^ J. A. MacCuUoch.
ROMANS XIII. 12 393
evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved."
St. Paul enumerates these works in three classes. First, indulgence in sensual acts; secondly, indulgence in unholy thoughts and desires ; lastly, indulgence in anything that is not perfectly loving and lovely.
Now among Christians there are presumably few who would be guilty of indulging in sins of the first and second classes, but many are prone to anger and jealousy, pride and selfishness, malice and uncharitableness, strife and hypocrisy in the sight of God, equally with drunkenness, gluttony, and lust.
^ The sins of darkness are followed by a retribution in kind, if the works of darkness are not cast off. Dante represents those who on earth were guilty of the sin of envy as losing their eye- sight in Purgatory and condemned to pass their time in darkness.
In vilest haircloth were they dressed.
Each 'gainst his neighbour's shoulder pressed,
And all alike reclined
Against the bank behind. So, where the sightless beggars stand At the church doors and alms demand.
And one his head has dropped,
Against his fellow propped; Then others feel compassion there, Not only for the words they hear
But for the yearning face
That pleads no less for grace. There of the sunlight none partake: So, in the place whereof I spake,
The precious light of Heaven
Ne'er to those shades is given. A thread of steel their eyelids all Were pierced and stitched about withal.
Like to the merlin wild.
That may not else be stilled. Me seemed to do them wrong, as I Unseen, yet seeing, passed them by.*
2. Such works as befit the kingdom of darkness are repre- sented as being "cast off," like the uncomely garments of the » Danto, Purg. xiii. 68-74, tr. by Dr. Shadwoll
394
READY FOR THE DAWNING
night, for the bright armour which befits the Christian soldier as a member of the kingdom of light. The conception of the passage is classical and Eoman, borrowed from the camp. Through the night the soldiery, divested of their armour, have abandoned themselves to revelry and carouse, and, as the small hours have reigned, have sunk into a deep sleep ; but, lo, the ringing bugle note is announcing the herald streaks of dawn, and summoning the troops hastily to put off the dress and works of darkness, and to assume their armour free from rust and stain.
^ What would you wish to be found doing when Christ comes in ? Drinking, and rioting, and making merry ? Practis- ing unclean ways, and gazing and longing after evil things? Striving and quarrelling and grudging against one another ? Surely not : you would not wish to be so found of Him ; nor yet that, coming suddenly. He should find you sleeping. Eather you would desire that He may find you kneeling on your knees, in fervent prayer, confessing your many sins; or waiting on some of those whom He calls His brethren, busy about some work of mercy; or patiently enduring His chastisements; or, at least, honestly and religiously going on with the task which His Providence orders for you. This is how we would wish to be found. Let us not only wish, but pray and strive, and by Hia grace we shall be found so doing indeed.^
The longing for ignoble things;
The strife for triumph more than truth; The hardening of the heart, that brings
Irreverence for the dreams of youth;
All thoughts of ill; all evil deeds,
That have their root in thoughts of ill;
Whatever hinders or impedes The action of the nobler will; —
All these must first be trampled down
Beneath our feet, if we would gain In the bright fields of fair renown
The right of eminent domain.
Standing on what too long we bore
With shoulders bent and downcast eyes,
We may discern — unseen before — A path to higher destinies. 1 J. Keble.
ROMANS XIII. 12 395
Nor deem the irrevocable Past,
As wholly wasted, wholly vain, If, rising on its wrecks, at last
To something nobler we attain.^
ii. The Armour of Light.
1. " Put on the armour of light." What a fine battle-cry this is ! It comes, too, from the lips of the finest fighter the world has ever seen, the man who could stand up and say to God and all ages, "I have fought the good fight." Life was a battle to him, a fight for his very soul, a stern unceasing conflict. And 80 it is with most of us. But let us remember how all the grand heroes of war have borne the brunt without murmuring. Do not complain of the conditions. They are not always fair ; we fight an unseen foe who will not come out into the open. " We wrestle not against flesh and blood " ; it would be a comparatively simple thing if that were all. But we wrestle against " the wiles of the devil, against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places." To such a battle are we called.
^ A young officer, for the first time under fire, felt that strange demand that is made upon a man's courage when the bullets fly around him, and he sees men fall and die at his side. He was on the point of breaking down. It seemed impossible for him to go on, and for a moment he faltered, visibly irresolute. An older officer saw what was happening, and he just put his hand upon the lad's shoulder. " Oh, no ! " he said, pointing onward, " there's your way, you know " ; and the young fellow's career was saved. So what we all want, and what we want most, is that the Master should come over and again lay His hands upon us and tell us to be as men that wait for their Lord, whom when He cometh He shall find watching. What a splendid figure that is ! The sentinel at his post, watching in the dim morning, peering through the haze for the rising of the 8un.2