Cruci-
find St. Paul placing the
Master between two periods of
human
life
of his
celestial exaltation.
That was the beginning of Christology." Paul did
do that, but so did John's GospeP and Epistles^ and
2
" {Hibbert Journal Supple^
Percy Gardner, in « Jesus or Christ
ment
*
for 1909), p. 48.
John
i.
1-4
;
cf.
"
The Face
of Jesus," by
85
David Smith.
THE LIGHT
86
IN
THE FACE OF JESUS
Synoptic Gospels and Acts.'
the
more about the
cared
Paul
It
right
Jesus and the proper attitude towards
did about the
of Jesus.
life
and
Him
than he
mere
historical events of the earthly-
But a
careful study of Paul's Epistles
his addresses
Acts
in
show
will
the crucial points of that
all
true that
is
interpretation of
that he
Many
life.
knew
of these
were matters of public knowledge which Paul would
have learned during
his leadership of the persecution
of the Christians in Jerusalem.
After his conversion
Paul had fifteen days in Jerusalem with Simon Peter
right in the midst of the closing scenes of Christ's
"
life.2
No
one has the right to say that Saul had
no knowledge of the
historical Jesus.
Sanday ^
learn, so could Paul.
the allusions in Paul's Epistles
XV.
3-8) must
Luke could
(cf.
i
Cor.
xi.
23-25
;
be regarded as samples of Paul's
knowledge of the
details
of the
appeals to the words of Jesus
character of Jesus
mission of Jesus
If
rightly argues that
;
;
life
He
of Jesus.
he understands the
he knows what the message and
is."
^
The
qualifications of Paul as
an interpreter of Jesus challenge us at once in the
verses
1
this
3
*
^
^
before us.
I
venture to say that he
is
the
« The Lord of Glory," for a full development of
argument.
2 Gal. i. 18.
Art. " Paul " in Hastings's D. C. G.
Robertson, " Epochs in the Life of Paul," p. 89.
Cf. Warfield,
2 Cor.
iv.
4-6.
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
supreme interpreter of Jesus
Apostle.
It
is
Christ,
87
he and John the
had
true that Paul's spiritual eyes
been blinded before the great light shone around
him
day on the road to Damascus.*
that
blinded the eyes of his
" I
his soul.
could not see for the glory of that
nothing
When
"
of Jesus.
"
his
but Jesus.
^
lowed him through
from
his
eyes were opened, he saw
That voice and that
life.
face fol-
In Damascus the scales
eyes and the Holy Spirit came upon
him and he was
baptized, but he
That was
Jesus in the way.^
that
light
Yes, but he had seen the glory in the face
light."
fell
That
body, but opened the eyes of
his
had already seen
unbroken testimony
he had seen the Lord Jesus on the way to
" I
Damascus.^
was not disobedient to the heavenly
That
vision."^
transcendent
crux upon which
never doubted
all
its
experience
was the
He
Many
of Paul's testimony turned.
reality for
one moment.
persons had looked on the face of Jesus while in the
flesh
who
did not understand
yond doubt a wondrous
Him.
There was be-
fascination in the face of
Jesus that no artist has succeeded in putting upon
canvas.
The
pictures of Christ are either too effemi-
nate or too crude.^
face has ever so haunted
and
' Acts ix. 8.
^ Acts ix. 17 f.
6 ; xxvi, 13.
^ Acts xxvi. 19.
Cor. xv. 8.
6 Cf. Tissot, " The Life of Our Lord Jesus Christ " (1900), which
well done as a whole.
See also " The Christ Face in Art."
1
^
is
No
Acts
Acts
ix.
3
ix.
27
;
xxii.
;
I
THE LIGHT
88
THE FACE OF JESUS
IN
baffled the greatest artists.
man, but
free
This face was really hu-
No
No
from the taint of sin and disease.
spectres of the past looked through those eyes.
shadows of forbidden secrets
Pity, un-
flitted past.
utterable compassion, looked out of the depths of
purity and
unsullied
strength.
looked out on a world of
of
man met
Untarnished truth
The
lies.
noblest impulses
The
the shock of hate and envy.
light of heaven's love
and the sinning.
Those eyes could
flash
power upon hypocrites who used the
rific
heaven to serve the devil
slunk
away
like
clear
gazed longingly at the suffering
cowed
in.
with
livery of
Before His wrath
beasts, guilty
ter-
men
and condemned.
But the penitent and the contrite saw a new hope
as
they looked in the face of Jesus.
some who could never
came
to their hearts
forget the thrill of joy
emotions in His countenance.
not
The
which
as they gazed into His face.
At moments they could be amazed
who
There were
at the struggling
There were three
beheld His majestic glory on the mount.
all
men
could see
all
this in the face of Jesus.
rabbis were angered to desperation as they
that calm
and powerful
raged them.
fellows.
Its
saw
very innocence en-
But Paul was a man gifted above
When
his
once he did see Jesus Christ, he was
in a position to see
spirits.
face.
But
more than many other
less gifted
His soul was keyed to the highest tension
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
as
In his after
he looked into the face of Jesus.
study of that face he had the
He
artist.
of a supreme
skill
At
never ceased looking.
89
Paul had
first
studied the picture of Jesus that he might see the
" But, as he looked, there hap-
secret of His power.
pened a strange thing
He had
soul.
—the
sought to find the secret of
with the view of refuting
of
power but
its
picture crept into his
it
;
He
it.
The gaze
refuted him.
was transmuted into a gaze of rapture."
calls
its
power
did find the secret
Paul " the Illuminated " and
it
*
of anger
Matheson
aptly describes
the qualifications of Paul for his interpretation of
Christ.
"
Remember, the
was the Christ
Man
heaven.
in
His
of Galilee.
meet him
;
heavenly splendour.
of power, a Christ
He came
What
to
was the vision of
his inner
in
eye beheld was
—a Christ of majesty, a Christ
who came
clothed in the lightning
in the conqueror's robe.
Christian image in Paul's soul.
that
it
should have been the
^
saw
him panoplied
first
his writings ? "
first
never gazed upon the
earliest vision
the Christ of the future
and wreathed
He
Paul
Not on the road to the Cross did
a Jesus glorified.
Christ
whom
Christ
The famous
first
Matheson, "Representative
2
Ibid., p. 343.
Men
wonderful
Christian image in
blind preacher has seen
into the secret of Paul's soul.^
»
That was the
Is it
It is interesting
of the
New
Testament,"
*Cf. also Matheson, " Spiritual Development of St. Paul."
how
p. 335.
THE LIGHT
90
IN
THE FACE OF JESUS
fond Matheson was of pictures that he carried
memory from
He
the days before he lost his eyesight.
has seen with the eye of the soul more than
many who had
Moses had
the sight of the eye/
once asked to look upon the glory of God.
me,
pray thee,
I
Thy
thou canst not see
and
And
live.
come
shall
thee with
back
My
;
.
cleft
face
Me
a place
is
upon the rock, and
it
glory passeth by, that
have passed by
:
and
shall
not be seen."
it
This
^
marks the
ence between the Old Covenant and the New.
when Moses
said
:
"
I
My
hand, and thou shalt see
anthropomorphic, to be sure, but
poetic imagery
said,
shall not see
Behold there
My
Show
And He
.
man
'•
of the rock, and will cover
until I
My
.
for
said.
shalt stand
hand
away
but
;
face
to pass, while
My
take
will
My
put thee in a
will
glory.
Jehovah
by Me, and thou
I
in his
is
differIt
is
For Thou, Je-
hovah, art seen face to face,"^ though a great spir-
God
itual reality.
did manifest Himself in wonderful
measure to Moses, but not
of Christ.
as Paul
The Greek word
saw God
"
for " face
idea of " person " as in 2 Corinthians
''
in the face
has also the
viii.
24.
Christ.*^
It
1 1
i.
Paul several times speaks of the face of
;
was more than a mere image to Paul, but he longed
^
Cf.
Matheson,
*«
Studies of the Portrait of Christ."
umes.
8
2
Num.
« I
Cor.
xiv. 14.
xiii.
12; 2 Cor.
4
ii.
10
;
2 Thess.
i.
9.
Two
vol-
Ex. XXX wi. 18-23.
2 Cor.
iv. 6.
QI
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
for the
mirror
through a
time when he would no longer see
baffling enigma,
as through a puzzUng and
Christ in the eye
but would be able to look Jesus
again, " face to face."
'
The Image of
2.
God
"
who is the image
Paul expressly speaks of Christ,
2
By this term Paul means much more than
of God."
God^ Man in his power bears
moral likeness to
It is the destiny of
the image and glory of God.^
the Son of God.« But
believers to bear the image of
in this passage Paul
means a great deal more.
similarity
here presents not the idea of mere
,«
He
but the
It is the
of God7
representation and manifestation
moral excellence of Jesus
divine nature and absolute
as in Colossians i. 15*.
that Paul has here in mind
invisible God, the first"
is the image of the
evidently come
born of all creation." « Paul had
was worthy to be called
to see that Jesus Christ
Acts xx. 28, in
God. Indeed, the correct text of
elders, has - Church
Paul's address to the Ephesian
with His own blood."
of God which He purchased
punctuaRomans ix. 5 the most natural
Who
So
in
"
tion has
,
1 I
3
...
Cor.
Col.
4 T
«
^
xiii,
iii.
Tor
Or
God
xi
blessed
forever " in
apposition to
22
,^
12.
10;
1
^,
Cor. xv. 49;
^
7
likenesl'
'
Cor.
iv. 4.
•••
.,
P^iil- "i-
2^' ...
^
I^O"^' ^"^' ^9
Cf. Thayer's Lexicon.
;
«
, ^r.. \\\ 18.
iS
2 Cor. 11.
Cf. Heb. i. 3.
THE LIGHT
92
**
concerning
Christ
THE FACE OF JESUS
IN
the
who
flesh,
is
over
all."
Paul clearly taught the preexistent state and glory
of Jesus Christ in heaven/
Christ existed
form of God and on an equality with God
His birth and humiliation.^
before
in
in
the
heaven
Whatever the
Kenosis " means or does not mean, Paul
is
clear
as to the essential deity of Christ in heaven.
He
*'
had the form of God
of a servant
He
on
in
earth.^
heaven as
He
If
was true God there.
not the " how," but the
case of Paul as of
•*
If
we ask how
all
whose
believers to-day
human
a psychological sketch."
is
Lodge
indeed
8
when he
we do
says
make
:
the
we must
not know.
^
finds
how
no objection on
through
scientific
—that
grounds to the
the Deity Himself,
this process in order to
make
in order fully to
^ phU.
« Phil. ii. 6.
2 Cor. viii. 9.
" Person and Place of Jesus Christ," p. 320.
"Jesus or Christ" {Hibbert Journal Supplement for
p. 119.
it,
It is reassuring at
a great scientist like Sir Ohver
a Divine Spirit
—went
Nor does Paul attempt
Himself known to man, and also
•
he looked.
nature His own,
certain of the fact.
rate to see
fact " that
»
here.
cannot follow the steps of the process, or make
though he
any
face
Eternal Godhead could
actual condition of
the form
man
Forsyth ^ puts the
fact.
answer, as I have already said, that
We
real
Paul grasped strongly the
true deity of Jesus Christ into
It is
He had
was a
ii.
7.
1909),
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
the conditions and limitations
realize
93
of the free
beings which, through evolution, had gradually been
permitted to exist.
and human
know
.
.
And
.
this individualized
we
aspect of the eternally Divine Spirit
man hke
as Jesus of Nazareth, a
ourselves,
save that the glory of that lofty Spirit shone through
the fleshly covering and preserved
from the load
it
of sin which follows from inadequate knowledge, im-
and
perfect insight, animal ancestry,
the face of this sure
word from a
In
alien will."
really great scientist
one need not be dismayed by the weak surrender of
the deity of Jesus by
modern theologians out
"
dread of " the category of supernaturalism."
may
question whether the
first
finality
interpreters' specula-
than
can
their
cosmology."
*
makes merry with the theologians who
that "
God impinged upon
projected
Sir Oliver
made
human
Lodge, unlike Dr. Case,
of Jesus
is
Dr.
still
Case
believe
the universe from without,
Himself into
God in the face
know how Christ
has
One
about Jesus can lay any stronger claim to
tions
He
of
Christ.
history."
is
a bold suggestion.
He
not afraid of
We may
the image of God.
But
never
Dr. Sanday
takes advantage
of the
new
self to
suggest the possibility that the divine nature
discussions concerning the subconscious
1 Prof.
S. J. Case, of the Divinity School of the University of
Chicago, Biblical World, Jan., 191 1, p. 8.
THE LIGHT
94
of Jesus has
human
its
calls this
Christology."
Natures, but
It is
notion "
A
Tentative
most assuredly
attractive
Chalcedonian conception of the
as over against the
Two
THE FACE OF JESUS
locus in this subhminal region of
He
nature.'
Modern
IN
doubtful
is
it
if
after all
it
would
not be a denial of the actual deity of Christ in spite
of Dr. Sanday's express avowal of his
the deity of Jesus Christ.^
that after
all
one
will
But
it is
faith in
more than
likely
be merely playing with phrases
which do not square with the actual
consciousness
own
may have no
The
facts.
" planes " at all
material sense and the conscious rational will
is
in a
more
important than the unconscious occasional impulses.^
We
shall
probably have to continue to confess our
ignorance of the ultimate facts concerning the Person
As
human
of Christ.
either
God.
in
It is
a matter of fact,
nature
we do not understand
in ourselves or divine nature
not surprising that
we
are
somewhat
helpless in grasping the idea of the combination of
the two.
Scientists like
Ramsay make no
mate
Lord Kelvin and
Sir
William
pretensions to expound the
qualities of matter.
Theologians
may
ulti-
well be
" Christologies Ancient and Modern," pp. 163 fF.
Cf. Warfield, Princeton Theological Review^ Jan., 1911, p. 172.
For a sympathetic review of Dr. Sanday's idea see The Interpreter
for Jan., 191 1 (editorial).
3 For an able critique of Dr. Sanday's position see " Theology and
the Subconscious," by the Right Rev, C. F. D'Arcy, D. D,, in the
/libber t Journal for Jan., 191 1.
*
^
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
equally humble in the higher realm of
there
no doubt
is
" It
Jesus.
He had
at
all
not putting
is
where Paul placed
as to
too strongly to say that
it
suppose that Paul could have
Him
put
who have
race,
is
men
contributed to the spiritual elevation of the
Him
for
Him, and
classified
and
his passion."
just this conception of Jesus as
won
To
God.
along with the other great
to deride his sincerity
is
But
spirit.
for Paul the religious value of
in a series
95
God which
the adoration of men.
'*
We
suppose that such an idea
would grow
It
'
has
might
faint
and
shadowy, that such an image would fade and melt
away amid the rest of time's dreams. But as a
matter of practical experience,
<<
'
That one
face, far
from vanish, rather grows,
Or decomposes, but
to recompose.'
All generations of believers have proved
unearthly attraction,
its
There was
Christ."
1
2
•
^
The Glory of
" the glory of
its
^
God
God
in the face of Jesus
Others besides Jesus have manifested the
Denney, " Jesus and the Gospel," p. 27.
Sir W. Robertson Nicoll in The British Weekly.
2 Cor.
strange,
enduring permanence,
mighty and miraculous power."
3.
its
iv. 6.
THE LIGHT
96
glory of God.
*'
THE FACE OF JESUS
IN
Paul
*
has just spoken of the fact that
the children of Israel could not look steadfastly
upon the
Moses
face of
for the glory of his face."
This wonderful fact did not render Moses divine.
For a
argument showing the superiority of
careful
Jesus over Moses, as the Son
see
Hebrews
He
i-6.
iii.
above the servant,
is
merely reflected the tran-
At
scendent glory which he had been beholding.
came
the death of Elijah there
and horses of
fire
" a chariot of
which parted them asunder
Elijah
went up by a whirlwind into heaven."
Elijah
was not
looked
like the face of
I
The
divine.
face of
see the heavens opened,
Jesus
is still
Son
" Behold,
part of His
is
in the Incarnation
way
Paul in a marvellous
of Christ.
:
In his exaltation
That
of man."
There was a humiliation
glory .^
But
and the Son of man stand-
ing on the right hand of God."^
" the
and
;
^
Stephen had
He said
an angel.
fire,
pictures the
descent of Christ from the throne of God to the death
of the Cross.^
way.
Jesus
in
^2
2 Cor. iii. 7.
*C{. Heb. iii. i-io.
1
John
He was
of Abraham ^ and
munion with God.
xiv. 6.
just to
stair-
open up the way
His humanity was the way to
In His humanity
the seed
6
coming down the long
But the descent was
to God.
God.^
It is like
Jesus
Kings
ii.
to
is
11.
able to give help to
make
possible free
com-
the real Jacob's Ladder
^
Acts vi 15
;
Phil.
"
">
vii.
ii.
Heb.
56.
5-9.
ii.
16.
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
between heaven and earth
Men
.^
97
can thus ascend
upon the Son of man to heaven as angels descend
But we behold Him who hath been
upon Him.
«'
made
a
lower than the angels, even Jesus, be-
little
glory
cause of the suffering of death crowned with
honour, that by the grace of God He should
and
taste of death for every
man."
There was a glory
^
Peter
Jesus in the days of His flesh.
Second Epistle (which
of
ful
am
I
glad to
if
in
he wrote the
know
the view
is
Bigg^) has a vivid recollection of that wonder" But we
night on the Mount of Transfiguration
:
For
were eye-witnesses of His majesty.
He received
there
from God the Father honour and glory, when
Him by the Majestic
Son, in whom I am well
was borne such a voice to
Glory, This
pleased
and
:
My
is
this voice
out of heaven,
mount."
beloved
This transfiguration
^
before
the
borne
ourselves heard
when we were with
revelation of the glory
Father
we
Him
in the
holy
was a temporary
^
which Jesus had with the
Incarnation.^
when
Jesus longed for a final
glory
by His return
restoration of that
to the Father.
testimony to that of Peter
"
:
The time came
John adds
We beheld
his
His glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father."
This took place after " the
Word became
"^
1
John
3
" International and Crit. Commentary."
*
Mark
i
t;
I
ix. 2.
«
John
xvii. 5.
^
flesh
^^^*
2 Pet
'
i.
and
"• ^*
i6-i8.
John
1.
^
14.
:
98
THE LIGHT
dwelt
among
John
IN
THE FACE OF JESUS
us " (tabernacled with us).
Whether
referring only to the Transfiguration of Jesus
is
He
we do not know.
this witness.
seems to include others in
There were other times when there
was a strange glory
As
look of Jesus.
in the
went up to Jerusalem the last time,
of His death (as at the Transfiguration),
"
And
Jesus was going before them
amazed
it
;
glory "
His
fested
glory of
if
No man
It
He
who
God
God
and
is
But
*
He
mani-
the grave
I
not unto
bosom
The
^
as
it
was not
the glory of God,
any time
at
the
in
is
hath declared Him."
here read "
Said
was true of Jesus,
He was
hath seen
gotten Son,
*'
:
read
thou believedst, thou shouldst see the
God ? " ^
true of Moses, that
"
By
miracles.
of Lazarus Jesus said to Martha
thee that,
afraid."
of Jesus that "
life
by His
^
we
and they were
:
and they that followed were
was true of the whole
Jesus
of thoughts
full
;
the only be-
of the
Father,
manuscripts
best
In His humanity
only begotten."
Jesus has revealed the Father.
The one who
really
sees Jesus has seen the Father.^
Jesus
God's
Word
about Himself to men.
He
of
God
final
interpretation
^
has
to
1
Mark
*
John
x. 32.
i.
18.
2
6
I,
for
John
John
ii.
my
8
"
flf.
full
He
is
and
the
gives the vision
part, believe that,
^
11.
xiv.
the
men.
only window which opens out and
of that far-off land.
is
made
if I
John xi. 40.
e
John i. 18.
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
might use such a metaphor,
New
the
World."
God
glory of
This
'
He
is
99
the Columbus of
Paul's conception of the
is
in the face of Jesus Christ.
on the throne was,
if
one
may
«'
Christ
say so, a more im-
mediate certainty to Paul, than Jesus on the banks
of the lake, or even Jesus on the cross."
4.
This
the
is
carefully chosen.
Lord
Christ Jesus as
way Paul
It is
^
preached.^
The words
are
may have
possible that Paul
heard thus early of the incipient Gnosticism which
Asia and
later appeared in the Lycus Valley in
which
combated
is
But that
is
in Colossians^
and Ephesians.
hardly probable, though Paul had recently
These Gnostics were of two
come from Ephesus.
types in their attitude towards the Person of Christ.
The Docetic Gnostics denied the actual humanity of
seemed to be a man. The
Cerinthian Gnostics made a sharp distinction between
Christ.
the
of
left
He
merely
man Jesus and the Christ (an cBon or emanation
God which came upon Jesus at His baptism and
Him
The
before His death on the Cross).
guage of Paul here
at
any
rate contravenes both of
He
these theories, especially the Cerinthian.
iMaclaren,
^'
"Expositions
of
Holy
^Denney, 2 Corinthians, p. 154.
* So Lightfoot.
Hort, " Judaistic
ference to Gnosticism.
lan-
Scripture," 2
.
.
„
^
.'
identi-
Corinthians,
^ Cor.
Christianity," fails to see
iv. 5.
any
re-
;:
THE LIGHT
lOO
THE FACE OF JESUS
IN
whom he
He was
the one personality
fies
Jesus
"
as also " Lord."
designates " Christ
man
the
Messiah (Christ), the Lord of glory.
Jesus, the
There has been
a curious swinging of the pendulum
among
certain
theologians through the ages concerning the person
The
of Christ.
The
Docetic
Ebionites denied the deity of Jesus.
Gnostics
His
rejected
humanity.
Paul recognized both as true of Christ Jesus.
to
Paul
the
God- man.
interpretation?
Paul's
The
interpretation.
stood Jesus.
" Let
hath made
ye
known
reality
other apostles
Him
know
of Pentecost
assuredly that
both Lord and Christ,
crucified."
or merely
had so under-
Hear Peter on the Day
sources
modern
this
If
*
of the
criticism, either
The
God
this Jesus
one begin with the earHest
life
Q
of Christ according to
(the
Logia of Matthew)
or Mark's Gospel, he will find Jesus Christ the
of glory there.2
is
Paul did not originate this
the house of Israel
all
whom
Is
He
Lord
Christ of the Synoptic Gospels,
of Paul, of John, of Hebrews, of Peter, of James, of
the Apocalypse
is
one and the same; Jesus Christ
the same yesterday and to-day and forever.^
various writers of the
*
Acts
'
Cf.
ii.
New
The
Testament approach the
36.
MuUins, " The Modern Issue as
to
the Person of Christ,"
Review and Expositor, Jan., 1911, pp. i4fF.
8 See this argument worked out with great ability and detail by
Warfield, " The Lord of Glory " Denney, " Jesus and the Gospel "
;
Selbie,
«'
Aspects of Christ."
Biblical
Theology, accenting the
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
lOI
Study of Jesus from different angles, but each comes
to the
same point
It is
a lame conclusion to
in his "
Quest of the Histor-
in fact.
which Schweitzer comes
After long rambles through the mazes
ical Jesus."
of conflicting critical theories he says
to us as
One unknown, without a name,
the lake-side,
not."
He came
None
*
Men come
He
*'
:
comes
by
as of old,
men who knew Him
those who will not see.
to those
are so blind as
of old, with their
to Christ to-day, as
prejudices and their philosophy
and cannot see His
own heads.
who can get out of
glory because of the fog around their
The sun
the fog.
shines brightly for
The very
It is
of Christ "^
" greatness
critical interpretation
sible.
all
difficult
and
in a sense
makes
impos-
hard to look straight at the sun.
But
the sun shines on regardless of the changing theories
about light and the spots
in the sun.
Christ in Recent Research "
as
is
We
light
"
The
"
Place of Christ in
must use
freely
We
The
Life of
an interesting topic,
Modern Theology."
and frankly our reason and
from every source
Jesus Christ.
^ is
"
for the
have nothing to
has set Christ in a
new
hght.
^
all
interpretation
of
Evolution
fear.
Confined within
New
variations in the
Testament, and criticism of the sources have
thus combined greatly to strengthen the argument for the truth of
Paul's view of Jesus.
1 P. 401.
« Forsyth, " Person
>
Sanday.
and Place of Jesus Christ," pp. 63
*
ff.
Fairbairn.
I02
THE LIGHT
human
tions
limits,
He
THE FACE OF JESUS
IN
is
the stultification of the calcula-
of evolutionists, viewed as our moral natures
view Him,
direct us to
He
is
the goal and crown of
the evolutionary process in the history of man."
*
It
a curious controversy that has arisen around the
is
phrase " Jesus or Christ " and that appears in The
Hibbert Journal Supplement?
can get here
all
But
sides of the problem.
with Rev. R. Roberts,
who
Christ of tradition quite another.
has
Some
deny the
Germany
there
is
one thing, the
It is
assumed that
historicity of Jesus
is
the reality of Jesus, and
a controversy over
Other
the historical reality of Jesus.^
make
critics
admit
Christ a matter of
Others reject the Christ entirely and see only
faith.
a good
day.
is
Criticism has done nothing of the
critics
In
altogether.
one
point
disposed of the connection between
Jesus and Christ.
kind.
rate
The
started the discussion,
that Jesus as an historical character
criticism
any
at
man named
Jesus
who
is
our example to-
Others admit the existence of Jesus, and, like
Him
curse of the race
by
reason of the limitations on self-indulgence which
He
Nietzsche,
rail
at
as the
has imposed on the " super-man."
ablest critics
1
in the
world
still
But most of the
joyfully see in Jesus
G. A. Johnston Ross, " Religionist and Scientist " in " Religion
and the Modern W^orld,"
s For
p, 14.
1909.
3Cf. Biblische Zeitschrift, 1910, S. 415-17, for bibliography of
this discussion; also American Journal of Theology, Jan., 191 1.
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
Christ what Paul saw, the
Lord
glory.
of
" Therefore, not
*
103
man Christ Jesus as the
God and Son of Man.
Son of
away from Paul and back
but rather as one
'
to Jesus,'
of his recent apologists puts
it,
Back through Paul to Jesus and to God.' " ^ To
Paul Jesus was and is Lord of life, the very power
*
God
of
first
at
work among men.^
many
appeared
brilliant
picture
When
Ecce
Homo
feared to look at this bold
of the earthly hfe of Jesus.
now we can come back from
the
fuller
and
But
study of
"the days of His flesh" to a richer knowledge
We see no conflict beof His heavenly glory.
^
tween the " Christ of History and Experience."
But one must have the experience before he
qualified
really
is
to
study
the
history.
The
alternative " Jesus or Christ " exists only for those
who have
never learned by experience "what
the riches of the glory of this mystery
Gentiles,
glory."
which
To
^
" for in
Him
head bodily."
is
Christ
in
is
among
the
hope
of
you, the
the mystery of God,«
Paul Christ
is
dwelleth
the fullness of the God-
all
7
A. Meyer, Jesus oder Paulus, S. 104,
George Milligan, " Paulinism and the Religion of Jesus " in
« Religion and the Modern World," p. 253.
