Couldst thou love Me when suns are setting,
Their glow forgetting
In thought of Me; Couldst thou refrain thy soul from fretting For days that used to be ?
Couldst thou love Me when creeds are breaking.
Old landmarks shaking
With wind and sea ; Couldst thou restrain the earth from quaking, And rest thy heart in Me ?
1 Lady Dilke, The Book of the Sjnritual 2yif(\ 1 62.
44 TRUST INEXTINGUISHABLE
Couldst thou love Me when friends are failing,
Because fast paling
Thy fortunes flee; Couldst thou prevent thy lips from wailing, And say, "I still have Thee"?
Couldst thou love Me when wealth is flying. The night-blast sighing Through life's proud tree; Couldst thou withhold thy heart from dying, And find its life in Me?
Couldst thou love Me when tears are welling
Within thy dwelling
Once glad and free; Couldst thou escape their flood's high swelling, And reach thine ark in Me ?
Couldst thou love Me when storms are roaring,
Their torrents pouring
O'er mart and lea; Couldst thou on larger wings be soaring, And hear all calm in Me ?
Couldst thou love Me when death is nearing,
A mist appearing
In all but Me? If then thy heart cast out its fearing, Thy love shall perfect be.^
II.
Trust.
1. How often have these words been the vehicle of a sublime faith in the hour of supreme crisis ! In the moment of their darkest necessity and deepest anguish pious hearts have adopted this as the formula of their unwavering confidence in and sub- mission to the Infinite Wisdom ; and in the hour when their life's path has been strewn with the wreck of all that was delight- some in their eyes, and all that was dear to their hearts, have cried, with unfaltering tones, " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in ^ George Mathesou, Sacred Songs, 168.
JOB XIII. 15 45
him." And from this usage of centuries the words have acquired a sacredness, and are invested with associations, that make it very- difficult to break the spell they hold over our devout affections by any attempt to show that they do not stand for the writer's original thought, and are far from representing the suffering patriarch's real state of mind.
^ There is a story, in Swedish history, of a king who was mad with rage ; and, in his madness, sent for one of his prisoners to be brought before him. Then the king drew his dagger, and passed it through the arm of his victim ; and the poor wounded man just drew the dagger out, kissed it, and gave it back to the brutal hand which had smitten him. Now, hating such loyalty, as I do, yet how one wonders at the passionate beauty of that deed ! Marvelling that the man could so worship such a creature, yet how perfect was his loyalty to him ! That man might have written. Though Thou slay me, yet will I trust in Thee. It was the king's dagger that struck him, and he was the king's subject, so he just drew out the dagger, kissed the bloody blade, and gave it back.^
2. Now, taking the text in this sense, we notice first that it is very easy to praise God when all things prosper. Praise and prosperity usually go together. Just as all my good luck comes from God's providence, so God's mercies perfect my praise. But that is no sign of faith. Even the Gentiles do that. To be thankful when there is something to be thankful for — there is nothing in that. To look pleasant when things are pleasant is but common graciousness. Not to smile when the sun shines would be churlish. To dance when the music is good is inevitable to those who are well attuned — there is nothing in that. But there are some men who are gracious when all things are ungracious, sweet when things are sour, bright when other people are in the dark. The good economist keeps his candle for the time when it is most needed; then his little light comes into eminent service. He puts his lamp out while other people's lamps are shining; then, by and by, when the unwise virgins are all in the dark, this cheery soul lights his lamp.
(1) Do we trust God in the presence of the evil that is in the world, and in the darkness that accompanies it ? Conscience affirms right and duty as supreme realities, but God pays no heed
1 G. Dawson, The Authentic Qos2)el, 269.
46 TRUST INEXTINGUISHABLE
to them and lets the righteous suffer — this is the puzzle of the ages, and it is as far from solution to-day as ever. Conscience still holds men to duty, but what is the profit ? The righteous suffer and die and pass away under the natural laws of God with no advantage over the wicked, Nature — and to the Jew nature was God — looked down on good and evil alike, and by no law, by no variation of its forces, showed that the good had any advantage over the evil. The wise avoid evil ; the foolish incur it : but ask the light, the rain, the dew ; ask gravitation and chemical affinity and electricity if they distinguish between good and evil men. To the Jew these things were God — he knew no difference between an agent of God and God Himself ; and thus the terrible contra- diction involved God. We blunt the force of it by referring evil to nature ; but the Jew saw things more nearly as they are. Here was God in the conscience demanding righteousness, and here was God in nature ignoring righteousness. His intense sense of God deepened the problem and made it awful as a fact.