^ " When, Sir Walter," said Queen Elizabeth to that gallant knight, Ealeigh, who was persistently interceding for offenders,
» Saxe Holm. " A. W. Robinson, The Voice of Jmj and Health, 82.
JAMES I. 17 9
" when will you cease to be a beggar ? " " When your Majesty will cease to be a benefactor," was the reply.
3. Everything that is good in the world and humanity, and in the individual soul, everything that is in the truest sense a boon, is a gift of God, and comes down from the perfect source of all goodness, and is a reflection of the " Father of lights." Here, surely, is a message of hope concerning ourselves, and concerning others.
(1) First, concerning ourselves. — Until we have abandoned everything that is right and good and true, God has not aban- doned us; there is something of His — shall we not indeed say something of Him ? — in us, and He has a hold upon us by means of it. Most of us are conscious of the evil that is in us ; it is not often that we need to be reminded of it, it is our despair. For that reason we need to be reminded that there is something pure and noble left, and that that is God's gift, the point in our lives at which He touches us ; if we would but believe it, that is our assurance that God refuses to let us go. If we realize that God has been constantly at work in us, and is at work in us now, that we are not God-forsaken, we shall be more ready than otherwise we should be to abandon ourselves completely to God's influence and control in the way that He desires. We are not required to summon to our aid one who is a stranger and afar off, who may or may not come at our call, but rather to suffer God, who holds us now in part, to take charge of the whole — to yield our wills and hearts to the Divine promptings within us, and to permit His power to spread over and possess the whole life.
^ The power to set the heart right, to renew the springs of action, comes from Christ. The sense of the infinite worth of the single soul, and the recoverableness of a man at his worst, are the gifts of Christ.^
So thou alone dost walk before
Thy God with perfect aim. From Him desiring nothing more
Beside Himself to claim.
For if thou not to Him aspire,
But to His gifts alone. Not Love, but covetous desire.
Has brought thee to His throne.
' Henry Drummond, 7.
lo THE GOOD GIFTS OF THE FATHER
While such thy prayer, it mounts above
In vain; the golden key Of God's rich treasure-house of love,
Thine own will never be.^
(2) Second, concerning our fellow-men. — The gifts received by us from God are received only to be held in trust. It is the mission of us all to bring to souls that are less illumined than our own the light that is in us, and the light that is in them, even though it be but as the faint flicker of a candle, will leap to meet the brighter one which we bring, and by the union of our light and theirs the darkness will be driven away. There is something in each soul to which some messenger from God can appeal, and, appealing, may obtain a response.
The gifts of the good things of this life are given in order that we may " have to give to him that needeth," and unless we share them with others they will eat, as this Apostle tells us, " into our souls as doth a canker." And the gifts of grace are given that we may diffuse them. Have we gifts of knowledge ? It is that we may impart that knowledge to others. Have we the gifts of wisdom? It is in order that we may raise all about us to a higher level. They are assuredly given to us that we may let our light so shine before men, that they may see our good works, and glorify our Father which is in heaven.
Heaven doth with us as we with torches do, Not light them for themselves ; for if our virtues Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike As if we had them not.
^ Therefore, if you let me guide you, go in at this south transept door, and put a sou into every beggar's box who asks it there, — it is none of your business whether they should be there or not, nor whether they deserve to have the sou, — be sure only that you yourself deserve to have it to give ; and give it prettily, and not as if it burnt your fingers.^
^ It is incredible, absolutely incredible, that the handful of men who enjoy the richness of God's gifts at a University can be given them merely for themselves. Is it possible to contemplate Cambridge apart from East London, South London, Africa, or the
^ E. C. Trench, Foems, 280.
* Ruskin, The Bible of Amiens ( Works, xxxiii. 129).
JAMES I. 17 II
Congo ? To a believer in God it is impossible. God has no favourites, and there is no way of keeping your belief in an entirely good and loving God, unless He means His reservoirs to overflow, unless He gives to the whole human race, indirectly if not directly, and unless, while He pours His blessings down upon one place, and seems to neglect another, it is only in seeming, because, while He gives to the one. He is really giving, unless we scandalously neglect our duty, also to the other.^