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Macgregor, M.A. The Trtie Viiie# Meditations for a Month on John XV. 1-16. By Rev. Andrew Murray. Discipleship. By Rev. G. Campbell Morgan, of London. A Holy Life, and How to Live It. By Rev. G. H. C. Macgregor, M.A. Sin and its Conquerors; or, The Conquest of Sin. By the VeryRev. Dean Farrar, D.D. The Lord's Table. A Help to the Right Ob- servance of the Holy Supper. By Rev. Andrew i.vlurray. Wailing on God. Daily Messages for a Month. By Rev. Andrew Murray. Saved and Kept. Counsels to Young Believers. By Rev. F. B. Mever, B.A. Cheer for Life's Pilgrimage. By Rev. F. B. Meyer, B.A. Yet Speaking. Unpublished Addresses. By Rev. A. J. Gordon, D.D. Ways to "Win. Thoughts and Suggestions with regard to Personal Work^for Christians. By Rev. Dyson Hague. I Believe in God the Father Almighty. By Rev. John Henry Barrows, D.D. Inspired Through Suffering. By Rev. D. O. Mears, D.D. Life's hverydayness. Papers for Women. By Rose Porter, author of " A Gift of Love," etc. When Thou Hast Shut Thy Door. Morning and Evening Meditations for a Month. By Amos R. Wells. Foretokens of Immortality: Studies "for the hour when the immortal hope burns low in the heart " By Rev. Newell Dwight Hillis. -; i i ' Flemings H. RcvcU Company New York: 158 Fifth Ave. Chicago: 63 Washington St. Toronto : 154 Yonge St. c Discipleship BY Rev. 7. Campbell Morgan Pastor of New Court Congregational Church Tollington Park, London New York Chicago Toronto Fleming H. Revell Company Publishers of Evangelical Literature r UMVERSiTY MOUNT ALLISOr^ LlEiriABY. Copyright, 1897, BY PLBMING H. ReVELL COMPANY To my Wife. — In whose tmohtrusive and consistent discipleship I have found the in- spiration of service f and that sense of ^^sanc- tuary ' ' in the home which has been largely the strength of service also^ — I dedicate this, my first book. t AUTHOR'S NOTE This booklet is not intended to be a contribution to theology, nor is it ad- dressed to theologians as such. Not that they or their work is undervalued. They—of varied schools— have placed the writer under a debt to them that he is unable to discharge. It is intended to be, along practical lines, an aid to the disciples of Jesus, and that, by endeavoring to show in some measure, the eminent practicability of being a Christian, in the power of the life communicated by and sustained in Christ through the Holy Spirit. It is further intended to reveal the actual effect on this present life, for ennobling it in all its relations, and filling it with all joy and beauty, of 7 Author's Note the ultimate intention of the Master for all His disciples. To the glory of God, and the help of fellow-disciples it is therefore prayer- fully sent forth on its mission. G. Campbell Morgan. New Court Congregational Churchy London. 8 CONTEXTS I. Becoming a Disciple n II. FiusT Lessons 22 III. The Method of Advancement . . 32 IV. The Disciple at Home .... 44 V. The Disciple at Business ... 55 VI. The Disciple at Play . . . . GG VII. The Disciple as a Friend ... 75 VIII. The Disciple at work for the Master gg IX. The Disciple in Sorrow .... 98 X. The Disciple in Joy los XI. The Disciple Going Home . . .117 XII. The Disciple in Glory . . , , 126 8 I r I s c c F t t] d Discipleship BECOMING A DISCIPLE At the feet of Jesus Is the place for me, There, a humble learner, Would I choose to be. —P. P. Bliss. *' Disciples" is the term consistently used in tlie four Gospels to mark the relationship existing between Christ and His followers. Jesus used it Himself in speaking of them, and they in speaking of each other. Neither did it pass out of use in the new days of Pentecostal power. It runs right through the Acts of the Apostles. It is interesting also to remember that it was on this wise that the angels thought and spoke of these men ; the use of the word in the days of the Incarnation is linked to the 11 Discipleship use of the word in the apostolic age by the angelic message to the women, " Go, tell His Disciples and Peter " (Mark xvi. 7). It is somewhat remarkable that the word is not to be found in the Epistles. This is to be accounted for by the fact that the Epistles were addressed to Christians in their corporate capacity as churches, and so spoke of them as members of such, and as the ** saints " or separated ones of God. The term disciple marks an individual relation- ship, and though it has largely fallen out of use, it is of the utmost value still in marking that relationship, exist- ing between Christ and each single soul, aiid suggesting our consequent position in all the varied circumstances of everyday living. It is to that study we desire to come in this series of pa- pers. 1. The word itself {iiaOririj^') signifies a taught or trained one, and gives us the ideal of relationship. Jesus is the Teacher. He has all knowledge of the ultimate purposes of God for man, of the will of God concerning man, of the 12 lal oi Becoming a Disciple 5 age by n, " Go, Peter " hat the Cpistles. the fact ssed to lapacity them as saints " le term elation- '■ fallen t value , exist- single equent stances study of pa- gnifies ves us is the of the lan, of of the laws of God that mark for man the path of his progress and final crowning. Disciples are those who gather around this Teacher and are trained by Him. Seekers after trutli, not merely in the abstract, but as a life force, come to Him and join the circle of those to whom He reveals these great secrets of all true life. Sitting at His feet, they learn from the unfolding of His lessons the will and ways of God for them ; and obeying each successive word, they real- ize within themselves, the renewing force and uplifting power thereof. The true and perpetual condition of dis- cipleship, and its ultimate issue, were clearly declared by the Lord Himself *'to those Jews which believed on Him.'* " If ye abide in My word, then are ye truly My disciples ; and ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free " (John viii. 31). Before considering the glorious en- duement the Teacher confers on every disciple, and the stern requirements that guard the entrance to discipleship, it is very important that we should have clearly outlined in our minds the true 13 Discipleship meaning of this phase of the relation- ship, which Jesus bears to His people. It is not that of a lecturer, from whose messages men may or may not deduce applications for themselves. It is not that of a prophet merely, making a Di- vine pronouncement, and leaving the is- sues of the same. It certainly is not that of a specialist on a given subject, declaring his knowledge, to the interest of a few, the amazement of more, and the bewilderment of most. It is none of these. It is that of a teacher — Himself pos- sessing full knowledge, — bending over a pupil, and for a set purpose, with an end in view, imparting knowledge step by step, point by point, ev^r work- ing on toward a definite end. That conception incl'^des also the true ideal of our position. We are not casual lis- teners, neither are we merely interested hearers desiring information, we are dis- ciples, looking toward and desiring the same end as the Master, and therefore listening to every word, marking every inflection of voice that carries meaning, and applying all our energy to realizing 14 Becoming a Disciple I the Teacher's purpose for us. Such is the ideal. 2. Now let us consider the privileges that the Teacher confers upon those who become His disciples. I. The first is the establishment of those relations which make it possible for Him to teach and for us to be taught. The question of sin must be dealt with, and that which results from sin — our inability to understand the teaching. Christ never becomes a teacher to those who are living in sin. Sin as actual transgression in the past, must be pardoned, and sin as a principle of revolution within must be cleansed. So before He unfolds one word of the Divine law of life, or reveals in any- particular the line of progress. He deals with this twofold aspect of sin. To the soul judging past sin, by confessing it and turning from it. He dispenses for- giveness, pronouncing His priestly abso- lution by virtue of His own atonement on the Cross. To the soul yielded to Him absolutely and unreservedly, con- senting to the death of self. He gives the blessing of cleansing from sin. 15 Discipleship This statement of His dealing with us is not intended to mark an order of proce- dure from pardon to cleansing. It is rather the declaration of the twofold as- pect of the first work of Christ for His disciples, the bestowment of the initial blessing. In practical experience, men constantly, though not invariably, and not necessarily, realize the first-named first in order. That is the result of the overwhelming and largely selfish desire of personal safety, a desire which is the natural and proper outcome of the di- vinely imparted instinct of self-preser- vation. Nevertheless they ought at once, for the higher reason of God's glory, to seek to realize the deeper side of the one blessing, that of cleansing. But His patience is manifested in our folly. He forgives and graciously waits. When we look at Him again and say " Master, there is more in Thy cross than pardon," tlien He makes us con- scious of His power to cleanse. Certain it is, that there can be no real disciple- ship apart from the realization of the twofold olessing. Beyond this there lies the dullness of our understanding, 16 Becoming a Disciple our inability to comprehend the truths He declares. This He overcomes by the gift of the Holy Spirit, who makes clear to us the teaching of the Master. What a priceless gift this is. The dull- est natural intellect may be, and is, rendered keen and receptive Godward, by the incoming of the Holy Spirit. So He Himself provides for, and creates, the relationships of communion through cleansing, and intelligence through the indwelling of the Spirit, which constitute our condition for re- ceiving yhat He has to teach. n. The other great privilege to be remembered is that the school of Jesus is a technical school. He provides op- portunities for us to prove in practical life the truths He has to declare. This is a great essential in His method, with which we shall deal more fully in a sub- sequent chapter. Jc is another evidence of His abounding grace, that the prov- ing in technical details of the lessons He teaches, is just as much under His personal guidance and direction as the truth in theory is received directly from Him. 17 Vi Discipleship 3. Now, upon what personal con- ditions may I become a disciple ? I fain would have this enduement of pardon, cleansing, and illumination. How may this be ? No school of man was ever so strictly guarded, so select, as this, yet none was ever so easy of access. No bar of race, or color, or caste, or age stands across the en- trance. Humanity constitutes the es- sential claim. And yet, because of the importance of the truths to be revealed, and of the necessity for the application of every power of the being to the understanding and realization of these truths, Jesus stands at the entrance, forbidding any to enter,- save upon cer- tain conditions. Let us hear His three- fold word. I. *'If any man cometh unto Me, and hateth not his own father, and mother, and wife, and chil- dren, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke xiv. 26). II. "Whosoever doth not bear his own cross, and come after Me, cannot be My disciple" (Luke xiv. 27). III. ** Whosoever he be of you that re- 18 Becoming a Disciple ; nounceth not all that he hath, he CAN- NOT BE My disciple " (Luke xiv. 33). The new relationship must be su- perior, in the urgency of its claims to the claim of any earthly relationship ; it must be considered and answered be- fore any claims of the self-life. The Teacher demands that we shall take up the cross and so follow on, even though the progress be through pain. More, we must take the deep spiritual vow of povert}', renouncing all, as possessions, counting every word He shall speak, and every truth He shall reveal, through whatsoever methods, as our chief and only wealth. In short, we must not be held, either by being pos- sessed by others, or possessing aught. There must be a clean severance from all entanglement, and an utter uncom- promising abandonment of ourselves to Him. Unless this be so, we cannot be His disciples. If this be our attitude, then, to us He gives pardon, cleansing, light ; and so, becoming by relationship His disciples, and entering His school, we are ready for, and enter upon our course of instruction. 