8 Col. i. 15-17; cf. Selbie, « Aspects of Christ," p. 88.
1
«
* Forrest.
J
Col.
ii.
9.
«
The
the Christ of Paul.
« Col. ii. 2.
^ Col. i. 27.
Christ of To-day " (G. Campbell Morgan)
is
THE LIGHT
I04
The Gospel of the Glory of Christ
5.
This
THE FACE OF JESUS
IN
Paul's Christology
is
Romans ^
"
of
My
The hght
"
:
pel of the glory of Christ."
of the Gos-
He speaks twice in
He means by that
*
Gospel."
phrase his interpretation of Christ, " the Gospel of
Christ."
Paul had a definite message about Jesus
^
to preach to men.
It is
seen in
its fullest
in the Epistle to the
Romans, but
more or
in all his writings.
little
less
fullness
There
is
excuse for any man, minister or not, to take the
time and attention of others,
his
found with
is
it
expression
mind about Jesus
if
he has not made up
No
Christ.
message of doubt
or negation will benefit the soul sick with sin and
that
he had the
right to speak just because of his actual
knowledge
Paul
battling with temptation.
of Jesus Christ
who had
felt
revealed Himself in him.^
He knew
the Gospel of Christ.^
and holy
trust
Paul
felt
He
was given to him.
told
of " the Gospel of the glory of the blessed
was committed to
my
trust."
passing vision of the glory of
afterwards with a zeal to
"
^
God
make
it
that a high
To
catch but a
to
burn forever
is
known."
^
could deceive him with a different message.
only irony for those
*
2 Cor.
"Rom,
iv.
4
;
who
'
4
Gal.
i.
2 Tim.
'
Greenough, " The Mind of Christ in
II
;
cf.
Gal.
ii.
Rom.
ii.
»
16,
«
i.
No one
He has
put up with " another
cf. iv. 6.
XV. 19.
Timothy
God which
16 ; xvi, 25.
Gal. i. 6-10.
7.
St.
Paul," p. 14.
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
I05
Jesus," " a different spirit," " a different Gospel."
only about the most tremendous things
fs
He
Paul has such a strong word.
is
It
'
in life that
the exponent of
freedom for the Gentile Christians from the bondage
of Judaism.
But
liberty
*'
is
For freedom did Christ
not license.
To
set us free."
give up Christ
is
^
to
give up liberty and have either the slavery of license
bondage of the
or the
ample
for the
modern
Paul
letter.
is
here an ex-
minister in the firm grasp of
the essential truth in Christ with the utmost liberality
The preacher to-day has
in all other matters.
to sail
between the Scylla of traditionalism and the Charybdis of radicalism.
There
is
Paul.^
But Paul kept
his
eye on Christ.
no better interpreter of Jesus Christ than
He grew
in
apprehension of Christ,^ as
his
can be seen by reading his Epistles in probable
chronological order.^
But he never got away from
his early conception of Jesus as the
of salvation
tinct "
1
2 Cor.
by grace through
mental growth
"
^
faith.^
Redeemer and
There
is
a dis-
perceptible in Paul as he
3
xi. 4.
Gal. v.
i.
Bruce,
See DuBose, " The Gospel According to St. Paul "
" St. Paul's Conception of Christianity "
Somerville, " St. Paul's
"
Dykes,
Conception of Christ " ; Stevens, " Pauline Theology
«' The
Gospel According to St. Paul " Anonymous, " The Fifth
Gospel, The Pauline Interpretation."
^ See
Matheson, " Spiritual Development of St. Paul "; Sabatier,
«' The Apostle Paul."
5 Robertson, " Students' Chronological New Testament."
Acts xiii, 38 f.
' Fairbairn, " Studies in Religion and Theology," p.
535.
3
;
;
;
;
fi
THE LIGHT
Io6
THE FACE OF JESUS
IN
grapples with the greatest questions ever brought
He became
before the
human mind.
intellectual
expounder of Christ
He had
that to-day.
is
who
the glory of Christ,
the greatest
He
in all history.
" the light of the Gospel of
is
the image of God."
He
*
knowledge of the
was able
" to give the light of the
glory of
God
" light "
was an illumination of Paul's own inner
man.
^
The
in the face of Jesus Christ."^
It filled
the whole horizon of his Hfe.
W/io Shined in Our Hearts
6.
With Paul this was the beginning of everything
when God shone
*'
He
in his heart.
has in the words,
Light shall shine out of darkness,"
Genesis
Lux
i.
" It
3.^
is
^
a reference to
the proclamation of a second Fiat
in the hearts of
men."
Jesus was the Light of
^
the world in the cosmic creative sense in the begin"
ning.7
The
life
was the
light shineth in the darkness
came
Light
it
not."
the world
"
^
;
1
2 Cor.
'
The word
*
2 Cor.
">
John i. 3 f.
John xii. 46.
9
Cf.
to the darkness that they could not
light
" I
"
came.
am the light
I
am come
2
occurs nowhere else in the
iv. 6.
5
Col.
i.
New
cf, Ps. xcii. 4,
16
f.
8
a light into
of the world."
iv. 4.
;
the
But men
in the terrific conflict that ensued.
when the
the
and the darkness over-
The darkness could not put out
^
became so used
see
;
And
men.
light of
John
i.
4
'"
2 Cor.
iv. 6.
Testament.
« Bernard, in
f.
;
And
"
loco.
John xii.
w John viii.
cf.
35.
12.
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
this
the judgment, that the hght
is
world, and
men
light, for their
is
107
come
into the
loved the darkness rather than the
works were
whether the light that
is
evil."
"
^
Look
therefore
in thee be not darkness."
had foreseen the glory of Christ and
Isaiah
that,
when He came, men's eyes would be blinded so
they could not see the
that
Paul has lived to see
light.^
the sad fulfillment of this prophecy,
this
^
**
The god
of
world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving,
that the light of the Gospel of the glory of Christ,
who
them."
God
*
let
word
It
was
daybreak
like
^
in
of prophecy was well in
its
place.
only
**
your
hearts."
in our hearts.
The
It is
daybreak
John iii. 19.
John xii. 40 f. Isa.
« Cf. Rev. xxi. 21.
'
'
God
a squalid,^
It is
is
a blessing
special use
arise in
in
our souls.
We
;
no
" shined in our hearts."
" In that face
^
all
which flashed upon
2
>
8
like
the fundamental fact with Paul, as with
disciples of Jesus.
'
was
" light-bringing " star has arisen
longer need the lamp.
is
It
But the lamp was of
The
in.
day dawn, and the day-star
until the
^
^
In a dungeon a lamp
dark place.
of untold comfort.
This
any heart when
the Light in the face of Jesus shine
" a lamp shining in a dark place."
dirty,
dawn upon
the image of God, should not
is
Luke
8
xii.
2 Cor.
2 Peter
*
vi. lO.
Here only in the New Testament.
Day-star here only in the New Testament.
Cf. Lietzmann, Handbuch zum JV. 7",, 2 Kor., S. 182.
35.
iv. 4.
i.
19.
THE LIGHT
I08
THE FACE OF JESUS
IN
him by Damascus twenty years
and always saw,
God.
visible
It
all
that
man
had seen,
before, he
could see of the in-
represented for him, and
all
to
whom
he preached, the Sovereignty and the Redeeming
Love
of God, as completely as
them."
'
He
that light which
parison.2
man
could understand
could not indeed see for the glory of
made
the noonday sun
dim by com-
But henceforth he could see naught
else
This to him was
but the glory in the face of Jesus.
the sheet-anchor of his faith, hope, theology,
'*
I
know Him whom
I
have believed."
might or might not know Jesus
not affect Paul in the
with Christ.
"
And
it
Christ liveth in me."
is
" in Christ."
all
the content of his
^
is
now
is
no longer
I
crucified
that live, but
The key-word
of Paul's
life
Into this mystic phrase Paul pours
life
and thought about
Paul grounds his apologetic in his
That
That did
Christ.
He
least.
is
life.
Others
^
scientific
and modern
as
harmony with the evolutionary
own
Christ.*^
experience.
perfect
in
well,
principle.
It is
no
longer possible to ridicule Christian experience as
something abnormal and distorted.
William James *
did a great service to the world in showing the scien-
*
3
Denney, 2 Corinthians,
2 Tim. i. 12.
p. 153.
'
Acts
xxii, 11
«*
;
xxvi. 13.
ii. 20.
•iGal,
Cf. Campbell, " Paul the Mystic " ; Deissmann, "
menlliclie Forme) in Christo."
" Varieties in Religious Experience."
6
Die Neutesta
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
tific
places of his heart
who
With Paul
aspect of religious experience.
was an illumination
gives
it
which shed hght into the secret
^
and
the
all
109
Those who had once
Christ
Hfe.
light that
real
is
the true light
any man
has.^
alP been enlightened could
for
never forget that experience and were ready to en-
dure
much
Jesus had brought to light Hfe
conflict.*
and immortality through the Gospel
had the eyes of
a favourite one in the
is
tures
heaven
the Lamb."
is
peculiar
He
if
no one need
in
John
Testament.
God
of the Cross
mean
respect.
is
central
that his
The
is
own
rather,
he
could save him through Christ,
despair.^
save the worst of
pic-
" for the
and the lamp thereof
it,
does not
this
who
The image
needing no sun nor moon,
The dynamic
^
argues that,
New
did lighten
mind.^
in Paul's
case
as
God
glory of
for all those
their hearts enlightened.^
just
because Jesus can
that the
preacher has the
It
men
is
heart and hope to go on with his work.
The
self-
when the
"
repent and put the " righteous
conscious religionist often rejects Christ
vilest sinners joyfully
to shame.^
Eph.
"
J
Cf.
*
Heb. vi. 32.
2 Tim. i. 10
5
'
8
^
i.
18.
The adequacy
2
John
of the Christian redemp-
i.
^
9.
Heb.
vi. 4.
Eph. i. 18.
Rev. xxi. 23; xxii. 5.
Clow, " The Cross and Christian Experience."
Tim. i. 14-16.
Luke V. 30 f. Cf. Begbie, " Twice-born Men," and " Souls in
Cf.
Cf. 2
Action."
;
^
;
no THE
tion lies in
LIGHT IN THE FACE OF JESUS
its
power
to
moving the misery and
meet
*
For we preach not ourselves." ^
"
poorest theme ever taken
bad homiletics
preacher
in
primal need by re-
For Jesus' Sake
7.
is
this
guilt of sin."
is
full
by a preacher,
Judaizers in Corinth
Paul
who
is
sure to reveal
is
It
it
ironical towards the
commend
"
the
is
himself.
bad religion when a
as well as
of himself, for he
numberless ways.
That
themselves
but they themselves, measuring themselves by them-
and comparing themselves with themselves,
selves,
are without understanding."
and are always
standard,
them
in
viz.,
right.
are the standard
They always come up
themselves.
mind.
They
^
to the
Paul here evidently has
They do preach
themselves.
It is
probably true that most ecclesiastical schisms have
had
their origin in personal jealousies
And
and bickerings.
yet while " Christ Jesus as Lord "
is
the theme
of Paul's preaching, he does in one sense preach
—" and
himself
sake."^
He
was the slave of Christ and the slave ^
of his brethren.
man
ourselves as your servants for Jesus'
It
was much
so to describe himself.
for this proud-spirited
But
this is the spirit of
»
" Final Christianity," by D. MacFadyen, in " Mansfield College
Essays," p, 211.
» 2 Cor. iv. 5.
3 2 Cor. x. 12.
*2 Cor. iv. 5.
^ Bond-slave.
«
THE ATTRACTION OF CHRIST
It
Jesus, service to others.'
come
the hght had
was
into his
for this
own
III
purpose that
heart " to give the
face
Ught of the knowledge of the glory of God in the
^
He had faced Christ and must reof Jesus Christ."
flect
was
He
darkness.
the glory of that Face to others in
for
pass on the light. Paul knew " The Passion
to
Souls"
3
"for
That
is
a
fit
The hunger
Men know
it
after
of the preacher
is
Christ.
inquiry
of the heart
He must
:
is
He
Christ.
for
The need
they have found Him.
just this.
vision to Christ.
pathetic
describes
characterization of ministers
of Christ.
Face of
Matheson
Sake."
Apostles of Jesus as " His league of
the Twelve
pity."*
Jesus'
has his vision of the
turn the
man
The Greeks came to
" Sir, we would
without the
Philip with a
see
Jesus."
to
Strange to say PhiHp did not introduce them
He went instead to Andrew. Together they
Jesus.
it to
could not unravel the problem and brought
centre.
the
It touched the heart of Christ in
Jesus.
The
Cross came before His
mind
alone would Gentiles be able to
at once.
come
to
Thus
Him,
for
between Jew
thus would the middle wall of partition
and Gentile and both and God be broken down.^
The modern
minister stands
portrait of Jesus Christ
1
4
beside the matchless
and hears the same cry from the
3 j.
« 2 Cor. iv. 6.
Matt. XX. 28.
« Studies of the Portrait of Christ," Vol. II, p. 83.
5Johnxii.2i.
H.
Jowett.
.
6Eph.ii.
112
THE LIGHT
masses
:
just to
Christ,"
" Sir,
IN
THE FACE OF JESUS
we would see
" to
be willing
though that
is
much.
interpret that Picture to
must himself
talk
is
Jesus."
It is
not enough
speak a gude word
One must be
modern men.
really see the
for Jesus
Face of
But
"
borrowed wings."
1
No
**
he
Paul
one ever soared so high on
*
Denney,
first
Christ, else his
sounding brass and tinkling cymbal.
has soared high.
able to
Jesus and the Gospel," p. 3S.
IV
WITH OPEN FACE—THE PREACHER'S
PRIVILEGE
{2 Cor. Hi. ly-iv. ^)
"
We
all,
with unveiled face, beholding
as in a glass the glory of the Lord,"
—2
Cor. Hi. 18.
IV
WITH OPEN FACE—THE PREACHER'S
PRIVILEGE
THE
It is in
*
face."
who
Paul means
really the " unveiled
is
sharp contrast with Moses
put a veil over his
all
Christians,
applied
specifically
"
open face
"
" Therefore seeing
we have
the privilege of
believers
all
we
"
''
all
though the argument
this
it is
;
is
the Gospel:
of
ministers
to
By
face.
ministry."
^
It is
preeminently true
of the preacher, not because of office or rank, but
because of necessity he
face
"
God
with
Holy
constantly brought face to
Christ.
in
The
has his
minister
of Holies " with Christ.
Where
I.
One
is
the Spirit of the
Lord Is
naturally thinks of a church
this phrase.
^
tionary, tied to
to have in
Some
mere
mind the
whose heart the
tradition.
But Paul seems here
minister himself.
Spirit of the
There
is
'
2 Cor.
iv. I.
thus a direct reference to
iii.
The man
will die
away
7, 13.
•
"5
into
Lord has come has
freedom from fear that the glory
1
by the use of
churches are narrow and reac-
2 Cor.
iii.
17.
as
WITH OPEN FACE
Il6
He
with Moses.
the people will
He
honour.
is
emancipated from anxiety that
is
not give him a proper degree of
not concerned about the amount
of recognition which
He
tions.
accorded him at public func-
is
has liberty, as Christ's freeman, from the
bondage of the
His
(condemnation, death).
letter
a ministry of the Spirit because the Spirit of the
is
Lord has command of
filled
minister
upon
his face.
is
his heart
empty
and
The
life.
There
of fear.
no
is
Hence he has uninterrupted
He
ship with Jesus and with the people.
see " the light of the
Spirit-
is
veil
fellow-
able to
knowledge of the glory of God
in the face of Jesus Christ " as well as to " give "
Dr. Sanday
to others.
type
of "
*
is
patient with the Ritschlian
reduced Christianity " since
mere negation.
positive gain over
it
proudly independent of historical
it is
that
much
Ritschlianism
facts
is
and professes
content with giving Jesus the " worth " of
practical matter.
God as a
He very probably was not God in
any metaphysical ontological sense according
view, but one
That
is
at
may
of the
*
9
comfort in treating
to this
Him
so.
bottom a make-believe doctrine and un-
worthy of the great
of Dr.
find
The concession
issue involved.^
Sanday about the subliminal
divine nature of Jesus
" Christologies, Ancient and Modern."
Cf. Orr. «' Ritschlianism."
is
self as
the locus
already urged as
THE PREACHER'S PRIVILEGE
making Dr. Sanday more
thinks/ since
it
the Virgin Birth.
But Paul does not here mean the Hcense of a
That
hearted Christianity.
and
of doubt
free
to
do
fear.
"
right.
Love makes the
is
bondage
makes
us really
Love makes the choice
service of goodness freedom."
ice
is
easy.
Love makes
face of duty beautiful.
sweet to keep up with Christ.
it
half-
after all the
love that
It is
he
of a Ritschlian than
demand
does not
II7
Love makes the
This hberty in serv-
^
to Paul the distinguishing feature of Christi-
anity.^
He
has no notion of giving
of the false brethren privily brought
up
it
" because
who came
in,
privily to spy out our liberty which we have
Jesus, that they
may
bring us into bondage."
hand some men who
are always on
in
in Christ
There
^
feel called to slip
a noose on the neck of God's freemen, but Paul
would wear no man's yoke but that of
Son
therefore the
free indeed."
know the
The only
shall
make you
Jesus put
it
real
glories in his
emancipation
Paul
is
is
free,
also thus
truth and the truth shall
the truth.
is
^
"
shall
Ye
make you
in the truth,
be
shall
free."
He
fetters of Pharisaism.
all fact
American Journal of Theology,
and
Jan., 1910,
p. 136.
2
Greenough, "The Mind of Christ in St. Paul,"
^ John viii. 36.
* Gal. ii. 4.
p. 39.
8 Ibid.t
^
and Jesus
no blind obscurantist.
freedom from the
Shailer Matthews,
ye
:
In Christ he faces the whole world and
1
" If
Christ.
p. 216.
«
John
viii.
32.
WITH OPEN FACE
Il8
open eye and eager
truth with
No
heart.
one has
man whose mind is
Some Christians,
Christ.
anything Hke the Hberty of the
opened by the
some
Spirit of
ministers, are in truth
mere
But that
scurantists afraid of the Hght.
should be nor what
is
meant
law, business, every calling
man who
in Christ
life
ble
refuses to face
is
where the
not
that.
It is
of
Spirit of
Certainly the
life.
the facts of the spiritual
Lord
means simple
is.
"
is
only possi-
The Lord
is
the
identification of Jesus
The thought
Spirit.
not what
in medicine, science,
Such freedom
free.
Spirit of the
Spirit " hardly
and the
all
is
by the
to be
There are reactionaries
Christ.
traditionahsts, ob-
is
not so simple as
rather Christ manifesting Himself through
His Spirit who
is
the great teacher and interpreter
The
of Christ to men.
who is Christ's slave
God and man full in
and upright purpose. The
minister
the real freeman, free to look
is
the face with open heart
Christian minister
There
rules.
and
is
to
expound
principles, not
mere
the utmost frankness in his attitude
The veil has been taken away from his
The people are not afraid to come close to
life.
face.
him
try
is
as
is
The Christian minis"
"
"
ministry, a " Hfe-giving
a spiritual
they were with Moses.^
thus
3
ministry, a " bold " ministry.
>
2 Cor.
3
F.
W.
iii.
"
Ours should be a
i6.
Robertson, « Life and Letters,"
etc., p.
' Ex. xxxiv. 30.
624 f.
THE PREACHER'S PRIVILEGE
II9
ministry whose words are not compacted of baldness,
but boldness
;
whose very
free fearlessness
because
it
is
a ministry
;
ment, no reserve
life
is
outspokenness, and
which has no conceal-
which scorns to take a via media
;
in the eyes of the
safe
shrinks from the weakness of
which exults even
in failure,
world
which
;
mere cautiousness, but
if
the truth has been
For a man who
spoken, with a joyful confidence.
sees into the heart of things speaks out not timidly,
nor superstitiously, but with a brow unveiled, and
with a speech as free as his
made him
free.' "
'
and jealousy that he
Paul
even though the motive
17
i.
f.)
or
is
rejoices
spirit
all
The
Christ
may be envy
is
Transformation
He
is
no mere theory
can proudly appeal to the experience
real disciples, preachers
with unveiled
image."
1
F.
worth
W.
preached
of Paul (Phil.
and
all,
in contrast to
the Jews under the Mosaic dispensation.
face, are
There
^
truth has
mere pretense.
2.
of
*
so free from narrowness
when
This freedom of the Christian
with Paul.
:
is
"
doubt whether here Paul means
Robertson, « Life and Letters,"
etc., p.
675.
Cf.
;
We
2 Cor.
iii.
18.
all,
transformed into the same
" While with an eye made quiet by the power
Of harmony and the deep power of joy
a
We
see into the life of things."
Words-
"
WITH OPEN FACE
I20
beholding in a mirror " or " reflecting as a mirror."
"
The analogy
we
of
i
Corinthians
see in a mirror, darkly
argues for " beholding."
^
when we
had no
shall see
veil
God and
it
on
Him
but then face to face
;
as
till
we meet Him
He
true,
*'
But even Moses
is.^
can hardly be a mere indirect look at
He
the face of Jesus Christ."
however, that
this
word
here, since Paul in this
mind.
in glory
he beheld the glory of
his face as
Christ that Paul has in mind.
tions
we shall not
true that
It is
look Christ fully in the face
"For now
12:
xiii.
^
is
expressly
It
men-
doubtless
is
to be thus translated
context has both ideas in
All believers have free access to the Face of
Jesus Christ, the Glory and
Image
of God.
It is
no
mere contemplation of the moral beauty of Jesus of
Nazareth that
torical
mere
his-
this transformation in the heart
Spirit of
in
No
work
life.
actual
There
the vision of Paul.
facts in the earthly life of Jesus
will suffice to
and
fills
study of the
is
The
God
transformation
is
wrought by the
in the heart that, free
from the
touch with Christ the Lord
veil, is
of glory.^
contemplation of the glory of Christ, trans-
formation into the glory of Christ,
final assimilation
Only here in the New Testament.
So in Philo, Le,s^. All. iii. 33, a comment on Ex. xxxiii. 18.
active means to mirror or reflect, while the middle voice, as
here, means to behold in a mirror,
Cf. Bernard, in loco; Meyer, in
loco ; Bachmann, in loco^ for discussion of the details.
» Denney, 2 Corinthians,
* I John iii. 2.
p. 140 f.
*
2
The
THE PREACHER'S PRIVILEGE
The word
into the glory of Christ.*
"
mation
^ is
a remarkable one.
It is
then a transfiguration which
we
The new
life
as the heart turns to
is
a mirror."
ishes
when we
also,
It
is
of righteous-
which beholds
an impossibility van-
it is
faith,
we now
the glory of
love and trust."
ception of Christ
all
many
^
is
in
the eye of the soul.^
"
is
Lord and me, when
of this spiritual per-
witnessed by millions of believers
is
Ibid.
^Ibid,
To
the most real person in the
The whole tendency
of
modern thought
Per-
the predominant factor in history and in
Maclaren, " Expositions of
'Cf. Matt. xvii. 2.
' Maclaren, " Expositions of
*
But
my
to emphasize the importance of personality.
sonality
"
The reahty
the ages since Paul wrote these words.
Jesus Christ
universe.
4
God
that the seeing
see through a mirror darkly.
nothing intervenes between
is
is
true that, as contrasted with the final vision of
Christ,
in
Sun
mind and
by the eye of
takes place
like
consider that
Christ that Paul has in
represented as a
grows by looking
Him.
What seems
^
is
It
look
" In spiritual sight, the soul
ness.
It
in Christ begins with a
steadily bathing in the glory of the
I
the word used of
are undergoing.
the present tense and the act
process.
It
for " transfor-
glory of Christ at the Transfiguration.
the
is
121
Holy
Scripture, " in loco.
Holy
Scripture, " in loco.
WITH OPEN FACE
122
had
Jesus
life."^
Henceforth
definitely
learn " the excellency of the
Jesus
my
Lord,"
consumed
Christ
to
is
figured
by the
Christ in him,^
by
his hfe
the
is
" eat "
which
qualified
must himself be trans-
Spirit of Christ,
if
have the Spirit of
he hopes to see others transfigured
and words.
This spiritual appropriation
result of contact with Christ.
first
^
He
Jesus.
"
experience of
this
unknown, cannot be considered
men about
tell
to
goal of his Hfe-am-
whom
minister, to
Paul.
know Him,"
was the " one thing
all this
^
knowledge of Christ
soul, the single
his
A
bition.3
hold on
laid
to " gain Christ," to "
Christ, to " see " the
This
is
to
Christ, to " be-
Face of
hold " His glory, to become like Him, even as Moses
had the glory of God upon him.
about
it.
There
mysticism.
by the
comes
It
is
is
is
no magic
mysticism, indeed, for religion
the vital touch of the
Thus the
of Christ.
Spirit
There
Thus the
to the soul.
human
is
spirit
vision of Christ
vision
is
continued.
The
Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles, the Apocalypse,
the
work of
Christ in the hearts of men, the
Christ in our
own
hearts
help us see the glory of
3.
As we have
«
are
all
of
mirrors to
Christ.*'
Reflection
already seen, there
is
no doubt that
Richard Brook, The Interpreter, Jan., 1911, art, " The Living
Christ
<
— these
work
and the Christian Life."
e John vi.
viii. 9.
Rom.
«
Phil.
57.
iii.
e
12.
cf.
3
Phil.
iii.
8-14.
Bachraann, in
loco.
THE preacher's PRIVILEGE
context
this
for " reflecting as
calls
glory of the Lord
" as
1
23
a mirror the
an implied idea however Paul
meant the precise word here employed.
Stanley^
holds that " Christians having, hke Moses, received
their
in
lives
Moses
are unlike
his,
of
its
the
reflected
Moses received
presence, as
glory
it
on
of the divine
his countenance,
they have no
in that
fear,
such as
vanishing away, but are confident of
its
continuing to shine in them with increasing lustre."
The
Christian puts
conceal.
His
life is
on no
veil for
does not, indeed, claim that his
that there
real spirit
no
is
is
he has nothing to
an open book to the world.
at least a reflection,
and power of
life
is
He
perfect, but
however dim, of the
Christ, his Lord.
"
There
reflection of the light without a previous re-
ception of the light.
mirror, and there
is
In bodily sight, the eye
is
thing perceived being formed in the perceiving eye."
Chrysostom compares the influence of the
Christ
on us
We
reflection
'
'
light of
strike
it.^
He says,
not only look upon the glory of God, but also
catch thence a kind of radiance."
1
^
to polished silver lying in the sunshine
and sending back the rays which
"
a
no sight without an image of the
is
^
But, at any rate,
an inevitable result of transformation.®
2 Corinthians, in loco.
Maclaren, " Expositions of Holy Scripture," in loco.
