^ F. L. Hosmer.
EPHESIANS III. 17 149
is not how a living Christ influences His disciples. What is meant is no mere influence derived but separable from Him, however blessed and gracious that influence might be ; it is the presence of His own self, exercising influences which are insepar- able from His presence, and to be realized only when He dwells in us.
^ We are called " mystics " when we preach Christ in the heart. Ah ! brother, unless your Christianity be in the good deep sense of the word " mystical," it is mechanical, which is worse. I preach, and rejoice that I have to preach, a " Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again ; who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us." Nor do I stop there ; I preach a Christ that is in us, dwelling in our hearts if we be His at all.^
3. When Paul prayed that Christ might " dioell " in the hearts of the Christians at Ephesus he was thinking of something far greater than that kind of union with Christ which is the condition of even the lowest forms of spiritual life. The whole emphasis of the clause is thrown on the word " dwell." There is an abiding presence of Christ in the heart which is a perpetual manifestation of the infinite love of God, and brings with it the very righteous- ness and blessedness of heaven, a presence which fills the whole life with a glory unbroken by clouds, and which does not change with rising and setting suns, but is like the glory of the city of God of which it is said that "there is no night there." This presence is possible only where there is a great faith, and for a great faith there must be a great strength, a strength which is given to the inward man through the power of the Divine Spirit.
^ St. Paul asks that " the Christ may take up his abode, — may settle in your hearts." The word signifies to set up one's house or make one's home in a place, by way of contrast with a temporary and uncertain sojourn (comp. ii. 19). The same verb in Colossians ii. 9 asserts that in Christ " dwells all the fulness of the Godhead " ; and in Colossians i. 19 it declares, used in the same tense as here, that it was God's " pleasure that all the fulness should make its dwelling in him " now raised from the dead, who had emptied and humbled Himself to fulfil the purpose of the Father's love. So it is desired that Christ should take His seat
* A. Maclaren, Christ in the Heart, 17.
150 CHRIST IN THE HEART
within us. He is never again to stand at the door and knock, nor to have a doubtful and disputed footing in the house. Let the Master come in, and claim His own. Let Him become the heart's fixed tenant and full occupier.^
^ We all know how having certain persons with us changes the spirit-atmosphere by which we are surrounded and affected. Certain things you might do when alone you would not think of doing in the presence of these friends. Your speech is re- strained by the presence of some ; it is made to flow more freely by the presence of others.
The presence of Christ may become in a very real and practical sense the atmosphere of the life. He is with us. He is unseen by these outer eyes. That is true. But He is far more real than these outer things which I can touch and see and smell. The sense of His presence can be cultivated. It should not be thought of as a day-dreamy, visionary sort of thing, a using of certain religious phraseology constantly. It may be a real, practical, sane, sensible living as in His presence, in such a way as to give a wholesome sweetness and sanity to all of one's life.
That wondrous presence of His so recognized, and in growing degree realized, will change all the life subtly but tremendously. He will become a Host in the home, reshaping its usage and life, until by and by it will be permeated by His spirit, and take on the shape of His personality. He will affect one's social inter- course, the conversation, and the prevailing spirit and motive under the conversation. He will shape one's business transac- tions, shutting some things wholly out, bringing other considera- tions in to guide and decide, and making a new standard by which all will be measured and controlled.
He will control the whole life. There will be sacrifice of a real cutting sort. It need not be sought for. It comes of itself in the path of obedience. It is sin that makes sacrifice. Sin put a cross in the Saviour's path, and will see to it that a cross is as surely put in the path of every follower of the Saviour.
And there is yet more, so much more that all this seems scarcely like a beginning. He reveals Himself. There is a peace, a gladness, a joy that must sing ; there is a fragrance in the spirit air, the fragrance of His presence. There is fighting, sometimes thick and hard, with moist brow, clenched hand and tight breath- ing. But there is victory. It is victory through fighting. It is all the sweeter for that.^