19 V: 111 Jil Disciplcship If these conditions seem hard and severe, let it be remembered what de- pends upon them. Character and des- tiny depend upon this question of dis- ciplcship. Not to impart information, and to satisfy curiosity, is Jesus the Teacher. It is because the truth sancti- fies and makes free that He reveals it, and because, apart from the revelation He has to make, there is no possible way of realizing God's great purposes for us. Compare Himself and His teaching with the most sacred and beautiful of earth's loves and posses- sions, and these are unworthy of a mo- ment's thought. They must all come from between Him and ourselves, so that we may know and do His will. Such attitude does not rob us of the enjoyment of all these things, so far as in themselves they are right. It rather adds to our joy. Self^ renders it impossible to know Christ, when other loves and interests intervene, and breeds dissatisfaction with all else and makes that very self sad and weak. Christ absolute, lights the whole being with His love, and joy, 20 ill Becoming a D.isciple and beauty, and shines on other loves to their sanctification, and so, the abnega- tion of self is self's highest develop- ment. So let us enter the school of Jesus, and, receiving His gifts, await His teach, ing. 21 11; ii II FIRST LESSONS Saviour and Master These sayings of Thine, Help me to make them Doings of mine; Words that like beams Of humanity shine, By them let me build up The holy, divine, — Pcixton Hood, The Sermon on the Mount— as it is popularly styled, though the title al- ways seems inadequate and poor—was delivered specially to the disciples. Ihe first and second verses of the fifth chapter of Matthew very clearly declare this, "And seeing the multitudes, He went up into the mountain ; and when He had sat down, His disciples came unto Him : and He opened His mouth and tauglit THEM, saying." The multitude lollowed and gathered round this little group of Teacher and taught, but the 22 First Lessons teaching was for the. disciples only — tliat is, for such as were brouglit into those necessary relations, of which our first chapter spoi^e, and so could follow and in some measure receive tiie won- drous words. In actual experience the teaching of this sermon is very far in advance even of this advanced age. Men have hardly begun to guess at the glory and beauty of this wonderful ideal, but in relation to the Teacher it is elementary and initial. All the wealth of His knowledge — knowledge that lie is waiting to impart — lies be- yond anything said here. Here He deals with the first ideals of true life, and reveals to men the Divine purpose for them to-day. These are His first LESSONS. Any exhaustive dealing with all the wonderful and delicate detail is impossible, and it is not indeed the pur- pose of this study. A general analysis of the whole, that we may catch its sweep and scope, and obtain an outline of the system, is what is possible and necessary. We shall now proceed to this consideration, noticing seven points of importance. This study should be 23 Discipleship taken with your Bible as your com. panion, tracing the teacliing therein. 1. Supremacy of Character (Matt. V. 1-12). The very first word that falls from His lips is a revelation of the will of God for man. ** Blessed." "Happy." That is the Divine thought and intention for us. Sorrow, tears, pain, disappointment, all these may be, and are, of inestimable value in the Father's discipline ; but they are means to an end, made necessary by man's sin. The end, in the purpose of God is bless- edness. Happiness is that after which all men in every age seek, and the first note in the Saviour's teaching reveals it, as what God is seeking also. How, then, is it to be realized ? This section contains the Master's answer. Men hold two views of what happiness con- sists in, viz, having, and doing. To possess much, or to do some great thing, constitutes the sum of human blessedness according to popular the- ory. Our Teacher sweeps these con- ceptions away by absolutely ignoring them. No " blessed " of His lights up for man either the "having" or "do- 24 First Lessons ing " of man. Being is everything. A man's happiness depends upon what he is in himself. These " blesseds " of Jesus touch human life in its lowliest phases, and reveal the highest possibil- ities even for such. Henceforth for the disciples of Jesus themselves, and for a basis o^ their estimate of others, char- acter is to be supreme. There is in- finite tenderness in this on its positive side, and it is stern and inexorable on the negative. Such teaching will pro- duce lives running contrary to all worldly estimate and custom, and dis- cipleship will mean persecution, and so the Teacher adds a ''blessed" for those who suffer through character. 2. Influence the Intention (v. 13-16). This grows out of the former, and is at once the statement of a fact and the declaration of an intention. The fact is that character tells upon others. If a man live in the atmosphere of the beatitudes of Jesus, his life being of the character described, he will, apart from any effort along the line of actual work, exert certain influences. This is not only a fact, it is part of the Divine 86 Discipleship intention. Salt savorless, light under a bushel, are worse than useless ; this is, however, the statement of a!\ impossible hypothesis. Salt savorless ceases to be salt. Light under a bushel goes out. This the Master intends us to under- stand, and hence the terrific force of His figures of speech. These symbols mark for us distinctly the influence that the blessed life ex- erts. Salt is antiseptic, pungent, pre- venting the spread of corruption, and making that portion where health bor- ders on disease smart. Remember ab- solute corruption never smarts. When men smart under the influence of the antiseptic life of righteousness, it is a sign for which we should be thankful, conscience is not altogether dead, they are not " past feeling." The disciples then are to be salt, preventing corrup- tion, and arousing the dormant sense of health. Light is here used, I think, in its sense of guidance. Men are groping after God in this age with no light of their own by which to find Him. Your life is to be a light, by the aid of which men come to glorify God. Let 26 First Lessons no man whose life fails to be antiseptic, and never helps another Godward, im- agine himself living within the circle of beatitudes. 3. The New Moral Code (v. 17- 48). Having thus seen the supremacy of character as the secret of happiness and the source of influence, we ask what are the laws which govern the de- velopment of such character. The new code of ethics is startling. The Mosaic law of conduct was easy to obey when compared to this. The former is done away in the sense in which the less is included in the greater. Greater it surely is. Let this section be carefully read, remembering the following points ; —I. The righteousness of the disciples is to exceed that of the Pharisees, as inner purity exceeds external white- ness. II. Gifts on the altar do not ex- piate wrongdoing. III. To look on sin with desire is sin ; in other words, suppression of sin is still sin, because it recognizes the presence of a principle antagonistic to God and excuses it. IV. Retaliation is forbidden, and love is to be the one law of relative life. No 27 Discipleship one can reverently study this ideal of life without seeing the necessity for the fulfilling of the conditions of entrance to discipleship. 4. Self-stricken (vi.)- This chap- ter may, and undoubtedly does, contain very much teaching along other lines, but the underlying principle is that of self-abnegation. Note how the injunc- tions run counter to every popular idea of life : — I. Alms are to be given privately, not blazoned abroad. II. Prayer is preeminently a matter 'twixt the soul and God ; certainly not to be a means of advertising self's piety. III. Men are still to fast, but with glad face, not '' appearing " so to do, so that self is to have no glory for its denial of it- self. IV. Wealth is not to be held, save on trust. V. Self is to be smitten so that anxiety concerning necessities can- not exist. Surely never were self-con- sideration and self-consciousness so smitten hip and thigh as here. 5. Relative Charity (vii. 1-5). The consideration of my brother's fault is to drive me to self-examination rather that to the passing of judgment on him. 28 First Lessons I am ever to count my fault a beam and his a mote. 6. The Opeit Treasure House (vii. T-14). With what light and glory of tender love does this section come to us. Just as one's spirit is in danger of being overwhelmed with the sense of the impossibility of realizing such ideals, He reveals to us the wealth that lies at our disposal in the love and power of the Father, and in simplest and best understood words, He reveals our priv- ilege in that matter. *'Ask." **Seek." *' Knock." For daily help remember the acrostic here. Take the initial let- ters A, S, K, and reflect that the words for which they stand reveal the secret combination that admits us into the treasure house of love, where there is stored for us all that we need for the realization of the ideal. 7. Warning (vii. 15-23). What solemn words of warning are these. Siren voices will seek to lure us. No teaching but His can produce the true character. The truth of every message is to be tested by the life of the Teacher, and if failure is found there, we are to 29 , « Discipleship know him for " false " no matter how cleverly the sheep's clothing conceals the devouring wolf. How careful we need to be, lest all should be marred by our being drawn aside by specious teaching which is contrary to His Will. These lessons are all initial, lying at the very foundation of all Christ has to teach men. In proportion as they are realized He is able to lead us forward to deeper truths. An English Bishop said that this Sermon on the Mount could not be applied to the Slate. Whatever the Bishop intended, there is a side on which he was perfectly cor- rect. These principles cannot be car- ried out in any State, save where the Kinghood of Jesus is recognized, and men are His disciples. None save dis- ciples can understand, much less obey His teaching. The crowds leaving the mountain were impressed witi: the au- thority of the teaching, but they were not captivated with its beauty, for all this was beyond their comprehension. Christianity did not come by force of arms, nor could it. Christianity will never come by Act of Parliament. The 30 First Lessons wisest of earth's scholars, and the most astute of her politicians, can lift no finger to help the Kingdom of God save by coming in to the school of Jesus, and learning of Him by the inshining of the Holy Spirit. That lonely, laboring soul in back court, or isolated village, or far- off heathen hut, who is spelling out under the unique Teacher the lessons ot this great deliverance, and so build- ing character on these sayings of His IS doing more to realize on earth the Kingdom of God, and so to bring the golden age, than all the company of diplomatists and politicians, who are torgetful in all practical things of the Nazarene. To the learning of these first great lessons, let us set ourselves with all submission of spirit and sur- render of life. 31 Ill THE METHOD OF ADVANCEMENT No matter how dull the scholar whom He Takes into His school, and gives hira to see ; A wonderful fashion of teaching He liath And wise to salvation He makes us through faith. The wayfaring men though fools shall not stray, His method so plain, so easy His way. — Charles Wesley. The subject of this chapter is not in- tended to suggest the idea that all the *' First Lessons " with which the last chapter dealt are to be realized to the full, and that not till then progress may be made beyond. The thought is rather that of advancement in those first great lessons. They contain a statement of the full possibilities of character in these days of probation, and therefore it would be impossible to go beyond them in this respect. At the same time, it must be remembered that Jesus said very much bej^ond this to His disciples, giving them to know and understand 32 The Method of Advancement many of the things of God that had to do with their ultimate destiny and the Divine purposes lor the race ; and after all His teaching at the last He had to leave them, saying, " I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth." The teach- ing of the First Lessons is for the crea- tion of that character to which the deeper things of God become intelli- gible, and advancement in the under- standing and realization of these, fits us for receiving and understanding what- ever else may be beyond. Tiie con- sideration of this chapter includes both these things, though directed principally to the former. How, then, can we ad- vance? 