One God, one law, one element, And one far-off divine event To which the whole creation moves.^
^ Our destiny is potential within ourselves. Every man, woman, and child possesses this potentiality, this shaping spirit of prayer and the love of God. The golden stairs are in every home, in every house of business, and workshop, whereby, in deep com- munings like those of Jesus on the Galilean hills, we may bring down troops of joys and graces to fill the common day with song. It is our fault altogether if the lower chambers of life are dull and spiritless. The task is difficult no doubt. So much the more need for that steadfast communion with the Indwelling Love which gives the soul a power and persistence not long to be denied. Eesolute always to see what good there is, and to throw the whole weight of our soul on to the side of that good, we shall find our love consuming the evil, and liberating kindred souls to co-operate with us.^
Through love to light, 0 wonderful the way That leads from darkness to the perfect day !
From darkness and from sorrow of the night, To morning that comes singing o'er the sea. Through love to light; through light, 0 God, to Thee
Who art the Love of love, the eternal Light of light
^ J. C. Adams, The Leisure of God, 46. » T. J. Hardy, The Gospel of Pain.
The Heart.
m
Literature.
Burgess (F. G.)) Little Beginnings, 117.
Calthrop (G.), The Lost Sheep Found, 153.
Davidson (T.), Thoroughness, 101.
Dewhurst (F. E.), The Investment of Truth, 107.
Fiirst (A.), Christ the Way, 12.
Gibbon (J. M.), In the Days of Youth, 28.
Griffith-Jones (E.), in Comradeship and Gharacter,25 3.
Jeffrey (J.), The Way of Life, 55.
Jerdan (C), For the Lambs of the Flock, 59.
King (T. S.), Christianity and Humanity, 254.
Mackenzie (E.), The Loom of Providence, 246.
Maclaren (A.), Expositions : Esther, etc., 116.
Pierson (A, T.), Godly Self -Control, 1.
Rowland (A.), in The Ladder of Life, 33.
Spurgeon (C. H.), New Park Street Pulpit, iv. (1858), No. 179.
Stowell (H.), Sermons, 72.
Vaiighan (J.), Sermons to Children, i. 205.
Wagner (C.), Courage, 69.
Wiseman (N.), Sermons for Children, 116.
Christian World Pulpit, v. 132 (R. Tuck) ; Ixxv. 76 (W. E. BreakeyX
309 (J. H. Ward). Church of England Magazine, xxv. 256 (J. Bull). Church of England Pulpit, Ixii. 68 (W. R. Inge).
The Heart.
Keep thy heart with all diligence ;
For out of it are the issues of life. — Prov. iv. 23.
1. In the Bible, and more especially in the Book of Proverbs, the word " heart " is among the most pregnant in all language. As the heart physically is the central organ of the body, it is often used to denote the life,, the soul itself. " My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord ; my heart and my flesh cry out unto the living God." Then there is a large group of passages which show that the heart in the Bible stands for the seat of the emotions, as in the popular phraseology of every language. But in Hebrew it also represented the seat of intelli- gence, the tone and quality of the character, as when a clear, pure, sincere heart is ascribed to any one, or when it is said, " As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Further, it stands for will or purpose : " Do all that is in thine heart " means " in thine intention or desire." Because the heart is thus the focus of the personal life, the secret laboratory in which every influence which penetrates thither is reacted upon, so that it passes out charged with the colour and quality of the inner life, it is natural that it should be spoken of here as the central fact of our nature, and that God should demand it for His own. When we give our heart to Him, we give Him the most precious, because the most determinative, element in our life.
2. The Greek version, which was very generally used in our Lord's time, had a beautiful variation of the text : " In order that thy fountains may not fail thee, guard them in the heart." It was after all but a new emphasis on the old teaching of the Book of Proverbs when Jesus taught the necessity of heart purity, and when He showed that out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, and all the things which defile a man. Yet this lesson of inward-
PS. CXIX.-SONG OF SOL. — 1 6
242 THE HEART
ness has always been the most difficult of all to learn. Christian- ity itself has always been declining from it and falling into the easier but futile ways of externalism ; and even Christian homes have usually failed in their influence on the young, chiefly because their religious observances have fallen into formalism, and, while the outward conduct has been regulated, the inner springs of action have not been touched.
^ Visit the electrical power-house of any large town. Watch the whirling dynamo. Here is the energy that drives the car; here is generated the spark that lights the night ; here is born the impulse that begets the motion and brightness outside. Musing thus, you will understand what is meant by the heart. Press the illustration further ; mark how this monster is guarded and controlled, and then think of the last thunderstorm you can remember. In the engine-house the power is in subjection, watched with all diligence ; outside in the wide universe it is un- tamed, uncontrolled, wrecking and damaging and contorting. On the one hand, assisting commerce, giving brightness and cheerful- ness— the issues of life. On the other, devastation and ruin — the issues of death. Life and death by the same power. Controlled, life ; uncontrolled, death. This power is analogous to the heart of man.^