Are these the tracks of some unearthly Friend, His foot-prints, and his vesture-skirts of light, Who, as I talk with men, conforms aright Their sympathetic words, or deeds that blend With my hid thought; — or stoops him to attend My doubtful-pleading grief; — or blunts the might Of ill I see not ; — or in dreams of night Figures the scope, in which what is will end? Were I Christ's own, then fitly might I call That vision real ; for to the thoughtful mind That walks with Him, He half unveils His face; But when on earth-stain'd souls such tokens fall, These dare not claim as theirs what there they find. Yet, not all hopeless, eye His boundless grace.^
2. Fellowship with God is the secret of the highest character in man. If a man admires, reveres and attaches himself to any one, he is naturally led to imitate him ; and the tendency of all worship is to make a man like his God. The deities of heathen- dom are the product of the vain imaginations, unholy passions and guilty fears of their votaries, and the contemplation of them continues to quicken the foul source whence they have issued. The sins as well as the sorrows of those who follow after other gods are multiplied. And the worshippers of the true God are, in accordance with this principle of our nature, brought to godliness, induced and taught to love and hate, to approve and condemn, according to the perfect model. In every one that fears God, there is a real and growing assimilation.
^ Some words of Kingsley's written in 1872, in which he defines a " noble fear " as one of the elements of that lofty and spiritual love which ruled his own daily life, may explain why he speaks of entering the married state with " solemn awe and self- humiliation," and why he looked upon sucli married Love as the noblest education a man's character can have : " Can there be true love without wholesome fear ? And does not the old Eliza-
' J, H. Newman.
12 THE SECRET OF THE LORD
bethan ' My dear dread ' express the noblest voluntary relation in which two human souls can stand to each other ? Perfect love casteth out fear. Yes ; but where is love perfect among imperfect beings, save a mother's for her child ? For all the rest, it is through fear that love is made perfect; fear which bridles and guides the lover with awe — even though misplaced — of the beloved one's perfections ; witb dread — never misplaced — of the beloved one's contempt. And therefore it is that souls who have the germ of nobleness within, are drawn to souls more noble than them- selves, just because, needing guidance, they cling to one before whom they dare not say, or do, or even think an ignoble thing. And if these higher souls are — as they usually are — not merely formidable, but tender likewise, and true, then the influence which they may gain is unbounded — both to themselves, and to those that worship them." ^
3. To enjoy this fellowship we must "fear" the Lord. In order to read any one's secret we must respect him. You cannot show the real secret of your life, the spring and power of your living, to any man who does not respect you. Not merely you will not, but you cannot. Is it not so ? A man comes with impertinent curiosity and looks in at your door, and you shut it in his face indignantly. A friend comes strolling by and gazes in with easy carelessness, not making much of what you may be doing, not thinking it of much importance, and before him you cover up instinctively the work which was serious to you, and make believe that you were only playing games. So it is when men try to get hold of the secret of your life. No friendship, no kindliness, can make you show it to them unless they evidently really feel as you feel, that it is a serious and sacred thing. There must be something like reverence or awe about the way that they approach you. It is the way in which children shut themselves up before their elders because they know their elders have no such sense as they have of the importance of their childish thoughts and feelings.
^ You must believe that there is something deep in nature or you will find nothing there. You must have an awe of the mystery and sacredness in your fellow-man, or his mystery and sacredness will escape you. And this sense of mystery and sacreduess is what we gather into that word "fear." It is the
^ Charles Kingxley, i. 164.
PSALM XXV. 14 13
feeling with which you step across the threshold of a great deserted temple or into some vast dark mysterious cavern. It is not terror. That would make one turn and run away. Terror is a blinding and deafening emotion. Terror shuts up the apprehension. You do not get at the secret of anything which frightens you, but fear, as we use the word now, is quite a different emotion. It is a large, deep sense of the majesty and importance of anything, a reverence and respect for it. Without that no man can understand another. And so " the secret of a man is with them that fear him." ^