Mary's alabaster box

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MARY'S ALABASTER BOX.

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I. MARY'S ALABASTER BOX, 7

II. MY CHURCH MEMBER, ...... . 15

II. My Church-member

You may not know her name, but God knows it, and that is enough. Just as the November sun was sinking below the horizon her weary spirit took its upward flight to the home and the bosom of God. But the glory of the setting sun was pale and weak in comparison with the glory of that life which then came to its earthly end. For more than half a century she had been a faithful and devoted member of the church. For four score years and five God spared her to know and do his will ; and, when her work of patience and labor of love was done, and she had ripened under life's discipline and fulfilled all her stewardship, God took her to himself and to her rest and reward.

She was one of the old-time Christians, whose life was spent in living near to God, who had many and frequent hours of communion with him, to whom her vows of consecration were sacred things to be often solemnly renewed, and who longed from day to day for greater spirituality of mind and for a deeper consciousness of God's love and grace to her. Among her private papers was found the long-kept diary of her religious exercises, which revealed unwonted breathings after an ascending, a more heavenly life. She lived

1 6 My Church-Member.

among us a life quiet, affectionate, happy, useful (God only knows how useful), caring most of all for the friendship of Christ and his people, with whom was all her delight. Owing to great bodily suffering and consequent mental weakness, she had not that triumphant departure from earth which she had anticipated. But the Saviour was still her trust and refuge. She feared no evil, for he was with her ; his rod and staff they comforted her. Only a few hours before her spirit found its happy release, though her mind was wandering about other things, it fastened on that beautiful hymn expressive of her Christian faith — " Jesus, lover of my soul, Let me to thy bosom fly " —

and her feeble lips repeated it, verse after verse, without hesitation or aid. The hymn has been clothed with a new sacredness to me, because it was associated with my parting hour with this aged saint.

But she was best known and will be longest remembered because of her generous contributions to the church and objects of Christian benevolence. Being possessed of an income, not over large, she lived quietly, economically and self-denyingly, that she might have more to lay upon the altar of Christ. We were often deceived as to the amount of her income by the largeness and munificence of her charities. She looked upon herself as God's steward, and cheerfully sought

My Church-Member. l 7

to be faithful to her trust. Her charity money, which was in reality no small part of her income, was lovingly set apart and lovingly given, and she had no greater joy than this, that God had bestowed upon her the ability to help the poor and needy, and to aid in advancing his kingdom in the world. What she gave she gave as to the Lord and not to men. She saw his loving face in every needy object, and heard his loving voice in every pleading appeal, so that her charity was not partial, and did not flow in any single channel. It was responsive to all need, and wide as the world. The church of Christ, which she loved, human suffering in every form, the cause of ministerial education, of tract distribution, of home missions, and especially of foreign missions, were all made to rejoice in her practical sympathy and frequent remembrance. The church, the community, the whole country, the whole world was filled with the fragrance of her loving deeds.

Moreover, she thought not of the value of what she gave. Its only value to her was that Christ would accept it and use it for his glory. When a great conflagration had consumed much of her income, she expressed but one regret, namely, that her ability to do good was greatly lessened. But she planned to live a little closer, and to curtail her personal wants, that thereby she might lengthen out her contributions. Surely the poor made happy by her thoughtful charity,

1 8 My Church-Member.

many a needy minister and feeble church aided by her timely benevolence, the distant heathen to whom she sent the saving power of the Gospel, though her name was unheard and unknown among them, all will rise up to call her blessed. " Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, that they may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them."

In her death the cause of Christ lost a generous contributor, the poor a sympathizing helper, spiritual religion a shining example, and her church a loving and faithful member, for her prayers and her contributions were wrought into its history and its prosperity. So long as the walls of that church remain standing, so long as that church as a spiritual body has an existence on the earth, " this that this woman hath done shall be told as a memorial of her." I thank God that she was my church-member, for my heart is made glad at every remembrance of her. She seemed a modern Mary. She loved to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn of him, and she broke many an alabaster box of precious nard, if not for the anointing, for the crowning of the head of her exalted Saviour.

