"We will dwell on Calvary's mountain Where the flocks of Zion feed, Oft resorting to that fountain Open'd when our Lord did bleed; Thence deriving Grace, and life, and holiness." _From the Moravian Hymn-book_.
"I want that adorning divine Thou only, my God, can'st bestow; I want in those beautiful garments to shine Which distinguish Thy household below.
"I want, as a traveller, to haste Straight onward, nor pause on my way, Nor forethought nor anxious contrivance to waste On the tent only pitch'd for a day.
"I want--and this sums up my prayer-- To glorify Thee till I die, Then calmly to yield up my soul to Thy care, And breathe out, in faith, my last sigh." CHARLOTTE ELLIOTT.
PHILIPPIANS iii. 12-16
Christian exultation--Christian confidence--"Not in the flesh"--"In Jesus Christ"--The prize in view--No finality in the progress--"Not already perfect"--The recompense of reward--What the prize will be
In a certain sense we have completed our study of the first section of the third chapter of the Epistle. But the treatment has been so extremely imperfect, in view of the importance of that section, that a few further remarks must be made. Let us ponder one weighty verse, left almost unnoticed when we touched it.
Observe then the brief, pregnant _account of the true Christian_, given in ver. 3: "We are the circumcision, we who by God's Spirit worship, and who exult in Christ Jesus, and who, not in the flesh, are confident." This is a far-reaching description of the true member of the true Israel, the man of the Covenant of grace.
Note first its positive lines. "_We worship_," "_we exult_," "_we are confident_." Every affirmation is full of divine principles of truth. "_We worship_"; ours is a hallowed, dedicated, and reverent life. It is spent in a sanctuary. Whatever we have to be, or to do, as to externals; whether to rule a province, a church, a school, a home; whether to keep accounts, or sweep a room; whether to evangelize the slums of a city, or the dark places of heathenism, or to teach language, or science, or music; whether to be active all day long, or to lie down alone to suffer; whatever be our actual place and duty in the world, "_we worship_." "We have set the Lord always before us." We have "sanctified Christ as LORD in our hearts" (1 Pet. iii. 15; so read). We belong to Him everywhere, and we recollect it. We owe adoring reverence to Him everywhere, and we recollect it. Let us reiterate the fact; ours is a hallowed life, for it belongs to a divine Master; it is a reverent life, for that Master in His greatness is to us an abiding Presence. The fact of Him, the thought of Him, has expelled from our lives the secular air and the light and flippant spirit. We are nothing if not _worshippers_.
Then, secondly, "_we exult_." Ours is a life of gladness, so far as it is the true Christian life. Constantly and profoundly chastened by its worshipping character, it is constantly quickened and illuminated by this element of exultation. The word is strong, _kauchomenoi_, "exulting." We observe that the Apostle does not say that we are resigned, that we are at peace, that there is a calm upon us. This is true; but he says that "we _exult_." The "still waters," the _mey m'nuchoth_ of Ps. xxiii. 2, are anything but stagnant. They are a lake; but it is a lake upon a river, like the fair waters of Galilee, receiving and giving, and therefore alive with pure movement, while yet surrounded by the "rest," _m'nuchah_, which means repose not _from_ action but _underneath_ it. "We exult." Ours is not an autumn of feeling; not a state of the soul in which the characteristics are the sighs and starting tears of memory and apprehension. It is an everlasting spring, in which the mighty but temperate Sun of Salvation is shining, and will not set; not parching but quickening all day long. "We exult." It is a happy life, not only with the happiness of a cheerful contentment, beautiful as that is; ours is the happiness of wondering discovery, and rich possession, and ever-opening prospects; it is "quick and lively"; it is "exultation."