T[ Seventeen beautiful Easter lilies were planted in a garden, and in due time sixteen of them sprung up with all their beauty ; but the one which had been planted near the hedgerow never seemed to make any progress whatever ; it was carefully tended, watched, and watered day by day, and yet it never grew. At last the gardener dug it up, and then he found out the cause. In the hedge had been planted a clematis, and it had thrust its silken roots through the earth, wanting something to take hold of, and, feeling the lily bulb, had twined around it, until by degrees it had strangled it ; and the lily which grew above the earth was never more than a poor, puny thing.2
(3) Lastly, comes the quickening of the affections. All men are ruled by either love or fear : there is no intermediate state. " Perfect love casteth out fear," and a ruling fear casteth out love. They may be mingled for awhile ; but one or the other must bear
1 H. E. Manning. a A. 0. Price.
ROMANS viii. 14 449
rule and sway at last. And this is a sure criterion. " For ye have not received the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we cry, Abba, Father." He would have from us the service of sons, loving, glad, and grateful, without stint or measure ; not saying, How much must I do ? but How much may I, how much can I do ? How much time, substance, service, or thought can I give to Him ?
Love is the key of life and death,
Of hidden heavenly mystery: Of all Christ is, of all He saith, Love is the key.
As three times to His Saint He saith,
He saith to me, He saith to thee, Breathing His Grace-conferring Breath: "Lovest thou Me?"
Ah, Lord, I have such feeble faith, Such feeble hope to comfort me : But love it is, is strong as death, And I love Thee.1
III.
The Leading of the Spirit is Deliverance from Sin, but not Escape from Sorrow.
1. The end in view in the spiritual leading of which Paul speaks is not to enable us to escape the difficulties, dangers, trials, or sufferings of this life, but specifically to enable us to conquer sin. Let us not forget, indeed, the reality of providential guid- ance, or imagine that God's greatness makes Him careless of the least concerns of His children. But let us much more not forget that the great evil under which we are suffering is sin, and that the great promise which has been given us is that we shall not be left to wander, self-directed, in the paths of sin into which our feet have strayed, but that the Spirit of holiness shall dwell within us, breaking our bondage and leading us into that other pathway of good works, which God has afore prepared that we should walk in them.
1 Christina G. Eossetti. ACTS & ROM. — 29
450 THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT
Tj Our proper road may run up rugged steeps, and down sharp and dangerous descents. Our education may of necessity demand burdens, toil, and sorrow. Our vocation may be as that of a soldier. Be it so, enough that He leads. In following Him, strife there will be ; but in the striving we shall have joy, for He will be with us. His leading is not hardship, though hardship may meet us in the following. But hardships thicken with the years — hardships which we cannot cope with, if we follow not. The soldier follows with high courage the captain in whom he confides. The patriot rushes to the war for liberty and home. He will have privations and wounds. But he would be ashamed to stay behind. He could not if he would. He goes, thinking neither of work nor of pay. To save his country is for him reward and glory. So the soul that follows the Spirit may have to endure the hardship of war ; but there is the enthusiasm of the conflict, and presently the joy of sacred victory. " To be spiritu- ally minded is life and peace."
In pastures green ? Not always ; sometimes He Who knoweth best, in kindness leadeth me By weary ways, where heavy shadows be.
And by still waters ? No, not always so ; Oft-times the heavy tempests round me blow, And o'er my soul the waves and billows go.
But when the storm is loudest, and I cry Aloud for help, the Master standeth by And whispers to my soul, "Lo, it is I."
Above the tempest wild I hear Him say, "Beyond this darkness lies the perfect day, In every path of thine I lead the way."
So, whether on the hill-tops high and fair
I dwell, or in the sunless valleys where
The shadows lie — what matter? He is there.1
2. Yet the good man may, by virtue of his very goodness, be saved from many of the sufferings of this life and from many of the failures of this life. How many of the evils and trials of life are rooted in specific sins, we can never know. How often even failure in business may be traced directly to lack of business