\ I have a pile of bills at home, the accumulation of years. Together those accounts would make up such a large amount that if it were called for I should be ruined. But I can look on them without a shade of anxiety, because every one of them is receipted. No creditor has any claim, and if I were sued in court, I should only have to produce the receipts to be free from con- demnation. Thus our moral debts, greater than these, are dis- charged, and are as if they were not ; so that to each penitent believer the Lord says, " Neither do I condemn thee ; go, and sin no more." ^
(3) It is the knowledge of God as a deliverer. — David urged Solomon and said, " Know thou the God of thy father." The old
^king was returning in thought upon the experience of his life.
"iHe had sinned and he had been forgiven. But more than pardon
(had been granted him. He had been delivered from the tyranny
I of evil passion through much suffering and anguish, and he had
been brought into a large place. He was there that day to testify
to the good hand of his God upon him. " Solomon my son, know
thou the God of thy father."
1 Henry Vaiighau. * A. Rowland.
I CHRONICLES xxviii. 9 501
^ When his friends asked Coleridge for a proof of Christianity, they expected an answer that would display the philosopher's powers of acute dialectic. They were surprised at the simplicity \J of the answer they received — " Try it ! " And in truth that is the only satisfactory answer that can be given. In all depart- ments of knowledge we are realizing more than ever that experi- ment is the final test.^
"^ I may be speaking to many a one in a very special sense when I say, " Know thou the God of thy father." He may have been a leader, a minister in the Christian church, and you have more than once said to yourself, " If ever any one went to heaven, my father did." For his sake, as well as for your own, I urge you to decision and consecration. There are things hardly worth keep- ing that you prize for your father's sake — the chair he used to V sit in, the Bible he was wont to use — and if you knew of some one he specially loved, you would be good to him if you could. But there is One he did love intensely, and who always loved him ; a Friend who never failed, whose grace made him what he was, who welcomed him to His home when the life-journey was ended. Will you longer hesitate to yield yourself to the God of your father? 2
^ A life woven in with the history of Missions in China is that of David Hill. He was given to God by a father who was devoted to the work of helping missions from the home end. In his youth he gave his overtime earnings, in all about seventy pounds, to the cause. Later he gave all he could, including his son. The relationship between them was peculiarly close and tender. The father's judgment was the son's highest human standard. Even in China the knowledge of what his father would think and say ruled him still, and once saved his life. He was bathing in the Moon Lake near Hankow, when he got out of his depth. He sank again and again, and was nearly giving up effort, when suddenly the thought came : " What will my father think of me, if I let myself be drowned before I have been of any use in China ? " The thought stimulated a final effort, which brought him safely to shore.^
^ I can see my dear father's life in some measure as the sunk pillar on which mine was to rise and be built. I seem to my- self only the continuation and second volume of my father. Let me write my books as he built his houses, and walk as blamelessly through this shadow world.*
' A. W. Robinson, The Voice of Joy and Health, 146. * A. Rowland.
• H. S. Dyer, The Ideal Christian Home, 57. * Carlylo.
502 KNOWLEDGE AND SERVICE
IL
Service.
" Serve him with a perfect heart and with a willing mind."
There is a true service done for God which no one notices. It lies apart from church organizations, and gives no prominence to those who do it, though it is seen, and will be rewarded, by Him who sees in secret. Take a few examples. We may have an opportunity of reading some book which panders to evil passions, and we fling it aside with loathing. We are invited to join a society Where mirth is very doubtful in its source, and we decline. Stung by a taunt, we restrain ourselves from the utter- ance of an angry retort, though it springs to our lips instinctively. Tempted by sensual delights, or by the chance of making money by a bet, we resist triumphantly. Engaged in daily work with others, we refuse to do behind our employer's back what we would not do in his presence ; for we say to ourselves, " Thou God seest me," and refrain. In all these and similar experiences we " serve " God with a pure conscience, and thus witness for Him; and at the same time we are building up in ourselves a Christlike character.