1. Right Relationships with the Teacher must be Maintainp:d. Fail- ure to understand this is perhaps one of the subtlest dangers to which the disciple is exposed. The idea is com- mon that at some set time, through some special season of blessing, one en- ters into right relationships with Him, 33 Discipleship and that therefore, through all the coming days, these rehitionsli'ps abide. It is absolutely false. There is nothing in all the realms of life more delicate, more easy to interfere with than these relationships. As the most tremendous forces of which man knows anything are set in operation by simplest meth- ods, and may be hindered by means equally simple, so in relation to this greatest of all forces — the cleansing and illuminating force of contact with Jesus. By the simple method of cessation of activity I come into living contact with it, and by a moment's self-assertion, I may hinder its working. Hence the need for living daily and hourly and every moment at the very place of be- ginnings, ever as a child depending upon Him, and ever as one of the weakest of those who love Him, abiding in Him. It is a glorious thing to know that my cleansing and illumination depend upon Him, and that the whole of my respon- sibility in this matter is marked by my maintaining personal relationship with Him. This, however, is inexorable. Daily personal communion there must 34 The Method of Advancement be, and tlie means of such, study of His word, waiting upon Him in prayer, the cultivation of close fellowship, by tell- ing Him everything — ^joys as well as sorrows — and the periods of silence in which the soul simply waits and listens in the stillness for His voice, these can- not be neglected without a film, a veil, a cloud, a darkness coming between the soul and Himself, and so hindering the possibility of advancement. All this specially needs emphasizing in an age, cliaracterized by its rush and unrest, its loss of the old spirit of medi- tation and quiet, a characterization that applies to Christendom to-day as evi- denced by over-organization, never ceasing rounds of societies, meetings, doings, and the lessening of the seasons of retirement and true worship. Per- sonal relationship cannot be maintained in crowds. The Master and I alone, must be a perpetual need, and for its realization opportunity must be made. 2. The Truth Taught Must Be- come Incarnate in the Disciples. As we insisted at the outset, disciple- ship is not a condition for amassing in- 35 Disciplcship formation. Every doctrine has its issue in some clearly defined duty, every theory taught reveals a practical a^)pli- cation and responsibility. To tlie soul in right relationship with tlie Teacher, He reveals some new aspect of truth, and straightway there occurs some cir- cumstance in which that doctrine may be tested l)y duty ; and as we are most real in ordinary circumstances, — our true selves appearing then, rather than in the heroic and extraordinary days of life, — it is in the simple and common- place experieiK.'cs that these testing places arc mostly to be found. All the circumstances and surroundings of the disciples are in the hands of the Su- preme Lord who teaches, and these He manipulates and arranges for the pur- pose of the advancement and develop- ment of His own. This is a great com- fort. He knows the capacity and weakness nnd strength of everyone in His school, and His examinations do not consist in a common testing for a common standard, and so are not com- petitive. They are rather individual, special care being taken with each one, 36 The Method of Advancement and Peter will learn the supreme lesson of love with John, hut the opportunity for manifesting it as a force in life will be separate and s[)ecial in each case. Now, advancement is dependent al- ways on our obedience in these hours of testing, in our manifesting in actual practice the power of the truth we Lavi heard in theory. No lesson is consid- ered learned in the school of Jesus, which is only committed to memory. That lesson only is learned which is incarnate in the life, and becomes beau- tiful in its realization and declaration in that way; and until this is so there can be no progress. "If any man will- eth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching" (John vii. 17). This is so, because the teaching of Jesus is cumula- tive and progressive. To attempt to learn the lessons of to-morrov/ without knowledge of to-day's would be the utmost folly. Just as no boy can intel- ligently do a problem in Euclid until he knows the definitions and accepts reasonably the axioms, and takes each successive step to the one in hand, so surely no disciple can possibly make 37 Discipleship progress in the truth of God, save as the first steps are taken. You cannot leave first principles and go on unto perfection, save as these first things have become principles, and not merely theories. Here we touch the secret of much of the failure in Christian living to-day. The powerlessness in service, the unat- tractiveness in life, what do they mean ? Has the system of Jesus failed in these lives? Have the great lessons He came to teach humanity broken down in their a])pIication to human life? Take any single example — it may be that of your own experience. When you first be- came a disciple, your days were days of delight and joy, the words and will of the Master thrilled and comforted you, and you walked in His ways with a joy and gladness that filled the days with song. The people you touched in daily life saw the beauty of Jesus in you. Gentle, long-suffering, strong and pure, you incarnated His lessons, and your heart was glad, and other lives were influenced Godward. All has changed. Prayer is a duty. The scriptures are 38 The Method of Advancement dull and burdensome. You have no quick sense of the Lord's will. Your Christianit}^ has become a restriction through which you would like to break, an encumbrance of which you would fain be rid. These are confessions you never make, but they tell the true inner story of your life. Now what does this really mean? Just this. Somewhere back in the past you will find a day when the Teacher gave you some new vision of truth that straightway revealed an opportunity for you to know the glory of that truth in the pathway of obedience. Something to be given up. Something to be done. Some word to be said. You paused, argued, dis- obeyed. No other lesson has been given, nor can be. Every other de- pended upon that. That was not final. It was preparatory, and until that is learned by obedience there can be no advancement, and so for weeks, per- chance months, aye, even years, you have been a disciple making no prog- ress, and there is no wonder that you are weary of it all. The Teacher's love is marked in your 39 Discipleship case by His fidelity to Himself and His own lessons. Time after time, in meet- ings, in conversations, in loneliness, He brings you back to that old point, and reiterates with a persistence and a pa- tience passing all human understand- ing : — *' If any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the teaching." I have known all progress hindered for years because a letter was not writ- ten, and I saw the face of the disciple the day after that letter was despatched. The old light was restored, and the old joy returned as the great Teacher again began to reveal His will. 3. Advancement Can Only be Within the Limit of Divine Pur- pose. While it is true that God has for an ultimate purpose, some place of high service far on, and out of sight, a glory and fruition beyond these days of learning and probation, a being and a doing for which all the teaching and discipline of to-day are . 'oparing us, it is also true that, as pai t ji His great progressive movement, Htj has an im- mediate purpose in every life, some- thing for us to accomplish for Him here 40 The Method of Advancement and now. It is to-day we are workers together with Him. There is no waste of time or material in the Divine meth- ods. Every step He takes us, every word He speaks to us, every testing He permits us, contributes something to- ward tlie development and progress of all. Joseph sold into slavery, David exiled from his kingdom, Job crouch- ing under the whirlwind, Paul bearing the buffeting of Satan's messenger, all are examples. These experiences were dark and mysterious for the time, and while they formed part of the individual training of these men, they were also in each case a necessary part of the Di- vine dealing with the larger circle. At the time, the principal consciousness was that of limitation, and consequent longing for larger revelation, but at last they all came to understand that for the sake of others they suffered and bore, and that was to them more than com- pensation for all the restriction and waiting. There are many things we know not now because the greater issues would be hindered by our knowing. So what is best, the Teacher holds in re- 41 Discipleship serve, that we may moment by moment bear our share in this march of God to ultimate triumph and light. This section of our study is a most solemn one. So many disciples in name have ceased to be taught of Jesus, and v/e are all in such perpetual danger of slipping out of the real circle of disci- pleship, that we ought to ask ourselves the questions suggested by these three points on the subject of advancement. These questions should be asked regu- larly and alwaj^s in the hour of loneli- ness with the Master. I. Am I in right relationship with the Teacher to-day ? Do I still live at the Cross and know the power of its cleans- ing moment by moment, and so am I walking in the light, without which all the words of Jesus are dark sayings, and His testings crosses, burdens out of which I can only gather reasons for murmuring ? II. If I am not in this place of main- tained fellowship, where did I depart therefrom ? What word of His have I disobeyed? To that point let me re- turn, whether it be but an hour ago, or 42 The Method of Advancement years, and there let Me absohitely sur- render, at whatever cost, and do what He requires, however small, or however irksome it appears to be. III. Am I content to wait when His voice does not speak— and I cannot find the reason in myself— until He has ac- complished His present purpose in me, even though I understand it not lust now ? "^ With matchless patience and pity, and tender love beyond all attempts at explanation, this Teacher waits, and stoops, and woos us, and ever for our highest good and deepest peace. Let us then, by consecrated watching, rjain- tain the attitude of advancement, and so, line upon line, precept upon precept, here a little and there a little, as we are able to bear. He will lead us on, until we come to the perfect light and life and love of God. 43 IV THE DISCIPLE AT HOME Thus it is with the homely life around, There hidden, Christ abides ; Still by the single eye forever found That seeketh none besides. When hewn and shaped till self no more is found, Self, ended at Thy Cross ; The precious freed irom all the vile around No gain, but blessed loss, ' Then Christ alone remains—the former things i orever passed away ; And unto Him the heart in gladness sings All through the weary day. —H. Siiso. So far we have considered tlie great essential facts of disciplesh.p. There IS a sense in which we hold most tena- ciously that view of Christianity which is spoken of to-day as "other-worldly." Man's destiny lies beyond this life of probation, and toward that great issue the Master is ever working as He teaches 44 The Disciple at Home us the lessons of His love. Yet it has ever been the glory of Cliristianity that it is intensely practical, touching tlie present life at every point with healing and beauty, sweetening all the streams by purifying tlie sources. In this and the following papers it will be ours to trace the effect of disci])leship on the common relationships of life. We begin then with Home, because of its paramount importance. Perha])S there is no side of life more in danger of being neglected in this bus}', many- sided age, than that of Home, and cer- tainly there is no side which we can less afford to neglect. No service for God is of any value which is contradicted by the life at home, neither have we any right to neglect home on tlie plea of multiplied engagements outside. The home of the disciple may be con- ducive to progress in grace, or it may be quite the reverse, and of course the duty will vary accordingly. Let us first look at the great ideal of the Christian home presented in the New 45 Discipleship Testament, and then make particular ap- plication of the same. 1. To the follower of Jesus Christ, there are certain central and unalter- able facts which will touch and influ- ence all the home relationships. Let us look first at these. I. The New Authority stands in the forefront. The Teacher has claimed an absolute and unvarying supremacy over the life. That initial condition of dis- cipleship now enters into every ques- tion, and from it there can be no devi- ation — no, not for a single moment. This authority is one that will set up the ideals of life, and declare the stand- ard of action in all the larger and more important matters of the days, and in the most simple and trifli.ig details of the passing moments. This authority becomes the gauge and measure of all other government. The rightness or otherwise of any rule of life imposed on the disciple by any other person is to be tested by the Will of the Master. So my obligation to any person as a dis- ciple is limited or enforced by my su- preme obligation to Jesus. Responsi- 46 f The Disciple at Home bility to Him is higher than that of wife to husband, or child to parents, or serv- ant to master. These are all relation- ships of His approving, but His claim is first, and if any of these clash with that, they are to be sacrificed, this to abide. n. Then comes the New Attitude created toward others. The relation- ship of the disciple to Christ, as we have seen, is that of life. Now, this