III. THE INCARNATION.

III. The Incarnation

The birth of Jesus was no ordinary event. Unlike all other births, it was the beginning of a life that was unlike all other lives. That this birth should be singled out among so many millions to be commemorated in all lands, and through all ages, makes it easy for us to believe that there was something miraculous about it.

i. The miracle of the incarnation is the most readily accepted of all the miracles of the Bible. Men may hesitate about accepting the miracle of the multiplication of the loaves and fishes, and may stumble at the raising of the dead and at the resurrection of Christ himself, and yet cheerfully accept the wonderful and beautiful story of the birth of the Christ-child. This seems to commend itself to the religious instincts or the deepest wishes of men. It is an interesting fact that the doctrine of a divine incarnation has been the common teaching of the great religions of the world. Mr. Edwin Arnold finds in the religion of Guatama, which is the accepted religion of one-third of the human family, the doctrine of

" A holy child Of wondrous wisdom, profiting all flesh,

Who shall deliver men from ignorance, Or rule the world, if he will deign to rule."

Whether it be the sense of the divine still remaining in man which makes it easy for him to believe in a complete incarnation, or a sense of need in man which makes him long for a full manifestation of God among men in proffered sympathy, wisdom and power, we may not tell. But the fact is apparent that the doctrine of the incarnation is the most widely accepted and the most welcome of all religious truths. Men do not turn from it in defiant unbelief. At its threshold skepticism often stays its rash feet, and leaves unassailed this wonderful desire of all nations, this beautiful hope of the human heart. Men seem ready to welcome the Christmas festival, and give to it something of its spiritual significance, as celebrating the marvellous birth of a marvellous babe into this world of ours. And yet, the miracle of the incarnation, when rightly apprehended, is one of the most stupendous of all miracles. I doubt whether there is another wonder from the creation of the world to the resurrection of Christ, that is grander or more sublime than this. Is it not the wonder of all wonders ? Is it incredible that angels should announce it ? Is not the whole marvellous environment of the incarnation in keeping with so great an event ? And so it happens that the greatest miracle in the world's history is the most widelyaccepted of all, and finds annual recognition in the Christmas observance of men.

2. The miracle of the incarnation carries with" it the credibility of the other miraculous displays of power which the gospels contain. A man who believes in the supernatural birth of Christ ought not to find it difficult to accept the inspired record of other miracles. This greatest exhibition of the miraculous being accepted, all that follows will be found to be in keeping with it. This is the introduction which gives character to the whole. A supernatural birth will be followed, we should expect, by a supernatural life. A child whose birth is such a marvel will be a marvel at whatever time you meet him, and from whatever point you view him. A dispensation whose opening act is so above the ordinary course of things, will be likely to move on in that higher and supernatural plane. Things which would be unnatural to us, and at this time, would be perfectly natural to Christ and to the circumstances of his life. Let it be granted that Christmas means something, that it is observed in commemoration of the birth of a divine child, and you will not be surprised when you find in his life the evident tokens of his divinity ; indeed, you will be surprised if you do not find them there. All subsequent miracles which he wrought fall into line with the miracle of his birth.

One of the most impressive things about the life of Christ was its wonderful unity and consistency. There was nothing in it discordant or out of harmony. The key-note was given at his birth, and all the song that followed was in happy and unbroken accord. Dr. Bushnell has said of this " Being who has broken into this world and is not of it," that, "being a miracle himself, it would be the greatest of all miracles if he did not work miracles." And Dr. Schaff has said, in language strikingly similar, "He is the great central miracle of the whole gospel history. All his miracles are but the natural and necessary manifestations of his miraculous person, and hence they were performed with the same ease with which we perform our ordinary daily works. In the gospel of St. John they are simply and justly called his ' works.' It would be the greatest miracle, indeed, if he who is a miracle himself should have performed no miracles."

3. The miracle of the incarnation carries with it the credibility of all the truths of the gospel. It is difficult to separate the teachings of Christ from his works. He taught by his works as well as by his words, and many of his most sublime truths are crystallized around the miracles which he wrought, and inseparably connected with them. All of his miracles were in some sense his divine credentials, disclosing to men his true character and his holy mission, as when he said, at the healing of the palsied man, " that ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins ; " in other words, that ye may know who I am and what I came to do on earth, I say to this sick man, "Arise, take up thy bed and walk." But there is no miracle that more clearly establishes Christ's claim to be " a Teacher sent from God " than the miracle of the incarnation, which bears testimony to his divine origin and Sonship, and proclaims him to be the very light of the world. To accept the incarnation in all its spiritual significance is to acknowledge the kingly power of Christ's words, is to accept the truth of his teachings as to man, his nature, his danger, and his destiny, as to himself, his character, and his mission, and as to this life and the life to come, is to bow down to the supreme authority of Christ as the one great Teacher of the ages in the realms of morals and of spirit, and confess him, in the words of his own high claim, as " the way, the truth, and the life " for the world. The child of such a birth will be presumably free from all error, guilty of no falsehood or deception, the bearer of some heavenly revelation, the true Prophet of God's will to men, among whom he is to rule by the might of omnipotent and eternal truth. To observe Christmas and feel not the power of Christ's word in the soul, and bow not to the supremacy of his saving truth, is to be guilty of the gravest inconsistency and folly. " To this end was I born," said Christ to Pilate, "and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice." Unless the truth as it is in Jesus has brought us under its blessed dominion, and we have become its loving and obedient disciples, the Babe of Bethlehem was born in vain, and his mission for us is not yet fulfilled.