* Horn. VII on 2 C<K»
Denney, 2 Corinthians, in loco.
*Denney, in
loco.
WITH OPEN FACE
124
we behold
If
the glory of the Lord,
we
are trans-
formed into the image of what we behold.
we
are transformed,
is
there to be seen.
he abideth
saith
even as
He
in
walked."
have to submit.
Him
when he
it is
pel cannot refuse to be held
cerity
and steady going on
Even
"
ye which are
spiritual, restore
message^
if
a
in
after
» I
John
fault,
spirit
thou also be
lest
His resurrection and a special ap-
'•
It
when
is
It
Mark who had once
was part of Paul's
ii.
a critical
moment
«
;
to
in the history of
Everything de-
the eyes are opened.
6.
Acts XV. 38
call "
and to turn them from darkness to
pends on whether the next step
4
of frequent
spite
Paul was glad in the end to rejoice in the
their eyes,
the soul
de-
does require sin-
overtaken in a
looking to thyself
deserted the work.^
^
we
which
such an one in a
recovery of usefulness by John
hght."
that
Jesus singled out Peter for a special
pearance.
open
He
"
to the light
It
man be
stumblings.
;
:
The world does not
absolute perfection of us.
2
says
the test to which
up
mand
tempted."
only the
In particular, ministers of the Gos-
they hold forth to others.
of meekness
if
ought himself also to walk
But
'
no
a severe test to which
It is
the Apostle John calls us
we
is
There
prevent the glory from being seen,
veil to
glory
image.
reflect that
If
2 Tim.
Gal.
iv. 1 1.
is
taken.
3
vi. i.
6
Mark
Men's
xvi. 7.
18.
Acts xxvi.
THE PREACHER'S PRIVILEGE
125
eyes are often opened, and yet they do not turn from
Who among
darkness to light.
loathed himself,
and had the self-abasing cry on
yet has turned
and
lips,
to
for a
and
man
to describe
to
it
others to forsake
know
pos-
It is
the misery of wrong-doing,
with such a horror of
it,
his
darkness again and
plunged even more recklessly into evil?
sible
and has
of light, the error of his ways,
a flash
in
us has not seen, as
as to rouse
it
and yet because he loves dark-
ness better than light to continue to do the deeds of
evil."
There
*
is
much
to
humble any man who
stands in the white light of Christ's presence.
know that men will see Christ or
He is reflected in our own conduct
And
then to
not accord-
ing as
!
But here
just the appeal to the best and highest in us.
is
and John were both with Jesus
at
His
trial
;
John
the court room, Peter with the rabble denying
with oaths and curses.
Peter
in
Him
But both afterwards showed
courage and were recognized as having been with
Christ.^
John had the courage of consistency, Peter
that of recovery.
men His
impart to
has
done
it
momentum
does only
It
has not been easy for Christ to
passion for humanity,^ but
and His kingdom goes on with the
of His Spirit.
harm
One
thing
is
certain.
to affect likeness to Christ
It
which we
Clow, " The Cross in Christian Experience," pp. 259
2 Acts iv,
13, 20.
3 Carver, " Missions and Modern Thought," p. 283.
1
He
f.
WITH OPEN FACE
126
Hypocrisy
do not possess.
most
forth the
way
only
words uttered by
terrible
God
to reflect the glory of
be hke Him.
we
the sin which called
is
There
in Christ
no need of a
is
and glory, no
our
"
from men.
failure
"
world," says Jesus.
Ye
veil
to
is
long as
veil so
continue to behold the face of Christ.
lose sight of His face
The
Jesus.'
If
we
can hide
are the light of the
Even so
your
let
light shine
before men."
Perseverance
4.
"
We faint not,"
^
human
" the cry of
He still has before him
says Paul.
insufficiency "
He is
uttered in Corin-
^
answering
thians
ii.
tone.
The Greek manuscripts vary here
16.
The
for "faint."
still
best attested
verse sixteen and in Galatians
be weary in well-doing
reap^
if
we
with
9
:
"
And
let
difficulties
word
also in
us not
due season we
There are
faint not."
in a ministry
in the
word* occurs
vi.
for in
:
triumphant
in a
it
shall
enough
all this
transcendent glory to test
When
Paul
the stoutest heart.
is
a prisoner in
Rome
he actually has to cheer the Christians who have
grown
"
discouraged
Wherefore
I
tions for you."
by
reason
his
ask that you faint not at
5
troubles:
my
tribula-
Paul reminds Timothy that
*
Matt, xxiii.
'
Greenough, « The Mind of Christ
* Cf.
of
our " giving in " to
evil.
2
2 Cor.
293.
6
Eph,
in St. Paul," p.
God
iv. I.
jij,
i^.
"
THE PREACHER'S PRIVILEGE
had given
He
1 27
us a spirit of power, not of cowardly fear.*
did this
when he was an
old preacher in prison
and facing certain death while Timothy was young
and
at
Timothy was the one who needed
work.
to
be exhorted to endure hardship as a good soldier
of Christ."
could
Etymologically the word for " faint
^
mean
to "
abandon one's
no examples of just
hard to overcome.
first
at
but
used for
Perga the
and go on
flush of the
John Mark "went not
he faced
is
to the
is
the
romance
"^
work
perils of rivers
is
give up and
easy just to
It is
Just to stick to one's task
hard thing when the
over.
But it
Often the dead pull of things
cowardly surrender.
quit.
self to badness,"
this sense occur.
and
is
when
perils of
robbers that confronted Paul and Barnabas.
John
Mark went home to Jerusalem. Paul and Barnabas
conquered a kingdom for Christ. Courage in the
ministry comes from the clear vision of Christ and
the world's
have
this
spiritual
who
ministry,"
*
says
Paul
freedom and power.
does not see the angels.
afraid at
;
this
It is
ministry of
the muck-raker
Elisha's servant
grew
Dothan when he saw the host with horses
and chariots
And
"Therefore seeing we
need of Him.
:
'*
Alas,
my
master
he answered, Fear not
:
!
for
how
shall
we do ?
they that are with
^ Acts xv. 36.
* 2 Tim. ii. 1-13.
2 Tim. i. 7.
2 Cor. iv. I.
He applies here all the argument about the superiority of the ministry of the New Covenant to that of the Old.
1
*
:
WITH OPEN FACE
128
more than they
are
us
EHsha prayed, and
eyes, that he
eyes of the
may
full
round about Elisha."
power of Christ
this
vision,
And
see.
young man
the mountain was
"
I
pray Thee, open his
the Lord opened the
and he saw
;
and, behold,
:
of horses and chariots of
Oh,
*
for the
we
obtained
never ceases to rejoice in
that.^
Paul had
sounds the bugle note of victory
no
waver.
There
march.
The ground
is
if
mercy."
The
fire
of the
vision
in the midst of the battle.
even as
And
that be with them.
Lord,
said,
He
^
true leader
the lines begin to
retreat for Paul, but the
of Paul's cheer
onward
not in the
is
marks of appreciation which he received from men.
springs from the fresh gaze into the face of Jesus.
It
Look
and you
at Jesus
will
And
let
us not be
weary
season
we
shall reap,
if
"
In Chapter
I
we
go on with your
in well-doing
:
task.
for in
occurs a letter from a minister
gave up the ministry.
due
faint not."
Here
is
a reply in the
who
same
journal
" Dear William
I have not a doubt that all
your causes of discouragement are real, and hard to
:
but I am
You have been
sorry you are leaving the pastorate.
a long time on your present field.
Can you not try another one ? New people, and
different conditions, will doubtless cheer you and give
bear
you
»
'
;
a fresh grip.
2 Kings vii. 15-17.
2 Cor. vii. 25 ; i Tim.
*2 Cor.
i.
13, 16.
iv. I.
THE PREACHER'S PRIVILEGE
129
" Of course, if you have become convinced that
God never called you to the ministry, that is an end
of the matter, and ought to be.
But if it is a matter
of disappointment, suffering, and fear of the future,
you must remember that Christian ministers to-day
are the successors of the prophets.
The prophet is
the man of larger vision than the people, the man
who seeks to redeem the people to his own higher
standards, the man who pleads with God for the people and asks that He be patient with their dullness
and forgive their sins. The minister who stands in
this relation to the people must ever bear in his heart
something of disappointment and suffering.
" No Christian minister can be free from the redemptive principle, that the chastisement of the
people's peace is upon him, and with his stripes they
are healed.
In different centuries this principle finds
expression in different forms.
Of the ancient prophets, the Lord said,
Which of them did your fathers
not stone ?
Of the modern prophets it might with
equal pertinency be inquired, To which of them do
'
'
'
your churches pay
amount
?
salaries regularly,
I confess,
'
and
in sufficient
William, that for myself,
I
pre-
fer the latter alternative.
'* But
what is more, the minister of Christ must
not forget the experiences of his Lord, and must be
ready, when necessary, to undergo like experiences.
At Capernaum on one occasion, all but the twelve
left the Saviour, and to these He said,
Will ye also
go away ?
That is. He was left with a few faithful ones.'
But these few became the salt of the earth,
'
*
'
them the
remnant was the salt of
servant is not above his
master,' had scarcely fallen from the lips of Christ
ere He was crucified, and crucified by religious people.
For myself, William, I would rather endure any
modern crucifixion than the crucifixion that was
just as before
Israel.
The words,
'
*
The
'
WITH OPEN FACE
130
meted out to my Master. I would rather endure
any hardships which are incident to the modern ministry, than to have gone to prison and to death with
Paul and the long list of martyrs that stretches through
the centuries. The life of the prophet is much the same
The servant is not above his Master.
in every age.
So far, at least, the redemption of the world has been
achieved through self-sacrificing and suffering.
" The real questions which confront the Christian
minister of to-day are: (i) The question of his own
call to the ministry
(2) the question of his faith in
God's redemptive processes, and (3) the question of
his courage to endure those processes as he finds
;
them expressed in modern life.
" Our age is in danger of making redemptive
suffer-
ing a theory which found sufficient expression 2,000
years ago in Jesus Christ. Paul teaches that Christians
and it must be preeminently true of Christian minisare to fill up the measure of Christ's suffering.
ters
The redemptive suffering that starts people on the
way to Christ is suffering that comes upon us to-day,
and is brought upon us by present conditions, and
—
—
which we endure
for Christ's sake.
"
Do
"
But we have renounced the hidden things of
not think that I am unsympathetic with your
discouragement, old friend, but you know that you
are only one of many ministers at this time who are
leaving the ministry for secular work, though all may
not be as frank as you in stating the reasons. I am
only expressing to you what has occurred to me many
times before, viz., the conviction that a more heroic
note needs to be struck for the Christian ministry
to-day, a note which rings true to the spirit of the
prophets, the Christ, and the apostles."
5.
Renunciation
shame, not walking in
craftiness,
nor handling the
THE PREACHER'S PRIVILEGE
word of God
deceitfully."
This
^
heart and
Paul evidently has before him the
life.
at
Judaizers
bitter
a very remark-
is
deep into the minister's
passage and strikes
able
13I
Corinth
who had been
of
full
schemes and plots against Paul and the work of
Paul had bidden " the hidden things " of
Christ.
He had
shame be gone.
declined^ every suggestion
"
and impulse that would not bear the Hght.
hidden things of shame "
one's sense of
He
light.
^
are
all
The
preacher's heart
works
One who
"
*
"
come
If
to the
you
light.
receptacle
the
plots,
Renounce the
a
lift
from the
ecclesiastical
a good
is
flee
not to be
is
vengeance,
thoughts of any kind.
his
to
does not specify further.
private
of
those things which
honour does not allow
rock in the spring-time, the bugs
The
devil
impure
and
all
interpretation of Paul's idea.
looks constantly into the face of Christ will
not wish to revel in the hidden things of shame.
A
" business
and
preacher can overdo the
make
real
it
"
slumming
a satisfaction of morbid curiosity instead of
desire to help the erring.
Paul mentions two
particulars of the hidden things of shame.
"walking
in craftiness."
means being willing to
one's point.
» 2 Cor, iv.
3Cf. I Cor.
*
The word
resort to
The end does
any
for craftiness^
not justify the means
^
Renounced.
the hidden things of darkness.
The Prayer-Book.
is
practice to carry
2.
iv. 5,
One
^
Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 3.
WITH OPEN FACE
132
He
best
work
God
and to the people.
is
The
Paul nor with Christ.
with
in the open.
stronger without the
opens his own heart to
That
He
his strength.
is
The
veil.
word of God
" handling the
minister does his
other particular
deceitfully."
is
Both of
*
They had made a
these things the Judaizers did.
Word of God.
He is never hap-
misuse and a misapplication of the
The
devil could quote Scripture.
pier than
"
when he can
And no
into
marvel
of
The wreckers who wave
on the coast
to lure unsuspecting ships
God
own
to their
The Word
of
God
calls for
He
juggler of words.
serious
and sacred things
frankness of
argument
God.
It
is
very work
mind and
We
:
a
first
to spread
is
in life
of Christ
iii.
*'
«
2 Cor.
no
Observe
St. Paul's
Word
;
for
of
our
throw sunshine on
light, to
fearlessly to declare the
no consequences
lo.
is
and must speak with
heart.
way
essen-
dealing with the most
not concealed or darkened by us
truth, to dread
Pet.
is
is
do not tamper with the
every side, and in every
I
honesty
The prophet
a true preacher.
tial in
Cf.
schemes and pur-
honesty of interpretation
Intellectual
and exposition.
1
selfish
wilfully twist the
Paul had spoken of this matter once before.'
poses.
mere
even Satan fashioneth himself
no worse than men who
to ruin are
Word
for
;
light."
an angel of
false lights
get preachers to do his work.^
;
for
xi. 15.
no
real minister
»
2 Cor.
ii.
17.
THE PREACHER'S PRIVILEGE
of Christ can be afraid of illumination."
who
I33
The man
^
looks in the face of Christ looks up and not
He
down.
looks
all
men
in the eye.
Manifestation of the Truth
6.
But by the manifestation of the truth commend-
"
ing ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight
of God."^
This
is
pohcy
Paul's
a minister of
as
Christ, perfect candour, in contrast to the
They had accused him
the Judaizers.
tricks,
none of which were
of commendation,^
mended himself by
truth
all
^
may
see.
"
with truth.
The
The
We
all
is
any other realm.
kingdom
you
things to
of truth of which Jesus
^
goes well
in truth."
He
that of truth.
Pilate
for
removed that
" manifestation "
preacher's province
call to
The word
lid is
The word
spake
sorts of
He com-
truth.
full
telling the truth.
means unconcealed.
all
This was his letter
true.
the
viz.,
of
conduct of
has no
was ignorant of the
is
King and did not
see that such an abstract ideality interfered at
with the rule of Caesar.
who
is
the truth, while hospitable to
is
all
truth both
not directly concerned
with the pursuit of absolute theoretical truth.
*
F.
W.
Robertson, " Life and Letters,"
iv. 2.
<Cf. 2 Cor.
Cf. I Cor.
«
xi. 10,
xii. 7.
all
But the interpreter of Jesus,
speculative and concrete,
'2 Cor.
^
628.
^Cf. 2 Cor.
Scien-
etc., p.
iii.
i.
the truth of Christ.
«
2 Cor.
vii.
14.
WITH OPEN FACE
134
tific
research per se and as an end in
itself is
not the
Certainly philosophy as
function of the preacher.
usually taught does not cross the path of the preacher.
The
minister
fest
a pragmatist in fact, whatever he
is
The
in theory.
truth which the preacher
is
is
to mani-
the realm of spiritual reality and practical
is
not
ethics,
ontology and cosmology.
speculative
The preacher
grips
the
mark when he appeals merely
misses the
He
of men.
conscience
to intel-
lectual curiosity, aesthetic interest, or the pleasures
of the imagination
and the
appeal to
safety,
or emotions.
The conscience
must be confronted with
will
'
conscience can
The
never be omitted with
and any presentation of Christianity which
neglectful of the verdict of conscience
is
"
Christ.
trines taught
like."^
It is
is
at
on the doc-
once un-apostolic and un-Christ-
only by placing his plea on this highest
plane that the minister has authority.
Clothed with
truth he has the right to storm the citadel of every
man's heart.
It is this
the master of men.
makes the
that
Men
are so
that they neglect themselves
God.
The
evil heart
all
— that
who can
*
Pros.
truth
comes
—
real preacher
busy with things
their best selves
as a rude shock.
which hides the
truth.
—and
" It
is
the
Light shines on
who are in a natural human state, all
all who have not deadened the spiritual
is, all
feel,
«
Bernard, in
loco.
THE PREACHER'S PRIVILEGE
sense.
.
.
The evidence
.
and not the shadow on the
to those
clearly,
who
of the sun
he has redemptive
So
dial.
are of the truth."
If
*
I35
is its
Christ
is
Hght
divine
one sees Christ
It is well also if
truth.
he can add speculative truth about the world, but
that
is
distinctly secondary.
philosophy and religion
James, of Harvard, has
is
The
old war between
Professor
disappearing.
won
for religion the right of
treatment from philosophy as a fact in
fair
worthy of study.
philosophy
It
will ever
is
by no means
understand
itself
certain that
We
religion.^
need
"
not seek to define more closely Paul's use of " truth
and " conscience."
He
is
no slave of words nor
does he set forth a developed and consistent formula
of psychological terms.
moral judgment of
He makes
man and
does
it
his appeal to the
in the fullness of
truth.3
A
7.
**
And
them
even
if
that perish
Veiled Gospel
our gospel
:
in
whom
is
veiled,
the
God
it
is
veiled in
of this world
hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the
light of the
Gospel of the glory of Christ,
who
image of God, should not dawn upon them." ^
is
the
Paul
W. Robertson, " Life and Letters," etc., p. 628,
" Religion and Philosophy," by T. M. Watt, in " Mansfield College Essays," p. 334.
' Cf. " Hebrew Psychology in Relation to Pauline Anthropology,"
by H. W, Robinson, in *« Mansfield College Essays," p. 267 fif.
* 2 Cor. iv. 3 f.
1
2
F.
WITH OPEN FACE
136
had manifested the
truth,
who heard
if
had declared
Gospel of
his
There was no excuse
the glory of Christ.
There
they did not understand.
over the face of Christ.
There
for those
no
is
no
veil
over
the face of Paul and the other ministers of the
New
veil
There
Covenant.
veil
no
is
preached by Paul.
But
over the hearts of
veil
it is
over the Gospel as
a sad fact that there
many who
and could not see the Messiah
he
ix.-xi.
will
true to His
which Paul
this
read Moses
It is
a sad
In Romans
how God is still
the great mass of the Jews
he interprets as the
The
Christ.
real Israel of
spiritual
promise and
The
both Gentiles and Jews.
Israel included
a
confronted.
is
have rejected the Gospel of
Israel
who
in Jesus.'
soon be explaining
Word though
is
hear as there was
a veil over the hearts of the Jews
situation with
is
children of faith are the heirs of the promise.
Every
minister of the Gospel meets a Hke situation in his
work.
"
The Gospel remains a
ineffective secret, to
again.
beyond doubt,
his full
*
The
it
again and
duty.
He
is
appalling."
^
It is
sometimes
that the minister has not
done
has not understood the problem
condition in 2 Cor. iv. 3 is of the first class (determined as
and assumes the statement as a fact. Cf. Robertson,
Grammar of the Greek New Testament," p. l6l.
Denney, 2 Corinthians, p. 148.
fulfilled)
" Short
'
hear
an impotent
Paul faces the difficulty without flinching,
though the answer
true,
many who
secret,
THE PREACHER'S PRIVILEGE
in this particular field or
137
he has not delivered the
message with sufficient clearness, ability or earnest-
Every preacher has
ness.
over such shortcomings.
made here by
He
Paul.
What he
for himself.
his
moments
But that
is
of sorrow
not the point
does not claim perfection
says
is
that
many have
wil-
fully shut their eyes to the light in the face of Jesus.
They have
minds
so
let
that
" the
they
god of
this
" blind their
world
who
using language like that of the rabbis
"
Sammael "
the " second god."
who was
spirit
He
cannot understand.
He was
considered the special foe of
some who made a god
This warning
mammon
is
called
the evil
Jesus called Satan " the prince of this world."
alluded to
is
Israel.'
Paul
^
of their belly .^
peculiarly pertinent just
now when
men as is
has such a hold on the hearts of
mad race for money at the cost of prinof men and women, law and order, love
seen in the
ciple, virtue
man and God. The Pharisees were lovers of
money
Paul found money to be a root of all kinds
of evil.^ But there is much more than money which
is here involved.
The spirit of worldliness opposes
of
.^
religion, resents
flesh,
the effort to check desires of the
opposes real Christianity though willing to com-
promise with the forms of public worship
1
Wetstein, in
2
John
*
Luke
xii,
loco.
31.
xvi. 14.
Cf.
Bernard, in
if
no
effort
loco.
'Phil.
^ I
Tim.
iii.
19.
vi. 10.
WITH OPEN FACE
138
made
is
make people
to
" the
by Paul
rightly called
really spiritual
god of
and good,
The
this age."
amazing success
time-spirit {Zeitgeist) has
is
in putting
out the eyes of the modern Samsons and making
them grind the
Denney
Hear
life.
treadmill of material things to the
and death of the
neglect
"
*
:
what moral mediocrity,
spiritual
What
itself
aspirations
and
sleepy conscience,
purblind, only dimly
conscious of the height of the Christian calling, and
vexed by no aspirations towards
say that
world
'
"
?
too
it is
them
As
much
already explained,
that perish
'•
in
"
by the perishing
by
is
it
it,
to call Satan
in
:
things
has any right to
'
it
the god of this
is
possible that
whom " may
be taken as
At any
by which." ^
rate
flaunting before the eyes of the unbelieving
the perishing toys of earth that the god of this world
men
blinds the hearts of
to the glory of Christ
the worth of the spiritual hfe.
in
all
the world
ness, excited
God
see
by
in
the
Isaiah's
its
pleasures, petrified
find their
its
its
busi-
maxims,
?
"
^
Jesus
^
and PauP both saw
hardness of men's hearts the fulfillment of
prophecy.
2 Corinthians,
*
The gender may be
<
by
and
His purity, or comprehend the calm
1
'
Men who
—how can they, fevered by
radiance of eternity
in
"
p. 156.
neuter in the Greek.
Robertson, " Life and Letters," etc., p. 629,
6 Acts xxviii. 25-28.
John xii. 37-41.
F.
W,
THE preacher's PRIVILEGE
From Glory
8.
The Apostle Paul was
By
phrase
this
velopment of
*
with the glory of
Glory
to
a firm believer in progress.
he aptly
all
sets forth the spiritual de-
who keep
Christ.
The joy
those
hope of making more
I39
in constant
of his
life
He had
progress.
touch
was the
a holy dis-
content with what he had already done and an eager
impetuosity to push on " towards the goal unto the
God
prize of the high calling of
The more Paul saw
became with
thinking of
The
himself.
is
to quote
this
progress that Paul
Spirit,
is
he
here
sentence from Dr.
J.
am
I
glad
Wilbur Chapman:
as this for the preacher."
contemplating a richer personality, one more
is
like Jesus,
God
dissatisfied
^
not increased reputation, power, influ-
Never was there such a day
Paul
more
Those are mere accidents, though
ence.
'•
of Jesus the
in Christ Jesus."
one more completely surrendered to the
one that more
to
men.
minister's
ground of
minister
rightly,
effectively reflects the glory of
in
It is
development
sooth a good thing
is
manifest to
The
rejoicing.
when a
That
is
a
God dehght in a
handle the Word of God
saints of
who knows how to
who is meet for the
unto every good work.^
all.^
Master's use, prepared
But Paul does not mean
for
the preacher himself to be marking notches in his
^2 Cor.
iii.
18.
«
Phil.
*
2 Tim.
iii.
14.
ii.
15, 21.
« i
Tim.
iv.
15.
WITH OPEN FACE
140
The man who has made most
progress.
development may be
least conscious of
it.
spiritual
Certainly
there can be no posing for effect nor attitudinizing
on the part of the man who has entered most
the heart of Jesus,
of Christ,
who
who
into
has gazed longest at the glory
has been most completely transfigured
That man
into the likeness of Christ.
will see
more
clearly the sins in his heart in the clear white light
There are higher heights of glory
of the Cross.
ahead and the Face of Christ beckons on.
day " we
even as
be
shall
He
is."
like
Him
;
for
'
1 1
John
iii.
2.
we
shall see
Some
Him
THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS
—THE HUMAN LIMITATIONS
{2 Cor. iv.
" But
7-1s)
we have
this treasure in
earthen
vessels, that the exceeding greatness
of the power
may be
of God, and not
from ourselves."
—2
Cor. iv. 7.
"
EARTHEN VESSELS—
THE HUMAN LIMITATIONS
THIS TREASURE IN
The Weaknesses of Preachers
I.
is
not clear whether the sudden contrast be-
ITtween
the precious " hght of the knowledge of
the glory of
God
in the face of Jesus Christ
and the feeble and imperfect medium through which
this "
men
Gospel of the glory of Christ
is
conveyed to
" is
suggested to Paul by the inherent facts in the
case or also
by taunts of
personal weaknesses/
his
enemies about his
Later
the
in
Epistle
own
Paul
does reveal knowledge of the sneers made against
him and
his
work
in
"
Corinth.
For
his
letters,
they say, are weighty and strong; but his bodily
presence
is
weak, and his speech
is
of no account."
*
This was a personal stab at the defects of his bodily
presence, otherwise
unknown
to us, for the traditions
about his being a hunchback and having weak eyes
have no support
are suggested
in Paul's Epistles unless
by Galatians
iv.
15
:
"
weak eyes
Ye would have
plucked out your eyes and given them to me."
he did once,
*
See Meyer, in
if
But
not always, have " a temptation to
loco,
and Bachmann, in
143
loco.
2
2 Cor.
x. 10.
THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS
144
you
my
in
flesh "
which the Galatians had not de-
'
In spite of this they had received him " as
spised.
an angel of God, even as Christ Jesus
been welcomed.
"
would have
Evidently Paul was conscious of
and
bodily imperfections
He had no
limitations.
disposition to pose as a martyr because of his de-
He
fects.
enemies had flung
had
"thorn
his
how
the flesh," whatever
to
bond
delicate
learned
union
of
pleasure in weaknesses,
persecutions,
for
when
I
am
in
He
with
in
injuries,
for
distresses,
weak, then
even
am
I
in
to
(a
thus
and
Paul),
burden,
was
it
who have
ministers
all
to bear his
in
because his
^
in his face, so to speak.
it
in
blessed ignorance
a
"
mentions his " weakness
had
**
take
necessities,
sake;
Christ's
strong."
To
^
his
prayer for the removal of the thorn, he had this
answer
power
:
is
"
My
grace
made
is
sufficient for thee
in weakness."
perfect
lesson Paul, like the rest of us,
experience.
his
Some
preaching.
had
:
for
My
That hard
to learn
by long
of the enemies of Paul criticized
" His
speech
is
of
no account."
