198 THE NEW AND THE OLD
us face to face with the risen Son of Man who hears the prayer of all flesh from His throne on high.*
The Master stood upon the mount, and taught.
He saw a fire in His disciples' eyes; " The old law," they said, " is wholly come to nought,
Behold the new world rise ! "
" Was it," the Lord then said, " with scorn ye saw The old law observed by Scribes and Pharisees ?
I say unto you, see ye keep that law More faithfully than these !
" Too hasty heads for ordering worlds, alas !
Think not that I to annul the law have will'd ; No jot, no tittle from the law shall pass,
Till all have been fulfill'd."
So Christ said eighteen hundred years ago.
And what then shall be said to those to-day, Who cry aloud to lay the old world low
To clear the new world's way ?
" Eeligious fervours ! ardour misapplied !
Hence, hence," they cry, " ye do but keep man blind ! But keep him self-immersed, preoccupied,
And lame the active mind ! "
Ah ! from the old world let some one answer give : " Scorn ye this world, their tears, their inward cares ?
I say unto you, see that your souls live A deeper life than theirs ! "
Here let that voice make end; then, let a strain, From a far lonelier distance, like the wind
Be heard, floating through heaven, and fill again These men's profoundest mind:
" Children of men ! the unseen Power, whose eye
For ever doth accompany mankind, Hath look'd on no religion scornfully
That men did ever find.
» H. M. Gwatkin, The Eye for Spiritual Things, 54.
2 COR. V. 17 199
" Which has not taught weak wills how much they can ?
Which has not fall'n on the dry heart like rain ? Which has not cried to sunk, self- weary man:
Thou must he horn again !
" Children of men ! not that your age excel
In pride of life the ages of your sires, But that ye think clear, feel deep, bear fruit well,
The Friend of man desires."^
(3) It is seen in the life of the Individual. — That which is true of the great redemptive work of Christ in the world is true no less of His redemptive work in every soul of man. Here there is ever change, here there is ever progress ; but here there is no destruction except of that which has been corrupted through sin. The grace of God in Jesus Christ is indeed a mighty power in the heart. The conversion of a sinner to God is indeed nothing less than a turning from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. But even where that change has been as marked, as sudden, as decisive as it was in St. Paul, there is no obliteration of past history or past character. New affections are not given, but the old affections are made new, because they are turned to a new object, because they are purified, strengthened, elevated. The trust which once leaned upon earthly props is now fixed upon God and His Christ ; the hope which once was bounded by the narrow horizon of time is now full of immortality and embraces eternity in its arms. The love which once was idolatry of some human object has now found its legitimate satis- faction in Him whose love passeth knowledge. A new intellect is not given, but the old intellect is made new, because it now finds its highest exercise, not in science or art or literature, though it despises none of these things, but in the study of the revelation of God. A new character is not given, but the old character is sanctified to a higher use. Energy becomes devotion to God ; impetuosity, zeal in His service ; resolution, loyalty to Christ Jesus. And so long as life lasts, the perpetual transforma- tion is going on,
^ We are slowly, very slowly, abandoning our belief in sudden and violent transitions for a surer and fuller acceptance of the
^ Matthew Arnold, Poems, ii. 169.
200 THE NEW AND THE OLD
doctrine of evolution ; but most of us still draw a sharp line of demarcation between this world and the next, and expect a radical change in ourselves and our surroundings, a break in the chain of continuity entirely contrary to the teaching of nature and experi- ence. In the same way we cling to the specious untruth that we can begin over and over again in this world, forgetting that while our sorrow and repentance bring sacramental gifts of grace and strength, God Himself cannot, by His own limitation, rewrite the Past. We are in our sorrow that which we have made ourselves in our sin ; our temptations are there as well as the way of escape. We are in the image of God. We create our world, our undying selves, our heaven, or our hell. Qui creavit te sine te non salvabit U sine te. It is stupendous, magnificent, and most appalling, A man does not change as he crosses the threshold of the larger room. His personality remains the same, although the expression of it may be altered.^