^ As is a mother to her babe, so is God to us. She makes the children's home — not the two-roomed cottage of the peasant, with the bare walls and scant furniture, nor the many-roomed ducal palace, with its teeming wealth and oppressive luxury ; but the love and light, the warm kisses and tender care, the sweet smile and the strong soul of the mother — she, and all that she is, makes "Home, sweet, sweet Home." She is the dwelling-place of the child's heart, the satisfaction of desire, the unfailing ^ John Howe, The Vaniiy of Man as Jlodal.
222 THE HOME OF THE SOUL
nourishment of the child's life. What God has made that mother to her child, He Himself is to us men — ovt asylum of peace, our refuge from passing foes, our dwelling-place and home from age to age.^
4. The inviolability of home is the spirit of our English proverb, that a man's house is his castle. And in this sense God is the Home of the soul ; the soul finds in the presence of God a protection against the enemies which threaten it with ruin in the rougli life of the world. In this sense David cries, " I will love thee, 0 Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress and my deliverer ; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." Or again, "Be thou my strong rock for an house of defence to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress." Or, again, " Be thou my strong habitation, whereunto I may continually resort ; thou hast given commandment to save me ; for thou art my rock and my fortress," Once more, " He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress ; my God, in whom I will trust. For he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his pinions, and under hia wings shalt thou take refuge: his truth is a shield and a buckler." ^
^ One mcident of the voyage to America served as a sharp test to Wesley of his own spiritual condition. Amongst the passengers he found a little group of Moravian exiles, who, by the simplicity and seriousness of their piety, strangely interested him. A storm broke over the ship one evening just as these simple- minded Germans had begun a religious service ; Wesley describes v.'hat follows : " In the midst of the Psalm wherewith their se^fvice began, the sea broke over, split the mainsail in pieces, covered the ship, and poured in between the decks as if the great deep had already swallowed us up. A terrible screaming began amongst the English. The Germans calmly sang on. I asked one of them afterwards, ' Were you not afraid ? ' He answered, * I thank God, no.' I asked, ' But were not your women and children afraid ? ' He replied mildly, ' No ; our women and
' J. Clifford, Social Worship, 26.
' H. P. Liddon, CJtrislmastide Sermons, 243.
PSALM xc. I 223
children are not afraid to die.' From them I went to their cry- ing, trembling neighbours, and pointed out to them the difference in the hour of trial between him that feareth God and him that feareth Him not." ^
5. The soul that talks to God rises out of a narrow and selfish individualism into fellowship, not only with the Eternal Creator, but also with the vast and various family of God in the past, present, and future. We are dwelling in the same home as our fathers and brothers and sons. Israel is there in its completeness. God is the eternal home of the race. " The elders who, through faith, obtained a good report," in the grey dawn of the world, dwelt therein. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the founders of Israel, had long since passed away, but their home was not broken up, for they still lived in and to God. Indeed, all our dead live in Him, for He is not the God of dead men, but of living men, for all live unto Him. Thus we are already all together with the Lord.
^ Bunyan's Mr. Fearing was " kept very low, and made his life burdensome to himself " by fear of death. But as he came near to his end his fear disappeared, and " he went over at last not much above wetshod," sending, as his last message to his friends, the brave words, " Tell them all, it's all right." ^
' "\V. H. Fitcliett, Wesley and His Century, 98. * J. Clifford, Social IVorship, 31.
The Right Use of Time.
PS xxv.-cxix. — 15
Literature.
Darlow (T. H.), The Upward Calling, 346.
Gregg (D,), Our Best Moods, 339.
Hobhouse (W.), The Spiritual Standard, 210.
Hodge (C), Princeton Sermons, 346.
Lee (R,), Sermons, 268.
Lefroy (E. C), The Christian Ideal, 102.
Morgan (G. E.), Dreams and Realities, 49,
Murray (W. H.), The Fruits of the Spirit, 157.
Prothero (G.), The Armour of Light, 33.
Smellie (A.), In the Secret Place, 396.