This probably means that he will be afraid to say in
speech what he writes in
letters rather
tion of his style of utterance.
to great oratory
*
Gal.
iv. 14.
*
Paul
than deprecia-
made no
claim
and knew that he did not please
2
2 Cor.
Cor.
* I
xi.
ii.
30.
2.
s
2 Cor.
xii. 10.
THE HUMAN LIMITATIONS
and
in
was with you in weakness, and in
" I
men.
all
I45
much
And my
trembling.
fear,
speech and
my
preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom."
It
*
was a constant wonder ^ to Paul that Jesus could
have found any good in him as a minister of the
who had been
Gospel, one
and
persecutor,
injurious."
" a
blasphemer, and a
He
still
There may
be the chief of sinners.
himself to
felt
have been an
undertone of acknowledgment of the taunts of his
enemies in
this
The preacher is surely
when he becomes
criticism from people who are
comparison.
placed in an embarrassing position
the target of personal
themselves anything but perfect.
stand up and speak
of humility and
is
for himself, if
knows how
exquisite suffering in
He
is
he
frail after all
many
not able to
he has the
is.
spirit
There
a minister's heart as a
result of cutting, heartless criticisms of his person, his
One must
speech, and his hfe.
pretend to be perfect or above criticism.
least of all
The note
not be oversensitive,
that
Paul strikes here
"There
sympathy.
less of
is
is
the chord of
polemical argument,
and more of the natural outpouring of
his
own
feel-
ings in this section, than in most other parts of the
"We
Epistle/'^
sels."
1 I
^
Cor.
It
ii.
is,
3.
this treasure in earthen ves-
have
beyond
» I
4
all
doubt, a matter of surprise
Tim. i. I2ff.
Tim. ii. 20.
Cf. 2
'Stanley, in
loco.
146
THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS
that
God should
feeble instruments
"
destroy/
own
matchless treasure to
entrust this
The
whom
the axe and the lion can
disproportion between his [man's]
nature and powers, and the high calling to which
he has been
called, flashes across his
vessel of clay
destroyed.
very fragile and
^ is
is
mind."
easily
The
^
broken and
Yet to-day the ostraka, broken pieces of
pottery picked up in the sands of Egypt, are bearing
eloquent testimony to the
own
The
time.*
earthenware
silver
in
story
of Rabbi
life
jars.®
to
is
when
a rabbinical
contained her
She then placed the wine
it
He
mean appearance.
the earthen jars which
father's wines.
vessels
There
Joshua who was taunted by the
emperor's daughter on his
pointed
of the people in Paul's
Persian kings kept their gold and
whereon
turned sour,
in silver
the
rabbi
ventured to remind her that the humblest vessels
sometimes contained the highest wisdom.^
of " earthen vessel " as a figure for
compared with God's greatness
like the potter's clay.
ences in men.^
same
frailties
and
There
They do not
is
man's
use
littleness as
He
frequent.^
are, to
all
The
be sure,
is
differ-
have precisely the
limitations, but they
all
have them.
F. W. Robertson, " Life and Letters," etc., p. 629.
' Ostrakinos.
Denney, i?i loco.
*Cf. Deissmann, "Light from the Ancient East.'*
' Herodotus, Vol. Ill, p. 96.
« Cf. Stanley, h: loco, and Wetstein.
>
Cf. Job X. 9; Isa. XXX. 14; Jer. xix. ii
Rom,
2 Esdras iv. ii
« 2 Tim. ii. 20.
ix. 20 ff.; 2 Tim. ii. 20.
1
*
;
;
THE HUMAN LIMITATIONS.
The church
that
looking for perfection at a thou-
is
sand dollars a year or at ten thousand
vain.
a fearful mistake to expect or
It is
men
other
are not perfect, there
perfection in the ministry.
God
If
look in
demand an
men and
Ministers are
result dissatisfaction.
will
There can only
impossible standard in the preacher.
as
147
so long
no hope of
is
could not use
poor instruments and feeble voices,
He would make
no music.
title
and
Socrates disdained the
of teacher
There
called himself a fellow-inquirer.*
is,
of
course, small consolation in noting the defects of
other men, but in this view
it is
necessary to get the
Abraham was guilty of duplicity,
he became the man of faith and the friend
true perspective.
and yet
Moses had
of God.
halting speech and quick
his
temper, yet he was the
man chosen
and to commune with God.
to
make
adultery and murder, but he repented and
man
own
God's
after
Israel
still
heart and the sweet singer of
tree,
and defied Ahab and
heard the
1
Adam,
2Isa.
pp.
46 ff.
:
^
'*
Woe
is
all
5.
Cf.
God
at
Horeb.
Isaiah,
heavenly vision of God's holi-
me
Stalker,
sat
the prophets of Baal and he
!
for I
am undone
" Religious Teachers of Greece,"
vi.
and
but he had stood on Carmel
small voice of
in the presence of the
ness, said
became a
Elijah ran from Jezebel
for all time.
under the juniper
a nation
David was guilty of
"The
p.
;
because
339,
Preacher and
His Models,"
THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS
148
I
am
man
a
of unclean
lips,
of a people of unclean lips
King Jehovah
the
and
for
;
I
dwell in the midst
mine eyes have seen
Hosts."
of
Nevertheless, he
ventured to say, after one of the seraphim touched
his lips with a coal
lips
:
am
Here
"
I
from the
altar
send me."
;
and cleansed
And
Peter,
his
who,
though the leader and spokesman of the Twelve
Apostles, had
curses,
denied
Lord with
his
oaths
and
was restored by the compassion of Jesus and
was able to speak under the power of the Holy
Spirit with
It is
tremendous
effect
needless to go on.
who expected
allow a man
demons
in
on the Day of Pentecost.
There was John the Apostle,
by Jesus
to be praised
the
name
down
wanted to
call
Samaritan
village,
chief places in the
of Jesus,
fire
who
for refusing to
company
not of their
who
to
cast
out
with James
from heaven to burn up a
with James, also, wanted the
kingdom
of Jesus
—John became
the Beloved Disciple, the apostle of love, the eagle
who
soared to great heights,
who
into the mystery of Christ the
2.
pierced the deepest
Son of God.
The Exceeding Greatness of the Power of God
There
is
no doubt of the
tions of ministers of Christ.
plete shipwreck like Judas
completely.
Satan tempted
fact of the
human
limita-
Some even make com-
whom
all
the devil captured
the other apostles, as
THE HUMAN LIMITATIONS
The
he did Christ Himself.
Lord.
his
Every preacher
is
servant
is
not above
from the very nature
Satan wanted to
of the case a target of the devil.
sift all
I49
the apostles like wheat and Jesus
made
special
People sometimes forget that
prayer for Peter.'
preachers are subject to temptation and innocently
throw temptations
across
may
plainly, preachers
love of
money, and
O man
of
God,
God can do
that
to love of praise.
so
is
proof of the greatness of
remove the thorn
But now he had
of the visions given him.
petual reminder of his
power of Christ may
means
of Paul
"
He
is
upon me."
rest
Luke
xxii. 31
this per-
weakness, " that the
^
The word ®
shooting beyond the mark," beyond
measurement.
There
human
There
is
no
limit to the
thus no limit to the
preacher, though an earthen vessel
*
God had
in the flesh of Paul.
danger of being exalted overmuch by reason
in
God.
^
This was the reason
be God's purpose.^
all
to
But thou,
Indeed, Paul boldly interprets this to
God's power.
was
women,
"
The very fact
much with such frail men as
ministers of necessity are
refused to
victims to silly
fall
these things."
flee
To speak
path.
their
power
work
of
of the
People are often
f.
The false prophets in the Old Testament present
" The prophets prophesy falsely, and my people
love to have it so," Jeremiah laments. Cf especially Jer. xxiii. 9-40;
Ezek. xiii. See Stalker, " The Preacher and His Models," Lecture V.
2
I
Tim.
vi. II.
a terrible picture.
»2 Cor.
iv. 7.
*2 Cor.
xii. 5,
7
ft.
^
Cf. iv. 17.
THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS
I50
The
astonished at the results of a given ministry.
preaching
ways
is
not eloquent,
Men
attractive.
not learned,
is
is
not
al-
have been puzzled to analyze
Moody. God is the only exMoody had really great powers, but gave
wholly to God and God filled him with His
the power of D. L.
planation.
himself
own power.
Paul had
already
God worked
Corinthians that
explained to the
thus, " that
your
faith
should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the
power of God."
Preachers do
The
^
differ,
God and
a gift
bickering,
but
makest thee to
is
increase
came from God.
but each receives his
not an occasion for pride or
humble
of
differ ?
gratitude.
"
Spurgeon, Maclaren,
man,
Liddon,
Beecher,
Parker,
had
were the mighty
many
many
that
;
own
gift
"
God chose
He might
New-
Brooks, Broadus,
from God.
in the generation just
wise after the flesh, not
noble."
world, that
wise
his
who
and what hast thou that thou
not receive? "^
— each
selfish
For
didst
Moody,
from
gift
These
gone, " not
many mighty,
not
the foolish things of the
put to shame them that are
and God chose the weak things of the world,
He might
strong
;
put to shame the things that are
and the base things of the world, and the
Cor. ii. 5.
Cor. iv. 7.
I shall never forget a masterly address delivered
to the students of the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary many
years ago by Archibald G. Brown from this text.
*
I
3 I
THE HUMAN LIMITATIONS
things that are despised, did
God
choose, yea and
He
might bring to
the things that are not, that
the things that are: that no flesh should
naught
glory before God."
*
This
is
the perennial lesson of
Look
the preacher, that of God's power.
stripHng in
his
all
awkward
See him years
call
afterwards
That
multitude to repentance.
as
is
of
God
this,
and looked
for serv-
he moves the
the power of God,
"
the exceeding greatness of His power.
who saw
at the
timidity, but full of a
deep earnestness to answer the
ice.
151
No
Not
could dream that the explanation lay in him.
in
an ugly
little
one
at a preacher like Paul,
Jew, without presence, without elo-
quence, without the means to bribe or to compel,
could the source of such courage, the cause of such
transformations, be found
him, but
in
it
;
must be sought, not
Hear Denney^ again:
God."^
*'
in
One
would sometimes think, from the tone of current
hterature, that
is
no person with
any longer
men, we are
less
still
identified
told,
with the
do they go to church.
make no
in the
use of
* I
own.
Cor.
i.
But
26-29.
Gospel.
Clever
.
.
.
There
world so clever that
them
;
al-
God
they could never do
His work, because they were so
their
above contempt
do not become preachers now,
ways have been men
could
gifts
lost in
admiration of
God's work never depended on
*
Denney, in
loco.
P. 160.
152
THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS
them, and
is
it
well said
does not depend on them now."
and
added that those " clever
greatness
they see
A
men do
it
may
unthinking and
it
know
not always
its
cheap jibes
pass as "literature" with the
will
easy to set up a
That
needs to be
say character, when
tenth-rate novel with
at the ministry
is
"
of intellect, not to
it.
But
to the point.
be forgotten to-morrow.
man
It
of straw and caricature the
Manhood is the first essential in the minOur first minister was a man, but he was not
preacher.
"
ister.
a minister
a
;
our second was a minister, but he was
man and the one we have at present is neither
man nor a minister."
The preacher must have
not a
;
^
"the blood-streak of experience." ^
He had
Tears."
^
But he was
tellectual gifts.
of
God
This Paul had.
sympathy, heart, and was the
It is
also a
man
"
Man
of transcendent in-
taking nothing from the power
to note that this chosen vessel to bear the
Gospel to the Gentiles was just the most gifted
of his time in
"
ness.
all
the real elements of
Every now and then,
through the argument
in
of
his
human
man
great-
thought bursts up
geyser and
falls
showers of sparks," and, like Shakespeare, he
will
" pause
like a flaming
and, spreading his wings, go soaring and
* Stalker, " The Preacher and His Models,"
The experip. 165.
" People do not now respect the
ence of a Scotch Highlander.
cloth, unless they find a man inside it."
a Ibid.,
3 Adolph Monod, " The Tears of Paul."
p. 166.
THE HUMAN LIMITATIONS
153
singing like a lark sheer up into the blue."
not
mouth
in the
lie
makes
Christ
but
The
student
any modern man to
appeal to the
its
God
gifts,
of
prowess of Paul.
the intellectual
It
*
The
men
does
ridicule
ministry of
of the noblest
not dependent on any set of men.
is
of our time will miss the
life
opportunity for usefulness
if
But
of the ministry of Christ.
by the claims
passes
it
it
supreme
must not be forgot-
ten that Jesus chose His apostles from the unschooled
fishermen and artisans
He
Judean.
thought had
to-day
if
warm
religious
impulse had died and
He will pass by the schools
crystallized.
the teachers and students close their minds
and hearts
the
Him.
to
Jesus seeks the open
He
heart.
The answer
more important
is
man
in the world.
to the student than
it
Jesus will go to the highways and find
to Christ.
others to heed His
another
mind and
knocks at the door of the heart
of every university and seminary
is
save Judas the
passed by the rabbinical theological
where
seminaries
of Galilee
Christ
to
call,
but the student will not find
serve.
At
best
earthen vessel that any one can
it
offer,
is
only an
wholly un-
worthy of the
priceless jewel
place therein.
Who
can ask for a higher service
of the
Light in the Face of Jesus
than to
Christ
tell
which Jesus
offers to
?
1
Stalker,
"The
Preacher and His Models,"
p. 158.
THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS
154
The
of success
secret
simple.
It is real
is
very
vital
union
thing to
difficult
strains of
pull
life
Dust gathers about our heads and
us away.
our
in
Clouds gather and the sun does not shine
eyes.
are
most
The
hfe.
is
ministry
the
in
just the
maintain in fullness of
upon
Hand
connection with God,
This
with Christ.
Guidi?ig
TJie
3.
God seems
us.
to sHp
away from
we
us and
with our weakness and the criticism of the
left
people.
It
not
is
of strength.
It
is
human weakness that is
only when the power
charges the empty vessel that
it
a source
of
God
becomes a dynamo.
Paul changes the figure from that of an earthen vessel
to a soldier, with
this Epistle
ened."
^
:
a corner.
had always come to
comes
philosophy
his
rescue.
here
in
:
" It
The
ness and God's
like a
in
power
He had
^
man going
*
2 Cor.
'
Meyer, in
*
2 Cor.
iv.
8
;
cf.
loco.
iv. 8.
:
lost his
ii.
9
;
human weak-
" perplexed, yet
viii.
not unto
way,^ he was bewildered
in a circle,
Rom.
old negro's
mout be wuss."
Paul carries on the contrast between
despair."
common
He was " hard pressed, but not driven into
He was not yet hemmed in, not put into
He could still go on with his work.^ God
'
straits."
an anacoluthon so
" Pressed on every side, yet not strait-
he was " put to
it,
yet
35.
»
Cf, 2 Cor. xii. lO.
6 Cf.
Gal.
iv.
20.
!
THE HUMAN LIMITATIONS
not utterly put out."
How
*
I55
these phrases parallel
We come
the experience of every minister of Jesus.
God
our wit's end and find
to
tremity
We
God's opportunity.
is
yet not forsaken."
^
He was
Man's ex-
there.
are "pursued,
hunted Uke a wild ani-
How
mal, yet not abandoned to the pursuing foe.
often,
We
when
persecuted, Paul had to
were " pursued
in
our
as a prey to our pursuers."
flee for his life
but not
flight,
left
behind
' smitten
Once more
The image may be
^
:
down, yet not destroyed."^
of
one smitten down with a dart or arrow or of one
He
overtaken in flight and thrown to the ground.
had himself been stoned and
did not perish, not yet.
left for
When
worst, he has been able to rise
go on proclaiming
life
Christ.
dead.
trouble has done
power
4.
This
is
in
life.
its
from the ground and
The hand
of
God
This
Paul here joyfully acknowledges.
sustaining
But he
in his
the
is
This he has always had.
The Lesson of Suffering
the climax of the series of contrasts.
Paul
not merely resigned to suffering and persecution.
is
Others, not Christians, have
more
or less success.
his sufferings as fiUing
*Denney, in
*
loco.
Stanley, in loco.
come
Paul has
to that state with
come
to rejoice in
up that which
is
lacking of
*Cf. Gal. i. 13.
Kataballo.
*
THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS
156
He
the afflictions of Christ.'
killed all the
is
day
"
So then Paul
is
Hke the experience of Jesus.
is
always bearing about in the body
the dying of Jesus."
on
This continual exposure
long.^
to the peril of death
He
^
has no complaint to
lower of Jesus, the soldier of the Cross
*'
:
who hve are always delivered unto death
The
^
sake."
make
of the business of the fol-
It is part
this score.
He
dying daily .^
is
soldier does not flinch
For we
for Jesus'
when
the bul-
whizz by his head nor when they strike his
lets
knows
Paul
Besides,
heart.
which come upon him daily
him
are gradually killing
of
his
work
the pains, the
dehverance,
and soon he must
strength,
in
sufferings
for Jesus
perils,
the
excitement of danger and the
spiritual pressure, the
excitement
;
" the
that
are
die."
wearing
^
He,
out
his
like Jesus,
was facing a certain death, hastened by the very
work
if
he had
said,
with us wherever
body.'
"
life
we
his
are living corpses.
we go
is
of Christ
hand was
" It
a purpose in
is
We
Col.
i.
24.
*2 Cor. iv. 10.
« Denney, in loco.
is
bear
the burden of the dead
Thus
it is
us, " that
the
it all.
reproduced in
may be manifested in our body." ^
that the man who lost his life would
also of Jesus
Jesus had said
»
*
But there
'
that the
life
But
plough and he would not turn back.
to the
as
which he was engaged.
in
9 1
Cor. XV. 31.
Rom.
3
viii.
62 Cor.
"^
Stanley, in loco.
^
2 Cor.
iv.
36.
Ii.
iv. 10.
THE HUMAN LIMITATIONS
find
Christian
peated
the mystic symbol
of
His death and resurrection are
re-
" Christ, then,
it.'
life
;
is
His people.
in
since Christ
had
when viewed
.
.
Pain was sacred,
.
Life
also suffered.
became grand
as a repetition of the life of Christ."
Besides, " death worketh in us, but
There
divine energy
is
^
who were
life
in death itself
dying before Paul was working out
the saints
157
by
benefited
in you."
^
^
and the slow
for the
good
of
Paul
his ministry.
does not look on suffering as an accident, but as a
matter of divine appointment that thus the fullness
of the
vin
^
life
of Christ
calls this
That
It is
is
may be
presented to men.^
Cal-
saying of Paul in verse twelve ironical.
true of
i
Corinthians
iv. 8,
but hardly here.
part of the equipment of every preacher that he
enter the valley of the
shadow of
Only thus
death.
he qualified to bind up broken hearts, to give a
is
who need
sympathetic heart to those
mere words.
rows
The Messiah was
and acquainted with
Paul's
intellect,
it
is
greater than his head.^
weak
1
9
'
*
'
8
?
Who
is
that
to be a
grief.
more than
man
of sor-
probable that his heart was
"
Who
is
weak and
caused to stumble and
I
I
am
2 Cor.
xi. 29.
not
burn not ? " ^
Matt, X. 39.
F. W. Robertson, " Life and Letters," etc., p. 631.
^ Denney, in
2 Cor. iv. 12.
Energeital.
In loco. Ironice dictum.
Stalker, " The Preacher and His Models," p. 159.
•*
was
Brilliant as
loco.
THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS
158
"
Our mouth
heart
is
open unto you,
is
enlarged.
believed,
I
The
also
spirit
of faith
God
is
God
of
is
useless for
"
;
we
also
Paul has ap-
^
his
own
case.
It
is
Dis-
and renders the
just this trust in Christ
Without
No
positive note
is
trust there
by the
struck
aesthetics of social service
believe,
and therefore we
one does not believe,
let
It is
away about the beauty
to chatter
of love for Christ does not burn in his
We also
not
speak
does not love and trust Christ.
him
duty and the
fire
^
the channel through which flows the power
who
minister
to us."
essential to the preacher.
into the earthen vessel.
no conviction.
is
speak."
cuts the nerve of faith
preacher powerless.
which
we
I
words of the Psalmist^ to
plied the
trust of
Open your hearts
.
and therefore did
and therefore
believe,
Corinthians, our
The Power of Conviction
5.
**
.
.
O
him
when the
own heart.
also speak."
be
at least
attempt to expound his doubts.
of
^
silent
If
and
People care
nothing for them and are not profited by them.
When
the doubter comes back to Christ, then he has
a message for men.^
"
The
in a firm
minister of Christ speaks
conviction of divine power
in faith
;
arising
from the Resurrection
that
is,
*
2 Cor.
3
Psa. cxvi. 10, but
Cf. George Romanes,
'
—
faith in the deliver-
vii. 2, II.
LXX
««
cxv.
i,
Thoughts on Religion."
22 Cor,
iv.
13.
2 Cor.
iv.
13.
•»
THE HUMAN LIMITATIONS
Observe the
ing or redeeming power of God.
ence between
itself to
but his
co7iviction,
Nothing gives
others.
Real flame alone kindles other flame."
that will speak and
be heard
will
So Paul
^
felt
"
:
preach not the Gospel."
^
For woe
A
much
so
man
Men
*'
life.
with
For we
unto me,
if I
in the service
with profound conviction will not
be hunting
for
something to say as be eager
Paul has a contempt
heart.
but
necessity was laid
The
an opportunity to say what
for
It is
which
we saw and
is
upon him which drove him forward
of Christ.
life
'
also.
cannot but speak the things which
heard."
differ-
and theological knowledge.
this
not a minister's wisdom,
imparts
I59
divorced from experience.^
for
fills
mere
mind and
his
intellectualism
The preacher should be
constantly engaged in " Great Reading," the reading
of great books, and not be frightened
by the bug-
bear of simplicity into making his sermons thin and
But no amount of reading nor
watery.^
brilliance will take the place of
and
thorough conviction
sincerity.
6.
"
intellectual
For
all
Thanksgiving
things are for your sakes, that the grace,
being multiplied through the many,
W.
Robertson, « Life and Letters,"
1
F.
3
Acts
4
Stalker,
&
Ibid., pp.
p.
' I
"The Preacher and His Models,"
f.
cause the
629.
iv. 20.
252
may
p. 253.
Cor.
IX.
16
THIS TREASURE IN EARTHEN VESSELS
l3o
thanksgiving to abound unto the glory of God."
God
Paul expects that
That
Christ Jesus.
be grateful
in them.
for
will
They
shortcomings.^
thanksgiving.
these
be a joyful scene.
will
for the ministry
earthen
is
and
God
posthese
all
merits
most cases conveyed
Suppose
we had no
Thought along
that line
abundant ground for thankfulness
them
as
they
are.
It
might
Let us then praise God for His grace
for His ministers of grace.
thanksgiving
*'
in
vessels.
for the ministers, taking
worse.
before
It is
with
Certainly the grace of
That grace
will surely afford
far
his
Paul will
thank God for Paul.
preachers of the Gospel.
be
him and
what God has wrought through him
be thankful
sible to
^
of heaven
together at the court
converts
in
will present
^
articulate,
We
must make our
not taciturn,^ that
it
may
abound unto the glory of God," may overflow^ and
bless others.
The
in the light of the
minister bathes his heart and
the face of Jesus Christ.
upon
others,
life
knowledge of the glory of God
As he
reflects that
in
glory
he adds to the praise of the glory of
God among men. " A minister is no true minister
who does not see wonder in the child in the cradle
and
in
the peasant in the
field."
Yes, and
*^
who
does not win the love of peasant and child.
1
*
'
2 Cor. iv. 15.
Cf. I Cor. iii. 22 ; Phil. i. 19.
« Stalker, " The Preacher
Perisseuo.
*
<
Parasthei.
Denney, in
loco.
and His Models," p. 283.
VI
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY—THE
BLE CONSOLATION
INVISI
{2 Cor. tv, 16-V. 8)
" While
we
look not at the things which
are seen, but at the things which are
not seen."
—2
Cor. iv. 18,
VI
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY—THE INVISIBLE
CONSOLATION
"
TE
'V "W"
%/%/
not," Paul
faint
He
one.
from verse
faces all the facts of
no ground
sees
repeats
for despair.
life
Paul
and
is
not
yet an old man, though probably the marks of care
and
and exposure were upon
toil
his face.
He was
discouraged before Titus came, but that was not his
He
normal mood.
Face of Christ and
wood
He
robin.
caught a fresh glimpse of the
his soul has
been singing
like the
has taken stock of his ministry in
He
comparison with that of the Old Covenant.
has looked afresh at his
looked death
Once more Paul
all
that
the most sacred
What
is
He
has
not dismayed.
brought face to face with the
is
life.
it
shortcomings.
but he
in the face,
eternal verities of
look and
own
He
does not shrink from the
He
means.
ventures to interpret
of the preacher's
realities
weighs most in the scales of
life,
heart.
in the minis-
ter's life ?
I
.
The Growth of the Inward
Though our outward man
inward man is renewed day by
"
*
2 Cor.
iv. 1 6.
163
is
Man
decaying, yet our
day."
*
There
is
no
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY
l64
and death.
rebellion in Paul's heart as he faces old age
One
of the most beautiful spectacles in
that of an old minister with a
is
has learned
how
benediction to
grow
to
Paul
the world
heart,
old gracefully
about him.
all
all
young
and be a
constantly
is
surrounded by a band of young preachers
'•
willing to
There
ister
follow
him through
no " dead-line
is
becomes the
richer he
is
and
spiritual
The
knowledge
at eighty years of
at fifty ,^
A man's
decay comes when he ceases
to study, to work, to exercise, to grow.
ister's
*
older a min-
in spiritual
age was a greater personality than
intellectual
and water."
fire
" for Paul.
Alexander Maclaren
and power.
fill
These young ministers are
him.
with
fight
who
joy as he sees them enter the thick of
his heart with
the
who
duty not to be prodigal of
to use his physical force with
It is a
min-
his physical strength,
wisdom and power
for
God, but a minister can be too particular with himself for
any use
in the world.
It
out than to rust out, though there
for
is
is
better to wear
no special
one to hurry up the process of decay.
" Paul
not mistake, and did not hide from
could
himself,
the
upon him.
call
But
effect
which
He saw
it
apostolic
was kiiUng him.
old long before his time.
"The
his
He
work had
He
was
was a sorely broken
Preacher and His Models," p. i6i.
are guilty of a crime in closing the door of usefulness in the face of the greatest men because old.
»
Stalker,
2
Some churches
INVISIBLE CONSOLATION
THE
man
The
strength.
their
crumbUng."
many
is
bound
become
enemies had
his
The end
ways.
visible
Decay ^ has
outward man."
in " the
man
"
mark^
their
left
to be death sooner or later.^
uses " the old
^
man
in
Paul has
^
" elsewhere, though-
the sense of the lower
Here he means the material nature,
fleshly nature.
physical abode
the
visibly
of this gradual dissolution
not spoken of " the outward
he
was
vessel
earthen
The exposures and hardships thrust
*
upon Paul by
in
are in the fullness of
many
an age when
at
165
of the spirit, the body.
