2. It was so unpopular. St. Paul was well aware that there were features of the Christian Creed, and those not outlying or accidental, but of its very core and essence, which were in the highest degree unwelcome to the non-Christian world. Less than this he cannot mean by such an expression as "the offence of the Cross " ; or when he speaks of " Christ crucified " as being " foolishness " to the Greeks. How was this Gospel then to make its way to the hearts and convictions of men ? How was this mysterious teaching — familiar enough to a generation which has learned from infancy to repeat the Creed of Christendom, but strange beyond all measure to the men who heard it from its first preachers in the towns and villages of heathendom — how was
1 J. 0. Dykes. ACTS & ROM. — 16
242 NOT ASHAMED OF THE GOSPEL
it to compass acceptance and victory ? Between the means employed and the contemplated result there must be some kind of correspondence and proportion : what was the weapon by which the Gospel hoped to win the obedience of the world ?
Tf Why are people sometimes unwilling to own that which in their best moments they are convinced of ? They know it is the truth, but shrink from saying so ; they believe it is right, but they do not appear as its champions. Why ? Well, perhaps it is an unpopular truth, perhaps there is a considerable body of social tradition against it ; it would be very awkward to own it ; it might bring them into collision with friends, possibly with relatives ; there might be very unhappy divisions, social ostracism, and even keen and acute suffering. Or, what is worse to bear, there might be a widespread cynical smile on the face of society ; to the general average they might appear almost as simpletons, or half-mad. It is certainly not the most agreeable thing to have people suspicious of your sanity, and suggesting that you must be the victim of some strange delusion. It must be admitted that there are many temptations to leave an unpopular truth unchampioned and even unowned, that is, to be ashamed of it. Such temptations as I have mentioned did, as a matter of fact, assail Paul. To become a Christian apostle meant national ostracism and family disruption. His own people looked upon him as an apostate from the faith of his fathers. We know how this brought upon him abuse and persecution. Willingness to own the new faith in the face of this meant courage of no mean order. "Thine own people are against thee," it would be said. Still, he was not ashamed ! x
IT If the cause of truth is to be carried to victory, it will be by men who will not be ashamed of it, whatever difficulty, or suffering, or disgrace it may bring. Eeformers, at least, are not made of men who shrink from owning truth at a crisis. Any weakling can come along with the stream.
Then to side with Truth is noble when we share her wretched
crust, Ere her cause bring fame and profit, and 'tis prosperous to be
just ; Then it is the brave man chooses, while the coward stands
aside, Doubting in his abject spirit, till his Lord is crucified, And the multitude make virtue of the faith they had denied.
1 T. R. Williams.
ROMANS i. 16 243
Count me o'er earth's chosen heroes, — they were souls that
stood alone, While the men they agonised for hurled the contumelious
stone, Stood serene, and down the future saw the golden beam
incline To the side of perfect justice, mastered by their faith divine, By one man's plain truth to manhood and to God's supreme
design.
Lowell had such men as Paul in his mind when he sang those lines. And he tells their secret in the words, " Mastered by their faith divine." If we want to know how men come to such heroism, we must remember that it is no question of their holding such and such a faith, but of their faith possessing and holding them.1
^ Lord Nelson refused to put on a cloak to cover up the stars on his uniform, though they made him a mark for the French sharpshooters. So let us refuse to hide our loyalty to Christ by the cloak of silence, even when by speaking we may become a mark for ridicule.
3. But there is also the natural reluctance to speak of 07ie's most intimate concerns. Those to whom the saving power of Christ's Cross is most intimately certain, as being to them a matter of personal experience, cannot at once, and without difficulty, bring themselves to say much about it. We do not, any of us, readily talk about that which most nearly touches us. Men have no objection to talk politics in public, even when they feel strongly on political questions ; and the reason is, because politics address themselves not to that which is exclusively personal, but only to those common sympathies and judgments which we share with some section of our countrymen. But no man will consent, if he can help it, to discuss his near relatives, or a family interest, in public. This is not because the details of private life do not interest other people ; every one must know how very far this is from being true. It is because the feelings which they arouse in those concerned are too tender to bear exposure. And this motive operates not infrequently in the case of religion. Ee- ligion, even in its lower and more imperfect forms, twines itself round the heart like a family affection ; it is throned in an inner