life is the life of Christ, and what it is in itself must now become the governing force, and so give new character to my feeling and acting toward others. His Life is Love. That Life, regnant in me, creates the disposition of love toward all. The old scheme of life was that of a preeminent sense of the importance of self, and all other interests were made subservient to that, and all other per- sons loved or disliked as they minis- tered to or interfered with that. Now, love governing, each will *' esteem other better than himself," and the need of the outsider will become the touchstone of life. The light of Christ's presence will reveal the shortcomings of myself, and the hitherto unrecognized excel- 47 Discipleship lences of others. So the attitude of tlie disciple will become like that of liis Lord — the attitude of one who waits not to be ministered unto, but to min- ister, and the bearing of the cup of cold water to the thirsty will be the delight of all the days, opportunities for which will not be waited for, but sought. Out of these esssential considerations there grows a new sense altogether of what home really is. It is to be the first, and perhaps the most simple and beautiful manifestation of the authority of Jesus. Every member of the home, recognizing that sui)reme Kingship, will find their relationship toward each other ennobled and purified as they live in the great realm of His love. Each willing to sink personal aims for the sake of the realization of the highest good of all, no one desiring to gratify any part of their own desire at the expense of another, s^lf-abnegation, the individual law that realizes the general peace and restfulness, makes home at its highest and best. So the manifestation of the beauty of the kingdom of Jesus in real- ization of His beatitudes in the home 48 U The Disciple at Home being the supreme desire of each and all, personal blessedness is also realized, and every sacred tie of home becomes ill itself more delightful and satisfying for Christ's mission amongst His dis- ciples is ever the fulfilling, and never the destruction of all high and noble ideals. The real music and beauty of home are only known to those who are simple and faithful disciples of Jesus. III. What a glorious picture is pre- sented of a true home in the writings of the Apostle Paul. Himself a man, who for the highest reasons never per- haps knew the joy of such life, he never- theless understood its beauty, and if you will take the different words he writes in his Epistles as to the true position and duty of husband, wife, parent, child, master, servant, you will see the vision of the perfect home life. At the prin- cipal points let us look. (a). Take first the husband and wife , in their relation to each other, and as / parents toward their children. What, more wonderful ideal than this can there be ? /*' Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the Church, and 49 / u Disciplcship gave Himself for it."| That is true love. Absolute self-abneg4tion, the one over- mastering passion being that of the high- est good and greatest hap[)iiiess of the wife. How impossible in such love the thousand little neglects which mar the life of women, and render them heavy with disappointed hope. How far more impossible the selfish brutality that too often has made home infinitely more like hell than heaven. Again, /' Wives, submit yourselves unto your own hus- bands, as unto the Lord." That can' only be obeyed when the husband is loving with the Lord's love. When that is so ^e how beautifully there is recognizee . e the true view of woman's love, as that which finds its highest man- ifestation in submission. Then the rev- elation of Paul's writings concerning the relation of parents to children is a remarkable one and sorely needs re- stating in these days. It is that of the father's responsibility. It is he who is to train them; and see how tenderly this is to be, not by the methods that will provoke anger, but in "nurture and admonition of the Lord." 50 1 \ 1 IS / The Disciple at Home (6). Then the position of the child, simply marked by the one thought of obedience. What a glorious and tender tliuught it is. It implies an authority provided which frees the tender life from the responsibility of thinking and planning, and provides that it shall make advancement toward i)erfection, within the realm of a very definite and direct government. How grand a provision that is, perhaps we Jiever fully realize until we have passed beyond it, and amid the strife of life, with its oft-re- curring crises, when we are sore be- wildered as to which path we ought to take, we long for the days of child- hood again, when we could ask Father, Mother, and when in obeying them we knew we were doing that which pleased the Lord. That view of obedience as the Lord's tender provision for their safety and development, should ever be presented to our dear disciple-children. What a responsibility it entails upon us parents that we seek our laws for them from the King. (nsliip, ever has mure than one. Such friendship cannot be separated. Oceans and con- tinents may divide. The mutual love laughs at these, and in diiily service, prayer, and meditation, each is still with the othor, and thinks, and phms, and works under the old influences. This friendship knows nothing of con- ventionality's little axioms, but abides in the great realm of love, and does things strange to the outside beholder. 84 The Disciple as a Friend Such friendship cannot be broken. Death is but a pause, wlierein the one hears from the great silence tlie old voice, and feels drawing him thitlier, the old love, and the other waits in the splendors of that silence, with (lie J.ord, for the conn*ng of the fellow— whose song will add to heaven's music. Friendship is always beautiful, but the friendship of disciples, based upon the law of affinity, and conditioned and consummated in Christ, is peerless. VIII THE DISCIPLE AT WORK FOR THE MASTER Thou slmlt tell Me in the glory All that thou hast done Setting forth alone : returning Not alone. Thou Bhalt ])ring the ransomed with thee, They with songs shall come As the golden sheaves of harvest, Gathered home. — r. P, This is preeminently the " fussy " age. Every one must be doing something. Nothing more clearly reveals the spirit of the age than the contrast between the attitude of the thought of men to- ward work now, and say, fifty years ago. Then the busiest endeavored to make it appear that they did nothing. To-day the laziest are most eager for tlieir friends to think of them as over- worked. Personally, taking the largest outlook, I think this is a decided im- provement, for it is an approximation 86 The Disciple at Work to the Pauline ideal that a man must work or starve. It has touched the Church however, and there has wrought a great deal of mischief, if some good. There never was such a day of organ- izations, and meetings, and societies. Why, the alphabet is nearly exhausted in giving signs that stand for societies. We preachers are in danger of be- wilderment as we give out notices con- cerning Y. M. C. A., Y. W. C. A., I. B. H. A., P. S. A., P. M. E , Y. P. S. C. E., S. S. U., and soon. Now, let no un- kind word be said of any branch of service. All the honest and consecrated work represented by these very letters I have quoted, we welcome with de- light and thank God for. Yet this very multiplication of work has in it an element of danger, and one of the perilous sides to it has been the setting of unsanctified and even unconverted persons to work. Side by side with this demand for workers has come a re- bound from that view of a "vocation" which culminated in priestism, and the fitness of a caste onh^ for holy service. As is so often the case, the rebound has 87 A\ Discipleship gone beyond proper limits. We have rightly contended for tlie rights of all believers to familiarity with the things of God, and freedom to serve. We liave tvro7\ghj extended to those outside the discipleship the opportunity of help- ing in the work of the Master. This has been to their detriment, giving them a sense of security to which they had no right, and it has also been to the serious injury of the work itself. We must return to fir.t |>rinciplcs. Personal relation to Christ is vocation for service. Apart from it, there can be none. On that occasion, when the crowds, having come by sea to Caper- naum ''Seeking Jesus" asked Him " What must we do that we niay work the works of God?" He said, "This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent" (John vi. 24-29). Of that saying Dr. Westcott writes, " This simple formula contains the complete solution of the relation of faith and works. Faith is the life of works ; works are the necessity of faith," It cannot be too strongly insisted 68 The Disciple at Work upon, or too frequently nrged, that they, and they only, uho are disciples of Jesus, are culk-d to, and fitted for, fel- lowship M-ith Iliin in the great work to which Jle is pledged. If I am a dis- ciple, I am perforce a worker, for the new life which creates my personal dis- eipleship is the XQvy life of Christ- compassionate, mighty, victorious. If I am not a disci])le, I cannot do the work of God, for 1 am devoid of that life which alone is the Divine com[);is- sion for man, and the Divine energy for accomplishing the purposes of God. So much heing granted, and the view gained, that the disciple at work for the Master is really the Master working tnrough the disciple— that is, that there is oneness, we may now i)roceed to consider the aim, the methods, the strenglli, and the issue of the discii)le'3 work by a contemplation of the Mas- ter's. 1. Christ makes a great statement in John ix. 4. '^ We nrist work tlie ^^y^iks of Him that sent Me." This *' We " of the revised version teaches lis that Christ identifies us with Him- 69 Disciplcship self ill Ill's work, and we shall best un- derstand tliG i'urco of these words by gaining a clear nnderstanding of their yetting. Take the paragra])h chapters viii. and ix. In cha[)t('r viii. 1-11 we liave the acconnt of Christ's d(>aling with the woman taken in adultery, in chapter ix. 6 and on, that of His giving sight to the blind man. Now, examine the part that intervenes. Tiie opening btatement (viii. 12) and the closing (ix. 6) are identical. Growing out of that statement in chapter viii. we have a long controversy on inherited i)rivileges and Divine Sonship. In chapter ix. the disciple's question is in the same realm, though it deals with the other side, thnt of inherited sin. Christ dis- misses their speculations, and announces the fact of His work, and proceeds to illustrate it by another example, which at once answers their (iuibbling and reveals that work. This blind man is, as every man is, a revelation of human condition, and an opportunity for the display of the work of (lod. What, then, is the work of God ? The remedying of the limitation and evil 80 The Disciple at Work tliat is in the world, and the restoration of the natural— that is, the Divine pur- pose. The illustration is simple. Tlio underlying revelation is sublime. The Divine rest of Genesis ii. 1, 2, was broken by man's sin. From tliat point God has been at work. " My Father worketh even until now and I work " (John V. 17). This is not a small thing. It grasps all in its compass. It cost all in its effort. The Cross is tlic supreme expression of tliat Divine work, and that is only understood when it is seen as the eternal force by whi(;h man's ruin and limitation are overtaken, and the first Divine ideal for humanity realized. In the disci])les of Jesus Miere moves that great life that works with ceaseless and unconquerable en- ergy. *'Thy will be done. Thy king- dom come," is the disciple's prayer ; it is also the aim of all his life and work. In the home, the business, the civic re- lation, national life, the Church, we are "workers together with Ilim," opening blind eyes, loosing prisoners, he.iling humanity's wounds, toiling ever on to- ward the morning without clouds, in n 1^ IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) h :/ ■- % /. 1.0 I.I 1.25 ^■^ in '-' '- 111 Its 112.0 !.4 1.8 1.6 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 (716) 872-4503 m iV iV <> ^-^'^ '^\^.^ <^<> DIscipleship which God will rest in the accomplish- ment of His purposes. 