(2) And, if we get this, then something else must come, namely, more hopefulness. St. Paul has a noble verse which says that experience worketh hope. It must, if it is full of Christ. The soul that is getting deeper and deeper into the certain know- ledge of Him must be learning that it has no right to fear ; that, however hopeless things look, there can be nothing but success for every good cause in the hand of Christ. It is a noble process for a man's life that gradually changes the cold dogma that "truth is strong and must prevail" into a warm, enthusiastic certainty that " my Christ must conquer." It is terrible to see a man calling himself a Christian who despairs more of the world the longer he lives in it. It shows that he is letting the world's darkness come between him and his Lord's light. It shows that he is not near enough to Christ.
(3) And with the growing hopefulness there comes a growing
52 THE GOOD WILL OF A LIFETIME
courage. How timid we are at j&rst. It seems as if just to get this soul of ours saved were all that we could dare to try ; but as the Saviour's strength becomes more manifest to us, as we know Him more, we see that He is able to do much more than that. We begin to aspire to have a little part in the great conquest of the world in which He is engaged. And so the Soldier of the Cross at last is out in the very thick of the battle, striking at all his Master's enemies in the perfect assurance of his Master's strength. (4) And then, as the crown of all these, there comes to the maturing Christian, out of his constant companionship with Christ, that true and perfect poise of soul which grows more and more beautiful as we grow tired, one after another, of the fantastic and one-sided types of character which the world admires, and which seem to us very attractive at first. Expectant without impatience ; patient without stagnation ; waiting, but always ready to advance ; loving to advance, but always ready to wait ; full of confidence, but never proud ; full of certainty, but never arrogant; serene, but enthusiastic; rich as a great land is rich in the peace that comes to it from the government of a great, wise, trusty governor — this is the life whose whole power is summed up in one word — Faith. "Here is the patience and faith of the saints." This is the life to which men come who, through long years, " follow the Lamb whithersoever He goeth." ^
A state Where all is loveliness, and power, and love; Where all sublimest qualities of mind, Not infinite, are limited alone By the all-surrounding godhood; and where nought But what createth glory and delight To creature and Creator is; where all Enjoy entire dominion o'er themselves, Acts, feelings, thoughts, conditions, qualities, Spirit and soul and mind.^
III.
Good- WILL at the End.
In the mouth of Moses the words, " The good will of him that dwelt in the bush " had, in this blessing of the tribe of Joseph just 1 Phillips Brooks. * P. J. Bailoy, Festius.
DEUTERONOMY xxxiii. i6 53
before he died, a far richer significance than they could have had when, after having seen the great sight and heard the great words, he turned away from the desert of Midian, and took his journey into Egypt. He went on there in faith, but now he could look back upon a rich experience. Between the bush and the plains of Moab lay forty years of the fullest realization of all that Jehovah had promised, and so he commended Joseph's children to One whom he knew to be faithful to His word. Had he not been to Egypt and brought out his people into freedom ? Had he not enjoyed closest fellowship with God as a man talketh with his friend ? Had he not been directed by Him in every difficulty and provided for by Him in every strait ? So now he tells them that whom he had proved, they might trust. The Lord who had with him stood the strain of the Exodus, and the test of the wilderness wanderings, and was with him still, would not fail them in their time of need.
Is not this true of our Lord yet ? Whom has He failed ? When has He broken His word? Who dares to say that he has gone to Him and been cast out ? Is it not the unvarying testimony of His people in all generations that they never found Him wanting ? While there is so much that is parallel to the gospel in this conference between Jehovah and Moses at Midian, there is in one point a marked difference between the two. The Jehovah of the bush said, " Draw not nigh hither," but the Jesus of the Cross says, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." That is just the great distinction between the old dispensation and the new, and it was rendered necessary by the circumstances of the times. In those ancient days the world was not ready to receive the gospel invita- tion. There needed yet a long education before men would listen to it either with patience or appreciation, and so the truth, while preserved among them in the figurative system of Judaism, needed also to be protected from them by the restrictions which hedged that system round. These restrictions were like the horn frame- work of the lantern through which the light shone, no doubt, only dimly, but by which, also, it was kept from being extinguished by the rude blasts of idolatry and immorality. Now, however, they have served their purpose and are no longer needed. The veil of the temple has been rent asunder ; the temple itself has