" Sir, I was sick with revelry.
True, I have scarred the night with sin,
A pale and tawdry heroine;
But once I heard a voice that said
'Who lives in sin is surely dead,
But whoso turns to follow me
Hath joy and immortality.'"
"O Mary, not for this," I cried, "Didst thou renounce thy scented pride. Not for a taste of endless years Or barren joy apart from tears Didst thou desert the courts of men, Tell me thy truth, sweet Magdalen ! "
She trembled, and her eyes grew dim : — "For love of Him, for love of Him."i
2. Our love is the necessary and moral result of our persuasion of God's love to us. — It is a part of the ordinary constitution of our nature that we should love those who, we believe, love us. Sometimes far out at sea the sailor sees the sky grow tremulous and troubled. The cloud seems to be all unable to contain itself ; its under surface wavers and stretches downwards toward the ocean. It is as if it yearned and thirsted for the kindred water. A great grasping hand is reached downward and feels after the waves. And then the sailor looks beneath, and lo, the surface of the waves is troubled too ; and out from the water comes first a mere tremble and confusion, and then by and by a column of water builds itself, growing steadier and steadier, until at last it grasps the hand out of the cloud, and one strong pillar reaches from the sea into the heavens, from the heavens to the sea, and the heavens and the sea are one. So you must make man know that God loves him, and then look to see man love God. 1 J. E. Flecker, Forty-Two Poevis, 58.
38o THE RAY AND THE REFLECTION
^ What will you do if you are sent to carry the Gospel to your friend, your child ? Will you stand over him and say, " You must love God ; you will suffer for it if you do not " ? When was ever love begotten so ? " Who is God ? " " Why should I love Him ? " " How can I love Him ? " answers back the poor, bewildered heart, and turns to the things of earth which with their earthly affections seem to love it, and satisfies itself in loving them. Or perhaps it grows defiant, and says, " I will not," flinging back your exhorta- tion as the cold stone flings back the sunlight. But you say to your friend, your child, " God loves you," say it in every language of yours, in every vernacular of his, which you can command, and his love is taken by surprise, and he wakes to the knowledge that he does love God without a resolution that he will.^
^ It was early in his career that he happened one day to be alone for a few minutes with a young lady, who afterwards became the wife and active helpmate of a devoted minister of Christ in Edinburgh. In early life she had felt her need of a Saviour, and tried to become a Christian, but failed in finding the sinner's Saviour, She looked too much into her own heart, and sought there, and sought in vain, for that kind and degree of con- viction of sin which she thought to be necessary to fit her for coming to Jesus. As a natural result, she was almost reduced to despair. Mr. North, guided by the Spirit, on whose direction he constantly relied, and with that aptitude to understand the exact position of an anxious soul with which he was gifted, asked her if she was saved, and on her replying that she was not, he asked her, Why ? and she answered, " Because I do not feel that I love Jesus." He then said simply, "That does not matter, He loves you." No other word was spoken, but this was enough, and was the means of leading her to trust in the Saviour's dying love to sinners. She was enabled henceforth to rest in that love, and to follow Christ, and after a useful and happy life, closed it, in the beginning of 1877, by a very triumphant death.^
3. And our love to God is the lest evidence to ourselves that we are passed from death into life.
^ Eobert Hall charmed the most learned by the majesty of his eloquence, but he was as simple as he was great, and he was never happier than when conversing with poor believers upon experimental godliness. He was accustomed to make his journeys on horseback, and having been preaching at Clipstone he was on his way home, when he was stopped by a heavy fall of snow at
1 Phillips Brooks, The Light of the World, 49.
2 K. Moody-Stuart, Brownlow North, 406.
I JOHN IV. 19 381
the little village of Sibbertoft. The good man who kept the "Black Swan," a little village hostelry, came to his door and besought the preacher to take refuge beneath his roof, assuring him that it would give him great joy to welcome him. Mr. Hall knew him to be one of the most sincere Christians in the neigh- bourhood, and therefore got off his horse and went into the little inn. The good man was delighted to provide for him a bed, and a stool, and a candlestick in the prophet's chamber, for that rustic inn contained such an apartment. After Mr. Hall had rested awhile by the fire the landlord said, " You must needs stop here all night, sir ; and if you do not mind I will call in a few of my neighbours, and if you feel that you could give us a sermon in my taproom they will all be glad to hear you." " So let it be, sir," said Mr. Hall, and so it was: the taproom became his cathedral, and the " Black Swan " the sign of the gospel banner. The peasants came together, and the man of God poured out his soul before them wondrously. They would never forget it, for to hear Mr. Hall was an event in any man's life. After all were gone Mr. Hall sat down, and there came over him a fit of depres- sion, out of which he strove to rise by conversation with his host. " Ah, sir," said the great preacher, " I am much burdened, and am led to question my own condition before God. Tell me now what you think is a sure evidence that a man is a child of God." " Well, Mr. Hall," said the plain man, " I am sorry to see you so tried ; you doubt yourself, but nobody else has any doubt about you. I hope the Lord will cheer and comfort you, but I am afraid I am not qualified to do it." " Never miiid, friend, never mind, tell me what you think the best evidence of 11 child of God ? " " Well, I should say, sir," said he, " */" a man loves God he must be one of God's children." " Say you so," said the mighty preacher, " then it is well with me ; I do love Him." ^