2. If our aim is identical with that of the Master, it follows necessarily that our methods must be identical also. By reading carefully and in conjunction John V. 17-19, and xiv. 10, we find that all His works and words were done and spoken, not on His own initiative, but on the will of the Father. That is to say, Jesus not only worked toward the same great consummation as His Father, but along tho same lines, by the same methods. How very wonderful are these words " The Son can do nothii'g of Himself, but what He seeth the Father doing." " The words that I say unto you I speak not from myself." From this position the enemy directly and indirectly perpetually sought to allure Him, and, thanks be to God, uni- formly and absolutely failed. In the wilderness He declined the kingdoms of this world, even though for these He had come, on any condition, or by any method save the divinely marked. It is just here where the evil of the " mixed multitudes " in our churches is 92 The Disciple at Work manifest. The true disciple must be as particular about the methods of work as about the final issue ; but so many have caught some faint idea of the Divine intention, and now are prepared to adopt any method tliat seems pol- itic and likely to achieve the end. And so the things that are worldly, sensu;d, devilish, are being pressed into the service of the churches — choirs of professionals, who give performances for their own glory, entertainments which approach as nearly as possible to the world ; bazaars, too often another name for illicit trading. The devil's most prolific move is the secularizing of the things of God, tempting men to seek to possess the kingdoms of Christ by falling down and worshipping him. The disciple worker will not expect to find any "near cuts" to success, any more than his Master did, but will travel ever by the way of the Cross of Offence and the Resurrection of Power. The methods for the disciple are three- fold, as it seems to me. I. The example of the life, in all its details loyal to the Master ; 93 Discipleship II. The influence exerted by the character that is perpeuially growing in grace, by unbroken attention to the lessons of the Teacher, and the resultant incarnation of those lessons; III. The specific urging of the claims of Christ upon others, so that no day passes in which an effort is not made to win a soul for Christ, by word spoken, or written, or intercession with God. 3. The next point is a remarkable one, and we approach it reverently, yet without hesitation. The strength in which the Master accomplished His work is tliat by which we are to ac- complish ours. It is worthy of special note that Luke, whose second treatise is that whicli gives us the account of the coming of the Hoiy Ghost, and of His acts through the first disciples, ver}^ clearly marks for us our Lord's dependence upon that same Spirit. In Luke iv. 1, we see Him returning from Jordan "full of the Holy Spirit, and '* led by the Spirit in the wilderness." From that wilderness experience He enters upon the work of His public ministry, and in Luke iv. 14, we are 94 >» The Disciple at Work told He did so " In the power of tlie Spirit ;" and in the passage He read in the synagogue at Kazaretli, He claims the anointing of the Spirit for service (Luke iv. 18). So, full of the Spirit " He lived, and led of the Spirit " He went fearlessly through all the great conflicts of human nature, and '* anoint- ed of the Spirit" He undertook all specific service. Before leaving His disciples, in those wonderful discourses John has recorded, He promised them that His Spirit should come " to be with them forever" (JoJm xiv. 16), and that His mission should be to reveal to them the person and teaching of the Master (John xvi. 13, 14). Thus, then, the disciple goes forth to his w^ork in the self-same strength as that in which the Master Himself went forth to His. The only understanding I can ever have of the purpose of God comes by the revealing of the Holy Spirit, and the only force by which I can accom- plish anything is that of the self-same Spirit. What a glorious reserve of power there is in the Spirit filled life, and the Spirit-anointed worker. All 95 Discipleship life becomes part of the great Divine activity. Daily duties can no longer be drudgery, for every commonplace con- tribution to the day's necessities is done, for the hour present, and for the ages to come, toward that great con- summation for which God works. Special forms of service have new meaning and new delight; for no word inspired of the Spirit returns void, and no work energized by Him is lost or worthless. 4. Of the issue of our work, few words need be said. Again there is identity with Christ. " If we endure, we shall also reign with him " (II. Tim. ii. 12). If Christ ultimately fails, then the piece of work you did yesterday and are doing today will perish. If He accomplish all His great purpose, then nothing I have done toward His end, by His methods, in His strength, can be lost. There will be a gracious and searching day of testing, when Love will burn up the hay, the wood, the stubble, and purify, to the bright- ness of the very home of God, the gold and silver and precious stones. 96 few The Disciple at Work . Let us, then, do hetter work bv liv flnvT/ '" '•?' ^^i"^'.^"dknow^n.ore" tuliy the privilege and joy of service by a completer abandonment to Him 97 IX THE DISCIPLE IN SORROW Yet sweeter even now to see Thy Face, To fiud Thee now my rest My sorrow comforted in Thine embrace And soothed upon Thy breast, Lord there to weep is better than the joy Of all the sons of men ; For there I know the love without alloy I cannot lose again. — H. Suso. Sorrow is the common heritage of humanity. In all ages, in all lands, under all conditions, man feels pain, and suffers anguish. Is sorrow, then, a part of the original Divine intention for man ? Does God take pleasure in human suffering in itself? Assuredly not. He who created without sorrow, will also wipe all tears away. And yet to-day sorrow is a Divine provision hav- ing an infinite meaning and exerting a marvellous influence. What Cowper sang is certainly true : 98 The Disciple in Sorrow "The path of sorrow, and that path alone, Leads to the land where sorrow is unknown • >*o trav'ller ever readied that blest abode, ' Who found not thorns and briars on his road." Sorrow came in tlie track of sin, not the companion and ally thereof but God's quick messenger, a sense of loss, opening at once the door back to the heart and home of His love. Sorrow is a deep seuse of loss, the consciousness of lack, the natural experience of a God-forsaken life. Had there been no dethronement of the King, there could have been no sorrow, for the whole benig, still and quiet in Him, could have had no sense of loss. When man committed the act of high treason, by listening to a voice that called in ques- tion the love and wisdom of the Divine authority, there sprang up in that in- stance the first sense of lust, ennui, hanger, and sorrow, and it took the form of a desire to know what God had not revealed. And when, following that desire, instead of returning then and there to allegiance man passed through the door, seeking liberty, he found himself in a great darkling void, 99 DIscipleship without God, and yet possessed of a nature making demands perpetually that neither he himself nor any other could satisfy. Sorrow, then, is the result of sin, but it is the benevolent, tender, purposeful messenger of the Eternal Love, who cannot see Mis offs[)ring lose all, with- out causing within them this sense of loss, and so ever by that means attract- ing them homeward. Carry out that view of sorrow, and see how wondrously the person and work of Jesus agree thereto. The prophet, long before He came, spoke of Kim, "A man of sor- rows, and acquainted with grief," and further declared "Surely He hath borne our griefs and carried our sorrows." (Is. liii. 3, 4). Turning from that sacred forthtelling of the purpose of the Messiah's coming to the historical ac- count of His life, and work, I find the very heart and centre of it reached when on Calvarj^'s Cross He cried from the darkness into which He had passed, seeking that which was lost, "]My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? " That is the greatest sorrow of all, there 100 The Disciple in Sorrow in the person of Christ all humanity's sorrow and anguish and tears are centred. That is the expression of all agony. Beyond that there is no sor- iow. And that is also the groat cry of humanity's sin; Gud dethroned by man; man forsaken by God. Beyond that there is nothing. So lie bore our griefs and carried our sorrows in tliat awful hour when He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities. There all the world's sin is borne and its sorrow felt. After that— silence. Surely a stillness in heaven, on earth, in hell,— and then "it is fin- ished " from His li[)s, and He, the con- queror, died by ''laying dozen " His life. Sin is put away, and sorrow is recalled. Righteousness commences her new reign and joy follows in Iier wake, the glorious possibilities of humanity are opened up, for Christ has lived and died, and lives forever now, and is a priest *' after the power of an endless life^' (Heb. vii. 10): Yet while in that Cross there was the rediscovery of God to man, and the rendmg of the veil for man's return, 101 Discipleship and all of healing provided, the apj^ro- priation of the purchased possession is, in the wisdom of God, secured by proc- esses that cover centuries in man's measurement, and so sin is still here, and sorrow must therefore remain also. What, then, is the disciple's relation thereto ? 1. To the disciple the realm of sorrow has become circumscribed, and that in a large measure. The great sorrows of humanity cire personal and self-centred. Some loss experienced, some injury inflicted, some disappoint- ment realized, these are the common causes of sorrow. In proportion as self is subdued and God enthroned in the life, this class of sorrows becomes ob- solete. The soul finds its all in God in- creasingly, and so is able not merely to be resigned but to rejoice in denials as well as in blessings bestowed. Very slow we may be, even in the school of Jesus, but this is the growing experi- ence of those who are learning of Him and are submissive to His teaching; and witnesses, to the fact that God fills all the gaps, and brings the heart into 102 The Disciple in Sorrow perfect rest, are not wanting, neither are they few. ''The heart at leisure from itself" is a heart that has so learned of Jesus as to rejoice in exactly the circumstances that in the old life caused the keenest sense of sorrow. 2. From this is seen the Mission of Sorrow. It is ever a disciplinary force, drawing the heart more and more toward God, as it creates a sense of the hollowness and uncertainty of all that has been held most dear. How won- drously this is manifest in the life of the believer. Take two persons — one whose will is rebellious and whose heart is unregenerate, the other a disciple of Jesus — and let them pass through iden- tical experiences of bereavement, afflic- tion, failure, and disappointment. In the one case the spirit becon- ^ embit- tered and cahous and the chc^.^i^ter de- generates; in the other gentleness, love, tenderness are the results, and the very face catches a new glory and beauty. The one defiantly faces sorrow, and looking upon God's messenger as an enemy attempts to destroy or banish it, and so sinks into hardness and hatred; 103 Discipleship the other is drawn to the heart of God, and finds the very pain is but God's fire for the destruction of dross, and so rises into that ineffable sweetness and love which is such a revelation of the power of the God of Love. 3. What, then, is the secret of this effect of sorrow upon the life of the dis- ciple? The companionship of Jesus. He who touched the inner heart of all the world's agony is ever present, un- derstanding the very deep meaning of that pain, the absence of God, knowing that every form of anguish was ex- pressed in that great cry on the Cross, and then revealing Himself to whatever form of the need is present. In your darkest anguish, O believing heart, what healed you? Was it not that Christ said to you *'I am just what you have lest, and infinitely more " ? and as you said, . *' Yes, my Lord, Thou art," did not all the horizon kindle witli a new light, and all the pain as quietl}^ ease as by the magic of His own touch? 