0 Thou, that in our bosom's shrine Dost dwell, unknown because divine !
1 thought to speak, I thought to say, "The light is here," "behold the way," "The voice was thus" and "thus the word," And " thus I saw," and " that I heard," — But from the lips that half essayed
The imperfect utterance fell unmade.
Unseen, secure in that high shrine Acknowledged present and divine, I will not ask some upper air, Some future day, to place Thee there; Nor say, nor yet deny, such men And women saw Thee thus and then : Thy name was such, and there or here To him or her Thou didst appear.
Do only Thou in that dim shrine, Unknown or known, remain, divine; There, or if not, at least in eyes That scan the fact that round them lies, The hand to sway, the judgment guide, In sight and sense Thyself divide: Be Thou but there, — in soul and heart, I will not ask to feel Thou art.*
3. How reasonable, then, is the claim that God makes when He appeals to a man to give Him his heart.
(1) It is reasonable because this King is the God of Love, who is not satisfied without love on the part of those over whom He reigns. He is a King who loves and would be loved. " Son," He says, " give me thy heart."
^ Ruskin, The Grown of Wild Oliver § 46 ( Works, xviii. 427). • A. H. Clough, Poems, 69.
ST. LUKE XVII. 20, 21
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(2) It is reasonable because the gospel of His Kingdom is a gospel of love, " God so loved the world." This is the starting point of the Royal proclamation. Its subjects are drawn not by fear but by love ; " The love of Christ constraineth us."
(3) It is reasonable because service in this Kingdom is a service of love. It not only has its source in a sense of duty or obedience ; it is a willing, grateful service. There are no slaves in this Kingdom, only freed men. Love is the starting point of all Christian devotion and worship ; " We love him because he first loved us," and the cry of each emancipated subject must always be, " Forgiven greatly, how I greatly love." Love is the measure of every act, prayer, worship, work ; " If ye love me, keep my commandments."
(4) It is reasonable because it recognizes a correspondence between God's rule and the constitution of man as he has been made by God. The heart of man is always seeking an object worthy of its love ; always hungry, it craves for this food ; always thirsty, this is the only water which will quench its thirst. And God alone can satisfy the desire He Himself has implanted in man.
(5) Once more, it is reasonable because the heart holds the supremacy within the man. AH else follows the lead of the human heart — conscience, will, reason, character — and if the heart goes wrong, all go astray. He who gives his heart gives his best, and grudges nothing, as surely as the stream takes its rise in and depends upon its source. When the heart is given to God, all is given. Other loves take their rightful place within the man. Lawful loves are raised, hallowed, lit up, regulated, and adjusted. Unlawful loves depart, cast out of the Kingdom by the allegiance of the heart to the rightful King.
^ Beware of the damnable doctrine that it is easy to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. It is to be obtained only by the sacrifice of all that stands in the way, and it is to be observed that in this, as in other things, men will take the first, the second, the third — nay, even the ninety-ninth step, but the hundreth and last they will not take.^
Oh, glorious truth and holy,
Of Christ enthroned within; A kingdom for Him solely. That once was dark with sin. * Mark Rutherford.
376 THE KINGDOM THAT IS WITHIN
My heart in full surrender,
With every pulse and thought I've opened to the Monarch
Whose love the right has bought.
My Saviour reigning in me
My will no longer mine: A sanctuary kingdom —
Amazing grace Divine! The will of my Eedeemer
Controlling every power, His purpose working in me
And through me hour by hour.
The glory of Thy presence
For evermore I crave, From ever looking backward
My pardoned soul to save; A kingdom and a temple —
Let every idol fall ! — My life Thy full possession,
And Christ my All in all ! ^
4. Last of all, if the Kingdom of God is within, it is not con- strained by anything outward or material, however close that thing may come or however hard it may press its claim. Take two such urgent things.
(1) Inheritance. — Our essential self sympathizes with the right and pure, but our inherited nature is infected and treacherous. With the dawning of consciousness we discover in ourselves the impulses of evil derived from our ancestry. We are vain and ambitious, the victims of ungovernable temper ; we are selfish and self-willed, tormented by fleshly appetites and passions. The physical and mental bias to lawlessness painfully asserts itself. The entail of evil is often simply awful, and in all of us it is deeply disquieting and humiliating. What view ought we, then, to take of these constitutional defects ? Ought we tamely to permit our abnormal weaknesses and predispositions to rule and destroy us ?