I know 'tis but a loom of land, Yet is it land, and so I will rejoice, I know I cannot hear His voice Upon the shore, nor see Him stand; Yet is it land, ho ! land.
The land ! the land ! the lovely land ! "Far off" dost say? Far off — Ah, blessed home! Farewell ! Farewell ! thou salt sea-foam ! Ah, keel upon the silver sand — Land ho ! land.
You cannot see the land, my land, You cannot see, and yet the land is there — My land, my land, through murky air — I did not say 'twas close at hand — But— land ho ! land.
Dost hear the bells of my sweet land, Dost hear the kine, dost hear the merry birds? No voice, 'tis true, no spoken words, No tongue that thou may'st understand — Yet is it land, ho ! land.
It's clad in purple mists, my land, In regal robe it is apparelled, A crown is set upon its head, And on its breast a golden band — Land ho ! land.
1 C. Cuthbert Hall.
56 THINGS PREPARED FOR LOVE
Dost wonder that I long for land ? My land is not a land as others are — Upon its crest there beams a star, And lilies grow upon the strand — Land ho! land.
Give me the helm S there is the land ! Ha ! lusty mariners, she takes the breeze ! And what my spirit sees it sees — Leap, bark, as leaps the thunder-brand, Land ho ! land.1
II.
The Things of God are Eevealed by His Spirit. " Whatsoever things God prepared for them that love him."
1. Only the spiritual man can apprehend spiritual truth ; and only the spiritual man can comprehend spiritual experience.
(1) Only the spiritual man can apprehend spiritual truth. — Just as a blind man cannot possibly form any conception of colour, or a deaf man of music ; so the artist, merely as an artist, has no sort of title or qualification to pronounce on questions of scientific research, and in like manner the scientist, as such, is no more competent to discuss matters of religion than the humblest clodman of the land. The man of science, therefore, who loudly vaunts that in all his scientific researches he can find no trace of God, is merely proclaiming to the world his own unreasonable- ness ; for not as a man of science, restricting himself to one set of faculties, but only as a man, giving play and scope to all his faculties, can he learn the things which are hidden from the wise and understanding, and revealed unto babes (Matt. xi. 25). Still more unreasonable are the thoughtless and careless, who find no God in all their gaiety of life, and then say there is none ; for from all such God hides Himself, and His glory is absolutely indiscernible by the wanton eye of worldly pleasure. What, then, is the great law of knowledge of Divine things ? " If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know." Obedience to spiritual laws, conformity to spiritual conditions, is essential to real
* T. E. Brown.
i CORINTHIANS n. g 57
knowledge of God, and to true insight into the Divine meaning of the facts and forecasts of human life. Spiritual blessings cannot be attained, cannot even be apprehended, save by the humility of faith.
TJ I remember once being present at the Geological Society, when a bottle was produced which was said to contain certain Zoophytes (delicate water-animals, having the form of plants). It was handed round in the first instance among the initiated on the foremost benches, who commented freely with one another on the forms of the animals in the fluid ; but when it came to our hands, we could discover nothing in the bottle but the most limpid fluid, without any trace, so far as our eyes could make out, of animals dead or alive, the whole appearing absolutely trans- parent. The surprise of the ignorant, at seeing nothing, was only equal to that of the learned, who saw so much to admire. Nor was it till we were specifically instructed what it was we were to look for, and the shape, size, and general aspect of the Zoophytes pointed out, that our understanding began to co-operate with our sight in peopling the fluid which, up to that moment, had seemed perfectly uninhabited. The wonder then was how we could possibly have omitted seeing objects now so palpable.1
(2) Only the spiritual man can comprehend spiritual experience. — People say to us : " Your joys are imaginary, your perceptions of God are self-delusions, your assurances, and hopes, and peace of mind, and consciousness of forgiveness, are your own creations: they are things which we do not feel, and do not understand, and do not believe." It would be a wonderful thing if they did understand what they have never felt. There are simple things in everyday life that are closely akin to this. There are natures to whom sunsets and flowers and the infinitely varied landscapes of nature are utterly unattractive and meaningless.
Once in a dream I saw the flowers
That bud and bloom in Paradise;
More fair they are than waking eyes Have seen in all this world of ours. And faint the perfume-bearing rose,