4. Looking back over our sorrows since we entered the school of Jesus, there is yet another truth to be recog- 104 The Disciple in Sorrow nized, and that is the fact of tlieir trans- mutation. When the Master was about to leave His earliest disciples, He said to them of the keenest pain of the time — the thouglitof His departure — ''Your sorrow shall be turned into joy " (John xvi. 20). And was it not so? They learned in the coming of the Paraclete how expedient it was for them that He should go away, and so His going their greatest grief— became to them, in His ascension and the consequent coming of Himself, into nearer, dearer relation by the indwelling Spirit, tlieir greatest joy. In that promise was there not a statement of the whole philosophy of pain to a believing, trusting heart ? How perpetually sorrow is turned into joy. Mark — not the sorrow removed, and so joy coming, but the sorrow itself be- coming the joy. Have we not all had such experiences? Can we not look back and see that some of the hours tliat throbbed with agony were the most blessed of all the hours' of life? That personal affliction, that grave, that blighting disappointment, that lonely hour of desolation, would you omit it 105 Discipleship from life'ci experience if you could? No, a thousand limes, no. That afflic- tion was my door to strength, that grave the prelude to resurrection power, that disappointment my finding His appoint- ment, that lonely hour the one in which I found Jesus only. And so I come to understand that sorrow means my ignorance, my limitation, and by faith J learn to triumph even in the hour of darkness, having learned that God's hand arranges warp and woof, and tlie perfect pattern He knoweth, and for the unfolding of that T wait and sing. 5. The disciple enters a new realm of sorrow. Union with Christ means a measure of "the fellowship of His suf- ferings" (Phil. iii. 10). «*A heart at leisure from itself" is a heart to "soothe and sympathize." Free from the blight of sorrow, seeing my sorrows as His choicest gifts and leaving them ever with Him, I come to understand the awful needs of humanity, and I go to His cross to be in some measure a sharf r of His suffering for others. Out of that compassion comes all service that really does anything for humanity. There 106 The Disciple in Sorrow may be much activity in the self-life, but it is little worth. lu the death of self on the cross, the new pain begins, and so long as I remain here, the sorrow and sin of the world must press on my heart, for Ilis life now holds and gov- erns it. And what is the end? Through all earth's pain and anguish what is com- ing? Let a seer of the old and new covenants each answer: — ■ Isaiah : *' The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come with singing unto Zion ; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads : they shall' obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sigh- ing shall flee away " (Is. xxxv. 10). John: "And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes ; and death shall be no more ; neither shall there be mourning nor crying, nor pain any more : the first things are passed away." Hallelujah. Amen. 107 X THE DISCIPLE IN JOY (( My heart is resting, O ray God, I will give thiinks and sing; My heart is at the secret source Of every precious thing. — Anna L. Waring. When Eliphaz the Temanite said Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward " (Job v. 7) he gave utter- ance to a conclusion arrived at after careful observation of the common lot of man ; lie did not declare the birth to trouble to be an esse.'v^ial of human na- ture per se. Under existing conditions man is so born, but that is contrary to the original purpose of God for Him. The Divine intention is the joy, the liappiness, of all men. Sorrow is an interpolation in the Divine plan, neces- sary and beneficent as we saw in our last chapter. Joy is the normal condi- tion of man, God's highest work. Sad and sorrowful as the earth is to-day in 108 ring. te said ■ sparks 3 iitter- t after non lot )irtli to laii 11 a- ditioiis I'ary to ' Him. :>y, the is ail neces- in our condi- Sad day in The Disciple in Joy all lands and climes, man's capacity for joy is evinced ill the tact that, in the vast majority of lives, there are more days of happiness than sorrow. In the face of overwhelming disaster in all the regions of his heing, man has set him- self with indoniitahle courage to wiest happiness in some form out of his cir- cumstances, and to cry, "Begone dull care." i\Iuch of the so-called happi- ness of men is inexpressibly sad, and poor, and sinful, yet the fact remains tliat the great bulk of humanity has set Itself to seek for happiness, and in that fact lies the proof that for joy man was it first constructed. Every form of en- joyment that man has devised for him- self is his attempt to reconstruct out of hopeless wreckage and ruin the glorious past. Heartbreaking is the picture, yet it is a lurid and appalling testimony to the magnificent possibili- ties of his being. The n an with the muckrake, missing the true vision of glory and brightness in the crown held out to him, does nevertheless witness to his capacity for the crown by his dili- gent attempt to gather the glitter of a 109 Discipleship straw, the color of purple, Ihe shimmer of tinsel. Following the argument that sorrow is a sense of loss, we say that joy is ^he true condition of God's hu- manity, and that as sorrow entered with the loss of the sense of God, so joy is restored as man finds God. •1. The disciple restored to com- munion with God, is restored to the place of joy. That is a remarkahle word which the apostle uses in writing to Tunothy (I. Tim. i. 11) ''The blessed God." It might correctly be translated " The happy God." It marks for us a great fact in the character of God. He is blessed for evernore, happy in the very essential of His nature. Creation complete. He saw it *' very good ; " and the " rest " of God was riot recuperation after toil, but complacency, satisfaction, happiness in His work. The inspired seers of the past saw Him, and, though the surroundings of His throne were to them, clouds i^nd darkness, their con- cepiion of Him was ever that of glory, beauty, strength, love, peace, happi- ness. When man fell, that very hap- piness of God was the movement toward 110 The Disciple in Joy umnier lit that 7 tliat d's liii- id with joy is com- to the rkable vriting jlessed islated )r us a I. lie in the 'eation " and sratioii iction, spired hough 'ere to r con- glory, happi- r hap- oward man's recovery. Read the closing words of Zepliaiiiah's prophecy (iii. 14-20), especially noting the seventeenth verse: '^ lie will rejoice over thee with joy ; He will rest in His love; He will JOY OVER THEE WITH SINGING." What words can be more beautifully ex- pressive than these of His blessed- ness. When Jesus, the express image of the Father came, He gave us in many a grapliic picture the same conception. The glad Father, the rejoicing shep- herd, the happy woman, all ter.ch the same truth. In the great charta of the kingdom, He pronounces upon His dis- ciples the same character. " Blessed " here may be as correctly rendered '* Happy," and so those who are His to- day, are restored to living communion with the '' Happy God " and are thus themselves brought into the place where it becomes possible for them to obey the apostolic word, *' Rejoice in the Lord alway : again I will say Rejoice " (Phil, iv. 4). All human joy is tarnished by the presence of the element of fear and dread. Man cannot escape from the 111 Disclpleship deepest facts of his own nature, and therefore in the midst of every form of pleasure there conies the nnnaniahle, disturbing element of fear and appre- liension. This may be concisely stated by saying, no man has power to per- fectly enjoy the present who cannot look the future in the face with assur- ance. So long as the undiscoverable hour of death haunts the consciousness of man with a vague terror, every glad- ness may be blighted in a moment by the recurrence of thoughts which man would fain banish. I do not speak of low forms of enjoyment, but of high. Love, friendship, Innne, nature, art, music, all suggest to the un forgiven soul the awful possibility of cessation, and then the unknown to-morrow be- comes the tarnish on all gold, the blight on all fruit, the si)ectre of all hours. The disciple in union with Christ has found the solution of all this mystery. He is at peace with the end, and so is free for the true enjoyment of the "now." Because "to live is Christ," "to die is gain," and because "to die is gain " life is worth living, for the spectre 112 e, and urr.i of iiiable, appre- stcited ;o per- caiiiiot assur- 'erable usness { gl ad- en t by li man leak of high. 3, art, rgiven sation, )W be- blight hours, ist has :stery. \ so is .f the hrist," die is pectre The Disciple in Joy has been transformed into the gentle angel who stands ever at the portal of larger and more generous life. 2. Now, how does this effect the life of the disciple ? This twofold fact, of communion with the blessed God and the consequent casting out of fear from the life, "atroduces into all pure human joy the element whicli perfects the same. The greatest of earth's joy is in earth's love. The ties of home and family, the communion of friend and lover, how im- measurably are these joys intensified to the believer. The union of two in mar- riage, based upon the law of supreme affection between two, when these are both united in Christ to God, how holy, and restful, and satisfying to the heart. The presence in the house of children, when they are recognized as gifts of the Eternal Love, to be nurtured for the King, what glorious and genial sunshine it is. The growth, and development, and success of these when the King's laws are obeyed, what pure and full joy they bring. And then the other great avenues of enjoyment— nature in her thousand varying moods, art in its 113 Discipleship wondrous possibilities, music in its in- terpretation of pure thought and high enthusiasm, how the disciple enters all because in his relationship to Christ he holds the mystic key which admits him to their inner secrets. Surely every- where and at all times the anointed soul can see and hear, and touch, with keenness and precision such as is un- known apart from Christ. Never allow the enemy to suggest to you that dis- cipleship is the limitation of joy. It is the one condition of human life to-day that opens every door of human delight and permits man to walk in the splendid spaces perfectly at home in the happi- ness of the *' Happy God." 3. The greatness of this joy overtakes and overwhelms all the sorrows that re- main to us. '* How many children have you ? " asked one of a Christian father. Hear the reply, "Seven — five live with me, and two with Jesus." Surely this was rejoicing in sorrow. Did he not miss the prattle of the tongues now si- lent, and the patter of the little feet? Assuredly he did from his own home, but he heard them still by faith in the 114 The Disciplf in Joy palace home of God, and the joy of possessing some treasure of his very own there, was more than coinj)ensa- tion. The joy cf sorrow lies, moreover, in the fact that it i)reliules and prepares for the joy beyond. Of our helov'ed Lord It is said ^' Who for the joj that was set before Him endured tlie C^ross, despising the shame," and tliat marks our glad pathway through all the dis- ciplinary sorrow of probationary days. To us on every sorrow falls the light of the joy beyond, and tliat not merely as compensation, but as result. So, while we are ofttimes "sorrowful" we are "yet always rejoicing." 4. In our last study we spoke of the new sorrow that comes to the disciple in communion with Christ— viz :— that of sympathy with all the sin, and sor- row of suffering humanity. Now, we must also recognize the new joy that springs out of service. To me it is difficult to speak or writv^i of that joy. Have you ever led one soul to Christ? Then you know more than all words can teach you of the essence of real joy. To tell the evangel, to pray with the 115 J^ ^^ Disciplcship seeker, to travail in birth for souls, to see the breaking of the light of God, to find another passing to I lis kingdom, this is life and joy indeed. Paul, the great missionary, the man who so won- drously, in those days of suffering and peril, laid his whole being upon the altar of His Master's cross for other's blessing, couhl think of no greater joy in heaven than that of souls newborn through his toil and suffering. '' for what is our liope, or joy, or cro\^ i of rejoicing? Are not even ye before our Lord Jesus at His coming? For ye are our glory and our joy " (I. Thess. ii. 19, 20). And surely that joy is the Divine joy. It is over a redeemed peo- ple that God "joys with singing," and it is in the accomplishment of the great purposes of the Eternal Love, that the Master " shall see of tlie travail of His soul, and be satisfied." 