The
The
minister has his physical trials as have others.
Paul's
missionaries in all ages give a vivid picture of
case, as, for instance,
But the consolation
Pen-La.
Paul
" sustained
is
Adoniram Judson
ward man
real
and
glorious hope."
by a
renewed day by
is
is
at
day.«
"
^
Oung-
glorious.
The m-
The more the
^
It is
marble wastes, the more the statue grows."
man decays.
true of all men that the outward
"
Time
tires
the stoutest runner, crumbles the com-
pactest wall."
there
This
1
*
'
^^
But
it
is
not, alas, true of all that
man."
a daily refreshment of " the inner
It is a
expression he uses twice elsewhere."
is
» Stanley, in loco.
« Gal. vi. 17.
Denney, in loco.
Diaphtheiretai.
The condition here assumes the reality of the decay.
Bernard, in loco, e 2 Cor. iv. lb.
Col. iii. 9.
''
Cf Eph. iv. 22
mjoco.
»Line attributed to Michael Angelo. Cf. Stanley,
" ^Ro"^- v". 2 Eph. lu.
»o Denney, in loco.
6
;
}
16.
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY
I66
most expressive figure
He
nature.
new man
uses " the
" as
man
and moral
for the spiritual
"
in contrast
'
with
new life in
One who is in Christ is a
new creature (creation).^ One puts off the old man
and puts on the new man like a new garment.^ He
does not here mean the new birth by " renewed " as
" the
old
a description of the
Christ after regeneration.
he does by another word
Ephesians
in
iv.
23/ nor
is
he exactly contemplating the progressive restoration
God by
of the image of
in Colossians
iii.
power
daily supply of spiritual
He
one whose youth
as
is
Each
the work of sanctification as
Here Paul
10.®
morning
is
apostoHc service."*
for
renewed
like the eagle.
fresh supply of grace like
brings
He
manna from heaven.
thinking of " the
is
is
ready for the new day
by reason of the new and
never-failing store of
energy which
spiritual
"
When
am
I
communicated
is
am
weak, then
strength not his own.
I
to
strong "
With Paul
it is
^
him.
with a
the triumph
of the moral and spiritual forces over the material
He
decay.
is
strengthened with might by the Spirit
The
in the inner man.^
vital
God
contact with
at disease, decay,
»
Cf, Col.
3
Eph.
^
Cf.
T
2 Cor.
iv.
iii.
24
Rom.
Col.
xii. 2.
xii. 10.
who
"
10.
can laugh
The Lord stood by
2
iii.
thus lives in
He
never old.
and death.
10.
;
is
minister
cf, 2 Cor.
iii.
17.
also Tit. iii. 5.
Denney, in loco.
< Cf.
^
8
Eph.
iii.
16.
THE
INVISIBLE CONSOLATION
me, and strengthened me,"
end
Paul will say at the
*
he looks death squarely
as
says Paul, "
eneth me."
can do
I
This
^
all
167
things in
Yea,
in the face.
Him
that strength-
who
the mighty preacher, he
is
puts the chief accent on the development of spiritual
muscle and
fibre for
the work of Christ.
|
The Work of Affliction
2.
"
For our
worketh
Paul soars above
all
notion of controversy
way
his
^
eternal
with the
on the
to a height
On
above cloud and storm.
far
moment,
With these wonderful words
and wings
mountain
for the
is
more and more exceedingly an
weight of glory." 3
Judaizers
which
light affliction,
for us
this glory-
crowned summit Paul stands serene and balances the
affliction of his earthly
He
his.
is
is
ministry with the glory which
Hke one rapt
dictates this sentence " fast
He
is
interpreting his
in vision
and probably
and with beating heart."
and ministry
life
^
hght
in the
of the Cross and the light of the Risen and Glorious
Christ.^
other.
He
Every word
The
affliction^
does not so
is
is
here weighed against an-
matched with the
much minimize
nify the glory.
It
by the way, now
that the end
*2Tim.
2
iv. 17.
<
Denney, in
'
Cf.
Rom.
loco.
viii.
matters
17.
the affliction as
mag-
and
stress
little,
is
the
toil
in sight.
Phil, iy, 1^.
^Dgnney, in
glory.^
loco.
3
«
* Cf.
Standpoint
2 Cor. iv. 17.
Cf. Rev. v. 5 f.
Rom.
viii.
18.
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY
1 68
much
determines
for us
our troubles
if
life's
values.
The words
" light "
He
ness of the affliction."^
word
view of
and " weight
*
It is really "
in the other.
The
heavy weight and glory
like a
The
glory seems to Paul actually
heavy burden, so great and gracious
The word
for
weight "
*'
is
Paul
The
drowns
notion
probably
is
with " future."
the
^
It will
moment
"
^
" present "
»
Cf. Matt. xi. 30.
Classic idiom, article
Matt. xi. 30.
Matt. XX. 12.
The
*
There
is
in
Aionion.
^
opposition
2
is
confined to
perpetual with
is
no way
to challenge
Burden.
Cf. Gal. vi. 2.
and neuter adjective
^
Hebrew word (Gen.
means both to be heavy and to be glorious.
• Here only in the New Testament.
'
" eternal."
seem short from the point
the " now-time," while the glory
8
who
Once more,
in
of view of eternity, but the affliction
the unending future.
it all is.
the one used of those
bore the heat and burden of the day.^
" for
al-
Jesus had said that His bur-
ways what they seem.
light.^
^
afflic-
seems intangible hke a cloud, but things are not
den was
"
the light-
seems to hold the
hand and the glory
for affliction suggests a
trifles
can use Paul's
difficulty in catching this
stand over against each other.
tion in one
We
!
turned
is
What
very astonishing.
seem then
will
we have
eyes
is
here looking at
is
If the telescope
earth with heaven's eyes.
round, the effect
Paul
all.
like a substantive.
xviii.
8
20; Job
vi.
Meyer, Bernard.
3)
INVISIBLE CONSOLATION
THE
the noble sentiment here expressed,
there
no glory
is
But even
all
Thus one
the most of the minister's reward
That
beyond,
in
that
lies in
sees that
the future,
the glory to be given by Jesus.
He
the consolation of the true preacher.
is
does not enter the ministry to
all
make money,
to get
Paul himself had turned his
honour, power, fame.
back on
it.
come
tribulation, the glory to
would more than make amends.
in the
mean
Far from
in the ministry here.
were
if it
one holds to
if
Paul does not
a belief in immortality.
169
the allurements of
way
dered to Christ on the
to
when he
life
He
Damascus.
He
in the least complaining now.
surrenis
not
does not admit
that the preacher should not have adequate remuneration.
He
often argued that he should.*
salary could offer
ministry
if
pay enough
that were
Men
all.
for the
But no
work
of the
to-day receive salaries
who are
character and worth as men for
the world with ministers who do
of a hundred thousand dollars a year
comparable
in
real welfare of
receive a twentieth of that sum.
dent gets
all
his
ceives most of
next world.
pay
in
minister
is
trust " presi-
The
minister re-
and most of that
man and
entitled to a decent
1
Cf.
I
Cor.
ix.
the
not
'*
just this difference
ence between the material
The
money.
his in glory,
But
A
not
is all
in the
the differ-
the spiritual
man.
competency and
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY
lyo
man who
a church should be ashamed to stint the
breaks to them
the bread of
money could pay Paul
He
did
it
of decay
**
The law
—
And
this
being worked out thereby."
"
trouble.
abideth alone
He
;
but
that loveth his
his life in
shall also
Me, him
has glory as
will the
its fruit
the Cross of Jesus.
to
"
fall
loseth
let
him
My
is
it
Paul's philosus.
and
die,
much
beareth
;
is
the glory for
into the earth
world shall keep
this
am, there
I
serve
This
out"^
is
afflic-
—the glory which
if it die, it
life
any man serve Me,
If
for-
Hfe out
is
the soother of
is
^
works
It
Except a grain of wheat
it
and Christ had not
of our humanity
one steadfast thought
this
ophy of
he had undergone.
the type and exemplification of which
;
the Cross of Christ.
tion
for all that
" for Christ's sake,"
gotten him.
But no amount of
life.
fruit.
and he that hateth
it
unto
Me
follow
servant be
Father honour."
and where
if
;
eternal.
life
;
^
any man
Affliction
only when borne in the
spirit of
Trouble drives many to despair,
shame, to sensual excess and stupor, to death.
But go and
He
tell
him
of the law in Christ ;
has borne the Cross
tell
him
and there
is
the pe-
culiar Christian feeling of comfort, with all
its
tender-
that
ness,
humanity,
;
zxvA personality y ^
But Paul has not
seen the whole of this mountain of glory
W.
Robertson,
»
F.
'
Katergazetai.
*
F.
W.
««
Life
and Letters,"
—to change
p. 633.
3
Robertson, " Life and Letters," p. 633.
John
xii.
24-26.
THE INVISIBLE CONSOLATION
The working goes on
his figure.
exceedingly."
*
He
Hterally piles
in store for
is
him and every
more and more
"
Ossa on Pelion
in
the glory which
effort to describe the vastness of
an
17I
He
toiler for Christ.
loves to pile adverbs on top of adverbs like one big
There
boulder on top of another in a riot of power.^
is
the failure of language to compass the greatness of
his conception.
rest.^
But the eye of
Paul has expounded this interpretation of
much
elsewhere also with
3.
"
can supply the
faith
power.^
The Vision of the Unseen
While we look not
at the things
but at the things which are not seen
which are seen are temporal
are not seen are eternal."^
distance like a
life
;
which are seen,
:
for the things
but the things which
Paul
is
watchman peering
looking^ into the
far
ahead.
It is
the calm triumphant contemplation of a conqueror.
«*
We
can well believe that the pressure was relaxed,
and that the pen moved more
steadily
and slowly
over the contemplative words that follow."^
more than a glimpse
or a
momentary rhapsody
of
means.
the
spiritual exaltation that Paul here
whole world-outlook^ that
>
«
is
Cf. Phil.
20.
^
6
;
iii.
14.
'
Denney, in
loco.
It is
under consideration.
2 cf_ Eph_ jii,
From excess to excess.
Rom. viii. 26-39 Eph, iii. 14-21.
4 Cf.
It is
^
i Cor. ii. 9
2 Cor. iv. 18.
cf.
f.
Welt-anschauung.
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY
172
No
move
other standpoint will
dergo the
which he
to
sacrifices
the preacher to uncalled.
is
Moses,
whose glory Paul has been considering, chose rather to
" share ill-treatment with the people of
God, than to
enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season
;
accounting
the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures of
Egypt
;
By
of reward.
he looked unto the recompense
for
faith
the wrath of the king
who
is
invisible."
he forsook Egypt, not fearing
he endured
for
:
Moses, the greatest
Paul.
as seeing
Him
These words seem written about
*
man
in the
Jewish Dis-
pensation, as the Jews counted greatness, was great
when God appeared
just because,
to
him
at the
Burn-
ing Bush, he recognized the Invisible God, and placed
the Unseen above the seen.
So he stood
in
the
sands of Egypt and cast his lot with the people of
God
in their
poverty and weakness and led them out
and on through the wilderness towards the Land of
And
Promise.
what may, he
is
sacrifice of
you
2
for
that
»
is
is
^
true.
xi.
and
faith, I joy,
It is
and
am
offered
rejoice with
not merely the power to see
is
in Paul's
The preacher should be
whole, not
25-27.
if I
most gladly spend and be spent
in the distance that
in its
Heb.
your
I will
your souls."
what
life
«'
" Yea,
content.
upon the
all."
Come
Paul too followed the gleam.
in a
2
mind, though
able to look at
fragment or section.
Phil,
ii,
17.
^2 Cor.
It is
xii. 15.
THE INVISIBLE CONSOLATION
work
part, a large part, of the minister's
to a just view of
strife
But there
life.
to help peo-
away the cob-
ple to see things as they are, to brush
webs and the dust of business
is
more here than
Much
the future reward of eternal glory.
men back
to call
;
that
is
from the nature of the
case, in
material sense.^
The
duty
visible, principle
is
seen
invisible,
is
invisible,
is
any
in-
is
The
invisible.
is
un-
and best things are not seen nor handled.
greatest
They
soul
invisible, love
73
1
" Finally, brethren,
are the things of the spirit.
whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are
honourable, whatsoever things are
just,
whatsoever
things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatso-
ever things are of
;
if
there be any virtue,
there be any praise, think
and
if
It
just because
is
good report
it is
on these
things."
man
so hard for the average
catch and keep this spiritual interpretation of
that the call
so great to-day for
is
the ministry.
There
The
man who
seer
is
the
prophetic vision
to
grip
is
is
conflict of the
The
seen.
ministers wish
if
are temporary.*
is
triumphant.
Robertson, " Life and Letters,"
»
F.
»
Phil. iv. 8.
Out
The
of the
nineteenth century the spiritual in-
terpretation of the universe
W.
what he has
essential to-day
^
life
of vision in
and hold the consciences of men.
things that are seen
to
use for any other sort.
little
tells
men
^
>
Cf.
Rom.
i.
20.
p.
" In the
633.
* Cf.
Heb.
xi. 25.
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY
174
We
beginning God."
The
with God.
come back
universe which
merely the expression of God's
is
As
not see with our eyes.
We start
to that.
we
see with our eyes
will
which we do
a matter of fact the in-
visible things are clearly seen with the mind's
the eye
sees
is
Paul
open.*
He
is
sense.
He
is
if
He
gazing at the eternal.
is
beyond the things of
idealist.
eye
a practical
not, to be sure, using metaphysical
terms in a fine-spun distinction between nomnena and
phenofne7ia.
He
His eye
terms.
deeper
goes
on God and
is
out of sight, " looking
perfecter
" Distrust of the super-
^
on the present and the
and the pride of a
self-styled
common
done much to rob Christianity of
to blind
it
much
^
heavenly vision.
but
we should
We
need our
have
It is all
" other-worldHness "
part of impractical visionaries, but most
this
practical,
sense,
this vast horizon,
to this heavenly vision."
well to decry too
All else sinks
Christ.
unto Jesus the author and
of our faith."
natural, insistence
than philosophical
feet
see the heavens opened.
very
on the
men need
on the
earth,
We are
not
going to make earth an Eden without the vision of
Eden.
All social reform should be linked on to the
spiritual
impulse, else
pass away.
When
it
about time, the preacher
»
Rom.
i.
20.
»
too will be transitory and
other
all
Heb.
men clamour
may be
xii. 2.
allowed to
»
so
much
call
Denney, in
men
loco.
THE
INVISIBLE CONSOLATION
to the contemplation of eternity
and now
in
view of
and
175
to a
life
here
eternity.
The Earthly Tabernacle
For we know that if the earthly house of our
be dissolved, we have a building from
4.
*'
tabernacle
in the
God, a house not made with hands, eternal
face to face
heavens."^ These words bring Paul
struggles.
with death as the outcome of his
overtakes him.
Jesus may come before death
is
his sincere desire.
He
really groans
^
True,
That
with a pas-
upon^ with the habiat the Second
tation ^ from heaven which will be his
then.
Coming of Christ without death, if he lives till
sionate longing
This
is
to be clothed
3
of
the probable meaning of this mixture
which was natural to Paul since the tent
metaphors
cloth used
by him
As
garments.^
could express
body
at the
in
making
tents
was also used
for
a matter of fact no single metaphor
that Paul wishes to say.^
all
Second Coming
will
old without the decay of death.
The new
come upon« the
He
is
not anxious
^»
Herodotus
new.^
to drop the old, but to have the
after death, appeared
tells of a Corinthian queen who,
burn dresses for
to her husband and asked him to
1
2 Cor. V.
'2 Cor.
I.
'
v. 2, 4.
4Cf.Johnxxi.7.
6
Stanley, in loco.
Cf. Psa. xciv. 2.
Ependusasthai.
10 Herodotus, V. 92.
Cf 2 Cor.
ix. 14.
,S^-J^^I^'
/.
' Bernard, xn loco.
»
^
,
,
Cf. Stanley, in loco.
2 Lor.
v. 4.
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY
176
her so that she
bodied
*'
spirit.
may have
clothing for her disem-
Paul has no such crude idea as that.
Knowledge and ignorance, doubt and
remarkably blended
what
apostle doubts as to
of."
He
'
may come
first,
not certain
is
He
first.
^
apostle
the
of;
certain
men now
all
are certain
that he will die, for Jesus
certain that,
is
he has already the
more
The
these words.
in
what many men are not
knows
certitude, are
if
death comes
body
to a heavenly
title
far
With measured
glorious than the earthly one.
words he balances the tent^ which contains
his spirit
here on earth with the house
be his in
*
which
will
His business as a tent-maker makes the
heaven.
metaphor very pertinent to
The wanderings
Paul.
of the Israelites in the wilderness
on
in tents
their
way
when they dwelt
Land
to the Promised
The
cur to one naturally.
tent
is
struck^ at the
breaking up of camp or by wind or storm.
therefore temporary while the house
is
The
eternal.
God
is
house
tent
is
of cloth.
not
on
is
in heaven.
The
made with hands
At every
is
earth,^ while the
tent
is
also oc-
The
tent
stable
and
house from
tangible while the
as Paul
made
the tents
point death brings a blessing in
Maclaren, " Expositions of Holy Scripture," in loco.
Third class condition. Cf. Robertson, «« Short Grammar of the
Greek New Testament," p. 163.
*
'
3
Skenos, not skene.
«
Torn down.
Cf. Gal.
ii.
18.
*
Oikia.
«
Cf. Phil.
ii.
10.
INVISIBLE CONSOLATION
THE
1 77
comparison with the earthly tabernacle of the
The note
know
Paul
him.2
of confidence rings in Paul's words, "
worst and
more than conqueror through Him
that loves
we
that
There
is
have."
Let death do
^
perhaps an echo in Paul's
body
the wonderful lyric of the spiritual
organism which he here
understands that
the eternal
memory
in
i
of
Corin-
Paul does not despise the wonder-
thians XV. 42-49.
ful
We
its
^
is
Spirit.
it
which
spirit
calls
a tent, but he justly
only the temporary abode of
is
to live with Christ in
is
heaven.
At Home With
5.
"
We
are of good courage,
say,
rather to be absent from the body,
with the Lord."
ness.^
He
is
He
feels in
content, that
1
^
6
New
'
home
^
wondrous
2
as are the
by the constant
He
is
won-
pres-
thinking of what
with the Lord, to
Him
and look
Clear conviction.
2 Cor. V. 8.
Ekdeineo.
at
home
Face of Christ which he has
ence with Jesus in heaven.
be to be
to be at
a sense absent^ from the Lord.
derful glimpses of the
will
and
away from home and, gracious
feet of Jesus
and are willing
Paul has a heavenly homesick-
^
here, they will be far surpassed
it
Lord
the
I
sit at
the
in the face^ to his heart's
face
which looked
Present tense.
^
at
Rom.
him on
viii.
37.
Bernard, in loco.
Greek word occurs only in this passage in the
5
The
Testament.
Endemeo.
^ Pros.
THE WEIGHT OF GLORY
178
Then what
the Damascus road.
swallowed up of
He
life.*
mortal will be
is
has even here and
now
the earnest^ of the Spirit as a precious foretaste of
what
is
God
the present and
His
own good
There
time.
is
He
has the conception of
John
in
foe.
It is
the absent one home.
rest,
meanwhile, he
of
folding
is
his
He
to depart
ready
'*
for
will
many
not a
and be with
work.
welcome
a time sigh for
He
Christ.
is
an inspiration
But,
has no notion
hands and doing nothing.^
" weight of glory "
full
at the
The
end of a
day's work, not an air-castle to take the place of
duty here and now.
Paul's
other-worldliness took
the form of making him more aggressive against
sin
»
is
rather the portal to heaven, and Jesus
stands at the door with outstretched hand to
home and
It
upon
row him over the dark
cold river with Charon to
It is
that.
that Paul looks
death as a friend rather than as a
waters.
1-3, that of
xiv.
no richer word than
good courage^
therefore with
the joy of
will bring the full fruition in
heaven that Jesus gives
home.
God wrought
in store for him.
and wrong
2 Cor.
«
V. 4.
* Cf. Phil.
i.
23.
all
in this world.
Cf. 2 Cor.
i.
^
22.
s
2 Cor.
Cf. Phil.
i.
v. 6, 8.
24^26.
VII
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM—THE
PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
{2 Cor. V. p-2i)
**
Wherefore we make
home or absent,
unto Him."
at
it
to
our aim, whether
be well pleasing
—2 Cor.
V. g.
VII
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM—THE
PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
Paul's Ambition
I.
TTE
«"m" "V"
\/\/
are ambitious to be well pleasing unto
Him."
'
Come
life,
come
death, Paul's
Am-
ambition was one and the same.
bition
is
a word in ill-repute.
umbo, both.
office,
It
The Roman
comes from the Latin
politicians, eager to get
could get on both sides of a proposition, to
They would face both
was applied to a man who would
curry favour with the people.
ways
at once.
It
go any lengths
a
is
good
to carry his selfish ends.
side to the word,
Enghsh word
is.
nobler origin.
It
bad
The Greek
means
^
But there
as the origin of the
word has a much
be fond of honour.
to
One
actuated by a love of honour to strive for noble
is
Paul exhorts the Thessalonians to be ambi-
ends.
tious
to
be
quiet.^
He
is
himself
preach the Gospel where other
ambitious to
men have
not been
so as not to build upon another man's foundation.^
With Paul
^
2 Cor. V.
4
Rom,
it is
9.
a matter of honour
^
Philo-th7ieomai.
XV. 20.
^
to please Christ.
3 i
6
i8z
Thess.
iv. ii.
Meyer, in
loco.
l82
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM
Surely this
is
Since
a perfectly legitimate ambition.*
he surrendered to Christ that has been the master
motive of his
Hfe, to
be well pleasing to Him.
This
deep undertone comes to the surface often in his
He
Epistles.^
is
hke the musician who cares naught
applause of the audience
for the
who
eye of approval from the master
He
under orders and
is
his great taskmaster.
Lord."
his constant
He
«•
to the obedience of Christ."
aim
is
to please
me
the
is
thought into captivity
He
^
by the meekness and gentleness of
no comfort
taught him.
that judgeth
Paul brought " every
^
he can catch the
if
stands entranced
Christ.^
There
is
in Paul for the nerveless, spineless minis-
who is afraid of his shadow, who runs at a whisper, who lacks virility, who speaks peace when there
is no peace, who is satisfied with things as they are,
who watches for the praise of the groundlings, who
ter
trims his
sail
to every
to popular taste,
The
wind that blows, who
however maudlin and
caters
sensational.
minister without ambition will accomplish noth-
ing for
God
or man, only
let his
ambition not be the
feverish restlessness to get another man's place
an unwillingness to do a
full
Here
"He
>
a true word
is
:
^
man's work where he
will
make but
" HcBc una ambitio legitima,'' Bengel.
xii. i f.;
xiv. i8; Eph. v. lo ; Phil.
>Rom.
Tit.
ii.
3 I
•
and
iv.
l8;
is.
a poor
Col.
iii.
lo;
9.
Cor.
iv. 4.
Stalker,
««
4
2 Cor. x.
62 Cor.
5.
The Preacher and His Models,"
p. 207.
x. I.
THE preacher's MASTER PASSION
minister
who would
and man, even
if
not be an earnest worker for
who do
Christ.
The
not have a sporadic ambition
trouble
is
to hold one's self to
So many com-
high ideal year in and year out.
this
pHcations will
work, so
so
arise,
many
time
rapidly the
does not get the work that
are not
visits
made
highest.
The
of his toy.
who
The sermon
ought to have. The
slips
it
A
get on.
will
by.
fresh look at the
comes
to the father for approval
meet Christ
minister will one day
work.
will inspect his
Praise
is
praise from Christ will be sweetest of
"
Un-
spur one on to the best and the
child
The
interruptions to one's
that are clamouring for attention.
The work does not
wearied Christ
God
There are
he were not a minister."
few preachers
to please
1 83
Well done, good and
sweet, but the
all, if
faithful servant
;
He
says
:
enter thou
into the joy of thy Lord."
2.
"
The Judgment- Seat of Christ
For we must
all
be made manifest before the
judgment-seat of Christ."
*
not confined to preachers.
literary plural freely,
" all."
2
The
1
2 Cor. V. 10.
*
Cf. Stanley, in loco.
is
Paul has been using the
but here he
point to press
no wise exempt.
This solemn outlook
is
is
careful to include
that ministers are in
The Bema ^ was a
2
lofty seat at the
^^ both living and dead.
WELL PLEASING UNTO HLM
l84
The judge
end of the Basilica on a high platform.
The
could thus be seen towering above the crowd.
more common
But
this
claimed
Each one
firmation in sin.
receives
*
the con-
is
the things done
In this sense God's punishments are
body.
in the
Jesus had
Judge and Paul understands that
Part of the penalty for sin
fact clearly.
a throne.*
is
a most impressive picture.^
is
to be the
^
judgment
figure for the
not arbitrary, but are the inevitable development of
the man's real
**
self.^
that shall he also reap."
him be made
word
We
Whatsoever a man soweth,
filthy still."
2 Corinthians
in
"
^
'
v.
in the presence^ of Christ.
describes
ers
who
down upon
he that
is filthy, let
The key- word in Paul's
^
is " made manifest."
lo
must be made manifest,
truth will beat
And
like
an open book, right
The
white hght of eternal
us
and our works.
Paul
the pitiful phght of those religious teach-
^^
will
themselves be saved so as by
fire,
but
the whole fabric of their life-work and teaching will
be burned up
There
wood, hay, or stubble.
like
no reward to the preacher who builds with that
of material.
The
1
Cf. Matt. XXV. 31
'
Matt. XXV. 31
»
Cf. F.
8
Gal.
'
Rev.
thing."
W.
ft".
;
;
ordeal of
Rev. xx,
fire is
before the
ii.
xxvi. 64.
Robertson, " Life and Letters,"
is
sort
work of
Rom.
xiv. 10.
'
Cf.
*
Gets back in
full.
p. 639.
vi. 7.
xxii. 11,
«<
Denney, in
^YiQTo. phancros.
In
this
world we have not seen the
last
of any-
loco.
^
Etnprosthen,
>o I
Cor.
iii.
12-15.
THE PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
185
Indeed, so solemn
every preacher and Christian.
is
Paul's sense of responsibility as a preacher of the
Gospel that he buffeted
his
He
^
rejected."
