> J. B. Atlay, Bishop Enust Wilhcrforce, 162. ' James Iverach, Tli£ Other Side of Greatness, 133.
PSALM cm. 1-5 301
and mistakable rapture — it is a very outburst of song — " Bless the Lord, 0 my soul ; and all that is within me, bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, 0 my soul, and forget not all his benefits." And in realizing this joyful victory of the moral and spiritual powers ; in the resurrection of his spiritual being into strength ; in the leaving behind him in its own grave of all that was dead in his past ; in the great cry of his heart as he looked back — " I am not there, I am risen " — his youth was renewed like the eagle's ! It was a great triumph ; for his best life came back in a higher and a stronger way, with now but little chance of failure. He could again, like the eagle, look upon the sun, and love the upper ranges of the sky ; again soar, but with steadier beat of wing than in youth; again possess the freedom he loved before disease and destruction had enslaved his plumes ; again breathe the breath of immortal love ; again in conscious union with God hear the great spheres " in measured motion draw after the heavenly tune." And certainty was now with this victory, for he had known and found the Father of his spirit. The waters of his new life arose out of the fountain Life of God Himself, and he knew whence they came. There was now a source as well as a goal for his ideals, hopes, efforts, for the beauty he loved, and for universal joy. It was the Almighty Love and Life of loveliness Himself who was now in him — a personal friend, redeemer, strengthener, exalter ; who crowned him with lovingkindness and tender mercies. This is the true resurrection ; this is the triumph of life.
^ The brilliant Princess Anastasia Malsoff (the Nancy Malsoff of the Eussian Court) was one of those led to Christ by the Mar^chale, with whom she kept up a close friendship during the rest of her life. One of the Princess's letters is peculiarly interesting : " I will see the Emperor in these days," she writes, " and I will seek strength to speak to him. You see, my darling, speaking is not enough, one must in such a case pour out one's soul and feel that a superior force guides one and speaks for one." It turned out as she hoped. One night she was at the Palace in St. Petersburg. After dinner the Czar came and seated himself beside her. Soon they were deep in intimate conversation. She began telling him what her new-found friend in Paris had done for her. She talked wisely as he listened attentively. At length he said: "But, Nancy, you have always been good, always right." " No," she answered ; " till now I have never known the Christ.
302 ALL HIS BENEFITS
She has made Him real to me, brought Him near to me, and He has become what He never was before — my personal Friend." '■
^ " I shall be sorry," says Eckhart, the German mystic, " if I am not younger to-morrow than I am to-day — that is, a step nearer to the source whence I came." And Swedenborg tells us that wlien heaven was opened to him he found that the oldest angels seemed to be the youngest.
'Tis said there is a fount in Flower Land, — De Leon found it, — where Old Age away Throws weary mind and heart, and fresh as day Springs from the dark and joins Aurora's band : This tale, transformed by some skilled trouvere's wand From the old myth in a Greek poet's lay, Eests on no truth. Change bodies as Time may, Souls do not change, though heavy be his hand. Who of us needs this fount ? What soul is old ? Age is a mask, — in heart we grow more young, For in our winters we talk most of spring ; - And as we near, slow-tottering, God's safe fold. Youth's loved ones gather nearer : — though among The seeming dead, youth's songs more clear they sing.*
1 J. Strahan, The MarichaU (1913), 184. 3 Maurice Francis Egan.
The Father's Pity.
303
Literature.
Buckland (A.. R.), Text Studies for a Year, 143
Clifford (J.), The Gospel of Gladaess, 17.
Conn (J.), The Fulness of Time, 1.
Dykes (J. 0.), Sermons, 138.
Fleming (A. G.), Silver Wings, 26.
McLeofl (M. J.), Heavenly IIarm,onies, 99.
Murray (\V. H.), The Fruits of the Spirit, 397.
Pierce (C. C), The Hunjer of the Heart for Faith, 59.
Selby/T. G.), The God of the Frail, 2.
Spurgeon (C. H.), Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xvi. (1870), No. 941.
Vanghan (J.), Sermons (Brighton Pulpit), vii. (1868), No. 678.
Walters (F.), in Sermons bij Unitarian Ministers, 53.
Christian World Pulpit, xxx. 230 (J. Baillie) ; xxxii. 376 (F. Ferguson) ;
xxxviii. 188 (D. Hobbs) ; Ix. 376 (E. Griffith-Jones) ; Ixi. 251
(J. liitson). Church Pulpit Year Book, 1909, p. 153.
yn
The FATHER'S Pity.
Like as a father pitieth his children,
So the Lord pitieth them that fear him.
For he knoweth our frame ;