11« XI THE DISCIPLE GOING HOME Soon the whole, Like a parched scroll, Shall before my amazed sight uproU, And, without a screen, At one burst be seen The Presence wherein I have ever been, — Thomas Whitehead. When Bernard of Cluiiy wrote " Brief life is here our portion " as the opening words of his great hymn, he penned a fact that is an abiding con- sciousness with men of all ages and every clime. The glory of the hope, and certainty of the faith whicli charac- terize that hymn, are beyond the ex- perience of thousands, but that first statement finds an affirmative echo in every heart, vv^henever an-d wherever sung. That life is passing, the number of our appointed years becoming smaller, by a perfectly quiet and orderly, yet 117 Discipleship irrevocable and absolutely unalterable sequence, every person knows full well. That the last year, the last break of day, the last moment will come ; and moreover, that not a single one among the millions of the race now moving on toward the end can tell the year or day or hour of that end, these are solemn and self-evident truths. That end, called death, is at once the greatest certainty, and the greatest mystery of all. To the consciousness of the natural man there is no escape from it, and yet around it has gathered, for the thinkers of all ages, and the teachers of all systems, and for those also, the many, who will not think, and who seek no teachers, a great darkness and mystery, so that man naturally shrinks from it, and by every means in his power seeks to put off the day which is the last. Yet, as man strives to do this he knows how futile is the strife, and so, by a sort of common consent, unwritten and yet binding, man is en- deavoring by a forced forgetfnlness to banish death and its awful dread. What then is the attitude of the disciple to- lls The Disciple Going Home ward this fact of the onward movement of this present life toward an end? 1. The answer may be very briefly stated first as a matter of fact. The disciple dares contemplate that end ; no longer shr^"' iking from thought of it, he calmly faces it, questions it, smiles at it, and standing in its presence con- fronts it without fear or fainting. More than that, the disciple thus facing the end, from that very contemplation seems to catch a new radiance as of a light that never was on land or sea, his gaze into what tlie world has ever thought of as dark and mysterious, giving to his eye a brightness which tells of visions that add their lustre and their hope to all the experiences of the passing hour, so that to him, the contemplation of the end, instead of shadowing all the pleas- ures of the moment, fills the darkest day with light, and makes every hour of soriow an occasion of rejoicing. To the trutli of this the experience of the Master Himself, and tlie writers of the New Testament, and the followers of Jesus in each successive century bear unequivocal testimony. Let us confine 119 Discipleship ourselves to the experience of the Lord, and the testimony of New Testa- ment writers. The writer of the letter to the Hebrews (xii. 2) gives us an in- spired and remarkable vision of our Lord's view of the end of His human life. He saw the " Cross " and " Shame,'* and "endured" the one, "despising" the other, for the " Joy " that was set before Him. Of course this has a much wider application, but it certainly con- tains this revelation of our Master's view of the end of His life, — the dark- est and most mysterious end of all — that what bulked most largely on His vision was a " Joy " that lit the dark- ness, and negatived the " shame." The experience of the writers of the New Testament, as revealed in their writings, is on the same plane. Paul's writings abound with such conceptions. " I reckon that the sufferings .... are not worthy to be compared with the glory . . . ." (Romans viii. 18). " To die is gain " (Phil. i. 21). " . . . . My departure is come .... hence- forth .... a crown " (11. Tim. iv. 6, 7, 8). These passages should of course 120 of the Testa- 3 letter } an in- of our human bame," )ising" vas set I much J eon- aster's dark- ' all-^ )n His ) dark- of the their Paul's )tions. • • • • with . 18). • • • • lence- ^ 6, 7, iourse The Disciple Going Home be read in their entirety, and they are but examples of many others, all reveal- ing the same truth. Peter, looking torwaid, speaks of '*A living hope .... an inheritance incorruptible, nnd undefiled, and that fadeth not away" (I. Peter i. 3-9). James, lights up the darkness of trying circumstances with the thought of the end, saying »' Be f ^^i^nt .... until the coming of the Lord (v. 7). John, exulting in pres- ent blessedness, views the end, and from the vision gathers new hope and purifying power "Beloved, now are we children of God ... . we shall be like Him (I. John iii. 2). Jude sees be- yond the present period of growth one of perfection " Him that is able .... to set you before the presence of His glory, without blemish" (Verse 24). To this strong, courageous, and victo- rious outlook of the earliest saints may be added the testimony of the disciples of all the ages. 2. So far we have made a statement only. Let us now endeavor to under- stand this attitude of the Lord and His disciples. There are two statementg of 121 Discipleship the New Testament, which are so re- markable on account of their clear un- mistakable meaning, that we will con- sider them only, as being sufficient to account for all we have said. The first is contained in the words of Jesus Him- self to Martha at the grave of Lazarus (John xi. 26). Let us in all simplicity and straightforwardness read these words " Whosoever .... believeth in Me SHALL NEVER DIE." The other is a statement by Paul (IL Tim. i. 10). " . . . . Our Saviour Jesus Christ, Who ABOLISHED DEATH.*' Notliing can be simpler or more force- ful. Our Lord, speaking to Martha meJint just what the words convey in our translation, that to the soul believ- ing on Him there is no dying. Death is not to that soul what it seems to humanity at large. The life that one already lives, is the very life of God and eternity, and there is no death. That is precisely the thought of Paul. The word " abolished " literally means rendered entirely useless, robbed of its power to act. 3. How has this been brought about, 122 The Disciple Going Home so re- ear u ri- ll con- ient to he first IS Him- iazarus iplicity these fc^eth in >ther is i. 10). t,Who 3 force- Vlartha vey in believ- Death jms to at one .f God death. Paul, means of its about, and how are the disciples of Jesus able to appropriate the stupendous miracle as an experience ? On the day of Pen- tecost, Peter declared the fact of the resurrection of Jesus, not only to be the work of God, but to have been an absolute necessity by virtue of wliat Jesus was in Himself (Acts ii. 24). " Whom God raised up, having loosed the pangs of death, because it was not Possible that He should be holden OF IT." So much for the reason of the Master's own view of tlie future. Now read Heb. ii. 14, 15. »' Since then the children are sharers in flesh and blood. He also Himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death He might bring to nought him that had the power of death, that is the devil ; and might deliver all them who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage." There we see how through His death He lias given us victory over death, and taken from us its fear. Before He left His disciples He made that great declaration, " Be- cause I live, ye shall live also " (John xiv. 19). Therefore we are brought 123 Discipleship into the place of His victorious life, through the overcoming of His victo- rious death. If then He has abolished death, what now remains? It is still certain that these probationary days will end, this life of limitation and testing come to a conclusion, all this changing scene pass away, and still it is true that the end is not known as to its time. Wherein do we differ then, as disciples of Jesus, from the crowd ? In this, that instead of death being the end. He Himself stands waiting fur us and ever approaches us, and whether we are among the number of those " that are alive, that are left unto the coming of the Lord," or " them that are fallen asleep," still the end of the present is Himself, for to sleep is just to be *' absent froTi the bodv, at home with the Lord," not to die, and to remain to His coming is just to " meet the Lord in the air." So when evening comes to the disciple and he turns his back upon the glories of the western sky and faces the east, it is not cold, and dark, and cheerless, but full of light, for the sun fills all the 134 The Disciple Going Home lis life, 5 victo- h, what in that id, this [ne to a ne pass J end is rein do Jesus, instead [imself 'caches ig the e, that Lord," )," still elf, for 071 the not to is just ." So iisciple glories le east, lerless, all the horizon, and so to the child of trust ** There is no night." Disciples then are not called upon to prepare for death, but for HiM, and that hope purifies, refines, illumines all the hours with the radiance of the Eternal Day. We cannot fear death then, for to us all is changed. The end has become the beginning, mystery is transformed into the vestibule of reve- lation, rest from labor is entry upon highest work, and at eventide there is the light of the Eternal morning in which is the disciple's home. 125 XII THE DISCIPLE IN GLORY Bear me on thy rapid wing Everlasting Spirit, Where the choirs of angels sing And the saints inherit. — Anon. How little we know, comparatively, of the hereafter. '* Life and incorrup- tion have been brought to light" in the Gospel of Jesus, and death has ^een transformed from a foe to a friend, but the Revelation is characterized by its silence with regard to the future rather than by its declarations. It is as though God would not draw men toward righteousness either by threatened pun- ishment, or promised reward. Enough, however, has been said to give us to understand the terrors of being lost, and the blessedness of being saved. Of the occupation of the disciple of Jesu8 in that life that lies beyond, 126 The Disciple in Glory more has been said than appears on the surface. There is one passage of Scrip- ture which is constantly being half- quoted, or quoted from the Old Testa- raent, when surely we should quote it with Paul's expository word. Let us examine this. (Is. Ixiv. 4). "For since the beginning of the world, men have not heard, n-^r perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside Thee, what He hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him." Now to whatever that may refer, Paul writing to the Corinthians (I. ii. 9, 10) dis- tinctly goes on to say that these hidden things are revealed to us by the Spirit, and yet this quotation is used almost invariably to prove that we can know nothing of the future of the blessed. Again, let closer attention be given to these passages and the correct and much more beautiful rendering of the Revised Version be accepted, and it will at once be discovered that there is no reference whatever either by Isaiah, or by Paul's use of Isaiah's words to the future life. Both are referring to the wonders of the wonder-working God in 127 Disciplcship the progress of events which men could not perceive or hear, save by the spirit of God, who revealed them in due time to those who waited for II im. That men did not see the working of God in history, witness the attitude of the disciples of Jesus, until the Holy Spirit came and illuminated that history. This is the broad principle of the teaching of the passages, and it may be applied to the case now under consid- eration. To the casual, unenlightened reader the Scripture says very little of the future. To the Spirit-taught it says far more than we can comprehend, and the purpose of this chapter is to indicate the lines of that teaching rather than to attempt to exhaust the great theme. In our first ten divisions we have dealt with the disciple in his probationary life. That is by far, and of necessity, the smaller part of his ex- istence. Probation is of the greatest importance, but it ever presupposes something far more important stretch- ing out beyond, and the great fact of disciplcship is, that it is a process of preparation of one who is not a citizen 128 The Disciple in Glory nen could the spirit due time m. That r of God Je of the oly Spirit history. of the it may be r consid- ightened Y little of aught it iprehend, ter is to teaching laust the divisions )le in his far, and if his ex- greatest supposes ; stretch- t fact of 'ocess of a citizen of the earth, of one whose home and place of service lie out beyond the shadows that seem to bound the vision to-day. In our last chapter we have seen him meeting the Master at the end of probation. May we now close this study by very reverently looking within the veil, so far as it has been lifted, at the occupation and final destiny of those, who through all this gracious discipline have been so patiently trained by the greatest of all, nay, the only Teacher of humanity. 1. The abolishing of death makes it perfectly certain that there can be no unconscious gap in the existence of the believer. What we have too constantly spoken of as death, by virtue of its be- ing the meeting of the disciple and his Lord — without the limitations of mater- ial trammels, which are always in some sense a clog to the development of the Spirit life — in that state where faith is lost in sight, and hope in full fruition dies, becomes clearer, fuller conscious- ness. The phrases of the New Testa- ment which describe that state give us most suggestive and valuable teaching 129 Discipleship concerning it. Let us take two f these, both from the writings of Paul. I. II. Cor. V. 8. " Absent from the body .... at home with the Lord." The use of the phrase **at home," in- stead of the word " present " as in the authorized version, is necessary to ensure consistency of translation for the whole passage, as it is the same word translated *' at home " in verse 6. What a perfect and beautiful thought of the first consciousness of the dis- ciple in that larger life. '' At home." The word analyzed conveys the idea of being among one's own people, and that is the true thought. We move in that gracious transition into the condition of being perfectly at rest in the Lord's presence. In all the high spiritual as- pects of our life, we have been strang- ers here. There we shall be " at home." Here our relationships have been those of sojourners in tents, strangers, and our sense of the Lord's presence, blessed as it has been, compared to what it will be then, has been partial, limited. There we shall fit in to all the conditions toward which He has led us 130 bwo f Paul. )m the Lord." >» • le, in- in the uy to on for 3 same erse 6. hoiight be dis- home." idea of :id that in that idition Lord's 11 al as- strang- home." 1 those L's, and esence, red to partial, all the led us The Disciple in Glory and for which He has trained us, and so there we shall first fully comprehend the meaning of much of the training of to-day. Oh the luxury of it. Only those who have been away from their earthly homes for awhile know how in- tensely sweet is the sense of being "at home " again. The one atmosphere in which there is freedom from the sense of disquietude and unrest. And yet more marvellous is tlie grace of it. tlie "at home " just beyond the shadows is " with the Lord." That I, who feared and shunned, and alas, slighted and contemned Him, am at last to be " at home " with Him passes all telling in its evidence of His great grace. IL Phil. i. 23. " To depart, and be with Christ." This word to depart is undoubtedly used here in the sense of loosing a ship from its moorings, and so Tennyson repeated the Pauline con- ception when he wrote, " Aud let there be no moaning of the bar When I put out to sea, And may there be no sadness of farewell When I embark." What then is this embarking and un- 131 Discipleship loosing ? Do I drift into unconscious- ness for a season ? No, I am with Christ. " I hope to see my Pilot fiice to face When I have crossed the bar." Note the immediateness of it. Dr. Moule says, " Not a space, but a mathe- matical line, divides the state of faith this side death from the state of sight that side." So then the first conscious- ness of the disciple in the New Life is that of the Master in clear and un- clouded vision. 