Mal 3:16: The Fellowship of the Saints
They that feared the Lord spake one with another: and the Lord hearkened, and heard, and a book of remembrance was written before him, for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name.'97Mal_3:16.
The Bible is rich in special encouragements for the dark and difficult day. Scattered all over its biographical pages are the portraits of the good men of unfavourable periods, made strong by grace to meet their trying surroundings, and not only to meet them and endure them, but to illuminate and bless them. The Psalms, in far the larger number of them, are, from the human side, just the '93good thoughts in bad times'94 of sorely tried and tempted children of God. And the writings of the Prophets and of the Apostles may often be described, from the same human side, in the same terms. Here, in the last page of the Old Testament, we have not the prophets own utterance of this sort, but a very beautiful allusion to many such utterances around him; an allusion full of cheer, and full of teaching, for ourselves.
If ever there was a time when the outlook was dreary and sin abounded, when men had been almost justified in a policy of despair, it was the time when Nehemiah returned to Jerusalem to be governor for his second term, with the express object of making another effort to reform abuses, and when Malachi the prophet stood by his side. Gods love in the past, on which the prophet bases his remonstrance, had seemed to be all in vain. Not the wonders of Egypt, or of the Red Sea, or of the wilderness, or the preservation in Canaan, had been able to preserve the chosen people from a degrading fall. If the captivity in Babylon had sufficed to eradicate idolatry, it seemed to have had but little effect on the peoples worship of the true God or on their moral life. The prophet vigorously rebukes the priests, the natural guides of the people, as mainly responsible for the nations sins. '93A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the Lord of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name.'94 So little did they realize their responsibility or their guilt that they even asked, '93Wherein have we despised thy name?'94 They had offered to God offerings which they would not dare offer to a civil governor. They had murmured at the smallness of their gains. They had brought blemished and diseased animals to the sacrifice. Disgrace and punishment were impending for their reiterated sins. And as with the priests so with the people. They had robbed God by withholding from Him tithes and offerings which were due. They had gone on in rebellion against His government. The cup of their impiety was full. And side by side with this desecration of holy things there were grievous moral disorders. They had taken in marriage worshippers of false gods, and put away their own lawful wives by an unrighteous divorce. The marriage tie was desecrated, and with it the sanctity of the home had gone. If ever there was a time when mens hearts might fail them it was now. Yet '93the more the ungodly spake against God, the more these spake among themselves for God.'941 [Note: E. B. Pusey, The Minor Prophets.] So far from being daunted or discouraged by the badness of the times, they were driven the more to honour and meditate upon the holy name of God; and their common love for Him and fear of Him drew them together in sweet intercourse, so that they spoke to each other on the matters nearest to their hearts.
'93They that feared the Lord,'94 he says, '93spake one with another.'94 It was their surest means, by Gods grace, of resisting the temptations of their enemy, and so it is ours. It was the greatest earthly blessing of their lives, and so it is of ours. An earthly blessing indeed it ought scarcely to be called; for it reaches from earth to heaven. The Communion of Saints which is begun here will go on for ever and ever; only that, whereas now they who fear the Lord speak to one another of Him, hereafter He will Himself join their company, and they shall be one in Him and in the Father.
The Authorized Version reads, '93They that feared the Lord spake often one to another'94; but the word '93often'94 is omitted in the Revised Version, and does not occur in the original. It is one of those words that seem to add to, but in reality detract from, the meaning of the text. '93Spake often one to another'94 admits of gaps in the fellowship. '93Spake one with another'94 tells the whole story of their communication, for it marks the attitude rather than the occupation of a life. '93They spake one with another.'94 It is the great statement of fellowship, of the gathering together in a community of hearts holding the same treasure, of characters that were growing into the same likeness; it is the statement of a great necessity; darkness all around, light becomes focussed; evil spreading its ramifications on every hand, children of righteousness come close together.
