1 Th 3», 1 P 5'=). St. John's word is ' abide in ' (IJn 2'-^ 3" 4'"ii', 2 Jn=) ; in Hebr(!ws there are various words {2i 3"- '=■ " 4" 6" 10" -'■ »=) ; St. James' word is ' unstable,' ' wavering' (1*- '• ') ; in Revela- tion it is ' hold fast '(2^ 3" ; cf. He 4''' 10=^).
This holding fast involves a two-fold strenuous- ness : (a) in fighting evil ; (ft) in reaching out to the goal (the good fight of the faith, the racing in the arena, 1 Ti 6'^ He 12' ; cf. 1 Co Q^", 2 Ti 4', 2 Co 7' 6'^ Eph 6'=, 1 Co y-", Ph 2'8, 1 P 5", etc.). The effort is an appeal to every power of the soul : to sobriety (1 Th 5«, Tit 1-- ■■• ^ 1 P 1'^ 4' 5', 1 Ti 2''- 1*), to watchfulness (Col i", 1 Co 16", 1 Th 5", 1 P 4' 5»,
2 Ti 4=, Rev 3= 16'», 2 Co 6', Eph 6"*), to diligence (He 12", 2 P P- '», 1 Co 15=8, Gal 6", Ph 3'^ 2 Th 3'^ He 6'=, 2 P 3'^), and to progress (He 6', etc.); above all to patience and stc;id fastness (1 Th P 5", 2 Th \\ 1 Ti 6", 2Ti 3'», Tit 2-, He 10^", 2 P 1», Rev !» 2-'- '", 1 Co 15»«, He 3'^ 6'^ 1 P 5\ Col 2», 2 P 3"). It is a steadfastness in faith, truth, hope, love, in the gospel, in all duty, but particularly under trial (Ro 5* 12'=, Ja P-" 5'-"'^ '», 1 P l'-8 2™, Rev 13'» 14"). Of so much patience and steadfastness there is need, because the life and the truth in the disciple will be, as in Christ, hated of the world, with a hatred enhanced both by the circumstances of life itself and by the jiotency of ' the Uesh ' in themselves. Their loj'alty to truth will be confronted by persecution ; their loyalty to faith will be confronted by the powers of the world : their loyalty to righteousness will be confronted by the malice of the devil. In
* St. Paul is the author of ' the Christian conscience ' ; his doctrine, equivalent to 'the Trt'eOjua in man,' is his largest con- tribution to Christian thought. St.. Augustine and Luther made notable additions. National life and laws have been en- riched most under statesmen intluciiced by minds like Calvin, Knox, the Pilgrim Fathers.
t .lonathan Edwards, lietigiout Affections (,Workt, New York, 1809, iii. IS.).
190
PERSEVERAXCE
PERSIS
meeting these, patience, firmness, jiersistency, exertion of mind, of lieart, of will are alisolule requisites. Let thcni maintain themselves in them ; as appointed of (_iod for the ' trial of faith.'
Here two points .shoultl be specially noted — first, the large sense in which all these terms are used ; secondly, the inwardness of trial. What is so- briety ? — It applies to the whole nature — every part of which is to be awake ; it really means awake- ness.* What ia watchfulness? — Again it applies to the whole nature ; it is perceptiveness. What is patience? — It is that great-spiritedness which combines eagerness in striving with endurance in sullering. And suffering, what is it? — It at once reveals, confirms, develops faith. The spirit of the true Christian agonistcx is slack in no element of its manifold nature ; it hesitates at no sacrifice, is ready for all self-denial ; it eagerly stretches and strains itself in self-discipline, above all in keeping itself disentangled, to follow after the prize of its high calling in Christ, which the persevering saint knows is within his grasp (2 Ti 4"), for God can keep him to it (Ro 14-'). t Slackness in wrestling, on the otlier hand, involves a loosening of all the parts of the nature which by the grace of persever- ance have been girded up, and, according as it is in- dulged, leads by a variety of stages of lapsing to final apostasy, the total abandonment of the position. J
3. The maintenance of perseverance by God. — (1) The life of perseverance construed as above implies the sole maintenance of its actual activity by God Himself. It is a life whose beginning, medium, and consummation proceed from Him, as its ground, motive, and goal. It is the life for man that alone provides the proper meaning to the lower worlds of nature and history — the life for which these are propaedeutic and preparatory. It is the life for humanity which alone is adequate to its natural capacities, satisfactory to its native aspirations, and provocative of its noblest heroisms. The modern mind may have moved away from the theological formulation of this persuasion : but not from the persuasion itself. It is learning eagerly the truth of the Divine Immanence in human nature as the key to the interi)retation of God's relation to man. How does that idea aid us intellectually in understanding the grace of perseverance ?— It un- questionably contains suggestions of real cogency in its conceptions of God and man that render the relation between them more vital than ever and acceptable to modern thought. God is self- impartation ; § man is receptivity. Man therefore cannot be himself except in entire dependence on God. The dependence, too, is irresistible and inalienable : even the evil in man's rejection of it is dependent.