^ C. H. Spurgeon. I THESS.-HEB. — 1 3
194 THE PRACTICE OF ASSURx^NCE
Christ and Christianity is really out of court — he has no proper claim to pronounce an opinion as to the facts. In the one case, as in the other, the principle holds good, Experto crede : Listen to the experts ; let those speak who have had the experience. We claim, then, that Christian experience is an authentic fact ; and that it is upon the solid ground of Christian experience that Christian certainty is built. How does a man know whom he has believed ? How is he fully persuaded of Christ's power to save him and to keep him ? He knows, we answer, and is persuaded, by the experiences of his own heart and life.
^ The lesson of these uncertainties seems to be that Christ denies Himself to the man who seeks Him with the intellect only, but to those who search for Him with submissive wills and open hearts He grants spiritual illumination, and in the New Testament reveals Himself as the Saviour they need. Committing themselves to Him in utter obedience and trust, they find rest and peace, and in a bright experience have a clearer and more abiding evidence of the Eisen Christ than the best attested document could give. " Even so, Father," etc. Experience in the face of assaults from geology, biology, psychology, evolution — experience is and always will be tiie convincing evidence of Christianity. Amid the things that are shaken this remains.^
Lift up thine eyes to seek the invisible:
Stir up thy heart to choose the still unseen: Strain up thy hope in glad perpetual green
To scale the exceeding height where all saints dwell.
Saints, is it well with you ? — Yea, it is well. —
Where they have reaped, by faith kneel thou to glean : Because they stooped so low to reap, they lean
Now over golden harps unspeakable. —
But thou purblind and deafened, knowest thou Those glorious beauties unexperienced By ear or eye or by heart hitherto ? —
I know Whom I have trusted : wherefore now All amiable, accessible tho' fenced. Golden Jerusalem floats full in view.^
^ John Brash : Memorials and Correspondence, 261. * Christina G. Kossetti, Verses, 158.
2 TIMOTHY I. 12 195
III.
St. Paul's Persuasion.
*' I am persuaded that he is able to guard that which I have committed unto him against that day."
1. What has St. Paul committed to God ? The Greek word means iniy deposit — " I am persuaded that he is able to guard my deposit." The figure is, of course, obvious — a deposit put into the hands of a depositary with what appears to be sufficient security, a trust placed with an absolutely trustworthy trustee. What has been committed which he is sure will be carefully and safely kept ? Some give elaborate reasons why it should be interpreted to mean his soul, or faith in immortality, or salvation, or the care of the Churches, or his converts who were a burden of love on his heart, and suchlike particular precious things for which St. Paul trusts God. But it does not mean any of those things, though it includes them all. The phrase is vague, and it is meant to be vague. " My deposit " — it means that St. Paul had committed to Him everything, and was persuaded that He was able to keep it all. The emphasis is not on what the deposit was, but on the fact that the deposit is safe. If you want one word for the deposit, the one word is himself. The deposit includes all that St. Paul had trusted God for. He trusts God for his soul, but no more than he trusts Him for his body. He trusts God for salvation hereafter, but no more than he trusts Him for his life here. He trusts Him for the converts and Churches, as he trusts Him for all personal cares. The word has no definite limits, and was not meant to have limits — " my deposit," that which I have committed unto Him. The force of the sentence is in the fact that the deposit is safe where it is. It is in the right hands, and he need be neither afraid nor ashamed. It is the Guarantor he is thinking of, not the special things that have been guaranteed; the Trustee, not the different items of the trust.
^ You and I have one treasure, whatever else we may have or not have; and that is ourselves. The most precious of our possessions is our own individual being. We cannot " keep " that. There are dangers all round us. We are like men laden with gold and precious stones, travelling in a land full of pickpockets and
196 THE PRACTICE OF ASSURANCE
highwaymen. On every side there are enemies that seek to rob us of that which is our true treasure — our own souls. We cannot keep ourselves. Slippery paths and weak feet go ill together. The tow in our hearts and the fiery sparks of temptation that are flying all round about us are sure to come together and make a blaze. We shall certainly come to ruin if we seek to get through life, to do its work, to face its difficulties, to cope with its struggles, to master its temptations, in our own poor, puny strength. So we must look for trusty hands and lodge our treasure there, where it is safe.^