I
The Persons
Who were they? They are characterized by two phrases: (1) '93They that feared the Lord'94; (2) '93and that thought upon his name.'94
1. '93They that feared the Lord'94'97those who had been brought to know Him as the sin-hating and sin-avenging God, to know Him as Him whose very nature it is to abhor sin, being of purer eyes than to behold evil or look upon iniquity. Every truth of revelation concurs in giving us those views of God and of ourselves which are suited to produce this reverential fear. Look at the universal dominion and the infinite holiness ascribed to God everywhere in His Word; must not these overawe the mind when brought to a proper and intelligent apprehension of them? Must they not lead the soul to reverential fear of the Divine majesty, holiness, and glory? Will not the result be that solemn awe, humble adoration, and jealous circumspection characteristic of the gracious soul, which lead him to act habitually as in the presence of the all-seeing and heart-searching God, and cause him to fear the frown, and desire the favour of God above everything else?
In the opening note of the Divine complaint, the prophet said: '93A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master; if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear?'94 Here is a company that have '93feared the Lord,'94 and have '93thought upon his name'94; so that amid all the mass of people who had lost the sense of fear of their Master, there was an Elect Remnant, a select few, who not only called Him '93Master,'94 but also feared Him. The thought of fear is linked, then, with the word '93master,'94 and with all that that word implies. If we speak of a master, we at once think of a servant; and while the relationship of the master to the servant is that of authority and will and guidance, the relation of the servant to the master is that of obedience and service. Bearing this in mind, we notice that service is looked upon here rather as condition than as action. Character is marked in this word, '93They that feared the Lord'94; they that lived within the conscious realm of the Divine, and responded to that claim; that number of units in the great crowd who recognized the Divine Kingship, not merely as theory, or as something of which they made a boast to other people, but as the power in which they lived their lives and spent all their days: '93They feared the Lord.'94 There were men and women all around making offerings, and crowding the courts of the Temple at the hour of worship. Among those who came, God detected the men and women who really feared, and He selected only the gifts of those who presented something'97not as an attempt to make up what they lacked in character, but as an output of character, and as a revelation of what they were within themselves. '93They feared the Lord.'94
Another expression for that inward submission in which we commune with God is '93the fear of God.'94 To the Christian this fear is not a momentary horror at the mysterious power that is over his life. It is always possible for the creature moved by its love of life to escape from this emotion into renewed calm forgetfulness of God. But the Christian fear of God is rather that deep and joyful acknowledgment of God as the only mighty and living One, which we may and ought always to feel. '93It is thus we must understand the fear mentioned in the Scriptures; it does not denote a fear or a terror lasting for an instant, but it is our whole life and being, walking in reverence and awe before God'94 (Luther, Erlangen edition, xxxiv. 174). '93What we, following the Scriptures, call the fear of God, is not terror or dread, but an awe that holds God in reverence, and that is to remain in a Christian, just as a good child fears its father'94 (Luther, xvii. 349). Thus the Christians fear of God is the reverence of the child for that Father within whose mighty care it feels itself still sheltered. The Christian fears the Father whom he recognizes in Christ, '93not on account of the pain and punishment, as unchristian men and the devil fear Him'94 (Luther, lvii. 56), but because he sees before his eyes the actual power of God giving him blessing; and he fears to take one step beyond the sphere of that blessed power '93as a good child fears, and will not arouse, its fathers anger, or do anything that might not please him'94 (Luther, li. 365). Here again we see that the communion of man with God can take place only as an experience caused in the man by God Himself. For any one can work up for himself those feelings of horror that arise from a sense of inevitable dependence on a power we dread; and such feelings are to be found, too, in any Christian life, for no Christian is perfect; but, on the other hand, that fear of God which looks at God Himself, and is therefore true communion with Him, arises only in the soul that experiences the emancipating power of the Gospel amid contact with the Christian brotherhood, through Christian training, custom, and preaching. But it is only complete when we have found in Christ the God that draws back to Himself even those who feel deeply estranged from Him by the sense of their own guilt. Inward trembling before the holy power of the Good can never cease to be part of mans communion with God. If we cease to fear God, we have lost our inward relation to Him. The communion of the Christian with God never succeeds in overcoming the inner opposition between fear and love.1 [Note: W. Herrmann, The Communion of the Christian with God, 270.]
