1 W. M. Clow, The Secret of the Lord, ISl.
i6o DELIGHTING IN THE LORD
because it enabled them more intelligently, more practically, more literally to converse with Him. I observe that all their sorrow arose from the loss of God's presence, all their joy from the possession of it, all their pleasure in expecting heaven from anticipation of it. I observe that Lhey shrunk from the contempla- tion of no side or phase of God's character, that His holiness and His mercy were equally dear to them, and that, so far from viewing them as separate, they could not admire one without the other. They could not delight in His love unless they believed that He would admit no sin into His presence, for sin and love are essentially liostile ; they could not adore His holiness unless they believed that He had some way of removing their sinfulness and imparting His own character to them. The plain, obvious study of the Bible tells me this.^
4. Lastly, delighting in God means entire surrender to God's will. The highest attitude in prayer is not desire, or aspiration, or praise. It is surrender. In surrender we open our whole being to God as a flower opens itself to the sun, and we are filled, up to our measure, with His Divine energy. It is because man can be filled with the fulness of God that he has been chosen of God as His instrument in the world. In one true sense God set bounds to His power when He created man. He placed a further limit on Himself when He committed dominion to him. God now works through man, and if man will not work the works of God, the works of God remain undone.
*|[ Esther. — But that must be the best life, father. That must be the best life.
Rufus. — What life, my dear child ?
Usther.-^Whj, that where one bears and does everything because of some great and strong feeling — so that this and that in one's circumstances don't signify.
Eufus. — Yea, verily: but the feeling that should be thus supreme is devotedness to the Divine Will.^
^ It is best to limit oneself to what is strictly necessary, to live austerely and by rule, to content oneself with a little, and to attach no value to anything but peace of conscience and a sense of duty done. It is true that this itself is no small ambition, and that it only lands us in another impossibility. No, — the simplest course is to submit oneself wholly and altogether to God. Every-
* Life of Frederick Denison Maurice, i. 132. ' George Eliot, Felix Bolt.
PSALM XXXVII. 4 i6i
thing else, as saith the Preacher, is but vanity and vexation of spirit. It is a long while now since this has been plain to me, and since this religious renunciation has been sweet and familiar to me. It is the outward distractions of life, the examples of the world, and the irresistible influence exerted upon us by the current of things which make us forget the wisdom we have acquired and the principles we have adopted. That is why life is such weariness ! This eternal beginning over again is tedious, even to repulsion. It would be so good to go to sleep when we have gathered the fruit of experience, when we are no longer in opposition to the supreme will, when we have broken loose from self, when we are at peace with all men.^
Blindfolded and alone I stand, With unknown thresholds on each hand; The darkness deepens as I grope. Afraid to fear, afraid to hope, Yet this one thing I learn to know Each day more surely as I go, That doors are opened, ways are made, Burdens are lifted or are laid. By some great law unseen and still, Unfathomed purpose to fulfil, "Not as I will."
Blindfolded and alone I wait ; Loss seems too bitter, gain too late; Too heavy burdens in the load And too few helpers on the road ; And joy is weak and grief is strong, And years and days so long, so long: Yet this one thing I learn to know Each day more surely as I go, That I am glad the good and ill By changeless law are ordered still, "Not as I will."
" Not as I will " : the sound grows sweet
Each time my lips the words repeat.
" Not as I will " : the darkness feels
More safe than light when this thought steals
Like whispered voice to calm and bless
All unrest and all loneliness.
^ AmieVs Journal (trans, by Mrs. Humphry Ward), 115. PS. XXV.-CXIX. — II
i62 DELIGHTING IN THE LORD
"Not as I will," because the One Who loved us first and best has gone Before us on the road, and still For us must all His love fulfil, "Not as we will."i
II.
The Satisfaction of Desire,
1. Nothing more disastrous could happen than that God should gratify the desires of all men. If God were to permit for one short hour that all human desires should be satisfied, it is impossible to calculate the dire confusion and pitiless despair that would prevail. Ignorance would unsettle every natural law; selfishness would break down every barrier ; oppression, lust, and rapine would leap forth with fury. It is true that prisons, hospitals, and workhouses might disgorge their occupants, poverty might leap into affluence, and diseases and devils be cast out of Buflering humanity. The slave might snap his fetters, and many an oppressed sufferer might rush forth to freedom and to life ; but amid the widespread despair excited by the greatest curse that had ever fallen on humanity, the prayer would ascend, " 0 God, take back our liberty ; bind us once more by Thy laws ; Thou, and Thou alone, knowest what is best for us. Fence us round with Thine ordin- ances; restore to us Thy government; let us know once more that Thou alone canst speak, and it shall be done ; Thou alone com- mand so that it shall stand fast ! "