1 Henry H. Barry.
ROMANS viii. 14 451
integrity rather than to pressure of circumstances or business incompetency, is mercifully hidden from us.
3. And the leading of the Spirit establishes that intimacy, confidence, and affection which are so necessary to right training. "We cannot love God if He is only an instigator of providential pain and scourging in our lives. We must have the compensating kiss of a felt forgiveness upon our cheeks and the tender whisper of assurance in our souls.
Tf Mencius, the Chinese sage, who is honoured second only to Confucius himself, says : " The ancients exchanged children with each other, for the purpose of training them in letters and deportment. They were afraid lest the punishments necessary in the course of education should injure the sacred bond of affection between parent and child." No very great harm was assumed to be done if the lad looked upon the neighbour who taught him his hornbook as a natural enemy. We smile and think the danger hypothetical, and the Chinese care for the filial sentiment over-fastidious. But if no word of love ever crossed a father's lips, and parents tried to make themselves into sphinxes of imper- turbable reserve, the danger might be very real indeed.1
TJOne of George Eliot's most skilful books deals with the fortunes of a young man who for many years had been left in entire ignorance of his parentage. When a mere infant, Daniel Deronda was placed by his Jewish mother, afterwards known as the Princess Halm-Eberstein, in the care of Sir Hugo Mallinger, with the instruction that he should be allowed to know nothing whatever of his Jewish birth and blood. At times he thought this English gentleman, who had inspired within him not a little affection, must surely be his own father. He scanned the family portraits to see if he could solve the riddle, but no reflex of these features appeared in his own. When he went to Eton, one of the boys " talked about home and parents to Daniel, and seemed to expect a like expansiveness in return." "To speak of these things was like falling flakes of fire to the imagination." One day, when Sir Hugo asked him if he would like to be a great singer, he gave up the cherished thought that this indulgent but mysterious guardian could be his father ; for no English gentle- man, he reasoned, would think of allowing his own boy to follow the career of a professional singer. Now this atmosphere of secrecy in which he had been brought up was cruel, and might have been attended with grave disaster to his disposition and
1 T. G. Selby.
452 THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT
character, for the lad scarcely knew upon whom to bestow his pent-up affection. The delineation is not intended as a study in the growth of character, but to show probably that not a few of the sentiments of Jewish life and religion are in the blood, however little a young Jew may be told about his own ancestry and family connexions. When, after the lapse of years, Deronda had an interview with his mother, we are told that it seemed as if he were "in the presence of a mysterious Fate, rather than the longed-for mother," and he did not hesitate to say, " I have always been rebelling against the secrecy that looked like shame." 1
I do not ask, 0 Lord, that life may be
A pleasant road; I do not ask that Thou would'st take from me
Aught of its load;
I do not ask that flowers should always spring
Beneath my feet; I know too well the poison and the sting
Of things too sweet.
For one thing only, Lord, dear Lord, I plead;
Lead me aright — Though strength should falter, and though heart should bleed —
Through peace to light.
I do not ask, O Lord, that Thou should'st shed
Full radiance here; Give but a ray of peace, that I may tread
Without a fear.
I do not ask my cross to understand,
My way to see — Better in darkness just to feel Thy hand,
And follow Thee.
Joy is like restless day; but peace divine
Like quiet night ; Lead me, O Lord — till perfect day shall shine,
Through peace to light.2
1 T. G. Selby. i Adelaido Anne Procter.
ROMANS viii. 14 453
IV.
A Gkeat Consolation.
What a strong consolation for us is found in this gracious assurance — poor, weak children of men as we are! To our frightened ears the text may come at first with the solemnity of a warning : As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these, and these only, are sons of God. Is there not a declaration here that we are not God's children unless we are led by God's Spirit ? Knowing ourselves, and contemplating the course of our lives and the character of our ambitions, dare we claim to be led by the Spirit of God ? Is this life — this life that I am living in the flesh — is this the product of the Spirit's leading ? Shall not despair close in upon me as I pass the dreadful judgment on myself that I am not led by God's Spirit, and that I am, therefore, not one of His sons ? Let us hasten to remind ourselves, then, that such is not the purport nor the purpose of the text. It stands here not in order to drive us to despair because we see we have sin within us, but to kindle within us a great fire of hope and confidence because we perceive we have the Holy Spirit within us. Paul does not forget the sin within us. Who has painted it and its baleful power with more vigorous touch ? But neither would he have us forget that we have the Holy Spirit within us, and what that blessed fact, above all blessed facts, means. He would not have us reason that because sin is in us we cannot be God's children, but in happy contradiction to this, that because the Holy Spirit is in us we cannot but be God's children. Sin is great and powerful; it is too great and too powerful for us ; but the Holy Spirit is greater and more powerful than even sin. The discovery of sin in us might bring us to despair did not Paul discern the Holy Spirit in us — who is greater than sin — to quicken our hope.