2. '93And that thought upon his name.'94 That name, with all the solemn and reverential fear it created in their souls, was still to them an object of intense delight. It was to them as ointment poured forth. The defence of its honour and glory became to them their greatest concern, the prime object, the regulating principle and motive of their whole life. Hence they thought upon it. It was ever present to them. When others spent their time in madly rushing after pleasure and earthly enjoyment, in seeking what to eat, drink, and put on, these sought the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, prayerfully planned and devised how they could best further the interests of the one, and secure for themselves and others the priceless blessings of the other. Where others found the service of God grievous and tiresome, a service of which they could only say that in it they afflicted their souls, and walked mournfully before God, because they had no delight in it, no sympathy of heart with its sacred duties, these found it a season of special enjoyment, a season of high festival and pleasure, a time in which they drew waters with joy from the wells of salvation. They joyed to go up to the house of God, to think upon His name and to inquire in His holy place, because there they had seen His glory, and had their souls fed with the finest of the wheat.
What a name that was on which they thought may be gathered from a study of the titles associated therewith in the mind of the Hebrew: Jehovah-Jireh'97The Lord will provide; Jehovah-Tsidkenu'97The Lord our righteousness; Jehovah-Shalom'97The Lord send peace; Jehovah-Nissi'97The Lord our banner; Jehovah-Shammah'97The Lord is there. If we search the matter out for ourselves, we shall find that these people had a marvellous heritage in the name of Jehovah. He had revealed Himself by names continually, and there had been along the line of their history new beauty, new glory, perpetually breaking out by means of those very names by which God had approached them time after time. These people thought upon the name of the Lord'97of His provision for them, His righteousness, His banner, the proof of love in His conflict with sin, His presence'97and, thinking of these things, their nature was transformed into correspondence with His own, so that they became righteous, and they became peaceful, and they became quiet in the presence of their faithful God.
They had the sublimest subject of contemplation. '93His name'94'97boundless Power'97eternal right'97wisdom that cannot err and needs not to amend its plans'97truth dazzling in its lustrous brightness'97goodness essential and rejoicing in its own manifestations'97love, fathomless, unsearchable, draining its own heart and pouring out its life-blood in sacrifice for the lost world'97these are the glorious letters which spell out '93his name'94; and upon these they think and ponder, intenter than rapt student of the mysteries of Isis'97more absorbed than decipherer of cabalistic lore. '93That thought upon his name,'94 and by the thought were lifted from the common to the royal, were enraptured and transformed; '93that thought upon his name,'94 until they heard it inspoken, and their whole being thrilled beneath the syllables of its grace and power'97'93merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth'94; '93that thought upon his name,'94 until, assimilated by the wondrous meditation, they felt the fingers of the forming hand writing it upon their own hearts'97the new name'97and rejoiced, in that, their second and inner christening, '93with joy unspeakable and full of glory.'941 [Note: W. M. Punshon, Sermons, ii. 279.]
The word '93thought'94 is one of intense meaning, and I should like to trace it in one or two passages of Scripture in order that we may more clearly understand it.
In the 17th verse of the 13th chapter of Isaiah we read: '93Behold, I will stir up the Medes against them, which shall not regard silver; and as for gold, they shall not delight in it.'94 The only purpose for which we have turned to this verse is that we may extract the word '93regard'94 from it, and see how it is used in this particular case. The Medes will not '93regard'94 silver'97that is to say, that they will set no value on silver. The Medes, stirred up against the ancient people of God, will not be bought off by silver. They do not set any value upon it, they do not '93regard'94 it. The connection between this thought and that of our text is centred in the fact that the Hebrew word translated '93think'94 in Malachi is exactly the same word which is translated '93regard'94 in Isaiah. They thought upon His name, they regarded His name, they set a value upon His name.
Take another case in which the same word is again translated '93regard.'94 Isa_33:8, '93The highways lie waste, the wayfaring man ceaseth: he hath broken the covenant, he hath despised the cities, he regardeth no man.'94 That is, he sets no value upon man. The word is identical with that translated in Malachi: '93They that thought upon the Lord'94'97that is to say, what these people did not do concerning man, the Elect Remnant did concerning God. I do not say there is any connection between these passages; we are simply getting the light of them upon a particular word in our present study. They regarded God, they set a value upon Him. In the terrible day described by Isaiah the personal man was not regarded, he was accounted as '93nothing worth,'94 valueless; but this Elect Remnant set regard upon the name of the Lord; they did for that name what the Medes did not do for silver, and what was not done for man in the days of which Isaiah writes.
