^ Such was the patience of Lazarus after his resurrection when " his heart and brain moved there " in glory, and " his feet stay here."
" How, beast," said I, " this stolid carelessness Sufficeth thee, when Kome is on her march To stamp out like a little spark thy town, Thy tribe, thy crazy tale and thee at once?"
1 W. E. Henley.
ROMANS XII. 12 317
He merely looked with his large eyes on me.
The man is apathetic, you deduce ?
Contrariwise he loves both old and young,
Able and weak — affects the very brutes
And birds — how say I ? flowers of the field —
As a wise workman recognizes tools
In a master's workshop, loving what they make.
Thus is the man as harmless as a lamb:
Only impatient, let him do his best,
At ignorance and carelessness and sin —
An indignation which is promptly curbed.^
(2) Now if we have this spirit of patience in tribulation our pilgrim journey will be furthered ; for to Christian patience there are two sides, a passive but also an active. We usually think of patience as a passive virtue, resignation, calm waiting for some- thing to happen, as in Shakespeare's classic lines :
She sat like patience on a monument Smiling at grief.
But the word has an active side, even in our common speech, as in the phrase " a patient investigator," implying untiring industry. It carries with it the idea of fortitude and high courage, willing to suffer, to endure, working out great ends undiscouraged, without repining or fretfulness.
^The rock upon which the water drops, abides amidst the flux of the tides of the water, and is firm ; but the camel, patient, moving across the thirsty desert, scenting by its wondrous instinct the oasis, or the city that is afar, is patient— endures.
(3) And, lastly, let us note that there are stages in Christian patience. We must begin with the true perspective and the feeling towards God of children to a Father, but after that we must sedulously cultivate the grace, advancing from step to step. Trustful acceptance of the will of God as the best possible for us — how difficult it is. But there are those who have risen to a still greater height and who not only accept the tribulation with patience, but feel actual joy in it.
^ Dr. Griffith John has told us that one day, when he was surrounded by a hostile Chinese crowd, and violence was used, he put up his hand to his smitten face, and when he withdrew it,
* Browning, Epistle of Karshish.
3i8 FOR THE BATTLE
and saw it bathed in blood, he was possessed by an extraordinary sense of exaltation, and he rejoiced that he had been " counted worthy to suffer shame for his name." David Hill records a similar experience of unspeakable ecstasy, when his hand hung limp from a brutal blow. But, indeed, the witnesses are multi- tudinous ; they can be found in every corner of the great fields of service, suffering men and women, wearing their scars like medals, feeling as though there had been conferred upon them some heavenly title and degree, and stepping out in the assured companionship of the once crucified but risen Lord.
III.
Continuing Stedfastly in Prayek.
The essence of prayer consists in drawing nigh ; in other words, holding communion. The simplest and best test of a good prayer is: Did we draw nigh? Did we enter God's Presence? Were we conscious that God was very nigh ? Many times we have said our prayers but have never prayed ; and this because our hearts were far from God. At other times, perhaps, we said no words but we entered the Presence with longing hearts. We looked, we thirsted, we wanted, and so we very truly prayed.
Prayer is intercourse ; it is praise ; it is congratulation ; it is adoration of the Infinite Majesty ; it is a colloquy in which the soul engages with the All-wise and the All-holy ; it is a basking in the sunshine, varied by ejaculations of thankfulness to the Sun of Eighteousness for His light and His warmth. In this larger sense, the earlier part of the " Te Deum " is prayer as much as the latter part ; the earliest and latest clauses of the " Gloria in Excelsis " as truly as the central ones ; the " Sanctus " or the " Jubilate " no less than the Litany ; the " Magnificat " as certainly as the fifty-first Psalm.
St. Paul is addressing Christians, and so he does not simply say " pray." He takes it for granted that they pray. But what he fears in them is a relaxing of their efforts, a losing of their first zeal in prayer, and so his exhortation is " Continue stedfastly in prayer." Do not let the strength of your prayerful spirit escape, and do not let your acts of prayer, your special seasons diminish or grow less strenuous. It is an exhortation to hold fast.
ROMANS XII. 12 319
Let us look at the prayerful spirit; and then at occasions of prayer. It is almost impossible to separate them, for they act and react the one on the other.
1. The prayerful spirit — We cannot fulfil the Apostle's ex- hortation even if we keep our regular seasons of prayer unless we )iave the prayerful spirit, the spirit of harmony with the will of God. It is the aspiration after all good, the wish, stronger than any earthly passion or desire, to live in His service only. It is the temper of mind which says in the evening, " Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit"; which rises up in the morning, " to do thy will, 0 God " ; and which all the day regards the actions of business and of daily life as done unto the Lord and not to men — " Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." The trivial employments, the meanest or lowest occupations may receive a kind of dignity when thus converted into the service of God. This is the life of prayer, or rather the life which is itself prayer, which is always raised above this world, and yet is always on a level with this world ; the life which has lost the sense of consciousness of self, and is devoted to God and to mankind, which may almost be said to think the thoughts of God, as well as do His works.