2. What then is the present condition and occupation of those who have de- parted ? Between the time of their leaving this scene, and the morning of the Resurrection there is an interval. It is an interval of incompleteness, for as yet they have not received their Resurrection bodies. We have already seen that this interval is spent in a closer connection with, and clearer vision of Christ. The nature of the oc- cupation is the subject of our conside^'a- tion now. In the closing words of Hebrews xi. (verses 39, 40), a great 132 The Disciple in Glory principle is declared with regard to those who have gone before. Its ap- plication by the writer of this Ej^istle is to that great conipany of the heroes and lieroines of faith of whom he has been speaking. It may also safely be applied to all those who in this Chris- tian Era liave fallen on sleep or will do so. " That apart from us they should not be made perfect." In this applica- tion of the passage we are to under- stand that the perfecting of the dis- ciples will only be when the Lord gathers to Himself the whole company ot them. The occupation therefore u£ those who thus wait, in blessedi.^ess, for the end of the age, and the gathering into the glory of the whole Chinch of Christ may be gathered by a line of reasoning to the correctness of which bcripture itself bears testimony. They are closer to Christ, and there- tore their understanding of His work juid service must be much clearer. Tliis better knowledge must necessarily pro- duce a^ deeper sympathy. The first propulsion of the Christ-life in the soul of the regenerate on earth was a 133 Discipleship movement of compassion toward the souls for whom He died, and an act of service on their behalf in some definite form or other. Now that their posses- sion by Christ is so much more com- plete, it surely follows that their love for tliose whom He so wondrously loves, is far more intense. Can we possibly think of them as having this deeper love and yet being inactive ? Assuredly not. The things that interest and oc- cupy Him, must interest and occupy them su})reniely ; and so we can only think of them as raised into a region of higher service within the same great redemptive circle in which they moved while still on the earth. I give it as my firm conviction that all our loved ones gone before, are serving tlie cause of the work and purpose of God among men in a better way than they ever did while sojourners here below. Does not this view light up for us v]-.my dark events in our own lives? TLoNi whom God has wondrously blessed lO'ie, and then suddenly called away just when we were feeling they could not be spared, have not ceased their work as we 134 the The Disciple in Glory thought, but have been promoted to some higher place aud work. To this view of the occupation of the departed that word of (Rev. xiv. 13) agrees. *' That they may rest from their labors ; for their works follow with them." The immediate application is to the number of the saints who will suffer martyrdom in a subsequent era, but the truth has a present application as well, and the inner teaching may perhaps best be gathered by a paraphrase, the result of a careful analysis of the words actually used : *^ They rest from that toil which is painful and reduces the strength, but their works, their activities, accompany them." That is to say their activity does not cease, but only that form of it which brings weariness and suffering, and so we think of beloved servants of God, singers, teachers, preachers, sud- denly, and to all human seeming pre- maturely removed from earth, no longer as beyond the province of redemptive service, bat as more than ever fully oc- cupied in clearer light and fuller oppor- tunity. 3. Tim condition of incompleteness, 135 Discipleship for them and for us, will end when " The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, and the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise fii'st : then we that are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air : and so shall we ever be with the Lord" (L Thess. iv. 16, 17). It is there that the Church will be gathered into one complete and conscious whole, " Some from eartli, from glory some, Severed ouly Till He Come." and so He will " present the Church to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing" (Eph. V. 27). That will be an event of the utmost importance as we shall now see in its bearing on the future. 4. That surely is finality. No, every- thing lies beyond that in the vocation of the Church. All to that point in the history of individual disciples and of the whole Church has been prepar- atory. It is then that the Church is 136 when \ from )ice of mp of ill rise at are JilUgllt ord ill e with It m thered tvhole, rch to laving hiiig " tniost in its 3 very' nation int in 8 and repar- L'ch is The Disciple in Glory ready to begin her great mission in the purpose and counsel of God. The let- tor to the Ephesians is specially occu- pied in dealing with this great and stupendous fact. The first three chap- ters deal with the vocation in itself, and the remainder make application, of the fact of that calling to all the de- tailed life of the believer in view thereof, while 3'et in this place of prep- aration and discipline. Let us then in concluding this study on Discipleship, very reverently read the words in the first three chai)ters of that Epistle which light up for us the great future. (Eph. i. 18). In this verse occurs a phrase full of suggestiveness, and lead- ing to the statements which follow. " The riches of the glory of His inher- itance in the Saints." That our inher- itance is in Him, it is easy for us to un- derstand, but we are at once arrested by the statement that He has an inher- itance in us. And ye that is the fact. God has an inheritance in His people, and Paul's prayer is that these Ephesian Christians may have " the eyes of their heart enlightened, that they may know 137 Discipleship what is the hope of His calling, what the riches of the glory of His inherit- ance in the Saints, and what the ex- ceeding greatness of His power to us- ward who believe." The "calling "of God is the vocation of the Church. As the Church fulfils that vocation, God will enter into His inheritance in her. This will be realized by the power *' which He wrought in Christ when He raised Him from the dead." In the paragraphs which follow, Paul proceeds to deal with the final purpose of God, and with the process by which this will be achieved. We are now interested only in that final purpose, in the fulfill- ing of which God will Himself possess His inheritance in His people, and so we take the three verses which de- clare it. (Eph. ii. 7). "That in the r^es to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." The phrase "in the ages to come " has reference to the ages of the Eternal future. What future dispensations there may be, and what the movement of the ages none 138 The Disciple in Glory can tell but God Himself. Whatever these may be, the Church is to be the medium of shewing forth therein " the riches of His grace." " When those ages are to learn the love of God's heart they are to do so by the testi- mony borne by the ransomed Church to His ** kindness toward us in Christ Jesus." Our vocation then contains witliin it the mission of shewing to tlie ages yet unborn that love of God which He has exhibited to us in Jesus. (Eph. iii. 10.) " . . . . Now unto the principalities and the powers in the heavenly places might be made known through the Church the manifold wis- dom of God." This reveals another phase of vocation. The Church is to reveal to the unfallen intelligences, the piincipalities and powers of the heaven- lies the manifold wisdom of God. These shining ones whose glories so far exceed anything of which we have dreamed, whose powers of comprehension are so wondrous, will only know through the revelation of the Church, in all its ful- ness the manifold wisdom of God. (Eph. iii. 21.) '* Unto Him be glory in 139 Discipleship the Churcli and in Christ Jesus unto all generations forever and ever." Brietiy stated then, the vocation of the Church, beyond all the preparation of this lite, beyond that intermediate state in which some now are, in that time when the Church shall be completed and com- plete, is to reveal the grace and wisdom of God to the beings of other dwelling places, the high unFallen ones of the heavenlies, and that not to one age only, but to the ages of the ages as they are known only to the mind of God. In all eternity that great " Now " of God embracing our "past" and "future," there has been no such proof of the grace of His heart and the wisdom of His workings as that of the ransoming and uplifting in spotless purity of fallen man, and those so ransomed and up- lifted are to be the witnesses to the great future of intelligence concerning wondrous and overwhelming truths. What an enormous range of ])ossibility does this view of the ChurclVs future open up before our vision. Our finite surroundings make it impossible for us to comprehend all the infinite spaces 140 \ unto all Briefly Church, this life, in which .'hen the id coni- wisdom Iwelling ; of the ge only, they are fod. In of God future," of the sdom of isoming )f fallen Lud up- to the cernino' truths, ssibility future ir finite e for us spaces The Disciple in Glory that appear only to us as blue sky, or darkling night. What worlds are there, what high forms of pure spirits, what spaces still beyond, and what yet deeper spheres of habitable places. Thought is bewildered at the daring of its own flight. Then what changes and move- ments among all these in the procession c.'f the ages. Remember that to these worlds and these beings and these nges we are to be the messengers of the grace and wisdom and glory of God. In that view the future loses'^its sense of dread, and one looks on to the new opportuni- ties for art, and music, and poetry, and above all perchance of preaching, that are coming to the ransomed ones when the discipline of time is merged into the fitness of eternity, with reverent and holy desire. Some one ma}^ say that is pure imag- ining. Well it certainly is imagination well within the limit of the possibilities of these words of the apostle, who had been caught up into the third heaven and had seen things unutterable. Mark how he closes this section. (Eph. iii. 20,21.) "Now unto Him that 141 r* Discipleship is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, accord- ing to the power that worketh in us, unto Him, be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus unto all generations for- ever and ever." So that the wildest flights of thought are far sliort of the possibilities of what God is able " to do." This is but a faint glimpse then of the glory of which Paul said " I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed to usward '* (Rom. viii. 18), but it is enough to turn the heart of the disciple with fuller purpose of consecration to that Beloved One who with a perfect knowledge of that future, too splendid yet for our comprehension, is teaching and training us ever with that in view. How better can we close this contem- plation of discipleship, in its beginning, progress and consummation, than in the words of Paul to these Ephesians (iv. 1). *' I therefore .... beseech you to walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye were called." 142 idantly accord- in us, 'ch and )ns for- hought )f what then of reckon it time ith the ward " ;o turn fuller eloved idge of )r our aining )ntem- nning, in the (iv. 1). ) walk ith ye