In the same prophecy a very remarkable case occurs. Isa_53:3 : '93He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.'94 '93Esteemed'94 is the word; it is the same Hebrew word translated '93thought'94 in Malachi. You see the word again almost more wonderfully presented here than in other instances. '93We esteemed him not.'94 We thought nothing of Him; we set no value upon Him; His worth in our sight was nothing, and we spurned Him from us. He came to His own, and they received Him not; they perceived no beauty in Him that they should desire Him. But the Elect Remnant esteemed the name of the Lord; they '93thought upon his name'94'97they set a high value thereon.
To follow this thought a little further in order that we may get additional light upon it, turn to the letter of Paul to the Php_4:8 : '93Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.'94 The Greek word translated '93think'94 here is a word which means '93Take an inventory.'94 What are the things of which men, as a rule, take an inventory? Things which they value; and Paul, in writing, is practically saying, '93Do not reckon as riches things perishing; but those things which make you rich indeed, the things which are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report, take an inventory of these, keep your mind upon them, set a value upon them.'94 In the Septuagint the translators have taken this word which Paul uses and have used it in the three cases in Isaiah'97to which we have already referred'97so that when you read, '93These men thought on the name of the Lord,'94 it is not a matter of little moment; they did not simply meditate upon His name, and meet together to endeavour to comprehend its deep riches. All this I believe they did; but their position as described by this word is far more wonderful than that. It is that they set value upon the name of the Lord, esteemed it, made an inventory in it, accounted it as their property, wealth, riches. It was the chief thing; nothing else was worth consideration to these faithful people. They took an inventory in the name of the Lord.1 [Note: G. Campbell Morgan, '93Wherein?'94 74.]
II
Their Motives
What are the motives which lead to Christian fellowship? Four may be mentioned.
1. The first is the intense love and interest begotten in us when once the facts of redemption have taken possession of our heart. We profess to believe that '93God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.'94 If we really believe it, is it conceivable that we can speak freely of the weather, of events of our day, of politics, of commerce, of literature, of science, and can absolutely close our lips on the one topic which is not of time but of eternity? Is there not something faulty if we cannot enjoy Christian intercourse with congenial souls such as may lead to our doing greater honour to Gods most holy name?
Whilst man is by nature a social being, it is only in the possession of a common religious life that the social principle and spirit find their highest expression and their unrestricted development. The need for friendly intercourse and fellowship is chiefly and most intensely felt in connection with the deepest and strongest feelings and aspirations and convictions of the soul; and there are no feelings or experiences which so vitally affect us as those of the religious life. Religious friendship and religious communion may, in truth, be claimed as almost essential to the culture and growth of personal religion. As a matter of fact and of history, religion has always shown itself as a social bond; in its higher and purer and more ethical forms, in particular, it has established and fostered, more or less fully, the sentiment of brotherhood among those who held a common faith and who aspired and struggled towards the same ideals. In the case of those who acknowledge in Christ the supreme revelation of the Divine, this has been an outstanding characteristic.
We all are servants of one Master, Christ;
Bound by one law, redeemed by one love,
And every brow sealed with the self-same print
Of bless'e8d brotherhood.1 [Note: J. M. Hodgson, Religion: The Quest of the Ideal, 95.]
2. The second motive is the truth of the Body of Christ. If each one of us is a member of Christ, is it conceivable that he has nothing to receive from other members? Look at the colours of the rainbow. Their beauty lies in their harmony. Is it not so in the Body of Christ? Surely each one of us has been made with some distinct idea in the mind of God, and to reflect some special ray of Divine light. It is only when these rays are combined that we have any real idea of the manifold wisdom of God. In every parish or community there is an exquisite variety of gift, of development, of power. Take any one body of men, and you will find a variety of spiritual gifts in them. Enlarge the field, and take the whole community'97village, town, school, university'97and you will find a greater variety still. Enlarge still further, and take in the whole Church of Christ, and it becomes evident at once that the gifts of the whole body are needed if the kingdoms of this world are to become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. A selfish, isolated religion, which contents itself with drawing stores from heaven for itself, as though it had no relation, either in giving or in receiving, with other men, is so spurious a form of Christianity that the very stores which it draws are likely to be corrupted. Only as we '93speak one with another'94 under conditions laid down for us in the Word of God have we due security for the preservation of our own faith amid the temptations of the world and for the transmission of our heritage to successive and ever-increasing generations.
