*[| The writing-master sits down at the desk, and says to the child, " See how 1 hold my pen," and shows his pupil how to place the fingers on the penholder, and with what freedom and flexibility, and yet with what steadiness, the letters are formed ; and then he says, " Now you sit down and try." And the boy sits down, and takes the pen, and the teacher stands and looks over his shoulder to see how well he has learned his lesson. So the sainted father or mother or pastor or friend sits down at our side, and says, " I will show you what life means." Or, rather, God in them sits before us, saying, " I will show you what life means." And then, having given us a momentary glimpse of life, they step on one side, and look over our shoulder, to see whether we have learned the lesson well or not.^
^ The Force that had been lent my Father he honourably expended in manful well-doing : a portion of this Planet bears beneficent traces of his strong Hand and strong Head ; nothing that he undertook to do but he did it faithfully and like a true man. I shall look on the Houses he built with a certain proud interest: they stand firm and sound to the heart, all over his 1 Lyman Abbott. 8 xbid.
472 THE RACE SET BEFORE US
little district : no one that comes after him will ever say, Here was the finger of a hollow Eye-servant. They are little texts, for me, of the Gospel of man's free-will. Nor will his Deeds and Sayings, in any case, be found unworthy, not false and barren, but genuine and fit. Nay, am not I also the humble James Carlyle's work ? I owe him much more than existence ; I owe him a noble inspiring example (now that I can read it in that rustic character) ; it was he exclusively that determined on educating me, that from his small, hard-earned funds sent me to School and College ; and made me whatever I am or may become. Let me not mourn for my Father ; let me do worthily of him ; so shall he still live, even Here, in me ; and his worth plant itself honourably forth into new generations.^
IV.
The Supreme and Inspiring Example. ♦* Looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of faith."
1. The "author of faith," says the writer. It is the same word as is translated "the Prince of life" in the Acts of the Apostles, and, in another part of this letter, " the Captain of salvation." It means literally one who makes a beginning, or who leads on a series or succession of events or of men. And when we read of the " author of faith " (for the word " our " in the Authorized Version is a very unfortunate supplement), we are not to take the writer as intending to say that Christ gives to men the faith by which they grasp Him — for that is neither a Scriptural doctrine nor would it be relevant to the present context — but to regard him as meaning that Jesus Christ is, as it were, the Captain of the great army that has been deployed before us in the preceding chapter. He came first in order of time, yet, like other commanders-in-chief. He rides in the centre of the march ; and He is the first that ever lived a life of perfect and unbroken faith. So He is the Leader of the army, and in the true sense of the name, which is usurped by a very unworthy earthly monarch, is the " Commander of the Faithful."
^ The term " Captain " (rather than " Author ") suggests one who goes before us and cripples the common enemy and makes a way for His followers through the thick of the fight. It suggests
1 Carlyle, Eeminiscences, i. 8.
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one who fights from the same level and by His superior strength wins victory for Himself and others; the strong swimmer who carries the rope ashore, and so not only secures His own position but makes rescue for all who will follow ; the daring man who goes first and treads down the drifted snow, leaving a lane for the weaker to walk in ; the originator of salvation to all, by Himself leading the way from the present actual life of men in this world to the glory beyond. There is only one path by which any one in human nature can reach his destiny, and that lies through temptation and the suffering which temptation brings. Christ being leader must take this way. He was human and obliged to make growth in human righteousness, made under the law, subject to human conditions and exposed to all human temptations, finding His strength not in Himself but in another even as we, needing faith as we need faith.^
2. We are to run while ever " looking unto Jesus." The Greek expression is most peculiar, for it includes the idea of looking away from everything else and fastening the soul's gaze upon the Lord alone. We are all tempted to look at the things behind ; to consider the difficulties, the trials, the sorrows, the sins of life thus far prosecuted. Eemorse bids us catalogue our crimes. Discouragement bids us remember the past obstacles. Unbelief constrains us to believe every tale of all the embarrassment which in the life of faith and the labour of love we have met. The writer commands us to look away from the things that are past. " Forgetting those things which are behind . . . press toward the mark for the prize of our high calling in God in Christ Jesus." There is nothing rehgious in the remembrance of past sins or past sorrows. It clothes the soul with sadness, it deprives it of strength, it disqualifies it for energy and action. From all — no matter how dense has been the darkness through which we have passed, no matter how deep the sloughs of despond through which we have stumbled, no matter how high the mountains of our divisions that we have already crossed — we are to look away. The life that God has given us from His own glory is to accom- plish the purposes for which we are sent.