FRANgois, Archbishop and Duke of Cambrai."
It must have caused him much suffering to feel that he was looked upon as a heretic, that his enemies were triumphing over his submission; but he felt, and no doubt he was right, that obedience would bring a greater blessing to the Church than any protest.2
Tf When our commissioners went a few years ago to Paris to treat with the Spaniards, the latter are said to have desired certain changes in the language of the protocol. With the polished suavity for which they are noted, the Spaniards urged that there be made slight changes in the words : no real change in the meaning, they said, simply in the verbiage. And our
1 Canon G. Body. 2 G. 11. S. Walpole, Personality and Power, 88.
468 THE SPIRIT OF A SON
Judge Day, at the head of the American Commissioners, listened politely and patiently until the plea was presented. And then he quietly said, " The article will be signed as it reads" And the Spaniards protested, with much courtesy. The change asked for was trivial, merely in the language, not in the force of the words. And our men listened patiently and courteously. Then Mr. Day is said to have locked his little square jaw and replied very quietly, " The article will be signed as it reads." And the article was so signed. That is military usage. The surrender was forced. The strength of the American fleets, the prestige of great victory, were behind the quiet man's demand. But that is not the law here. Jesus asks only for what we give freely and spontaneously. He does not want anything except what is given with a free, glad heart. This is to be a voluntary surrender. Jesus is a voluntary Saviour. He wants only voluntary followers. He would have us be as Himself. The oneness of spirit leads the way into the intimacy of closest friendship. And that is His thought for us.1
(3) The spirit of adoption is a spirit of trust. Submission runs on into confidence. The one is a readiness to bear even though the stroke were in anger ; the other is the assurance that the stroke will not be in anger, or that, beneath the anger, even if anger should be needful, will lie a deep purpose of eventual mercy. Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him (Job. xiii. 15): for even from the very depths of the grave I know that He can and that He will at last raise me up (Heb. xi. 19).
\ A child's experience is marked above all things by this — freedom from anxiety. The father or mother may look round upon their children with anxious eyes. The demands are many, the resources are limited, the prospects are gloomy. They may have weary days and sleepless nights. But the child in the home has no anxiety; it goes on its way in a position of absolute dependence. The father never has failed, and never will fail; and it sleeps in absolute calmness. So it is when we go out into life. If there is one thing that mars the development of the Christian character within us it is that we should be consumed with corroding cares. Be not anxious. The cares of this world choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful ; cares for those we love, cares for ourselves, cares and bitter anxieties over God's own dear Church ; cares at times for the tendencies of the life of the nation — multitudes of cares come in. How are we
1 S. D. Gordon.
ROMANS viii. 15 469
to be able to rise above them ? It is all very well to say, Be not anxious — how can we fail to be anxious ? God would not ask us to live in a fool's paradise, and not face the actual facts under which we have to live. " Abba, Father," all is in His hands.1
I will not doubt, though all my prayers return Unanswered from the still, white Eealm above; I shall believe it as an all-wise Love
Which has refused those things for which I yearn; And though at times I cannot keep from grieving, Yet the pure ardour of my fixed believing Undimmed shall burn.
I will not doubt, though sorrows fall like rain, And troubles swarm like bees about a hive; I shall believe the heights for which I strive
Are only reached by anguish and by pain ;
And though I groan and tremble with my crosses, I yet shall see, through my severest losses, The greater gain.
I will not doubt, though all my ships at sea
Come drifting home with broken masts and sails ; I shall believe the hand that never fails
From seeming evil worketh good for me;
And though I weep because those sails are battered Still will I cry, while my best hopes be shattered, I trust in Thee.2
(4) The spirit of adoption is, in the last place, and throughout, a spirit of love. It seems very wonderful that God should care for our love. But it is so. Not in awe, not in fear, not in dread is God glorified, but in that going forth of the human spirit to Him, as to One in whom alone it can rest and be satisfied ; that return of love for love ; that same yearning of the heart, after an affection unchangeable and inexhaustible, which upon earth, as directed towards a human object, is the source of all our deepest joys and of all our keenest sorrows; this it is which God would have turned towards Himself, and which, when once so turned, is as certain to be satisfied as it is in itself elevating and glorious. Herein is the spirit of adoption fulfilled. Reverence for God, submission to God, confidence in God, all