Speak to me, my God ; And let me know the living Father cares For me, even me; for this one of His children, — Hast Thou no word for me ? I am Thy thought. God, let Thy mighty heart beat into mine, And let mine answer as a pulse to Thine. See, I am low ; yea, very low ; but Thou Art high, and Thou canst lift me up to Thee. I am a child, a fool before Thee, God ; But Thou hast made my weakness as my strength. I am an emptiness for Thee to fill; My soul, a cavern for Thy sea.
III.
Through Faith. ,
1. All Bible students are aware of the prominence given to faith in Holy Scripture. Indeed, it is frequently alleged that this prominence is unwholesome and mischievous, that it attaches a false and exaggerated importance to belief, since " what really matters is not a man's creed, but his character and conduct." And students are familiar with the simple and effective answer to this objection, viz., that creed forms conduct, and so builds up character, and that " as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." But whether men approve of it or not, this is one of the dis- tinguishing characteristics of the Gospel of Christ, that it proclaims "salvation by grace, through faith"; not by merit, through character. So we read that the gospel is " the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth," " Whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins," " He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life." The seed is snatched away from the hearts of the wayside hearers, " lest they should believe, and be saved." The whole Gospel can be summed up in the one sentence, " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved."
2. And this is equally true of all the later stages of the Christian life. All growth and progress, all perfection of character, all victory and fruitfulness, are by faith. The promise of the Spirit is received by faith. Christ dwells " in our hearts by faith."
* George MacDonald, " Within and Without" {Poetical Works, i. 10).
154 CHRIST IN THE HEART
Christ is not an object of sight or sense to us. "We know Him only by believing in Him. From first to last, faith is the instru- ment and medium of all our union and fellowship with Him. Faith alone brings Him into the soul ; and faith alone keeps Him there. By faith alone we find His presence, and by faith alone we continue to realize it. By faith we make Him ours, by faith love Him, and by faith live unto Him. " Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." We have no eye but that of faith whereby to see, no ear but that of faith whereby to hear, no hand but that of faith whereby to apprehend, and no heart but that of faith whereby to embrace Christ. Thus faith lies at the very foundation of all personal religion, and must be the pervading element of all. We are true Christians in so far as we have true faith. We walk to heaven by faith, and live in God by faith.
3. But what is faith ? It is a certain state and condition of the whole inward man, a certain aspect of the whole mind, and heart, and soul towards God in Christ. Christ Himself, and not merely a particular set of facts, or events, or propositions, is the object of it. We believe in Him, we trust Him, we apprehend His presence, we have confidence in His word of promise, we rely on His love, His goodness. His power, we cleave in spirit to Him, we rejoice in Him, and commune with Him. This is faith, and by this Christ dwells in our heart. It is peculiar to Christians who are such not in name only, but in deed and in truth ; it is peculiar to those who are partakers of the Spirit, who have the life of religion within them. As soon as ever a soul has this faith, Christ is in him. As long as ever he has it, Christ dwells in him.
^ Is it paradoxical, this mighty power of faith ? Not more so than the mighty power of lips and throat when the strong meat, or reviving cordial, is taken into the exhausted body. The " mighty power " is not really in lips and throat, but in what they, and only they, can receive and do receive. The " mighty power " is not properly in the faith, but in Him whom it lets into the weary being, that He may do there a work which He, not faith, does; Himself making our weakness strength and our pollution purity.^
^ H. 0. G. Moule, The Pledges of His Love, 70.
EPHESIANS III. 17 155
^ My enemies (at Tanna) seldom slackened their hateful designs against mj life, however calmed or baffled for the moment. Life in such circumstances led me to cling very near to the Lord Jesus ; I knew not, for one brief hour, when or how attack might be made ; and yet, with my trembling hand clasped in the hand once nailed on Calvary, and now swaying the sceptre of the Universe, calmness and peace and resignation abode in my soul. Next day, a wild chief followed me about for four hours with his loaded musket, and, though often directed towards me, God restrained his hand. I spoke kindly to him, and attended to my work as if he had not been there, fully persuaded that my God had placed me there, and would protect me till my allotted task was finished. Looking up in unceasing prayer to our dear Lord Jesus, I left all in His hands, and felt immortal till my work was done. Trials and hairbreadth escapes strengthened my faith, and seemed only to nerve me for more to follow ; and they did tread swiftly upon each other's heels. Without that abiding consciousness of the presence and power of my dear Lord and Saviour, nothing else in all the world could have preserved me from losing my reason and perishing miserably. His words, " Lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world," became to me so real that it would not have startled me to behold Him, as Stephen did, gazing down upon the scene. I felt His supporting power, as did St. Paul, when he cried, " I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." It is the sober truth, and it comes back to me sweetly after twenty years, that I had my nearest and dearest glimpses of the face and smile of my blessed Lord in those dread moments when musket, club, or spear was being levelled at my life. Oh the bliss of living and enduring, as seeing Him who is invisible ! ^