4. Once more : the miracle of the incarnation establishes the important fact that you and I have a Saviour, earth-born and heaven-born, Son of Mary and Son of God, all-merciful and almighty. It was no common malefactor whom those old Jews bore away to the cursed cross and put to death. It was no friendless, unknown criminal who was there left to suffer and die. Earth and heaven had echoed w r ith his name, and the long ages had been filled with the promise of his coming. I hear his name whispered by God in the garden in that first word of hope to our sinning parents. I see it written in type and symbol and bleeding sacrifice of God's ancient people. I find it inscribed on prophecy and psalm, to be read and sung in the public service of the temple, and in quiet hours of communion with God. I catch its echo as it is borne over the earth's surface and up to heaven on the wail of human needs and sorrows and sins, generation after generation, as it passes

The Incarnation. 2 S on, uttering its mournful cry, " Oh, that I knew where I might find him ! " Until at last in the fullness of time, angelic choirs accompanying him to the very threshold of his earthly mission, announce the advent of this new-born Prince and Saviour, and into the home of Mary there comes the foretold glory of his people, Israel, and the light whose rays should stream out over the Gentile world.

In the miracle of Christ's birth, then, which wedded heaven and earth in a closer fellowship than had existed since man's fall, I behold the pledge of heaven's sympathy to earth's sad and bereaved ones, the pledge of heaven's help to earth's weak and tempted ones, and the pledge of heaven's forgiveness to earth's sinning and penitent ones. The heart of that Son holds in its strong embrace not only Mary, but all the mothers and all the sons of men. Those soft feet have walked the earth with the tread of a mighty conqueror. Those sweet lips have spoken the word of life to the world's sleeping millions. Those tiny hands have broken off the strong shackles of sin, and battered down the stony gates of death and the grave. Because the manger contained the divine Christ-child, the cross sustained the Prince of Peace, and by its mighty attraction and its healing virtue it has become the power of God unto salvation to the nations of a lost world.

The Incarnation.

" Uplift his cross, the idols fall ;

Descends the dove, the eagles fly ; Another Caesar sounds his call

To men and nations far and nigh, Proclaiming David's son divine : Christ reigns upon the Palatine.

Hail, Prince of Peace ! hail, King of Kings !

Who would not hail thy day of birth, Sunshine with healing in his wings,

Light, love and joy to all the earth ! Once more let all men be enrolled, Thou the One Shepherd — in one fold."

IV. A STUDY OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.

IV. A Study Of John The Baptist

The significant reply of John the Baptist was " He must increase, but I must decrease." John's moon was in its wane. Christ's was the crescent moon, which should fill out to its full-orbed beauty, and wane no more. It has been remarked, by way of illustration, that John the Baptist's day in the calendar is the longest day in the year, the 24th of June, and from that time the days begin to shorten ; while Christmas day, on which is celebrated the birth of our Saviour, is one of the shortest days in the year, and from it the days grow longer.

John ever looked upon himself as simply a forerunner, a prophet in advance, to prepare the way for a Greater who was to come. He said of himself, " I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness — make straight the way of the Lord." And when the multitude flocked unto him to receive baptism at his hands, aroused by his earnest words, and ready to declare themselves his followers, he impressed upon them the fact that his work was only preparatory, and pointed them away from himself to the coming One, saying : " I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance ; but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear ; he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire." It looks very much as if, in the unsettled state of religious feeling and general fever of expectation, the people were ready, not to say eager, to acknowledge John as the promised Messiah, and that this wish on their part he was constantly compelled to resist. " He confessed and denied not ; but confessed I am not the Christ." And when Christ came forth from the retirement of his youth and early manhood to enter upon his public ministry, John immediately and gladly acknowledged him and his claims : " Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world." Dis joy was the joy of one whose anxious waiting is ended, and whose prophecy is fulfilled. "This is he," he exclaimed, "of whom I said, after me cometh a man which is preferred before me ; for he was before me."

