III.
With All the Saints.
1. The definition of a saint here implied is that it is one who
has apprehended something, rather than one who has attained a
^ Joliu PuLslbrd, Christ and His Seed, 117. =* D. L. Moody, The Way to God, 19.
EPHESIANS III. 17-19 173
great reputation for sanctity by asceticism or noble deeds ; one whose mental conception, whose capacity for thought, has become so quickened and enlarged as to enable him to realize a great idea, which so possesses him that holiness follows naturally. And St. Paul's prayer for his converts is that they too may in a measure pos- sess this widened apprehension, which will link them to all saints.
2. Of what advantage is it to apprehend the extent of Christ's love with all the saints ? There are several advantages.
(1) It encourages sanctity in us. — For our knowledge of the love of Jesus Christ depends largely on our sanctity. If we are pure we shall know. If we were wholly devoted to Him we should wholly know His love to us, and in the measure in which we are pure and holy we shall know it. This heart of ours is like a reflecting telescope, the least breath upon the mirror of which will cause all the starry sublimities that it should shadow forth to fade and become dim. The slightest moisture in the atmosphere, though it be quite imperceptible where we stand, will be dense enough to shut out the fair, shining, snowy summits that girdle the horizon and to leave nothing visible but the lowliness and commonplaces of the prosaic plain.
^ Those who desire to walk with Christ must try to wear the white robes of a purity that goes down to the depths of the heart, must seek to bring into captivity every thought to His obedience. How can this be done ? We aim at a perfect mark, and always fail to reach it. But God will not allow us to be satisfied with anything lower than perfect holiness, so we continue our efforts in spite of failure. The Word of God is severe in its demands ; but, though it is a sharp sword, that cuts down and lays bare the deepest motives hidden in the heart, it is with the " merciless severity of merciful love." ^
■[I Personal holiness is the first and foremost tribute which we owe to the Holy Spirit, for the Master's use, and we are to offer Him no other service until this be paid. Pharnaces, says the Eoman historian, sent to Caesar the present of a diadem, while he was yet rebelling against his throne. Caesar returned it with this sententious and admonitory message, " First of all yield obedience, and then make presents." The truth of this message is addressed by the Holy Spirit to every Christian and to every church.^
(2) It brings us the jog of fellowship. — In two ways does Christ
* Dora Farnnorah, Th^. Visiov. of His Face, 21. * T. W. Jenkyn.
174 THE LOVE OF CHRIST
give man his true place. He sets him alone beside God, as a son beside his Father, and shows him the indefeasible worth of his own soul, worth potential if not actual ; for do not the angels of God sing for joy over even one sinner that repenteth ? But He also sets him in a fellowship. For with cords of love He has been drawing after Him, throughout the long centuries, a great mul- titude which no man can number ; and all who are drawn of Him should have fellowship one with another. As I am bound by the tenderest ties to the God who created me for His service, and the Saviour who redeemed me, so I am bound by bonds as strong as they are invisible to all who have ever loved the Lord and shared the redemption which He wrought. It is not good, it is not possible, for man to be alone. To be alone is to die. We are born for fellow- ship ; and our religion satisfies this deep need of our nature by bringing us into a society, a kingdom, a church. We look into the friendly faces of those who worship with us, and we are strong.
^ In the highest utterances of each man's faith, or in the best moments of his life, Stanley rejoiced to find the common ground of religious feeling or spiritual aspiration. He delighted to collect instances of such expressions from the most varied quarters. It was a Spanish Roman Catholic who said, " Many are the roads by which God carries His own to heaven." It was the venerable patriarch of German Catholic theology. Dr. Dollinger, who said that theology must " transform her mission from a mission of polemics into a mission of irenics ; which, if it be worthy of the name, must become a science, not, as heretofore, for making war, but for making peace, and thus bring about that reconciliation of Churches for which the whole civilized world is longing."
In their loftiest moods of inspiration, the Catholic Thomas k Kempis, the Puritan Milton, the Anglican Keble, rose above their peculiar tenets, and " above the limits that divide denominations, into the higher regions of a common Christianity." It was the Baptist Bunyan who taught the world that there was " a common ground of communion, which no difference of external rites could efface." It was the Moravian Gambold who wrote :