" lest
by any means,
myself should be
I
took no chances with his
own
Ministers of the Gospel have become Papists,
they once professed to
and
unto us
pungently said
to others
be sons of perdition.
life
No man
he doth not
if
sermon well
preaches his
first
preach
as with all
to his
it
men
is
^
There
is
truth in
deadliest Pharisaism
is
not hypocrisy
tremendous responsibility
man from
is
The
is
duty
is
Luke
At any
him
To
rate
and the lashing of con-
we must
all
stand beside ^ the
^ i
Cor. ix. 27.
1
Cf.
3
Spurgeon, " Lectures to Students," Second Series, p. 43.
Hoyt, " The Preacher," p. 24.
" Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind," p. 175.
4
6
* Cf.
Rom.
xviii. 5.
xiv. 10.
to
shirk
to incur the penalty of cowardice,
loss of self-respect
science.
the
result of
entering the ministry, but to incite
call of
which
it is
;
:
not to dissuade a
his noblest endeavour for Christ's sake.
the
own
" the pathos
what Forsyth^ says
unconscious Pharisaism of unreahty."
this
John Owen
^
the disproportion betwen the promise and
the reality."
The
*«
be the case."
this
With preachers
heart."
of
if
:
infi-
We may be apostles,
prize.
yet, like Judas, turn out to
Woe
soul.
and plotted the destruction of what
dels, freethinkers,
"
body
have preached to others,
after I
*'
'
:
;
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM
1 86
God
judgment-seat of
there
but
no creature that
is
Him
before
us
whom we
with
all
On
:
His work.
in
who
Epicurus wrote to
enough theatre one
is
to the other."
"And
The King
our Theatre.
audience, and His eye
how we comport
upon
is
ourselves
He
us.
upon the
is
stage,
His Face we dare not play an ignoble
commendation
is
Persuading
men."
try to persuade men."
but not with
all.
concerning Jesus.
One
observing
and before
part.
His
Men
we
Paul probably means, "
^
He
^
is
successful with some,
At Athens some mocked.^
Some
With
mind he seeks
generation.
*
Heb,
3
2 Cor. V. II.
^
Acts xxviii. 23
iv.
believed,
At
and some disbe-
incentive before Paul at this
fear of the Lord.
Christ in
his
the
in the
Paul spent a whole day persuading the Jews
lieved.^
the
is
enough."
3.
We persuade
Rome
our chief
is
Dr. David Smith ^ comments:
Presence of Jesus
"
The goal
'
" I tell this not to the world but to thee
are a great
this
have to do."
to please Jesus
is
Helper and Friend
his friend
we
And
not manifest in His sight
things are naked and laid open before the
all
eyes of
for
is
"
end of the day.
in the
He
is
the judgment-seat of
to be faithful to the
sure that
God
'"The Face
13.
*Conative present.
f.
moment is
men
of
understands
of Jesus," p. 46.
^
Acts
xvii. 32.
THE PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
him and he hopes
that the consciences
thians approve the sincerity
made him
terror of the
zealous to persuade men.
rhetorical thunderer about
went home with
of the Corin-
faithfulness of his
and
knowledge of the
Paul's
ministry.
»
187
He
Lord
was no
who
the horrors of hell
"We
zest unimpaired.^
must
re-
gain our sense of soul greatness, and our sense of
eternal price."
there
an extract from
is
its
Memoirs of Dr. Chalmers "
In the "
^
which
his diary
is
^
a revela-
tion of his great spirit in his attitude towards the
work of the
"
ministry.
Prayed for knowledge, for
the understanding and impression and remembrance
of God's
Word;
for
growth
in grace, for
holiness, for that sanctification
undergo.
me
;
Thought
them
which the redeemed
of the sins that
most
easily beset
confessed them, and prayed for correction and
deliverance.
ters,
personal
They
when any
are
— anxiety about worldly mat-
suspicion or uncertainty attaches to
a disposition to brood over provocations
;
im-
;
patience at the irksome peculiarities of others; an
industriousness from a
without the glory of
tivity,
mankind lying
taste
mere principle of animal
at the
and an appetite
»2Cor.
God and
bottom of
for
human
it
;
and above
applause.
*
Vol.
W.
I, p.
288.
a
con-
V. II.
3
F.
all,
My
Robertson, " Life and Letters," p. 640.
Forsyth, " Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind," p.
2
ac-
the service of
1 74.
1
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM
88
me on
science smote
I
my
ciple of
usefulness the grand prin-
appearances there.
annexed to
faithful ministers,
and
diligence,
the subject of pulpit exhibitions.
God may make
pray that
discharge of
ability in the
Prayed
terial office.
Read the promises
and prayed
for
my
zeal,
minis-
for the people, individually for
some, and generally for
of them.
descriptions
all
Prayed for friends individually, and
relations.
Read
the promises relative to the progress of the Gospel
and conversion of the Jews.
jects."
with this spirit that one
It is
things to
all
The aim
Prayed for those ob-
men
^
if
by
all
of one's ministry
and the training of their
is
able to be
is
souls.
the conversion of
The
evangelistic
There
teaching ministry need to be combined.
tendency to-day to underrate the sermon.
sermon
is
the
chmax
to the throne of
any other
within
God
of public worship.
a larger
act of worship.
to bless
all
means he may save some.
number
It calls
It
"
men
and
is
a
The
summons
of faculties than
upon everything
God's holy name."^
The sermon
needs to be magnified, not discounted.
But one
must remember also that one's " own tone, temper,
and
spirit in
preaching " ^ have a deal to do with the
conversion of sinners.
ter
1 I
is
how
Cor.
ix.
to
The problem
of every minis-
make both his preaching and
22.
"The
Building of the Church," p. 281.
•Spurgeon, " Lectures to Students," Second Series,
'Jefferson,
Hfe effect-
p. 277.
THE PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
men
ive in winning
the same in
its
age have fresh
new
It
of every
which have to be met by a
not enough to
is
know
knowledge
and
in old sins
sores."
;
men who
way
It
and continues
will
put hindrances in the
help
little
to lose one's
Beside Ourselves
For whether we are beside ourselves,
Some
^
it
such case.
4.
God."
babe
first
In the work of persuasion
^
the minister will find
of his work.^
to persuade.*
where the
his destiny
began, in old sorrows and sadness
in
a sympathetic
of the
Each man begins
temper
the Bible and
The preacher must have
men whom he is
other books.
**
men
appropriation and application of the Gospel of
Christ.
"
89
The Gospel remains
to Christ.
essential content, but
difficulties
1
unto
it is
members
of the friends, possibly
of
own
household, had once thought Jesus beside
Himself.^
John the Baptist was accused of having a
His
demon ^ because he was
habits.
ascetic
and abstemious
Jesus was called gluttonous and a wine-bib-
ber because
He
was not ascetic/
The
plained the works of Jesus as wrought
Men and Books," p.
Armitage, " Preaching," p. 145.
"
Parker,
Ad Clerum," p. 207 f.
»Cf. Phelps, "
*
3
*
6
'
in his
2 Cor. V. 13.
Matt. xi. 18,
Matt. xi. 19.
Pharisees ex-
by the
devil.^
Mark
21.
3.
6
Cf. Robertson,
"John
iii.
the Loyal," p. 199.
8 Matt. xii. 24.
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM
I90
In a frenzy of rage they say that
He
Paul probably
and has a demon.*
is
is
a Samaritan
thinking of his
who had apologized for him by sayThe very visions
had had may have been turned against
enemies in Corinth
ing that he was not responsible.^
which Paul
him
proof of his erratic mentality.^
as
he
ironically that
is
He
admits
playing the fool in boasting of
himself as they had compelled
him
to do.^
He may
be here alluding to the charge made against him that
he was a
fool.
The very
earnestness of Paul con-
cerning the cause of Christ in Corinth was used by
enemies as proof as
his
lack of balance.
his
could be passionate in speech as
loud voice
" Paul, thou art
:
turning thee mad."^
is
shown by the
is
who
address on Festus
effect of his
exclaims in a
mad thy much
;
It is
He
learning
one of the commonest
of charges against zealous ministers that they are a
little
" off."
devil with
"
power.
to those
It is
one of the keenest weapons of the
which to
The
who
clip the
disciple
wings of a preacher's
and the Master aHke seemed
did not understand
them
to be in an
overstrained, too highly- wrought condition of spirit."^
Paul does not care to deny that he had lost himself
He had
God-filled man
in his zeal for
him.
in
1
8
•
John
A
God.
48.
2 Cor. xii. 1-7.
Dt-nney, in loco.
a real enthusiasm,^
seems crazy to a dead
2
viii.
4
2 Cor.
xi.
God
word «
Cf. our
1-17.
ecstasy."
Acts xxvi. 24.
Enthousiastnos.
*
'
THE PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
man
derangement
Life seems
of the world.
Paul could speak with tongues
also
*
have been used against him.
concerned, he did not care.
the glory of God,
for
may
fact
So
Paul was
in the cause of
have a holy abandon
to death.
and that
was
It
I9I
God than
far as
God,"
" to
God.
much
too
for
Better far
icy re-
Dr. A. C.
serve, " icily regular, splendidly
null."
Dixon says
the most dignified
that a graveyard
A
place on earth.
much
man and
and
follies
sins of
a worldling
minded.2
ing crafty
modern
He
I
He
that he
money
for his
dis-
in all the
damned
as
criti-
was too sober-
was too crafty and worldly-wise " be;
had sent Titus
that
is
is
Paul met the counter
caught you with guile,"
saints,
after their
If a
Paul.
is,
family,
nary by some.
he
what they
with the heart.^
is
^
they charged.
money
for the
minister saves
a
poor
little
sure to be called merce-
Probably different enemies brought
the different accusations.
lieve
society.
Some thought
also.
willing to be
is
he does not join
if
he does.
if
Paul
The preacher
beside himself.
counted as peculiar
He
a church can have too
dignity to be of any use.
considered
cism
is
say.
It is
But they do not
They
really be-
talk with the face, not
often the case that
men
ridicule
preachers just because they are public characters,
' I
'2 Cor.
v. 13.
3
*
2 Cor.
v. 12.
Cor, xiv. 14-18.
2 Cor. xii. 16.
;
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM
192
just to see
if
they can be provoked into doing or say-
ing foolish things or just to provoke their friends to
anger.
The prophet
They
self.
is
often held to be beside him-
burn Savonarola
will
coming generations
monument.
build his
will
Florence and
in
In
Oxford the monument stands to Cranmer, Ridley
The
and Latimer.
Wychff may have gone
ashes of
to the sea in the waters of the Severn, but the
lish
people have the Bible in their vernacular.
EngPaul
challenges the Corinthians to take either horn of the
dilemma.
If
he was prudent,
he was beside himself,
if
it
it
was
was
" a continuous sense of the infinite."
a preacher to be
ideas.
or
a
will
leading article."
about Christ, and
ning to end."
^
it
Paul has
^
It is
easy for
of himself or of the current
full
The sermon
for their sakes
for God.'
^
be
" after all
"I went longing
was only
If the
only a lecture
Newman
to hear
from begin-
preacher allows the
critical
faculty to crucify spiritual passion, all the finesse of
overrefinement and exactitude will not atone for the
absence of soul and passion.
spirit
and not the words of the
thing which a great
man
" It
is
lips
which
the flash of the
has to give.
is
Catch that
and you have an imperishable possession.
upon
^
'
8
one's
life
the best
To
feel
the hot breath of a great heart, to
F. W. Robertson, " Life and Letters," p. 692.
Beecher, " Yale Lectures on Preaching," Third Series,
Moule, " To My Younger Brethren,*' p. 259.
p. 321.
•«
Ibid.
THE PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
drink into one's being the
of
great moments,
its
come
and
often
of a great soul in one
life
a privilege which does not
is
and which should be valued above rubies
gold."
fine
'
Spirit
holy passion of that
is
fused with spirit in the
fire.
The Grip of Chris fs Love
5.
" For the love of Christ constraineth us."
may
him
him
think
He
to Paul.
as
crafty or crazy.
It is
shown by His death
for us
his
sakes and rose again
We
^
Christ,
That
in brief
Jesus.
is
He
There
all.^
He
to prove His
who have been
longer belong to ourselves.
relation to
a small matter
is
died for our
power
to save
saved by Christ no
We
are to Hve unto
Paul's conception of his
is
no
theology which Paul
here gives to the death of Christ.
sin.
They
^
has caught a vision of Christ's love for
denying the central place in
from
193
own
the bond-slave of Christ
purchased by the blood of Christ.
The
Christ as thus shown holds Paul captive
The word "constrain"^ is a bold one.
love of that
to the end.
It is
of those in the grip^ of various diseases.
used
Peter's
mother-in-law was held^ in the power of a fever.
The Gadarenes were
»
'
6
'
seized^ with great fear
when
'« The Building of the Church," p. 292.
3 2 Cor. v. 14.
< 2 Cor. v. 15.
2 Cor. V. 14,
e Matt.
Literally holds together.
iv. 24.
s Luke viii.
Luke iv. 38.
37.
Jefferson,
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM
194
they saw what Christ had done to the demoniac.
The
multitudes press
Jesus
cation.
Jesus together almost to suffo-
*
the pressure
felt
in
^
His
spirit
till
His
When
Stephen told
of seeing Jesus standing at the right
hand of God,
baptism of blood be received.
held^
their
hands over their
When Timothy and
Silas
came
Sanhedrin
the
Thessalonica Paul held himself
word
Paul later
of preaching.
ears.
Corinth from
to
continuously to the
^
himself in a strait^
felt
betwixt two whether to stay or depart and be with
amples of
fast.
"
O
this
The
word.
by the love
ical
imperative of 4uty.
that
is
She cannot help
But
this
It
he
In a sense,
is
held fast
more than the categor-
is
It
the magnet of love
is
herself
is
the slave of her sick child.'
if
she have a mother's heart.
high pressure together^ creates a mighty
The
propulsion and energy.
straint.
go."
once you have yielded yourself to
The mother
power.
me
let
since, as in a vice,
of Christ.^
irresistible,
Testament ex-
love of Christ holds Paul
love that will not
Paul has no choice,
its
New
These are the chief
Christ.
It is
impulse.^
The
constraint
is
not re-
boiler that holds
the
steam makes possible the onward pressure that drives
The
the engine and pulls the train.
'
Luke
*
Acts
'
F.
*
Sun.
viii.
45.
xviii, 5.
W.
Robertson,
««
•
Luke
6
Phil.
Life
xii.
i.
50.
23,
and Letters,"
p.
9
««
love of Christ
^
Acts
6
Denney, in
vii.
57.
loco.
644.
l^ygei nos^' Vulgate.
THE PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
me
presses
hard, harasses
^
me
so that I have no rest
save in pushing on for Christ.
have no peace.^
Christ's love lets
beyond
desire to get
him and ever
me
In this word, then, Paul has re-
He
vealed the master-passion of his ministry.
no
195
lures
Christ.
him on
Jesus
is
has
ever with
With
to higher heights.
unwearied tread Paul presses on towards the goal.
In his darkest hours he hears the footfall of Christ at
Be not
"
his side
:
peace
for I
:
thee to
harm
He
all.'*
afraid,
am
but speak and hold not thy
with thee, and no
thee."
To
^
Paul Christ was
all
beyond
that stage,
he
looks at everything from a
new motive
look.
The gold
him.
He
is
in
life,
and
in
new angle
new
has gone
The new
glad to say.
is
a
He
^
view of Christ has made a new world
has a
on
shall set
does not look on Christ as he once did, as
the Jews do now, " after the flesh."
far
man
for Paul.
of vision.
passion, a
new
He
He
out-
not at the end of the rainbow for
has found the secret of real
It
life.
is
Christ.
6.
" Wherefore
The
New
we henceforth know no man
The reason
flesh."
^
man ^
in Christ Jesus.
1
Ewald.
3
Acts xviii. 9f.
2 Cor. V. 16.
6
View of Man
is
that Paul himself
"
The
Cf. Acts xxiii. 11.
6
2 Cor.
v. 16.
after the
is
anew
old things are passed
t
Chrysostom.
4
Col.
'
2 Cor.
iii.
11.
v. 17.
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM
196
away behold, they
become new."
are
;
The
*
order of prejudice and hate has gone.
come
has
the
new
Christ Jesus there
is
neither
In
place
its
of whatever race.
In
Greek nor Jew, circum-
uncircumcision, Barbarian nor Scythian,
cision nor
bond nor
man
love for
ancient
free.^
The middle
wall of partition between
Jew and Gentile was broken down, but it was done
only by the Cross of Christ.^ Paul feels himself
both to Greek and Barbarian.*
debtor
It
the
is
crowning glory of Paul's ministry that to him was
given the grace of telling the unsearchable riches of
The
Christ to the Gentiles.^
Jews
world.
point to get hold of
was a complete revolution
that this
and
Samaritans
hated
each
scorned
whom
those
There was an impassable
and
" a
The love
man's a man for
slave.
cient world.
that
of
a'
that,"
of
the
"
Christ.
between master
man, the notion that
as
was foreign to the an-
the
Paul
spirit.
real
first
made
Democracy was born
this
at
movement towards democracy
1
2 Cor. V. 17.
*
Rom.
i.
14.
«
Col.
iii.
II.
democracy,
discovery in
Bethlehem
as Carlyle declared, at Bunker's Hill.
itual
conquered.
Christ discovered the worth of the in-
man and formed
dividual
they
social gulf
man
other.
The proud
Greeks despised the barbarous outsiders.
Romans
is
in the ancient
is
And
very
»
»
—not,
the spir-
far
Eph.
Eph.
indeed
ii.
14
iii.
8.
f.
THE PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
from complete."
Perpetua and Felicitos, though
1
slave, clasp
matron and
hands as Christian martyrs.
Christianity alone can break
Even the
of India.
197
down
Christian world
the caste system
is
very
far
from
having grasped clearly the significance of what Jesus
done for man. But Paul saw it. He was a new
has
man
Paul has
himself.
new eyes with which
to look
looked
upon the world, the eyes of Jesus which had
in pity
upon him.
Jesus has
men.
He
made
has a
a
new
heart of love for
new world
for Paul.
The y
to heroic
passion for souls that spurs the missionary
the love
in
to uplift the race is grounded
endeavour
of Christ.
The worth
of
man
is
recognized in
its
The world is
probmodern
There are always
in a state of flux.
mean
lems for the modern man, but this does not
fullness only in the light of the Cross.
view of man.
that Christians must drop the gospel
As
a matter of fact what
modern
come up
is
and apply
to the actual social
it
harmony with the love
in
most
man
to Christ's view of
needs to do
to
Christianity
problems of to-day
of Christ, but not with the
bald literalism of Tolstoi.^
Evolution has thrown
on our knowledge of man and the worldrevoluorder, but evolution has not wrought such a
new
1
W.
»
Cf.
light
ilRobertson Nicoll, Bri^is^ Weekly, Jan. 19, 19
Matthews, " The Church and the Changing Order
Gospel and the Modern Man."
;
"
Ihe
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM
198
man
tion in man's view of
as has Christianity.*
own mind
to the revolution in Paul's
contrast
it is
As
just the
between Saul the Pharisee and Paul the
He
Apostle to the Gentiles.^
as a Christian,
does not
mean
^
that,
he once shared the narrow prejudices
of the Jews which he has since outgrown.
He grew
constantly in his apprehension of Christ's love and so
man, but
in appreciation of
made
turn
in
by
Hfe
his
was
it
A
new
a
the
new
human
"
race.
philosophy,
grow up from
it
not the existence
The
order has come.^
Had he
in the history
foreseen distinctly that
era would be dated from that time
society,
old Jewish
and of Jewish exclu-
new epoch
death of Christ marked a
iof
The
Jesus.
rabbinical views of the Messiah
siveness vanished.
along the new
all
;
that a
new
moral code, would
literature,
over continents of which he
knew
he could not have more strongly
;
expressed his sense of the greatness of the event than
in
what
is
here said."
He had
^
parently seen Jesus in the
flesh,
himself never ap-
but he knows
Him in
the spirit and he understands the moral and spiritual
revolution wrought
all
time, this
God,
this
new
new
by
Jesus.
It
man
love for
is
the greatest of
as the offspring of
sense of the brotherhood of the race
» Cf. Orr, « The Christian
ing in the Incarnation."
2 Bernard, in loco.
* Cf. Isa. xliii. 18 f.; Heb.
View
of
God and
8
viii.
13.
»
the
World
as Center-
B. Jowett, in loco.
Stanley, in loco.
;
THE PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
that calls for the best that
freely as
this "
makes
all
an offering
men meet on
creatures.
in
in
new
I
world "^
a
in a
man
The
touch-stone that
is
for men.'
is
common
199
be given
to
" In Christ "^^
Christ.
and are made new
level
slides of life
have just seen the lantern
Burmah and India given by Dr. Vinton, missionary
Burmah. The most striking thing is the expresgrown men and
sion on the faces of children and
women
after
Positively
they become Christians.
looks like a miracle, so great
is
the transformation in
Indeed,
the eye and the whole countenance.^
the constant miracle of God's grace.
pressible
good
power and appeal
that
is left
in
man
it
There
is
it is
inex-
in Jesus Christ to find the
after the ruin of sin
and Hnk
the
on to that and transform the heart and life by
Holy Spirit. The old prophets dimly saw the glory
in the
Messiah of
whom
they spoke.^
A
painter
the
stood before a masterpiece of a genius and felt
" And I too am a
uplift of spirit as he humbly said
:
The power
painter."
of Christ
is
as great to-day as
when He looked upon Simon and threw
His
spirit
upon him.«
Instead of being crushed
by
we look
we
the sense of our unworthiness as
are lifted
up with the
ineffable
hope that
2 Denney, z« /^r^.
iPhilii. 17.
also Begbie's " Twice-Born Men."
this book is called " Broken Earthenware."
4 Cf.
M Peter
i.
II.
the spell of
at Jesus
this
what
is
En
The
Christo.
^
British edition of
.
«
John 1.42.
200
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM
we ought
to be like,
We
what we
be
will try to
can never get away from Christ.
like.*
Intellectual
unrest will give place to spiritual aspiration.^
The Ministry of Reconciliation
7.
"
.
And
.
.
gave unto us the ministry of reconciliation
having committed unto us the word of reconThis
ciliation." ^
is
a great word that Paul uses here.
Nothing that can ever be
said of the ministry
lifts it
to a higher plane than the service of reconciliation.
But we are not to mistake our
calling.
Ministers are
not priests in the sense that
we have
to propitiate
God.
It
God's
part
true
is
that
towards
angry with
sin.
He
has
that
peace.
in
God
God
punishes
to punish willful sin
something
there was
sin.
estrangement on
is
sin.
represented as
God
against Himself.^
as
well
as
"
something
is
bound
There
in
be dealt with before there can
to
Nay, the something on God's
comparably more serious
in
side
is
comparison with
is
man
be
so init
that
the something on man's side simply passes out of
view.
It is
God's earnest dealing with the obstacle
W.
Robertson, " Life and Letters," p. 652.
Aspects of Christ," p. 270.
See also <* Religion and
the Modern Mind," and " Religion and the Modern World."
1
F.
»
Cf. Selbie, "
3
2 Cor. V. 18
* F.
work
we
W.
to
f.
Robertson, " Life and Letters,"
reconcile
God
to
man.
" It was Christ's
p. 656.
That is done, and done forever;
That is a priestly power and it is
cannot add anything to it.
we claim such a power."
at our peril that
;
20I
THE PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
man which
on His own side to peace with
on man to believe
in the seriousness of
to lay aside distrust."
lem
a
in a
way by which
God's
He
justify the
and to
to remain just
has found
whole wonderful adjustment ^ is of
-All things are of God." ^ We may
-phe
sinner.2
His love, and
But God has met His prob-
'
satisfactory to Himself.
way
prevails
love.^
side of the matter,
leave with God, as Paul does, God's
we see God
except to accent the fact that in Christ
This
reconciling the world to Himself.^
lime spectacle in the
Cross
is
life
God's overture to
" not reckoning unto
and
man
them
the sub-
is
The
death of Christ.
for
pardon and peace,^
their trespasses."
«
We
to reconcile
have the picture of God endeavouring
The love of
the world to Himself through Christ.
^
God
prompts the whole
ator
between God and man.^«
Christ
effort.
It
is
is
precisely at this
point that the minister of Christ comes
in.
speak the word of reconciliation to those
wise will not
\
the Medi-[
He must
who other-
God's love and pardon in
they know, will not heed. It is a
know
of
Christ or who,
if
work worthy
of angels, yea, of the
Son of God
of
Himself who Himself was the greatest Preacher
own
Jesus best interpreted to men His
Gospel.
the
1
Denney, in
6 Cf.
8
«
loco.
Meyer and Bachmann.
2 Cor. V. 19.
^
Rom.
26.
iii.
.
,
Conalive participle.
'
^T^^T\9.
10%^*
c
Tim. ^ 5.
*« i
11.
'^'
:
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM
202
The Holy
mission and work.
the teacher of those
who
of Christ to men.
He
shall take of
No
*•
Spirit
shall glorify
Mine, and shall declare
God without
whom God is anxious
to
Me
it
the help of the
He
for
:
unto you."
men
back to God, to make peace
There
is
no earthly task so
*
itself if it
in order to
for
winning
naught
sermon
men back
The sermon is noth-
the machinery of church
to
God.
This
All else
the
is
is
work
He
The
preacher gives his
pulpit
life
is
God
subsidiary to this.
"
A
A
spirit.
He lays down
preacher dies in the act of preaching.
his life for his brethren.
of
this great enterprise.^
the life-blood of a Christian
cannot save.
with God.
and fraught with
delicate
gifts,
God's coworkers in
is
win men
they do not help on the work of
if
in Christ in the world.
We are
is
does not contribute towards this end.
pastoral visits, the
go
Spirit
minister
in their hearts
such results in time and eternity.
ing in
Holy
The
to bestow.^
the interpreter of Christ to
The
work
are to set forth the
minister can present Christ as the World's Recon-
ciler
life
promised as
is
saves others, himself he
a Golgotha in which the
for the
The message of the preacher
" Be ye reconciled to God." ^
life
is
of the world."
that of his Master
Paul
is
a preacher of
God's peace and an exhorter of peace to men.
»
John
*
Jefferson, «
xvi.
*
» Luke xi. 13.
The Building of the Church," p.
3 ,
287.
«
Cor.
2 Cor.
iii.
9.
v. 20.
THE preacher's MASTER PASSION
Ambassadors for Christ
8.
"
We are ambassadors therefore on behalf of Christ,
as
though God were entreating by
for
being an ambassador
common among
is
32 Jesus
yet
is
It
Luke
xiv.
of peace."
Paul
^
fully
is
he
commission which
great
from God on behalf of
ministers are,
In
while the other
**
Christ.
conbears
In a word Paul, as
He
God's spokesman to men.
is
is
sendeth an embassage, and
off,
conditions
The word
*
the ancient writers.
way
scious of the
us."
one of great dignity .^
of one king who,
tells
great
a
asketh
all
203
comes with authoritative word
as
the ambassador
from the Court of Heaven to plead the cause of
men whom God
Christ with
His Son to die
rebellious Corinthians
of Christ."
love that
^
It is
He
We
surely a remarkable proof of God's
utter sinfulness of
ministry
is
men to
The
human
makes
nature
sins.
revealed in the
is
this necessary.