All saints that are united to Jesus Christ their Head, by His Spirit, and by faith, have fellowship with Him in His graces, sufferings, death, resurrection, and glory; and, being united to one another in love, they have communion in each others gifts and graces, and are obliged to the performance of such duties, public and private, as do conduce to their mutual good, both in the inward and outward man. Saints by profession are bound to maintain an holy fellowship and communion in the worship of God; and in performing such other spiritual services as tend to their mutual edification; as also in relieving each other in outward things according to their several abilities and necessities. Which communion, as God offereth opportunity, is to be extended unto all those who in every place call upon the name of the Lord Jesus.1 [Note: Westminster Confession of Faith, chap. xxvi.]
3. A third motive is corresponding spiritual experiences. Every student of his own heart has been amazed and delighted to discover the harmony of religious feelings which exists throughout the Church. As the veteran has revealed the history of his struggles, the juvenile soldier has felt his heart quivering with the sensations so graphically described by the aged warrior; as the thoughtful Christian has propounded his difficulties, how often have we felt them to be the very difficulties which have perplexed and disquieted our own minds; and as we have listened to the statement of the distractions which have marred and enfeebled the devotions of others, we have felt that the same shadow has stretched over our own altar and prevented our view of the Saviours benignant countenance.
Religious life has a large element of feeling, and our feelings have a greater value when they are shared. They then become real sources of insight. We need to feel the common joy or grief in order to understand fully their inner meaning. The interaction of doing and feeling is a matter of very great practical importance. There is a danger of giving too great a predominance to Christian emotion. It is a very blessed thing to enjoy the feelings that can be evoked by the sharing of Christian experience; but the consequences of allowing ourselves the luxury of deep and strong emotions which evaporate without having produced any worthy effective action have often been pointed out by the psychologist. If we want to feel the joy and blessedness of the deepest common emotion, we ought to give very much more prominence to the life of common action. If we can work together for the things of the Kingdom, if we can combine to give a good and effective witness for Christ, and share with each other the toil, the patience, the disappointments, and the successes of common activity, we may then safely allow ourselves to taste to the full the blessedness of those deep emotional experiences which we have been taught to prize so highly.1 [Note: W. Bradfield, Personality and Fellowship, 195.]
4. The fourth motive is one which is suggested by a knowledge of human nature. It is notorious that in every condition of life there are those who are stronger and those who are weaker. Some are born to lead, others seem bound to depend on those who are stronger than themselves. If so, is it not criminal if we keep to ourselves the Divine gift of strength, and refuse to give of our knowledge and experience to some weaker brother, or refuse to receive what some brother or sister has to impart to us?
Throughout life Darwin was subject to violent paroxysms of pain, which often occasioned great alarm to his friends. He was never able to work consecutively for more than twenty minutes without interruption from these infirmities, which so enfeebled him that even a brief journey to London was exhausting. Burdened with extraordinary difficulties, he achieved his results by the exercise of the sternest resolution. His modesty was almost a weakness; and when he confessed, with touching simplicity, that he believed he had acted rightly in steadily following and devoting himself to science, those who revered him knew not which to admire the more, his great gifts or his incurable humility. He was fortunate in his friendships. The names of Wallace, Hooker, Scrope, and Lyell are associated with his fame; and the really impressive worth of these men was not so much their intellectual greatness as the grandeur of character, the unexampled forbearance, and the mutual assistance which distinguished them as coadjutors in a notable cause. Some votaries of science have shown themselves disastrously prejudiced and jealous; they have been more anxious for the priority of their personal claims than for the purity of their motive or the progress of knowledge. But this band of giants dwelt in a fellowship marred by no regrettable incidents, and strove toward the attainment of a great ideal, hand in hand and conjoined in heart, in honour preferring one another.1 [Note: S. P. Cadman, Charles Darwin and Other English Thinkers, 38.]
