1 CORINTHIANS ii. 9-16.
Our finest human instruments fail to obtain for us "_the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him_."
Art fails! "_Eye hath not seen._" The merely artistic vision is blind to the hidden glories of grace. Philosophy fails! "_Neither hath ear heard._" We may listen to the philosopher as he spins his subtle theories and weaves his systematic webs, but the meshes he has woven are not fine enough to catch "the deep things of God." Poetry fails! "_Neither hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive._" Poetic imagination may stretch her wings, and soar, but she fails to enter the guest-chamber of the Lord, and take an inventory of "the things prepared." All these gracious ministries fail to reach life's glorious and purposed end.
"_But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit._" When art, and poetry, and philosophy all pitiably fail, the Spirit unveils to us the bewildering feast. And so the unlearned has the same ultimate advantage as the learned, and the cottager has equal privilege with the monarch. The greatest things are not the perquisites of culture, but the endowments of humility and holy faith. The poor man has access to the "many mansions," and finds a place at the King's feast.
NOVEMBER The Ninth
2 CORINTHIANS iii. 4-18.
In the Holy Spirit I experience a large emancipation. "_Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty._" I am delivered from all enslaving bondage--from the bondage of literalism, and legalism, and ritualism. I am not hampered by excessive harness, by multitudinous rules. The harness is fitting and congenial, and I have freedom of movement, and "my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
And I am to use my emancipation of spirit in the ministry of contemplation. I am to "_behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord_." My thought has been set free from the cramping distractions devised by men, and I am now to feast my gaze upon the holy splendours of my Lord. It is like coming out of a little and belittling tent, to feast upon the sunny amplitude of the open sky! I can "cease from man," and commune with God.
And the contemplation will effect a transformation. "_We are changed into the same image from glory to glory._" The serene brightness of the sky gets into our faces. The Lord becomes "_the health of our countenance_," and we shine with borrowed glory.
NOVEMBER The Tenth