An
earnest
one thoroughly convinced of the
Paul
gave
beseech you on behalf
sends forth ambassadors to beg ^
perversity that
sin.
"
He
has a word for the
His pardon in Christ for their
receive
of
:
so loved that
He
them.
for
feels his
own need
reality
of prayer with such
He asks
utterance may be
a task committed to him.
that prayer be
made
given unto
for
him
>
2 Cor.
V. 20.
4
a Cor.
V. 20.
" that
»
Meyer.
3
Cf. also
Luke
6
me
xix. 14.
Deometha.
WELL PLEASING UNTO HLM
204
my
opening
in
mouth,
to
make known
the mystery of the Gospel, for which
sador in chains
to speak."
;
He
*
No
The
chain.
The
A
I
ought
in
Rome wore
a
to feel towards
value of the individual preacher
^
no wonder that
It is
acutely the peril in his ow-n personality.
felt
effectiveness of the gospel
varies with the
"
an ambas-
ambassador though
ambassador
" truth plus personality."
Paul
am
I
boldly, as
more pride than Paul came
ring with
is
Christ's
still
is
wearing a chain.^
that
may speak
that I
with boldness
man's personality
not a fixed and unchanging
is
At any moment
element.
message inevitably
changing personality of the preacher.
it is
he has received and done."
^
the resultant of what
Dr.
Hoyt
considers
Phillips Brooks " the richest personality in the history
of the modern pulpit, the strongest teacher of the
fact
preaching
that
But the same point
great preachers.^
human
borne out by a study of other
The
" Fainting Fits " as
truth through personality."
is
is
best of ministers have their
Spurgeon
called them.
"
Poor
nature cannot bear such strains as heavenly
triumphs bring to
Excess of joy
as
it;
come
there must
a reaction.
excitement must be paid
for
by
Literally " in a chain."
Hoyt, "The Preacher," p. 27.
6 Cf.
Broadus, " History of Preaching "
Ker, " History of
Preaching "
Dargan, " History of Preaching " Brastow, " Representative Modern Preachers "
Wilkinson, " Modern Masters of
1
Eph.
«
Phillips Brooks.
vi.
19
f.
*
;
;
;
;
Pulpit Discourse."
THE PREACHER'S MASTER PASSION
subsequent depressions.
feet
by a
.
,
we should be
in soul- winning,
which the wind driveth away, were
gracious discipline
our
off
by popularity, exalted
revival, carried aloft
by success
Whirled
.
205
it
of mercy breaks the
as the chaff
not that the
ships of our
vainglory with a strong east wind, and casts us ship-
and
wrecked, naked
upon the Rock of
forlorn,
much else, Paul is a
model for the modern minister.^ The courage in
Paul is not due to a conviction of his own superior
Ages."
In
'
this respect, as
in
qualifications for his task, but rather to the fullness
work of
of the
offer to
men.
He
Christ.
"
has a
full
Him who knew no
be sin on our behalf."
^
This
this great truth gives
God's purpose
that
is
him
we
He made
Paul's clear grip
solidity
ourselves
and
positiveness.
may become
Christ the righteousness of God.
Thus there
come
our Hves.
to pass real righteousness in
deemed humanity
in Christ.
He
is
of Christ.
Christ.
1
2
'
become a
sanctified
in
shall
A
re-
humanity
Paul never gets out of sight of Christ.
Christ's
port to Christ.
seat
will
to
the heart of the
is
atoning death and work of Christ.
on
sin
salvation to
Ambassador.
He
He
is
He
must make
to appear at the
longs
to
his re-
judgment-
be well pleasing to
Meanwhile the love of Christ holds him
Spurgeon, " Lectures to Students," First Series, p. 257 f.
Cf. Wilkinson, " Modern Masters of Pulpit Discourse," p. 523.
2 Cor. V. 21.
WELL PLEASING UNTO HIM
206
steadily to his ministry of reconciliation
on the new order
in the world, the order of
towards God, of love, of the reign of
hearts
of men.
preacher
deadly
who
Moreover,
the
God
world
takes his calling seriously,
earnest.
This
does
not
mean
preacher must be out of touch with men.
mendous sense of
the worth of men.
were worth
bring
to
Christ's
our living for them.
his
high calling
They
dying
them.
the
loves
who
is
in
that
the
The
tre-
rests largely
are worth saving.
for
peace
in the
on
They
They are worth
VIII
IN
GLORY AND DISHONOUR—TAKING
LIFE AS IT
{2 Cor.
"
By
vi.
IS
i-io)
glory and dishonour, by evil re-
port
and good report."
—2 Cor.
vi. 8.
VIII
IN
GLORY AND DISHONOUR— TAKING
LIFE AS IT
I.
AND
is
Him
Working Together With
working together with Him."
coworker with God,
a
worker and Paul
workers."
fellow
God's
the coworker.
is
in their courses fight for the
in the world's
" for
God
2
That
is
man who
redemption.
is
Paul
*
we
are
is
the
his glory
The
in the ministry.
and the secret of success
God
IS
stars
partner with
Modern
science has
taught us the wisdom of following the ways of nature.
They are God's ways. But God has not revealed all
His heart
of Himself in nature.
Christ Jesus.
is
manifested in
Just as the scientist laboriously delves
processes
into the secrets of nature to learn her
God must
plans, so the minister of
God
in Christ as unfolded in
dealings with men.
His
learn the plan of
Word and
He must know
soul and of God's spirit.
and
in
His
the ways of the
In the work of rescuing
men we can only follow the lead of God in Christ.
God is a patient workman.^ " And it takes Him all
1
2 Cor.
3
Maclaren, " Expositions," in
* I
vi. I.
loco.
200
Cor.
iii.
9-
2IO
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
His energies,
He
what
for
wants to make of him."
ambassador, but he
worker
also
is
only begun
the
first
with
But the
when he has
work
working
is first
minister's
an
work
led a soul to Christ.
Paul
is
If
God
speaking of him-
really
connection with God.
in
the
more because God
work of the kingdom.
There
is
is
God
It is
gives cheer and success, but the minister
all
an
the minister works, one must not over-
look the other side.
who
is
thought here seems to be the power of
whom
self as
Paul
'
a builder, a teacher, a
The preacher
in the Lord's field.
evangelist, then a teacher.^
is
prepare His child
for all a lifetime, to
must
his Partner in the
no blessing prom-
ised to the lazy or careless or self-satisfied preacher.
"
The higher
classes
withhold their
too good for
is
tlemanly,
or
it,
The
less resolutely
indolent
who
man who
and
power with anybody.
which has no standing ground down
the lowlands of society has none anywhere.
clusive ministry
is
always a weak ministry."
himself a noble example of
is
sensibilities
*
Maclaren,
*
Denney, in
'«
The
weak.
too
has no power with the com-
people, has, in fact, no
pulpit
than the lower
obeisance from any
too refined, too scholarly, too gen-
too
preacher, therefore,
mon
no
spirit of
how
and culture can adapt
Expositions," in
loco.
3
a
man
An
^
ex-
Paul
of the finest
his ministry to all
loco.
Phelps, "
in
Men and
Books,"
p. 69.
TAKING LIFE AS
He
classes.
alive to
is
and
able to be intellectually alert
the pressing doctrinal issues of a vital
all
Christianity
in
grapple
its
knows how
man
to be a
the
vi^ith
and philosophy of the
vagaries
211
IT IS
theological
But Paul
time.*
work of
of affairs in the
leadership ^ in the churches without any diminution
He
of spiritual power.
is
practical to the last degree
in all the details of the collection for the
He
at Jerusalem.^
when he wins
cisive victory over the Judaizers.^
truth in his
that
in
Paul
There
" a
workman
to be ashamed, handling aright the
will
possible for a
a detaint
He is
anxious
that needeth not
word of
be approved unto God.
man
no
is
and he compromises no
championship of freedom.
Timothy may be
Thus he
saints
shows consummate generalship
in the conference at Jerusalem
of obscurantism
poor
truth."
^
It is entirely
to dull his spiritual sensibilities in
the mere details of church finance and church business and thus lose the richer results of his life-work.
" The quiet country minister
ander Duff into the
faith
trained an Alex-
and purpose of a missionary
may have done more for
many a man who has had
*
who
the
kingdom
of
God than
thousands hanging on his
with the Judaizers in 2 Corinthians and Galatians
incipient Gnosticism in Colossians and Ephesians.
Cf. his conflict
and with
2Cf. Mott, "The Future Leadership of the Church."
< Acts xv.
2 Cor. viii. and ix.
* Cf.
5
2 Tim.
ii.
15.
;
Gal.
ii.
We
word.
need a
of the truth."
spiritual vision of
There
^
of the popular idols
The measure
needs
name
when
the rewards are distributed.
work
of a minister's
not the noise
is
The
the rattle of the machinery.
"
oiling.
not
is
But he may outrank some
shows that the machinery
often
as well as
cheer in this contemplation
in the press.
prominent
made by
is
work
a devoted minister whose
many
for
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
212
noise
out of order and
is
The Church's worship, which should
gather and greaten
its
soul,
is
sacrificed to
its
work.
You have bustle all the week and baldness on SunYou have energy everywhere except in the
day.
spirit."^
Paul was serene in the conviction of the
There
present power of the Risen Christ.^
offhand patent guarantee
men count
cessful
success.
brilliantly
antees of a Successful Ministry."
in this
failure unless
the
spirit of
"
:
we
Our work
'
8
on
"
He
The Guarhas a sane
be a
seek to discharge our obligations in
If that
we have only
to the witness stand to refute
»
^
in the ministry will
Jesus Christ."
pious platitude,
to us a highly suc-
quite otherwise in God's eye.
Joseph Parker discourses
word
to
it.
call
sounds like a
our
own
lives
Certainly the min-
Hoyt, " The Preacher," p. 26.
Forsyth, " Positive Preaching and the Modern Mind," p. 171.
Lock, " St. Paul the Master-Builder," p. 69 f.
4" Ad Clerum,"
no
for a successful ministry as
What seems
work may be
is
pp. 225-235.
TAKING LIFE AS
istry
is
213
IT IS
man who
the last place in the world for a
There
failure elsewhere.
been a
no magic
is
has
spell
men who will
"Fear God and
about the ministry to bring success to
not work with
Ms
work
"
with
God
a
all
their
good motto
We
God
for
one who
is
a coworker
in the highest of earth's callings.
Appeal
2.
"
souls.
entreat also that ye receive not the grace of
in vain."
He
^
is
really God's entreaty.
God's ambassador and
*'
The
entreaties of
Maclaren's expressive phrase.^
If
God
it is
"
is
God can beseech
man, surely God's ambassador should not be too
haughty to plead with men. The word^ here is
difficult to
entreaty,
It
translate.
exhortation,
has the triple meaning of
and consolation.
chief function of the ambassador
It
"as though God were entreating by
us."
that they will be
and purity that
is
It
is
Pan! has
^
given his whole heart to the Corinthians.
He
given them the real Gospel of Jesus.
the
is
for Christ.^
He
is
has
afraid
tempted away from the simplicity
towards Christ.^
stand idly by and see
the work
But he cannot
in Corinth
come
to
received the grace of God.
He
begs that they do not render the very grace of
God
naught.
1
8
B
They have
Broadus, « Sermons and Addresses," p. 347.
'« Expositions of Holy Scripture," in loco.
^ 2 Cor. v. 20.
Stanley, in loco.
'
*
2 Cor. vi.
I.
Parakaloumen.
>
2 Cor.
xi. 3.
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
214
avail, " in vain."
of no
Paul does not pause to
*
who
parley over the abstract question whether those
have the grace of God can make
He
it
and void.
null
advises the Corinthians not to experiment with
He
their eternal souls.
He
self.2
limited.
deadly earnest because the time
in
is
It is
took no chances with himis
He heark-
always so with God's work.
ens and helps in the hour of opportunity, the accept-
As
able ^ time.
in the
is it
crisis in
to-day.
was in
it
As
Corinth.
Crisis
the preacher and
is
it
Isaiah's
it
time
was
*
so
the word forever on the
must be
"
so.
now
it is
in Paul's
day so
lips
of
For there can be
nothing worse, darker, arguing a nature more averse
God
or indifferent to the highest good, than that
should plead, and
I
should steel
mine ear against His
sin,
because
it
is
voice.
my
heart and deafen
The crown
of a man's
the disclosure of the secrets of his
deepest heart as loving darkness rather than light,
turning
away from the
love and to God."
divine voice that
The
^
the whirr of the spindles "
of God.
The sound
drown the
men come
^
To emptiness.
<
Isa. xlix. 8.
still
and
small voice
of the preacher's voice as God's
monplace, even repulsive.
world
us to
" clatter of the streets
spokesman becomes monotonous,
this
woos
is
' i
displeasing,
Immersed
com-
in the cares of
to resent as an impertinence
Cor. ix. 27.
5
^C{. 2 Cor.
Maclaren, " Expositions," in
vi. I.
loco.
S
TAKING LIFE AS
effort of
and an interference the
home
" The
to press
the hfe.
ness
a
is
life
to
21
the minister of Christ
true return for ministerial devoted-
fruit of
When
'
a redeemed
the minister's
he has ample
life
But,
reward for rebuff and discouragement.
end
is
it
only
failure,
he
may
if
preacher sows beside
all
of
all
will
believe in
the
in
bear
knows the
or that.
The
force
soul and the extent of
feeble appeal
any
lamity.
his
is
have
God
hope on
is
^
great
is
him
useless.
is
feeble and
" In
unsatis-
a positive ca-
is
minister of the Gospel
great question,
alone
often the decisive factor.
man
congregation, and for
first
faith
to disappointment."
But a vacillating leader
The
tell
undiscovered
its
builds his
from a feeble man
position, a vacillating
factory.
The
of the minister's character gives
weight to his appeal and
A
satis-
true.
is
average man.
The preacher who
resources.
brilliant people only is doomed
in the
have the
He must
nature.
capacity of the
if
He cannot
" He must
waters.
fruit, this
human
at least
so be that
faction of duty done,
which
God upon
an issue the claims of
given to God."
appeal bears the
IT IS
is
the leader of
to vacillate, in
any
army
to a
practically to bring the
standstill, almost to proclaim the reign of anarchy."^
At any
W.
rate the preacher
must make the appeal
Robertson, " Life and Letters,"
1
F.
2
Jefferson,
"Building of the Church,"
3
Blaikie, "
The Work
etc., p.
p. 171.
of the Ministry," p. 371.
66l.
in
2l6
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
behalf of Christ even
if it fall
modern
of the saddest phases of
number
of
who do
men
upon deaf
in our cities
life
ears.
is
who never go
to church,
not allow themselves to be troubled by the
message of Christianity.
There
is,
surely, a differ-
ence between Christianity and Churchianity.*
are
of Jesus
disciples
churches.
But
it
is
still
true that the churches are
work
of the king-
of God.
3.
**
Giving
No
Occasion of Stumbling
Giving no occasion of stumbling in anything,
that our ministration be not blamed."
some
to think that
will actually
Paul seems
^
be glad of an excuse
They
not to listen to the message of the Gospel.
will
be glad
if
the ministers of Christ give
an excuse by glaring inconsistencies
It is true that Paul's
for
Real
to be found outside of the
the main agencies for pushing the
dom
One
the large
an occasion.
enemies
in
knew
in their lives.^
Corinth did not wait
They manufactured numerous un-
They
founded charges against Paul.
that he
them such
actually said
that he was not a genuine apostle else
he would have received pay
His
for his services.^
very independent manhood was misunderstood and
turned against him.
*
Cf. Phelps, "
3
Denney, in
Men and
loco.
But, none the
Books,"
p. 73.
less,
«
<
Paul will
2 Cor.
2 Cor.
vi. 3.
xi.
9 fF.
7
TAKING LIFE AS
He
not change his conduct.
from those who are eager
and the cause of
one
men
will find
an excuse to injure him
beast
real
anyhow
for
ready to
must see
to
it
in his
minister
true
that
life, if
perfect
is
stumbhng^ on the part of those always
Jesus
cavil.
men throwing
of
No
it.
It is
the best one can, there will be occasion
and, do
enough
far be-
accepting
for not
ground of complaint
be possible to avoid
it
not
is
in the fight.
falls
excuses
Christ as Saviour, but the minister
they have no
occasion
Wolves jump on and devour the
who
the pack
in
21
will cut off*
The
Christ.
neath the surface.
that
for
IT IS
felt
very keenly the tragedy
stumbling-blocks in the
those groping towards
Him
:
"
Woe
way
of
unto the world
because of occasions of stumbling, for
it
must needs
be that the occasions come; but woe to that
man
whom the occasion cometh." And Mark
has it " And whosoever shall cause one of these
little ones that believe on Me to stumble, it were betthrough
^
^
:
ter for
him
his neck,
one
is
if
a great millstone were hanged about
and he were
common
cast into the sea."
This peril
to all Christians, to all in fact, but
it
applies with peculiar force to ministers of the Gospel.
The
will
recall
1
2 Cor.
*
Mark
case of Judas Iscariot was in point.
a
xi. 12.
ix.
42.
sorrowful
2
list
Strike against.
of
those
*
who,
Matt,
Paul
like
xviii. 7.
2l8
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
Hymeneus and Alexander, have made shipwreck
concerning the
upon the
It is
faith.*
careers of those
a sad business to dwell
who once
stood forth as
beacon hghts of truth, whose hght went out
ness and even in disgrace.
jected
make a
the press
if
It
feature in the
whose hves so
of those ministers
news columns
fearfully belie their
professions and their proclamations.
It
lover of Christ wince with pain and
hang
But better
shame.
makes every
head
his
the heart of love and confidence.
trust eating out
the
all
sober
may be
sense of the people
counted on to see the difference and to rejoice
the
more in the great body
Cross
who
work of
scious that he represents the
the world.
He
The word^ means
is
keep
to
Christ.
Paul
is
that,
if
possible,
no
shall attach to his ministry.
^
blemish, blot, or disgrace.
his
con-
honour of Christ before
determined
is
ground of blame
desire
all
of the faithful soldiers of the
with unostentatious piety go quietly and
steadily forward in the
real
in
such pubhc exposure of un-
far
preachers than concealment and secret dis-
faithful
After
in dark-
cannot be justly ob-
His
escutcheon clean, to wear an
untarnished sword, to stoop to no tricks, to use no
double-dealing, to live an open
men.
The tongues
keep busy, beyond a doubt.
» I
Tim.
i.
19
f.
life
before
God and
of the slanderers and tattlers will
«
2 Cor.
He
vi. 3.
was particularly
'
Momos.
TAKING LIFE AS
money
anxious to have clean hands in
do things honourable not only
minister cannot despise
merely because he
is
stand his motives.
The
know
that
all
all
confident that
may
A
man
lose his reputation
usefulness.
minister
again.
God
under-
will
that people do not
The
minister of Christ
reputation willfully or care-
soil his
reputation.
his
The
is
trouble
lessly since his influence for Christ
on
integrity.
the conventions of society
God knows.
has no right to
God,
Paul reveals thus a
acumen and
of business
matters and to
in the sight of
but also in the sight of men.^
fine sense
219
IT IS
depends largely
with a good character
and to a large extent
his
Paul does not, of course, affirm that a
who commits a sin can never be
The case of Peter was too obvious a
tion of that idea.
useful
refuta-
But, like other men, a minister
who
blights his reputation
It is
harder to rebuild than
it
look of pity on Peter had in
it
must build
is
up again.
it
to build.
Christ's
the elements of sym-
pathy, compassion, and forgiveness, but Peter's heart
in the valley
and the
shadow and slowly climb out of the Slough
of Des-
was broken and he had to walk
pond.
God can and
isters for
to
does use the very faults of min-
His glory, but there
commit an extra number
glory of
God
is
no special
in
call for us
order to give the
a fresh sphere of influence.
1
2 Cor.
viii.
20 f.
We are
220
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
may
not to sin in order that grace
of the keenest regrets of
One
abound.
the thought that this
life is
or that unsaved soul might have been led to Christ
but for the
isters
faults that
So thus
of Christ.
men and min-
he saw in us as
behooves us
it
all,
as
PauP
urged, to walk circumspectly.
A. Johnston Ross has a
Prof. G.
istry in
News
The Yale
letter
which he has very severe
in
He
on the present-day ministry.
strictures
young
cating the placing of
on the min-
ministers for
is
advo-
some years
under the guidance of older ministers when the period
of training in school
sence of this custom.
to
any other
is
He
over.
" It
laments the ab-
due to
is
this
more than
single fact that the ministry of the non*
Episcopal churches
is
so largely
filled
with
men
of
immeasurable pompousness and uncontrollable petulance.
I
honestly believe that
is
it
in these
and
similar conditions that lies the origin of that some-
thing about the clerical character (including intellectual
insincerity
makes the
laymen."
and
personal
unmanliness) which
clerical
order so intolerably offensive to
W.
Robertson Nicoll makes a formal
Dr.
and very able protest against
this
British Weekly for April 20, 191
agreement with Dr. Nicoll so
perience goes.
indictment in The
1.
far
There are bad men
»
Eph.
V. 15.
I
must record
as
my own
my
ex-
in every calling,
TAKING LIFE AS
but
have seen fewer
I
else.
221
IT IS
than anywhere
in the ministry
have taught some three thousand young
I
and the proportion of unmanly,
ministers
men
petulant
ill-mannered,
insincere,
very small in that
is
number.
Prof.
Johnston Ross has had a more unfortunate
The laymen
experience.
ministers in
my
But Dr. Johnston Ross
says
*•
:
The
as a rule greatly love the
opinion.
ministry
is
strikes a true note
when he
unmitigated misery for the
man who may be described as constitutionally undevout who is not what the Hebrews call a man of
God his own relations with the ideal taking the
;
'
;
'
form of
interior colloquy
finely said.
on
The
"
in other
words, in some
he must be a man of prayer."
real sense
**
—
This
Christian
with the warning
Ministry "
no man should enter the ministry who can
that
possibly keep out of
it."
That depends on what
But
can and do violate their sense of duty, refuse to
hear the
Jonah
God's
is
Certainly no one should enter the ministry
meant.
without a strong sense of duty impelling him.
men
is
Dr. Johnston Ross concludes his letter
is
call
call.
ministers.
ministers
God
of
not the only
We
do
If the
or to heed
man who
not, indeed,
laymen
all
when they
has run
need a superfluity of
did their
would be required.
hear.
away from
full
But that
duty, fewer
is
an ideal
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
222
State
ahead of
still far
mand
is
for
At present the crying deman the churches and to
fields at home and abroad.
us.
more men
to
push the work in mission
We
do need the best men by nature, grace and equip-
ment
;
but
we
also
need more men,
and decay.
to stagnate
of Dr. Johnston Ross
:
I
*'
if
the
work
is
quite agree with this
The
not
word
when
times in the past
the land was overrun by ecclesiastics have been times
of moral laxity and dissension."
The
fewer of such
" ecclesiastics " the world has the better.
the exit of
world
of them.
all
calls for
men
The work
God speed
of Christ in the
of prophetic spirit and power, not
who are professional parrots or
hypocrites.
The Roman Catholic clergy
priestly ecclesiastics
tyrannical
of the middle ages
is
not the standard for the modern
minister nor the type to which our world will give
heed.
Commending
4.
*'
But
isters of
in
Ourselves as Ministers of
God
everything commending ourselves as min-
God."
'
The merely
negative attitude
is
not
enough, though one has a hard time just to keep
from doing wrong.
That of
itself
task.
Exactly what Paul means
mend
ourselves as God's servants
selves.2
»
2 Cor.
The
vi. 4.
minister's letter of
is
a tremendous
is
this
:
We
com-
commend themcommendation
2
Meyer, in
to
loco.
TAKING LIFE AS
his flock
is
his
That
life.
IT IS
223
the one which they will
is
read in preference to the sermon or to the Bible.
The
minister's life
to the world.
says, not as
is
an open book to
is
him
vain for
It is
his
What Emerson
What the preacher
he does.
hterally true.
people and
men do
to bid
he
as
so pithily said
is
thunders so
loud into men's ears that they cannot hear what he
says.
This appeal to
must meet
life
as
life is
And
is.
it
These glowing verses
'
The preacher
inevitable.
Paul
form a
is
not afraid.
climax to Paul's
fit
sustained flight in praise of the Christian ministry.
He
has sought to interpret
He
and high purpose.
it
according to
has placed
it
in
its
with the glory of the Mosaic dispensation.
dared to look into the very Face of Christ.
probed
his
own
heart to the very bottom.
posed the hearts of the men of
his time.
conscious that he has not
fulfilled
of the Christian minister.
He makes
for
himself.
But he
is
meed
trial,
willing to face
all
still
is
has
has
ex-
fully
wholly the Ideal
no such claim
all
He
the world.
of suffering and sorrow, of disap-
pointment and
and can
He
He
He
He
not willing to give up his
ministry for any other calling in
has had his
ideal
bold contrast
of labour
and anguish.
He
is
the facts of his ministry thus far
God
praise
with a
full
heart.
He
in-
dulges in this spiritual dissection of his experiences
*
2 Cor.
vi.
4-6.
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
224
closing contribution to the discussion of the
35 his
After
ministry.
all
it
is
not a matter of theory or
He
romantic idea with Paul.
ences of the grace of
God
them away from him.
take
had
his great experi-
No
in Christ.
one can
This richness of experi-
ence becomes the heritage of every servant of Christ.
He
can laugh at the doubts of tyros in rehgious
Many men
matters.
with great names are novices
The seasoned
in grace.
soldier of the Cross has
By
through the war with Christ.
been
the camp-fire of
hallowed experiences they can renew the great hours
when
God walked in the fiery furnace
These men cannot be shaken by the
Son
the
with them.
attacks of
all
of
men
of ignorance on the part of other
true the
their
life
(ci)
them according
is
make un-
he now reviews
his
is
an expansion of "
and
his
a rhetorical de-
experiences.
to three words
artificial as will
Environmerit
division
as
in
can enter
spirits
There
God.
grouping of
not wholly
section
this
sympathy with Paul
Paul's
in
divides
It is
These triumphant
as a minister of
vice
can
knowledge of Christ which they carry
hearts.
fully into
No amount
the infidels in the world.
be seen.
:
He
by^ as?
in^
The whole
in everything."
Conduct.
Bernard
*
calls
outward hardships and inward grace.
This sharp contrast between environment and inward
*
En,
«
Dia.
»
Hos,
«
In
loco.
TAKING LIFE AS
grace
is
manifest in the
opoly in
They
experiences
such
common
are the
frontier
many another minister
mean to claim any mon-
of
life
Paul does not
of Christ.
for
Christ.
as
lot of
he here recounts.
men who go
Missionaries
in
to the
ages can
all
of what Paul here
present detailed reproductions
gives in
225
IT IS
no sense of boasting, but rather with humble
gratitude for the goodness of
God
in
thus a " pattern " or sample preacher as he
tern sinner.