III
The Occasions
What are the occasions on which Christian fellowship may be enjoyed?
1. They who fear the Lord may be said, most truly and most safely, to speak one to another when they perform in Gods presence their solemn acts of worship. Would that we might oftener see those infallible signs of hearts engaged, the fixed earnest look, the humble reverent posture, the hearty response, the united Amen, which we do witness with thrilling joy on those rare occasions when our thoughts are specially solemnized for the work of worship! We have the firm assurance that God is then effectually present, softening, humbling, and elevating the minds of His servants.
One purpose which seems essentially involved in the possession of spiritual Christianity is the bearing witness for Christ. Those who, by the gift of the Holy Ghost, are clad in spiritual power are thus made mighty that they may be '93witnesses unto God.'94 This would seem to necessitate an organized system of testimony. The witness cannot be fully given either in the words of acknowledgment or in the deep heart-affection which prompts to the holy life. There must be palpable and public dedication'97not only the understanding enlightened and the heart transformed, but new companionships to supersede the old, not only the head filled with the truth and the heart warmed with its omnipotence of love, but the hand cordial in its grasp and greeting for those who have received like precious faith and power. Disciples of the spirit of Nicodemus'97with less excuse than he'97may endeavour, under the shadows of the night, to come to Jesus; but their cowardice dishonours the Master, and enfeebles their own souls. Though the spirit of active persecution slumbers, no age of the world will be without its '93Pharisees'94 who hinder; and the brand would be as disgraceful now as when it was originally affixed upon the recreant hearts of old'97'93Among the chief rulers also many believed on him; but because of the Pharisees they did not confess him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue: for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.'94 In some great rallying time of patriotism, the trusted men are not those who trim between opposing parties as the balance of interest inclines, and whose defection would surprise neither the one nor the other. In some Thermopylae of a nations liberties, or some Marathon of its triumph, they are the crowned if they live; and, if they fall, they are inurned amid a countrys tears, who '93look proudly to Heaven from the death-bed of fame.'94 There is no armour for the back in the Christians panoply Divine; and they are the trusted soldiers in Immanuels army who are not stragglers on a foray, or free-lances in a guerilla warfare, but resolute bands in the sacramental host which is marshalled for the conquest of the world.
The marching orders of the spiritual world are often stern enough, as stern sometimes, and as seeming hopeless, as those for the Balaclava charge, or of a forlorn hope.
Here, again, let us turn to our New Testament. We get a glimpse there of lifes marching orders as they were interpreted by one of its chief characters. Have we grumblers, comfortably housed meanwhile, with families and friends, with incomes, with all our easy securities, ever tried to picture to ourselves the actual state of things which Paul describes as his daily condition? '93In journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own countrymen, in perils by the heathen '85 in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness!'94 And this career winds up in the Roman prison, and then, if report speaks truly, as one of Neros victims, going out as one of those human flambeaux set alight to illuminate his gardens. Plainly not much provision for the human comforts here! And yet the man was content and joyful. He was a soldier on the march, Gods soldier, with Gods orders in his mind, and Gods comfort in his soul. And these are the marching orders for you and for me. They have been good enough for millions of souls, who have been happy in the possession of them; happy, not from fancy conjunctions of prosperous circumstances, but because they felt themselves to be here to become what God would have them be, and to accomplish what God would have them do.1 [Note: J. Brierley, Faiths Certainties (1914), 17.]
