For there are two ways of reforming men — an external and an internal. The first method pronounces decisions, formulates laws, changes governments, and thus settles all moral and political questions. The second seeks, before everything else, to renovate the heart and the will. Jesus Christ chose the latter plan. He remained steadfast to it, and this alone evinces the Divinity of His mission and the permanent value of His work. Suppose for a moment that He had adopted the former method when these
270 A MAN'S TRUE LIFE
brothers came to Him, what would have happened ? His decision would only have settled a matter of civil right and would not have changed their hearts. If love and justice are to triumph, the two brothers, moved by the Saviour's teaching, must them- selves settle their difference amicably and equitably. No doubt this was the victory Christ sought to achieve.
2. Now Christ taught the way to a true life by fixing men's thoughts upon Himself. He claimed to be life, and He declared that His mission was to give life in abundance. To have life, then, is to possess Christ, to be actuated by His motives, to reveal His trend of character and passion for goodness. This we can do by coming under the influence of His Spirit.
^ I read one day about the influence of a man over a peculiarly savage deer-hound. By persistent kindness he taught it to trust and to obey him, and gradually under his influence its whole nature was changed. Instead of being savage it became gentle, instead of being treacherous it became trustworthy. It came, through his influence, to live an entirely different life ; and we might say with truth that it came to share the man's life through trust and obedience. The analogy is, of course, a very imperfect one, but it is surely by no means either irreverent or unreasonable to find in such an incident an illustration of what Jesus meant when He said, " He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life ; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life." " He that followeth me shall have the light of life." For it is verily true that the moment a man begins to trust and to obey and to follow, that moment he begins to share the ageless life of the Master, which has its roots in union with God and love for men.^
3. This life can be strengthened in worship. And that means, not merely to engage in certain ceremonial acts on a Sunday, but to cultivate the habit of response to all that is beautiful and noble in nature and history and literature and art and every- where. The mere lapse of years, to eat and drink and sleep, to be exposed to darkness and to light, to pace round the mill of habit and " turn thought into an implement of trade," to taste to exhaustion sensuous delights — this is not life, but death disguised ; but if men will be loyal to conscience and cultivate the habit of true worship, they shall know the meaning of joy, they shall know
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the meaning of peace, they shall know the meaning of strength, they shall know the meaning and feel the fulness of that " life which is life indeed."
4. But, again, to enjoy this life, we must not keep it to our- selves; we must expend it in the interests of our fellow-men. Possession falls under the great law of distribution. To get we must give. Nothing is put into the hand of men that is not intended to be used for the good of society. The handful of corn is of small value in itself if put under lock and key, but, handed over to the ministry of nature, it may in due time become a great harvest. Distribution is not loss ; it is only another form of gain. " He which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully."
Men ask whether they may not do what they please with their own. The answer is "Certainly, but you must first find what is your own." " Is not my money my own ? " ** Certainly not, your very hand with which you grasp your pelf is not your own. The hand may have made the money, but who made the hand ? ' If anything is our own, how singular it is that we cannot take it away with us ! The property is ours only that we may leave it. We brought nothing into this world and it is certain that we can carry nothing out.
T[ To Mr. Morley, wealth was only a means to an end ; he valued it only as it could be employed for noble purposes; he held it in trust for the good of others ; he felt that it laid upon him the most binding obligations, and that he was accountable not only for making a right use of it, but the best use possible. The distribution of his money was therefore the main business of his life. It was a great responsibility to have the management of such a business as his ; it was a far greater responsibility to have the money that business brought him. To accumulate it for its own sake was utterly foreign to his thought and feeling ; to amass it for the highest ends, and be neglectful as to its wise distribution, was, in his view, worse than folly ; to shirk the responsibility, and make others the almoners of his munificence, he regarded as being unfaithful to the trust reposed in him by the One " who giveth power to get wealth." Mere giving, however enormous the amount bestowed, is, in itself, nothing, and may be worse than nothing. It may be done selfishly, simply to gratify an impulse ; it may be done pompously, simply to gratify pride. As Lavater says, "The manner of giving shows the character of the giver more than the gift itself." Therefore, when Mr. Morley found