It
will
He
it all.
is
a pat-
be necessary to follow Paul's
words rather minutely to catch the richness of
ing with which his heart
is
filled.
"
The
is
at issue
;
he
feel-
fountains
him
as
he
is in all straits, as
he
of the great deep are broken up within
thinks of what
is
begins, and can speak only in disconnected words,
one at a time
liberty,
;
but before he stops he has
and pours out
his soul
Paul's ministry at Corinth
is
without
won
is
'
challenged and hence he
opens his heart as he would not otherwise do.
even so he
his
restraint."
But
speaking not merely for himself, but
who shall meet a like crisis.
His hardships had called for much patience.^ TribuOne may exlation had wrought patience ^ in Paul.
for all ministers of Christ
press a bit of surprise at this emphasis on patience in
an
epistle so full of turbulent
2
Denney, in loco.
Mentioned twice elsewhere in
3
Rom.
1
V. 3.
emotion
this Epistle,
i.
6;
as
xii.
is
12.
2 Cor-
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
226
IN
inthians.
But
Paul's notion of patience
The word
acquiescence.
With
not silent
is
means remaining under.
*
the vehement passion of a spirited horse
all
Paul remains in the traces and thus shows patience.
He
und Drang, but he
has Sturm
leash
and keeps to
tience
is
called for in all this
and
in verses four
sities," « distresses "
crush
necessities
^
And
The
The
reveal perplexity as in sickness,*^ loss of
Hemmed
endure.
" stripes "
in
on every
Paul
is
1
for a
Hypomone.
proud
five
That was the
spirit
Hke
times with
limit of the
Thrice Paul was beaten with rods," the
Roman method
prisonments "
particular.
Sometimes death resulted from such
law.^
scourging.'"
he learned pa-
now more
The Jews had beaten him
forty stripes save one.
Mosaic
side
he had received above measure,^ a
^
most humiHating experience
Paul.
yet they
suggest loss of liberty and confinement.
friends.^
The
" neces-
differ.
*
to
^
one hke a heavy weight.
Distresses
tiently
of outward hardships
" afflictions,"
are very general terms descrip-
tive of his experiences.
afflictions
list
The
five.
holds himself in
Indeed the grace of pa-
his task.
'2
He had
of scourging.
also.
They were
«
Cf.
*'
Rom.
« Cf. Rom.
'Cf. I Cor. ix. 7.
6 2 Cor. i. 6 ; xii.
« 2 Tim. iv. 10
7.
' 2 Cor. xi. 23.
8 2 Cor. xi. 23.
*" Josephus, Ant.,
14, 8, 21.
'« Acts xvi.
24, etc.
his
" im-
more abundant
v.
ii.
;
"
if.; 2 Cor. xii. lo.
9; 2 Cor. xii. 10.
cf. Bernard, in loco.
^ Deut. xxv.
3.
"2 Cor. xi. 25.
w 2 Cor. xi. 23.
"
;
TAKING LIFE AS
than the
Up
stripes.
IT IS
227
to this stage of Paul's
are told in Acts of only one imprisonment
life
we
so that
*
we must understand that the narrative in Acts is far
from complete. The " tumults " ^ were also numeractly, with weariness
They
are even
were
really
He knew
"
His " labours
ous and varied.
^
were
more ex-
toils
and exhaustion of body and mind.
" sleeplessnesses "
"
^
often."
^
His " watchings
more abundant.^
and were
*'
the nightmare of insomnia due to overwork
and overanxiety, the nervous racking of mind and
body
slow-moving hours of night when he
in the
could find no
many
diary of
" fastings "
of his
rest.
Paul's
words read
like the secret
He had
a minister of to-day.
also
not of a religious nature or for the sake
^
hunger and
knew what
Paul
health.
thirst,
in
fastings
The pangs
nakedness."^
it
was to be "
often,
in
in
and
cold
of hunger, the pinch of
poverty were no strangers to Paul,^ the most gifted
of
the ministers of Christ
all
:
"
we both hunger, and
ent hour
Even unto
thirst,
this pres-
and are naked,
and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling-place
and we
toil,
was not
as
^
Rom.
xix.
8
5
29
;
it
xvi. 7.
Acts
«Cf.
working with our own hands."
xiii.
This
should have been even in that early
For further stripes see Acts xxii. 24.
50; xiv. 5, 19; xvi. 22; xvii. 5;
xviii.
12;
xxi. 30.
Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 27.
Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 27.
'Cf. 2 Cor.
xi. 27.
4
6
8
2 Cor.
xi. 27.
»
2 Cor. xi. 23.
2 Cor. xi. 27.
i Cor. iv. 11.
228
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
time
Christian
of
origins.
commended
Paul
the
Philippians for their frequent thoughtfulness of his
After the lapse of the centuries the
bodily needs.^
average minister of Jesus faces
lem of actual
good business
living
still
the serious prob-
He
expenses.
must possess
be able to make both ends
ability to
meet and keep out of debt, dress
priately, educate his children,
appro-
his family
and lead
his
church in
But Paul had no idea of giving up the
liberality.
ministry because of the shortcomings of the churches.
He had
speak
his
in
from Jesus Christ.
call
respect of v^ant:
whatsoever state
I
I
Not
when
that I
have learned
am, therein to be content."
a blessed secret
is
for
"
the preacher learns
^
in
That
how
to
carry a high head with a hungry stomach, an upright look with an
empty pocket, a happy
an unpaid salary, joy in
It
was
God when men
just in the midst of
heart with
are faithless.
such an untoward environ-
ment that Paul found that the graces of the heart
grew like orchids on the wild rocks. These outward
hardships proved to be the hot-bed for those flowers
of the
spirit.
heights " in the
list
He
is
Holy
borne
Spirit."
aloft
This
and walks on the
is
the key to the
of graces in verses six and seven.
found Jesus true to His word.
faithful to
him
»Phil. iv. i6.
The Holy
in all these trials.
2
Phil. iv. ii.
By
Paul had
Spirit
was
" pureness "
3Cf. 2 Cor.
vii.
11.
^
TAKING LIFE AS
Paul means not only chastity, which
cluded, but
sincerity
also
is
By
"
knowledge
knowledge of divine
to
certainly in-
purity of intention and thought,
of motive.'
particularly
229
IT IS
"
^
he
refers
His
things.^
very experiences gave him a keener perception of
spiritual
Longsuffering
realities.
attributed to God.^
It
^
is
divine attribute.^
other virtues,
The
an especial
called for in
is
Kindness
degree by a missionary like Paul.^
a
a grace often
^ is
due to the work of the Holy
is
also
love unfeigned,^ hke the
Spirit.
Nothing but the new heart and the new view of man
make
could
possible the deathless love for
animated the heart of Paul.
The Word
undying.
preaching.
It
The Gospel
power
of
itself to
is
of truth
God
be, " the
is
a description of
simple and unadulterated truth."
deals with
^^ is
was genuine and
It
^°
man which
just
the
eternal
The
realities.
what Paul considers the Gospel
power of God unto salvation
every one that believeth."
^^
The
may be
cross
to
a
stumbling-block to the Jews, and to the Greeks foolishness, but in reahty
wisdom
of God.
random remarks.
>
Bernard, in
^Cf.
I
Tim.
i.
8
Bernard, in
8
Rom.
10
"
is
both the power and the
These words of Paul are not mere
They
2
loco.
16.
are golden truths out of his
Gnosis.
3
6
Rom.
loco.
ii.
4 ; ix. 22,
Eph. i. 13.
Cf. 2 Cor. xii. 9.
Cf.
it
etc.
9
n
Stanley, in loco.
w Rom.
i.
16.
Cf.
Cor.
I
xii. 8.
4 ; ix. 22, etc.
Cf. Gal. v. 22.
ii.
1
Cf.
Rom.
xii. 9.
Cf. 2 Cor.
Cf.
i
Cor.
ii.
17.
i.
18.
IN
230
They
very heart.
vital
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
characterize
not merely
Paul's
apprehension of Christ, but express the joy and
hope of every preacher of the Cross of
Mastery Over Circumstance.
(b)
"
Christ.
By
the armour
of righteousness on the right hand and on the
by glory and dishonour, by
report."
There
*
is
" through
2
Here the use of
in."
There
resignation.
is
power of God
by " or
spirit
of
"
The
use of the
had already given a tonic to
Paul had already ^ elsewhere applied the
his words.
figure of
"
the atmosphere of confidence,
the swing of victory in these words.
"
left,
good
suggests aggressive conflict rather than
endurance of hardships with the
passive
words
report and
progress in this group over the
preceding one with "
"
evil
armour to the
of the Spirit.
life
He had
urged the Thessalonians to put on " the breastplate
of faith and love
vation."
with the
make
He will
Roman
;
and
later,
helmet the hope of
for a
after
soldier
to
a careful study of the
He
weapons ^ of righteousness.
the righteousness which
is
there
»
is
2 Cor.
*Eph.
long personal contact
whom he is chained,
Roman armour as illus-
trating the Christian conflict.^
only a passing allusion.
sal-
Here, however,
it
is
holds in his hands the
Primarily, of course, this
is
the gift of God, but
also the other side of the truth, the actual
vi. 7f.
vi. I Iff.
•
Via.
» i Thess. v. 8.
eCf. 2Cor. X. 4.
1
TAKING LIFE AS
of an upright Hfe, the result of the
righteousness
grace of
offensive
23
IT IS
God
The conception
in the Hfe.'
The
and defensive.
in Christ's righteousness,
is
is
both
Christian minister, clad
ready for the
battle.
He
can swing the sword of truth in his right hand and
hold the shield of
faith in his left.
Nothing but
panoply of God can equip the soldier of Christ
this
for
the real war with the powers of evil in the world.
No
preacher can escape this battle save by compro-
mise with his conscience.
he shut
If
his eyes to the
grip of the devil on the actual Hfe of his community,
the saloon, the gambling den, the brothel and other
forces of corruption will let
the
watchman
sleeps
him
upon the
But, while
alone.
walls of Zion,
young
men and young women are swept on into the vortex
The white-slave traffic flourishes, the civic
of ruin.
life
is
debauched, manhood
is
corrupted, the church
becomes a respectable nonentity.
If the
refuses to fight the actual evil in his
forces
If
he does
of evil will fight him.
It
is
winks at that
preacher as
it
was with
the walls of Jerusalem
hands wrought
his
in the
weapon." ^
perience.
iCf.
community, he
evil.
in a sense
Rom.
:
fight,
the
often with the
Nehemiah's men
"
preacher
in building
Every one with one of
his
work, and with the other held
Not every preacher has
just this ex-
There are idyUic pastures where the shepvi.-viii.
'Neh.
iv. 17.
;
:
;
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
232
;
herd leads his flock in peace and plenty.'
havens
of rest
world.
There
are
a
is
growing fewer
in
But these
modern
the
away from many churches
drift
and the minister has to go out into the highways and
hedges and compel them to come
now
used to come are
mobile
rides,
Happy Warrior "
**
on auto-
The preacher must make
busy men and
for
women
to
come
:
Whose high endeavours
are an inward light
That makes the path before him always bright
Who, with a natural instinct to discern
What knowledge can perform, is diligent
Abides by
But makes
to learn
and stops not there.
his moral being his prime care
Who, doomed to go in company with pain.
And fear, and bloodshed, miserable train
Turns his necessity to glorious gain ;
In face of these doth exercise a power
this resolve,
!
*******
Which
is
But who,
our
human
nature's highest dower.
he be called upon to face
moment to which heaven has joined
Great issues, good or bad for human kind.
Is happy as a lover
and attired
With sudden brightness, Uke a man inspired
And, through the heart of conflict, keeps the law
In calmness made, and sees what he foresaw."
Some
if
awful
;
»
Cf. Goldsmith's «
it
to the
He must be Wordsworth's
worship of the sanctuary.
"
parties,
not answer just to fuss and
It will
over the situation.
worth while
week-end
Those who
playing golf, or deep in the Sunday
paper at home.
fret
at
in.
Deserted Village."
TAKING LIFE AS
The outcome may be
honour."
He
2
'
or
which
may be
He
woe because
is
But
perilous.
of
the preacher to be
But
well of him.
often the excessive flattery of friends
if
" disfire
not hkely to suffer long from
men speak
all
the
^
opponents are con-
his
It is useless for
stantly kindling.
hyper-sensitive.
it
233
ready to pass through
is
criticism (dishonour)
the
" glory,"
IT IS
even more
is
one has a sense of integrity ^ (armour
of righteousness), he can pursue the even tenor of his
Some
way.
in Galatia
Paul does not
of his mind.
He
mean
we
to say that
does care very greatly.
sensitive soul to the very quick.
bless
"
entreat
we
;
offscouring of
become
men."
are
all
made
It
Being
being persecuted, we endure
;
Each man must
own
bear his
of his conduct and motives
^
among
brethren.
So he had learned how
®
He
cross.
has
and
all in
a day's journey.
1
2 Cor.
<
Denney, in
'
Stanley, in loco.
2
vi. 8.
loco.
2 Cor, x. 2.
Cor. iv. 12
» i
It
false
This
impu-
which he met
Jews, heathen, yea, and
complaisance " evil report "
was
we
being defamed,
;
things even until now."
every turn,
It
reviled,
as the filth of the world, the
was a large part of Paul's crucifixion, the
ward
he does
stung his
" a spectacle to the world, both to angels
^
tations
their
Others at Corinth thought he was out
eyes for Paul.
not care.
would have plucked out
among
at
the
to take with out-
and " good report." ^
was
all
a part of the
'2 Cor.
xii. 14 fF.
Cor. iv. 9.
Cf. I Cor. iv. 13.
« I
f.
8
IN
234
game
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
He
of war with evil in which he was engaged.
was not disposed to complain of the conditions of
Some personaHties have more edge
than others. Some men have more force and cut
deeper into other Hves. Some men cause more resistance to the Gospel than others who have the gift
Christ takes us as we are and uses
of persuasiveness.
service to Christ.
us with our varied
Christ " are "
says, to see
Those
gifts.
He
does, to learn what
to the Judaizing reactionaries.
(c)
lovers of spiritual truth
Paradoxes
is
in
all.
it
The same cloud
What
has
He
is
the inspiration
and freedom
its
bright and
in Christ.
Antithesis
is
its
dark
side.
true of every effective
was true of Jesus Himself.
all
man
has been a nonentity.
ministers of Christ have so
of tragedy as Paul experienced.
of us go on in a
'
He
and
can get a double report on almost any public
true that not
»
"
Paul was impossible
Paul's Ministry.
It
man's Hfe unless the
is
is
Light and shadow interplay.
here true of Paul
preacher of Christ.
One
He
Much of human power
'
in the ministry lies in personality.
runs through
school of
by the Master with a message, with a
program, with a personality."
all
**
chosen by the Master to hear what
what
" are sent forth
of
in the
The
lives of
more commonplace manner.^
McDowell, " In the School of
Denney, in loco.
It
much
most
But
Christ," the Cole lectures for 1910.
TAKING LIFE AS
men
there are
meet
He
of the ministry.
He
in Christ.^
now
is
began
this
wonderful "digres-
He
own secret heart
he comes down like the sky-
interprets to us his
As
deceivers and yet true,"
Clementine Homilies Paul
ceiver."
us in triumph
has soared with bold and steady wing
song before
in this last
"
God who always leads
with an eagle's sweep he swings a bit higher
than before.
The
^
is
^
In the
he says.
expressly termed " de-
Judaizers at Corinth had also applied
opprobious epithet to him.
this
who
on the Christian ministry with an outburst
*
of thanksgiving to
lark.
in the ministry
Paul rises to a paean of praise
not blazoned abroad.
till
235
with courage of heart whose fame
real crises
sion "
mould
of heroic
IT IS
But Jesus Himself
was charged with being a deceiver of the people.^
Paul
knew
of truth,
that he was true in heart
and was willing to
let
and
life,
time give
remembered
who
One needs
position to Paul
of his day.
ear
^
to
much
that
must have an
intellectual culture that
Stanley, in loco.
^So they had called Jesus "
4
6
Horn. II. 17, 18.
Spurgeon, " Lectures
Roman
world
the blind eye and the deaf
comes before him.
the respect of cultivated
»
chiefly because of their op-
the glory of the
is
an-
To-day the
swer to the calumnies of his enemies.
Judaizers are
a teacher
its final
The preacher
will command
men and women, but
it is
^ 2 Cor. ii. 12
that deceiver " (Matt, xxvii. 63).
^
to Students,"
Second
John
far
f.
vii. 12.
Series, pp. 241
flf.
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
236
more important
have
to
Paul
one.
of
all
one must do.
It is
its
though that
aspects,
being true that
a much deeper and more profound
minister
the reserve
power
in his character
the minister has to do his
This
tion.
But,
^
if
in the
is
way
At bottom a
That
Often
a pitifully slender
of books and technical educa-
not to be endured
if it
can be remedied.
unavoidable, one can at least have a clean and
open mind, glad to learn and loyal
and high.
If one's
manhood
to
all
a cog here, they will not endure
gifts
he
may
have.^
him
Paul
known, and yet well known."
is
true
men
will
he
slips
that
rings true,
put up with a great deal in the preacher.
great
mind,
integrity.
and work.
work with
tell-
what
is
in Paul's
is
idea.
an incarnation of truth and
is
apparatus
much about
not here thinking so
is
ing the truth in
is
He
intellectual integrity.*
a moral force primarily rather than an intellectual
is
^
If
at
all,
proceeds
however
"
:
Un-
They accused Paul
of being " obscure," not having right credentials, a
nobody
in the ministry, not recognized in
clesiastical
circles.''
According
to this
high ec-
charge he
was guilty of the crime of not being famous.
body cared what Paul thought or
ignored as one not in the
1
'
3
*
said.
company
He
No-
could be
of the religious
*« My Note-Book,"
p. 90.
Spurgeon, " Lectures to Students," First Series, pp. 282 fF.
Beecher, " Yale Lectures on Preaching," Third Series, p. 293.
6 Cf. 2 Cor. lii. 2
2 Cor. vi. 9.
x. lO.
Phelps,
:
TAKING LIFE AS
So the
aristocrats.
he
is
" well
he were
IT IS
Paul easily retorts that
jibe ran.
known " among
the true believers.'
as insignificant as his
What
is
and behold we hve."
^
fame
If
enemies claimed, they
There
took a deal of trouble about him.
of irony here.
237
"
after all ?
He seemed
a touch
is
As
dying,
always on the
point of death, but death kept vanishing into the
Doubtless his enemies had heard of his
distance.
serious illness
^
Corinth and were congratulating
at
themselves that their troubles would soon be over
providential death of Paul.
with the
But,
comes back from the edge of the grave and
on
ally
virile
his
to
some men
lived to a
ably lived
He
way
!
It
is
he
actu-
amazing how
is
of delicate constitution are.
Paul
good old age and would have prob-
fairly
much
Corinth
lo,
longer but for his execution by Nero.
here makes merry over the anxiety of his ene-
No
mies about his health.
trifle
with his body.
It is
minister has a right to
a holy temple for the in-
The
dwelling of the Holy Spirit.
minister
is
abuse of the body.
body
Paul does not
make
in this raillery with his enemies.
need not count too
away
effectiveness of a
marred or ruined by neglect or
often
to
killed."^
oblige
His
*Cf. 2 Cor. xi. 6.
certainly
them.
enemies
2
2 Cor.
"
As
on
his
* i
dying right
chastened,
interpreted
vi. 9.
light of the
They simply
Cor.
i.
and not
his
troubles to
9.
*
2 Cor.
vi. 9.
mean
so.
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
IN
238
God was
that
He
the last
is
man
At any
chastening rod.
He
afflicting
can be thankful for
him
he
rate
it
need of the
his
not yet killed.
is
Meanwhile he
that.
Be
for his sins.
deny
to
will en-
deavour to learn his lesson of chastisement which
God may have
God can
for him.
use these very
enemies as a wholesome discipUne for Paul.
to see that the lesson
will try
is
not
He
There
lost.
is
banter in this play of words, but a note of utmost
earnestness in
it all.
Paul
imagination loose and
his
lets
In these climacteric sentences
"
hghtning on the clouds.
rejoicing."
His opponents
*
overmuch sorrow
Httle
As
tears
terwoven
perpetual
how
life,
but
it
cheerfulness.^
to be anxious in nothing
God
the time.
all
he close together in Paul's heart.
a real note in his
the peace of
He knew
mock sympathy.
The sorrow was
with
Paul in his
This was only too true, however
!
Paul cared for their
learned
like
sorrowful, yet always
affect pity for
what sorrow was, but he was happy
Laughter and
plays
it
was
in-
He had
and to have
as the garrison for his heart.^
So
Chrysostom, the golden-mouthed preacher of Antioch
and Constantinople, when banishment
fell
to his lot
and out on the hot sands he sank down, could say
" Glory to
God
» 2 Cor. vi. 10.
»Phil. iv. 6f.
for all things."
2Cf.
Paul,
Rom.
v.
:
hke Chrysos-
3: Phil.
iv. 4, 12.
TAKING LIFE AS
IT IS
torn,
knew what
and
the next to be taboo with
who
preacher
most
is
it
was to be a popular hero one day
some
popular applause
bitterness in the
"
of the cup before he has finished.
rich."
He
*
As
his ene-
The word
He had not entered the
He was entitled to supCorinth.
He had refused to
a pauper.
literally
make money.
ministry to
port from the ch irch at
receive
bottom
poor, yet
was taunted by
mies for not receiving pay for his work.^
means
The
the crowd.
tastes the sweets of
likely to find
making many
239
pay because he saw that he would be charged
with having come after their money.
Precisely this
situation to-day confronts the missionaries in heathen
lands,
who must be supported by
remove
to
With Paul
this
much
now
ment there threw every
and misconstrued
tioch was
in
interest in the
that the apostles are
selves scattered over the world.
brethren
churches
The church
worse.
had taken apparently no
missionary enterprise
the
home
charge against them by the heathen.
the case was
at Jerusalem
path
the
them-
The Judaizing
ele-
possible obstacle in Paul's
his
Jerusalem.^
motives and work to
The church
at
An-
Greek church and heartily approved
a
the missionary campaign of Paul, but, so far as any
information
1
2 Cor.
»
Cf. Acts xxi.
vi. 10.
is
available,
gave him no
' I
Cor.
xi.
financial aid
7
;
Phil. iv. 12.
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
240
IN
whatever.
The " home " churches
to
do
The
work unaided.
his
thus
left
Paul alone
older and
more en-
come
lightened mission fields Hke Philippi did
relief at
to his
left
But
sporadic intervals.
own
to his
main he was
in the
resources to do the most gigantic
mission work of the ages in the teeth of the com-
bined forces of Greek philosophy, Jewish prejudice,
Roman
the
human
antipathy, natural
forces
He
empire of the ancient world.
never had to beg.
starved.
depravity, and
and corruption
of sin
He
was poor, but he
was hungry, but he never
He worked with
his
own hands
of tent-making and earned his bread.
soul
at his trade
Thus he kept
and body together so that he could preach the
Gospel to a world that did not want to hear
that was doing
to
all
the greatest
in
its
utmost to thwart him
evangelize the
Roman
Empire.
would have quailed long before
if
calls for
men
difficulties.
this.
ever the world saw one.
a hero,
"
of the heroic spirit
And
others had
it
and
in his efforts
A
weak man
But Paul was
The
ministry
who can overcome
trial
of mockings and
scourgings, yea, moreover, of bonds and imprison-
ment: they were stoned, they were sawn asunder
they were tempted, they were slain with the sword
they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins
destitute, afflicted, ill-treated (of
whom
;
:
being
the world was
not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and
TAKING LIFE AS
caves and the holes of the earth."
241
IT IS
This
'
is
the spirit
through all the ages
of the martyrs and missionaries
have carried the cross all over the world. They
who
did
it
to
Jesus.
make many
There
is
rich with the riches of Christ
no riches
like that in Christ.
wealth consisted in the souls
won
Paul's
to Christ
and
These had everything, for they
the
had Christ and God.^ Paul's last paradox about
and
preacher is the culmination, " as having nothing,
enriched in Him.^
yet possessing
all
things."
'
would give him a place
that
He had
in
nothing at
all
Wall Street to-day.
He had no bank account at Alexandria or Rome.
He had no grain ships on the Mediterranean. It has
Tarsus
been thought by some that Paul's father in
had some property which Paul may have inherited
later.
Be
store at this
but had
all
He
that
is
may, he certainly has no earthly
juncture. He had missed making money,
that as
won
it
the whole world.
was worth having,
the richest
man
all
He had
to the fulF
that was enduring.
in all the
world as he writes
on the
the last words of this matchless panegyric
Christian ministry.
they outweigh
its
all
He
counts up his treasures and
the sordid wealth of Corinth with
nouveaux riches and
crass
philosophy and material-
' 1 Cor. i. 5.
xi ^6-38.
ministry
2 Cor. vi. 10. So Jesus in His later
lay His head.
5 Katecho.
1
*
Heb
' i
Cor.
iii.
22.
had not where
to
IN
242
GLORY AND DISHONOUR
Paul had long ago
commercialism.
istic
choice.
him
made
his
was over twenty years ago that Jesus met
It
in the
way and
He made
halted his steps.
his
He
decision then and he has not recanted since.
deliberately cast his
and
He
material.
the
call
into the scale of the moral
He
has
all,
had seen the heavenly vision and heard
he has
for
There
him.
worldly and the
He
of Jesus to go far hence to the Gentiles.
running his race and there
still
is
life
spiritual values as against the
is
Christ.
wind
is
And
in
him
Christ has
yet.
all
of
the spring of eternal youth in Paul.
Him that strengtheneth me."
There is work in Paul yet. He has sung his song
about the preacher. He comes down from the moun-
" I can
do
all
*
things in
tain top with the face of Christ in his heart,
the work
his face.
in the valley.
He
will
But he
will
down
to
put no veil over
keep on looking
at the face
of
Jesus and telling of the light of the knowledge of the
glory of
lifts
to
God
Him
day Paul
in the face of Christ to
who
Some
every one
a face sin-stained and shadowed.
will
look Jesus
full in
the face again.
"
For
now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to
face: now I know in part; but then shall I know
fully
even as also
then he will
good
>
was
fully
Even
known." ^
feel sure of victory
fight, I
Phil. iv. 13.
I
:
"
I
before
have fought the
have finished the course,
« 1
I
have kept
Cor.
xiii. 12.
TAKING LIFE AS
the faith: henceforth there
is
IT IS
laid
up
243
for
me
crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the
eous judge, shall give
me
only, but also to
appearing."
^
"
And
me
all
at that
them
the
right-
day; and not to
that have loved His
they that be wise shall shine as
the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn
many to
*
2 Tim.
righteousness as the stars forever and ever."
iv.
7
f.
•
Dan,
*
xii. 3.
^
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