2. Still, we must in this life ever be more closely attached to some particular Christians than to others; and the number of every mans dear and intimate friends must of necessity be small. Yet it is to these that the words of the text especially apply: '93They that feared the Lord spake one with another.'94 This should be true of the society of Christians in general: but it is, and ought to be, much more so of those who take sweet counsel together, and are bound to one another by the closest ties of personal friendship. It can hardly be told how great is their loss who know not the comfort of Christian friends: in youth, more particularly, he who is without them loses the most powerful earthly instrument by which he is saved from temptation, and encouraged to good. Parents or teachers can do little in comparison; because the difference of age deprives what they say of much of its weight, and destroys at the same time that equality which makes the influence of a friend so much less suspected, and listened to, therefore, so much more readily. Equality of age and similarity in outward circumstances, draw men most closely to one another, and therefore give them additional opportunities for becoming fully acquainted with each others characters. Friends are sharers together in each others amusements and pleasures; they are together in those hours of free and careless mirth which the presence of persons of a different age would instantly check. At such times every ones experience can inform him how easily mirth may be turned into sin; how easily the heart may be hardened, and the conscience dulled by the conversation and example of unchristian associates. Whereas Christian friends gain strength, and impart it to one another in the very midst of their temptations, and even of their falls. Growth in grace is ever gradual: and Christians in their youth are somewhat like the good men who lived in the earlier ages, or in what may be called the youth of the world: that is, their consciences are less enlightened than they become at a more advanced age; they are less exalted in their notions of what they should not do, and of what Christ would love to find in them. There is much, therefore, in their lives that requires amendment: but, if they are Christians in earnest, they gradually lead one another on to higher views; a knowledge of their mutual faults makes them unreserved to each other; they are not afraid of saying all that is in their hearts; they make known to each other their particular difficulties and temptations; they feel that they are engaged in the same struggle; and each is often able to give assistance to the other on one point, whilst in others he may himself require to be aided in his turn. So they go on from strength to strength, till they come together in maturer years to a more advanced state of Christian obedience: with natural faults repressed or subdued, with more enlarged views of the wisdom of God in Christ Jesus, and a more enlightened sense of the claims which God has upon the entire devotion of their hearts to His service.
No doubt it requires a very genuine humility for some men to anticipate getting any good from the company of people who have not been blessed with their own educational or social privileges, but it is one of the cases where assuredly God gives grace to the humble. Many a Christian saint can testify that he has received, and, so far as he is able to judge, received far more than he has given, from fellowship with some apparently extremely unlikely person into whose company he has been thrown, and with whom he has talked and prayed about the things of God.1 [Note: W. Bradfield, Personality and Fellowship, 174.]
In a letter that she wrote in 1873 to Mr. J. W. Cross, whom she married after the death of George Henry Lewes, George Eliot showed how strong her feeling for religion and her craving for spiritual fellowship had become. '93All the great religions of the world,'94 she writes, '93historically considered, are rightly the objects of deep reverence and sympathy. They are the record of spiritual struggles, which are the types of our own. This is to me pre-eminently true of Hebrewism and Christianity, on which my own youth was nourished. And in this sense I have no antagonism towards any religious belief, but a strong overflow of sympathy. Every community, met to worship the highest good (which is understood to be expressed by God) carries me along with its current; and if there were not reasons against my following such an inclination, I should go to church or chapel constantly, for the sake of the delightful emotions of fellowship which come over me in religious assemblies'97the very nature of such assemblies being the recognition of a binding belief or spiritual law which is to lift us into a willing obedience and save us from the slavery of unregulated passion or impulse.'941 [Note: Life of George Eliot, by J. W. Cross, ii. 365.]
The last of his Church Congress papers, that on The Communion of Saints, seems peculiarly associated with Peterborough, and is published in a volume of Peterborough Sermons. The subject, too, is one so very dear to himself. He had an extraordinary power of realizing this Communion. It was his delight to be alone at night in the great Cathedral, for there he could meditate and pray in full sympathy with all that was good and great in the past. I have been with him there on a moonlight evening when the vast building was haunted with strange lights and shades, and the ticking of the great clock sounded like some giants footsteps in the deep silence. Then he had always abundant company. Once a daughter in later years met him returning from one of his customary meditations in the solitary darkness of the chapel at Auckland Castle, and she said to him, '93I expect you do not feel alone?'94 '93Oh no,'94 he said, '93it is full,'94 and as he spoke his face shone with one of his beautiful smiles.2 [Note: A. Westcott, Life and Letters of Brooke Foss Westcott, i. 312.]
The Fellowship of the Saints
Literature
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Vaughan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), New Ser., xvii. (1879), No. 1
Christian World Pulpit, lxiv. 33 (J. G. Greenhough).
Literary Churchman, xxxii. (1886) 376 (E. J. Hardy).
Autor: JAMES HASTINGS