238 IN FASHION OR IN FAVOUR
so entirely taken up with his property, pursuits, schemes, and employments in this world, innocent though they may be and useful in themselves, that he is more in earnest about them than about his devotions and the preparation of his soul for death, such a man has much need to watch and pray that he enter not into temptation; to pray that he may pray better, lest by little and little he fall away, and become a thorough child of this world, before he is aware.
^ St. Benedict, so the old story ran, was sitting in his cell, meditating upon heaven, when suddenly the glory of this world was presented to his gaze, gathered, as it seemed, into a single dazzling and bewitching beam. But the appeal was made in vain to a heart that had dwelt among the celestial realities. Inspexit ct despexit — "he saw and he scorned it." Was that altogether un-Christlike ? Did not He also turn aside with something of loathing from the vision of the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them ? Did He not say, " I have overcome the world " ? Was not His Apostle led by His Spirit w^hen he declared that " if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him " ? And were not all of us called upon to " re- nounce " the world before we were enrolled as His disciples ? ^
(3) Again, we may be sure the world is getting or keeping too much hold of us, when we cannot bear being scorucd or ridiculed for doing what we know in our heart to be right. This is especially a temptation of the world, because it is a temptation from our fellow-mortals, not from Satan, and because it is so entirely without a man.
•[[ Some time ago, at the close of a meeting, a young man remained behind, and after the way of salvation was explained, he was urged to decide for Christ. His answer was, " I dare not," and the reason he gave was that he would be the only Christian in the workshop, and he dreaded the taunts and laughter of his workmates, and so he turned away from Christ for fear of a laugh. How different was the conduct of the young recruit — a lad of eighteen years of age — who stood as bravely as any Christian hero ever did. For two or three weeks he was the butt of the camp because he knelt and said his prayers, and testified for his Master. At leiigth his company was ordered to the seat of war, and the battle came, and after a fierce fight the dead body of the young Christian was carried back, and the
^ A. W. Robinson, The Voice of Joy and Health, 112.
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ringleader of his persecutors said, " Boys, I couldn't leave him. He fought 80 bravely that I thought he deserved a decent burial." And as they dug a grave and buried him, a comrade cut his name and regiment on a piece of board, and another added, " I guess you'd better put in the words ' Christian Soldier ' ; he deserves it, and it may console him for all our abuse." That is the courage we want. The courage that "hates the cowardice of doing wrong," as Milton magnificently puts it, and the daring that stands unmoved amid scorn and obloquy. If you want to see that courage at its best, then look at Christ, and listen to these words of the Apostle, " Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." ^
II.
Tkansfokmed by the Renewing of the Mind.
1. The word transform occurs elsewhere in the New Testament on two occasions. It is the word used to denote our Lord's Transfiguration (Matt. xvii. 2 ; Mark ix. 2) ; and it is the word employed by St. Paul to describe that growing conformity to the likeness of our Lord, which results from the contemplation of His excellency : " We all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed" — transformed or transfigured — " into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord " (2 Cor. iii. 18).
2. "A transfigured life" suggests to us, in the light of the Lord's Transfiguration, even nobler and loftier aspirations and hopes than the phrase "a transformed life." And there lie in it and in the context such thoughts as these: the inward life, if it is healthy and true and strong, will certainly shape the outward conduct and character. Just as truly as the physical life moulds the infant's limbs, just as truly as every periwinkle shell on the beach is shaped into the convolutions that will fit the inhabitant by the power of the life that lies within, so the renewed mind will make a fit dwelling for itself.
^ To a large extent a man's spirit shapes his body ; within limits, of course, but to a very large and real extent. Did you never see some homely face, perhaps of some pallid invalid, which