0 Christ upon the Tree, Thou art not dead to me:
Though Thy pierced arms be cold They yet my heart enfold:
Though Thy head droop in death
1 draw from Thee my breath,
Bound Thee my being rolls Thou art my soul of souls:
0 dead Christ on the Tree,
1 only live in Thee.^
1. Paul derived his life from Christ. — He felt that he was indebted for the life he lived, not to any happy combination of circumstances, or to the sudden awakening into energy of any dormant element in his nature, but to Christ Himself, with whom for the first time it had come into direct and open contact, and from whom it took its new and triumphant departure. He it was who had met him and struck him down, who had shown him his error, quickened him with His Spirit, and sent him forth to live and die under the spell of His ascendancy. And we must not imagine that when the Apostle says, " to me to live is Christ," he '' uses Christ simply as an equivalent to what we call Christianity, ' or the Christian Church. A man may be indebted to the Church for his creed or his opinions ; he may have received from it all the notions he has about God and the world to come ; but he cannot possibly receive life from it. Nothing can communicate life but a ^ J. S. Rees. ^ Edwin Hatch, " Juxta Crucem Magdalena."
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living person — neither sacraments, nor worship, nor any ortho- doxy, however pure. Extract from these all they are able to yield, and you will not get life. That flows only from one Source, is contained for us only in one Person, and that Person is Christ. From Him St. Paul's life came, and into Him it pushed its springs and was abundantly fed.
^ There are three cardinal words in the passage, " me," " live." " Christ." The middle term " live " is defined in the union of the two extremes. The two carbon electrodes of the arc-lamp are brought into relationship, and the result is a light of brilliant intensity. And these two terms " me " and " Christ " are brought into relationship, and there is revealed " the light of life," and I become " alive unto God." The human finds life in union with the Divine. Now this is the only contact which justifies the usage of the term "life." Any other application of the word is illegitimate and degrading. The word " life " stands defined in the relationship of the Apostle's words. But we take other extremes and combine them, and we name the resultant " life." " For me to live is money." Me — money ! And we describe the union as " life." We are using a gloriously spacious and wealthy term to label a petty and superficial gratification, which is as transient and uncertain as the ephemera that dance through the feverish hour of a single summer's day. " For me to live is pleasure ! " Me — pleasure ! And we describe the union as " life." It is a mere sensation, having no more relationship to life in its reality than the sluggish and ill-defined existence of the amoeba has to the large mental and spiritual exercises of the Apostle John. " She that liveth in pleasure is dead while she liveth." " For me to live is fame." Me — fame ! And we describe the union as " life." It is a mere galvanized spasm, and is no more worthy of the regal term " life " than a will-o'-the-wisp is worthy of bearing the name of the sun. Of all these relationships we may employ the New Testament indictment and say, " Thou hast a name to live and art dead." All other combinations fail. By no other fellowships can we produce the resultant. Life is the unique product of a unique union. " This is life, to know Jesus." " For to me to live is Christ." Such was the rich and ineffable life of the Apostle Paul.^
2. Paul looked to Christ as the great end and ideal of life. — In every walk of life men are haunted by the dream of perfection. The last word is never said, the last effort is never made. Ideals are
^ J. H. Jowett, The School of Calvary, 11.
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necessary to growth, an absolute condition of progress. John Stuart Mill said, " A pupil from whom nothing is ever demanded which he cannot do never does all he can." If men are to put forth all the powers that are in them, if they are to be fired with enthusiasm, and brightened by hope, they must set their affections on things above. The words of St. Paul describe the condition of progress in every pursuit — " Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect." The men to whom this world owes most have been contemptuously called " visionaries," " dreamers." They have saved the world from putrefaction. They stir and thrill the generous heart of youth. Men sick of commonplace routine, wearied by monotony, are roused by them to fresh effort and new enterprises. They tell of a glory that is to come, and their fellows are roused and kindled once again.