1 J. B. Lightfoot.
142 WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
Salvation is character. The perfection of character and the work of salvation include the training of every power and affection to the standard of the perfect man ; the rising up on all sides of our being and life to Him who is the head.
Tf In his book on Darkest England General Booth continually speaks with the most unquestioning confidence of those who, under the ministry of his lieutenants, have been converted, as "soundly saved." And the thing seems very definite in these cases, a clear and manifest passing out of darkness into light, out of drunkenness, debauchery, and crime into sobriety and industry and love and religion. When a man has drunk himself nearly into the grave, has spent as many years in prison as out of it, has been a thief, a wife-beater, only by chance not a murderer, and then turns right round, renounces drink, works honestly, makes a decent home for his wife, and wins the respect of all who know him, then there is no difficulty in understanding what " being saved " means. When a girl has forfeited all that makes girlhood beautiful, and has grown stained and sodden with drink, and then turns right round and rebuilds the temple of a woman's sanctity, and spends all her days and years in devoted ministry among those who are now what she was then, we see quite plainly that " being saved " is a remarkably definite thing, and we dare not charge with cant the phraseology of the Christian people who have wrought this change. No man can doubt that such a revolution in the outward life is but the signal of a corresponding revolution in the inward life. Through the application of some potent spiritual energy the nerve and fibre of the soul have undergone a pene- trating change. Old passions have been killed. New affections have been born. A new light has entered into the life and transformed it wonderfully, the soul has been born again, the old man has been put off, the new man which is akin to Jesus Christ has been put on.1
4. And, fourthly, salvation is not something wrought in and for ourselves alone ; it means a life lived not for self, but for God and mankind — it means not only character but service. It is in the teaching of our Lord Himself that we have His large concep- tion of salvation. The name He gives it is the Kingdom of God. Now a kingdom is a society. About any merely private salvation that ended in one's self Jesus Christ had very little to say but this : He that saveth himself shall lose himself. He always put God — God's will, God's work, and the service of God in mankind
1 B, A. Armstrong.
ACTS xvi. 30, 31 143
— where much religion that calls itself by His name puts self — self-interest, personal safety, comfort, peace, and final bliss. To be self-centred is in Christ's judgment to be in a state of con- demnation— to be dead, not alive.
Who standeth at the gate? — A woman old,
A widow from the husband of her love. "O lady, stay, this wind is piercing cold,
Oh look at the keen frosty moon above; I have no home, am hungry, feeble, poor." —
"I'm really very sorry, but I can
Do nothing for you ; there's the clergyman." The lady said, and shivering closed the door.
Who standeth at the gate? — Wayworn and pale
A grey-haired man asks charity again. "Kind lady, I have journeyed far, and fail
Through weariness ; for I have begged in vain Some shelter, and can find no lodging-place." —
She answered : " There's the work-house very near ;
Go, for they'll certainly receive you there" — Then shut the door against his pleading face.
Who standeth at the gate? — A stunted child,
Her sunk eyes sharpened with precocious care. " 0 lady, save me from a home defiled,
From shameful sights and sounds that taint the air Take pity on me, teach me something good." —
" For shame, why don't you work instead of cry ?
I keep no young impostors here, not I." She slammed the door, indignant where she stood.
Who standeth at the gate, and will be heard?
Arise, 0 woman, from thy comforts now: Go forth again to speak the careless word,
The cruel word unjust, with hardened brow. But who is this, that standeth not to pray
As once, but terrible to judge thy sin?
This whom thou wouldst not succour nor take in Nor teach but leave to perish by the way.
" Thou didst it not unto the least of these.
And in them hast not done it unto Me. Thou wast as a princess rich and at ease —
Now sit in dust and howl for poverty.
144 WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?
Three times I stood beseeching at thy gate,
Three times I came to bless thy soul and save: But now I come to judge for what I gave,
And now at length thy sorrow is too late."1
III.
The Answer. "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ."
"Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" is not a little word denoting a little thing. It is a word of wide and profound significance. It is the symbol of an infinite idea — an idea of which the whole New Testament may be said to be the expansion and interpretation. At the beginning of the Christian life, and to the soul spending itself on questions as to personal safety and peace, it means something very simple ; but its fulfilment covers more than we think, more than the most faithful can realize in a long lifetime.