^ We have an example in the hymns of the universal Church. What do they say ?
Now I have found the ground wherein Sure my soul's anchor may remain;
The wounds of Jesus for my sin. Before the world's foundation slain.
When I survey the wondrous cross On which the Prince of Glory died.
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Eock of Ages, cleft for me, Let me hide myself in Thee.
And perhaps all the doctrine of the Cross was never more simply or more perfectly stated than in Mrs. Alexander's children's hymn:
There is a green hill far away.^
3. But is there not a reactionary tendency in our immediate times, — not so much to magnify the love of God in the Atone- ment, as to drift away from a simple trust in the saving value of Christ's sacrifice ? Are we not now, if we may so speak, impatient of the word Atonement ? It shocks our sense of justice ; we want to set our lives on a moral basis for ourselves. This may be very well as a theory, the desire which prompts it may be worthy, but will it work in practice ? Which of us does not say in his heart, " Oh, if I had not sinned before, I could now go on all right." No, sin needs its remedy, as much now as it did in Christ's day. And we can find that remedy, now as then, only at the Cross. All sacrifice is beautiful if offered in a right spirit, and Christ will not despise our poor offerings ; but our greatest sacrifices can express their fullest meaning to the heart of the Eternal Father only when they are offered up in imion with the Great Sacrifice of His Son.
Look, Father, look on His anointed Face, And only look on us as found in Him: Look not on our misusings of Thy grace, Our prayer so languid, and our faith so dim; For lo ! between our sins and their reward We set the Passion of Thy Son our Lord.
ii. The Words of the Commission.
The universality of the commission is found in the meaning of the Gospel. But we have also the express words of Christ : " Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to the whole creation." These words unfold the whole plan of the Universality of the Kingdom — what Maclaren calls " the Divine audacity of Christianity." Take the scene. A mere handful of men, how they must have recoiled when they heard the sweeping command,
1 J. S. Banks.
490 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
" Go ye into all the world " ! It is like the apparent absurdity of Christ's quiet word : " They need not depart ; give ye them to eat," when the only visible stock of food was " five loaves and two small fishes." As on that occasion, so in this final command, they had to take Christ's presence into account. " I am with you alway." So note the obviously world-wide extent of Christ's dominion. He had come into the world, to begin with, that " the world through him might be saved." " If any man thirst, let him come." The parables of the Kingdom of heaven are planned on the same grand scale — " I will draw all men unto me." It cannot be disputed that Jesus lived in this vision of universal dominion. Here emerges the great contrast of Christianity with Judaism. Judaism was intolerant, as all merely monotheistic faiths must be — and sure of future universahty, but it was not a proselytising — not a missionary faith. Nor is it so to-day. It is exclusive and unprogressive still. Muhammadanism in its fiery youth, because mono- theistic, was aggressive, but it enforced outward profession only, and left the inner life untouched. So it did not scruple to persecute as well as to proselytise. Christianity is alone in calmly setting forth a universal dominion, and in seeking it by the Word alone. " Put up thy sword into its sheath."
^ The missionary battle-cry of the Moravian Brotherhood is "To win for the Lamb that was slain the reward of His suffering." They are a humble people, smallest of all in figures, but a mighty host in the world's redemption. They have one missionary for every fifty-eight members at home. They are careful in the observance of memorial days. One of these is the Day of Prayer. On August 26, 1727, they set their great vigil going. Twenty -four brethren and twenty -four sisters decided that they would keep up a continuous circle of prayer through the twenty-four hours of the day, each brother, each sister, in their own apartments accepting by lot the hour when they would pray.^ They have put their sword in its sheath, and their weapon is prayer.
1. The word " Universality " gives rise to two thoughts. (1) It finds in the Gospel a Father for everybody. In all the world it finds not a single orphan. The sorrowing are
* A. P. Hodgson.
ST. MARK 491
everywhere; the thoughtless, depraved, debauched, ignoraut, wretched, the sinful are everywhere. But nowhere an orphan. Whether in the jungles of Africa, the plains of Syria, the crowded cities of China, or amid the civilisations of Europe and America, the great Infinite Father Spirit broods over the spirits of men. Men may forget the Father, but He does not forget them. Into whatever desert, across whatever valley of sin, whatever slough of despond, whatever depths of despair. He follows them, wraps them about as with a garment, and whispers into their timid ears the sweet assurance, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world."