^ George MacDonald, Poetical JVcrks, ii. 322.
6o A PRAYER FOR SANCTITY
David with reason cries out to Him : ' Have mercy on me, 0 Lord ; for I am weak.' " ^
4. And what is the motive that ever urges us to this sanctifica- tion ? To St. Paul it is " the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." That great event is the most powerful of all motives to cultivate Christian holiness. For to what end does Christ come ? He comes to see in what degree His image has been perfected in His professing people. He comes to see who have called Him Lord, Lord, but have not done the things that He commanded them, and to expose them to shame and everlasting contempt. He comes also to display the graces and holy beauties of His genuine followers, and to be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that believe.
The labours of those that have struggled to be like Him, who have watched and prayed that they might not walk unworthy of His Kingdom and glory, who have wept and made supplication, when no eye saw them, over their remaining spots and blemishes — their labours will not be in vain in the Lord. Every prayer for themselves, and every prayer for others that they too may be prepared and complete in all the will of God, shall find its reward openly; and the sighs that have gone up to heaven for entire sanctification will then receive a glorious answer, when they shall be fully conformed to the image of Him who is the firstborn among many brethren and presented holy and unblamable and unreprovable in His Father's sight ! " Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless."
^ The great thing, I suspect, is to assure ourselves, not that these things viay he, but that they shall he : that Christ's appearing is as certain as the sun's rising, or as our deaths ; that we do not make it certain by our faith, but that its certainty is the warrant of our faith, and that which is to cure us of its sluggislmess. And if this is so, we may encourage all persons always to expect Christ's manifestation ; the more they do exj^ect it, the better they will be, the more they will rise out of their sloth, their scorn, their confusions, their selfishness ; the more they will work on manfully in their own appointed tasks, whatever they be, the more they will work with each other ; the more they will fight
^ J. P. Camus, The Sjpirit of St. Fronds de Sales, 372.
I THESSALONIANS v. 23 61
against the temptations which will recur in a thousand different shapes, and will come again and again, as angels of light, to separate themselves from others under any pretence whatever, in faith, in hope, in worship; the more they will prize common thanksgivings, common prayers, and will rejoice to meet in using them, that they may pray against the devil, who is leading them, and all the people about them, to set up themselves, that they may not trust Christ, and glorify God.^
The Porter watches at the gate,
The servants watch within ; The watch is long betimes and late,
The prize is slow to win. " Watchman, what of the night ? " But still
His answer sounds the same : "No daybreak tops the utmost hill,
Nor pale our lamps of flame."
One to another hear them speak
The patient virgins wise : " Surely He is not far to seek " —
"All night we watch and rise." "The days are evil looking back,
The coming days are dim ; Yet count we not His promise slack.
But watch and wait for Him."
One with another, soul with soul,
They kindle fire from fire : "Friends watch us who have touched the goal"
" They urge us, come up higher." "With them shall rest our waysore feet,
With them is built our home. With Christ," — "They sweet, but He most sweet,
Sweeter than honeycomb." ^
' Life of Frederick Denison Maurice, ii. 245. ' Christina G. Rossetti, Poems, 202.
Prayer and Progress.
Literature.
Denney (J.), The Epistles to the Thessalonians (Expositor's Bible), 309.
Fairbairn (E,. B.), College Sermons, 330.
Findlay (G. G.), The Epistles to the Thessalonians, 159.
Garrod (G. W.), The Second Epistle to the Tliessalonians, 127.
Jackson (G.), Memoranda Paulina, 250.
Parker (J.), Colossians, Philemon, and Thessalonians, 289.
Purves(P, C.), The Divine Cure for Heart Trouble, 76.
Westcott (B. F.), Lessons from Work, 199.
Christian World Pulpit, xlvii. 329 (J. B. Mebarrj) ; liii. 298 (J. B.
Cabrera) ; Iv. 368 (B. F. Westcott) ; Ixiii. 298 (C. Brown) ; Ixxiii.
219 (A. Lamont). Cliurch of England Pulpit, xlviii. 97 (B. F. Westcott) ; Ixii. 585
(J. Silvester). Church Pulpit Year Booh, 1906, p. 300.
•4
Prayer and Progress.
Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified. — 2 Thess. iii. i.
The main part of this Epistle is finished with the previous chapter. The Apostle has completed his teaching about the Second Advent, and the events which precede and condition it ; and nothing remains to dispose of but some minor matters of personal and practical interest. He begins by asking again, as at the close of the First Epistle, the prayers of the Thessalonians for himself and his fellow-workers. It was a strength and comfort to him, as it is to every minister of Christ, to know that he was remembered, by those who loved him, in the presence of God. But it is no selfish or private interest that the Apostle has in view when he begs a place in their prayers; it is the interest of the work with which he has identified himself. " Pray for us, that the word of the Lord may run and be glorified." This was the one business and concern of his life; if it went well, all his desires were satisfied.