PSALM XXXIV. 8 III
of Christ's Presence manifesfc in goodness, and Christ's Name dis- honoured in hypocrisy, or blindness, or indifference.^
(2) Goodness is attainable through faith in Christ. For men and for nations alike, life is largely if not wholly made up of habits. The blessed life, whether on the large or the small scale, is certainly a question of blessed habit. But this is not the whole case. Destiny, we know, turns on character, just as character is decided by habits. But habits are neither more nor less than the repetition of acts. Let the first act be worthy, then let repetition confirm it, and habit becomes not only easy but the sure prophecy of destiny. The true beginning of the blessed life is plain, viz., to receive Christ Jesus as Lord. The repetition of that supreme act of the soul, as each day dawns and throughout all the duties it brings, is the pledge of the habit which makes character. That character not only ensures destiny but contributes in the interim to other characters and destinies on every hand. Social reform yields no hope of any golden age without purified and ennobled individual character. For that, there is no such ideal or guarantee on earth as the blessed life which is " rooted and built up " in Jesus Christ.
^ In June, G. F. Watts wrote asking Shields to lunch any day at Little Holland House. He knew nothing of the work Shields was commencing, but said : " I should like to have an occasional chat about serious art. I wish you would kindly send me a line and tell me the correct colours for the draperies of Faith. I know you are an authority." To which Shields replied : " For answer to your question and compliment, I am no ' authority.' I know none on the subject but the Authority of the Word revealed. Paul declared Faith is God's gift. She is heaven-born. She is the assurance of heavenly things to mortals shut in by sensuous things, therefore the skies' hue is hers, her mantle and her wings : and for her robe, white — unspotted. And this because they who seek righteousness by works fail of that which only Faith'gives. The 'fine linen of the Saints' symbolizes their righteousness in the Apocalypse, and it is said that their robes were made ' white in the blood of the Lamb.' If I seek where alone I look to find, this is what is given me, and it is the best I can offer in response to your question. I bow to tradition only where it agrees with the written Word." ^
^ Francis Paget, Bishop of Oxford, 178.
' E. Mills, Life and Letters of Frederic Shields, 309.
112 THE GOODNESS OF GOD
3, Having once tasted, we must continue tasting. Those who have once tasted of God, have contracted a passion that grows in being fed. Because they have tasted they must come again and again to stay an appetite which, though always being met, is always on the increase. The tasting of this meat is not to be the tasting of an occasional delicacy, it is to be the eating of daily bread.
^ There was a man who once lived in a place where, close to his house, he had a spring of water. At a little distance from him, there was another spring. We shall call the spring close to his house, " the nether spring," and the other, a little way off, " the upper spring." So he had the nether and the upper spring. The nether spring looked very pleasant when the sun was shining ; the water sparkled in its rays ; yet, when looked at more closely, the water was black and dark, and very often grew muddy, and the flowers on the side of it never lasted long ; and people who drank a great deal of the water from the nether spring seemed to grow sick. The other spring, a little way off, came out of the rock ; it required a great deal of patience to get it ; but if the cup was held long enough, it would always get filled, and you were never sick from it.
Now this man who lived in the cottage near the nether spring always went to it ; he did not like the trouble of going to the upper spring. He had not sufficient patience. So it went on for many years. At last he came to the nether spring and it was dry, not a drop of water in it. So he was obliged to go to the upper spring; he had to wait some time, but at last he had a cup of nice, pure water. It was so sweet, and he enjoyed it much. He had never before tasted such water. The nether spring flowed on again, but ever after he went to the upper ; and when asked why he went so far, he said, " I cannot leave the upper spring ; having once tasted it, I cannot go back to the nether spring." ^
III.
Satisfaction in the Goodness of God.
1. Those who discover the goodness of God are content to trust Him. To be religious is to trust God, and to do that is to be free from the fear of evil. He who trusts shall not be afraid