ST. MARK 131
before we think of taking shelter." The trifling acts of pride or sloth, the unchecked love of self, the evil thought, the word of shame, the neglect of prayer — we never thought that these could kill down the soul and separate from God, and suddenly we wake up to find that God has, as it were, dropped out of our lives. To measure the cost of sin, little or great, we have but to look at two scenes. Let us reverently gaze at the form of our blessed Lord in His agony in the Garden, bent beneath the insupportable weight of the sins of the world, and see in the sweat of blood and the voice of shrinking dread the anguish of the weight of sin which could extort a groan which the pangs of the Cross failed to evoke. Or listen again to that word of mystery which echoed out of the darkness of the Cross into the darkness of our understanding — " My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me ? " -^
^Without forming any theory about sin, Jesus treats it as a Uindness of the soul. If only the eye were in a healthy state — that is, if the organ of spiritual sense were normal, the light of God would stream into the soul as it did with Him. But here lies the mischief. The centre of life — the heart — is wrong. In vain the light from without solicits entrance ; it plays on blind eyeballs. The light within is darkness. The goodness which passes muster among the Pharisees, or the religious philosophy of the Scribes, is no better than the blundering of those who know not the law. When the blind leads the blind, leader and led fall into the ditch.^
2. There are two applications of Christ's words that we may make for our own instruction.
(1) First of all, we may put away from ourselves the thought that the blasphemy here spoken of has anything in common with those unhappy wanderings of thought and affec- tion which morbid introspection broods upon until it pleads guilty to the unpardonable sin. It is no sin of the flesh, of impulse or frailty or passion, no spiritual lapse of an unguarded hour, of erring or misled opinion, that shuts us out from the Divine forgiveness. There is nothing here to alarm any mourner for sin whose contrition proves that it has actually been possible to renew him unto repentance. Whoever is troubled with the * Canon Newbolt. * E. F. Horton.
132 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
thought that he may have committed the unpardonable sin
\ proves, by his very grief and self-accusation, that he has not
(committed it ; for he who is really guilty will be secure against
lall such self-reproaches. The perilous state is theirs, who have
I no qualms and no doubts, but are blinded by their pride and
I self-complacency.
((2) Secondly, the narrative illustrates this other great truth — that with what measure men judge of Christ and His work it shall be measured to them again. The Scribes thought they had given an answer sufficient in its contemptuousness when they referred Christ and His miracles to the devil. They little knew all they were doing ; they were revealing their own character and writing their own condemnation. Their judg- ment was in reality the most complete betrayal of themselves. What they thought of Christ was the key to open up their own miserable souls.^
There is an Eastern story, not unknown. Doubtless, to thee, of one whose magic skill Called demons up his water-jars to fill ; Deftly and silently they did his will. But, when the task was done, kept pouring still. In vain with spell and charm the wizard wrought, Faster and faster were the buckets brought. Higher and higher rose the flood around. Till the fiends clapped their hands above their master drowned ! ^
* D. Fairweather. * Whittier.
Desire and Duty.
Literature.
Bacon (L. W.), The Simplicity that is in Christ, 154.
Burrell (D. J.), Christ and Men, 118,
Carpenter (W. B.), The Son of Man among the Sons of Men, 287.
Hutton (W. R.)> Low Spirits, 140.
Maclaren (A,), Expositions. Mark i.-viii., 186.
Maggs (J. T. L.), The Spiritual Experience of St. Paul, 185.
Matheson (G.), Bests by the River, 151.
Oosterzee (J. J. van), The Year of Salvation, i. 167.
Sage (W. C), Sermons Preached in the Villages, 85.
Sinclair (W. M.), Christ and our Times, 261.
Spurgeou (0. H.), New Park Street Pulpit, iii. No. 109.
„ „ Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, xxxviii. No. 2262.
Watkinson (W. L.), Studies in Christian Character, ii. 127. Welldon (J. E. C), The School of Faith, 187. Wilberforce (S.), Sermons, Ist Ser., 203. Christian Age, xxxv. 354 (Meredith). Christian World Pulpit, xxv. 163 (Beecher). Clergyman's Alagazine, New Ser., iv. 303 (Ohavasse),
Desire and Duty.
And as he was entering into the boat, he that had been possessed with devils besought him that he might be with him. And he suffered him not, but saith unto him, Go to thy house unto thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord hath done for thee, and how he had mercy on thee. And he went his way, and began to publish in Decapolis how great things Jesus had done for him : and all men did marvel. — v. 18-20.