And subsequently, when John's disciples in a fit of jealously, because they saw the growing favor, the ascendency of Jesus, and the people flocking to him for baptism as they used to flock to John, came to him to complain about it, John quieted them by telling them .this is as it ought to be and as I told you it would be. "Ye yourselves bear me witness that I said I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him." And then he exhibited his freedom from all jealousy, or rivalry, or disappointed ambition by the very happy and beautiful illustration, " He that hath the bride is the bridegroom ; but the friend of the bridegroom which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice ; this my joy, therefore is fulfilled." John meant to say, I am simply the friend of the Bridegroom. I came not to win the affections of the bride, which is the Church of Christ, but to prepare the way for the heavenly Bridegroom ; and now that he has come, and I hear his voice, my mission and my joy are alike fulfilled. Then he adds the sententious words : " He must increase, but I must decrease." We are wont to think of John the Baptist as possessing a stern and rugged character, severe in his spirit as in his diet and dress, strong, even vehement, in his denunciations, having about him something of the wildness of the wilderness in which he preached, rough and brusque in his manner, independent in his methods of working, and having little refinement and delicacy of feeling. So he is painted by the old artists. But this view of his character is an utterly mistaken one. He was, indeed, plain, and honest, and outspoken in his preaching. He was no time-server. He uttered a call to repentance, and under his earnest and faithful appeals men were made to tremble and to submit to his significant baptism. So holy and just was he that the wicked Herod feared him, and yet he was so discreet and persuasive of speech that it is said that when Herod heard him, he did many things and heard him gladly. It is one of the most difficult duties to tell a man the truth about himself, and give him honest counsel, and at the same time secure his confidence and obedience. This John did to Herod. And there were such simplicity and meek? ness, as well as nobility and grandeur about this old prophet, that Christ said of him in loving recognition : " Among them that are born of women there hath not risen a greater than John the Baptist."

See how his humility and sincerity shine out in the fact that he knew his place and his mission, and was content with them. He was not eaten up with unholy ambition. His followers would have acknowledged him as the Messiah. They wanted to do it. They seemed determined to do it. But he resisted all their endeavors, refusing the honors which they were ready to heap upon him, and persisting in declaring himself the simple prophet and forerunner of Jesus, that he was. In all his preaching he put Christ to the front, and himself to the rear. He never allowed the thoughts of his hearers to rest on himself, but always pointed them to him who was to come. " There cometh one after me that is mightier than I." " I am not he." "This is he of whom I told you." " Behold the Lamb of God." Oh, how true he was to the place where God put him

A Study of John the Baptist. 3 r

and the mission which God gave him, willing to be just there, and to do just that, and nothing more !

Then, too, see his great magnanimity, for he could see his own star declining, and that of Jesus rising more and more, and yet not only be free from all bitterness and jealously, but rejoice in it with a real and holy joy. This, it seems to me, was evidence of the highest manhood. I had almost said, of a spirit more than human. For how apt men are to rejoice in their own exaltation, even though it be at the expense of another ; how apt to think to lift one's self up by putting another down, to think to increase one's own brightness and glory by casting another into the shade, to think to magnify one's own reputation by depreciating another's ! How difficult it is to rejoice in another's advancement and prosperity, and have no touch of envy and no feeling of bitterness, to find yourself, it may be, growing poorer and poorer, and less and less noticed, while your neighbor is on the high road of success, and enjoys the sunlight of popular favor ! A retiring minister might find it something of a test of his piety to see himself dropping out of the affections of his people who are dear to him as life itself, and his sucessor taking his place. All men are human. While visiting recently the battle-fields of the rebellion, and recalling the sad scenes of other days, there was nothing that so stirred my soul with indignation as the thought that more than one victory was lost, and thousands of precious lives sacrificed, because of a rivalry among our generals — some fearing lest others should gain distinguishing honors, and therefore failing to come to their support.

What a beautiful illustration we have in John of that unselfish, magnanimous spirit which is so rare in the world S We must remember that Jesus was looked upon, at least by John's disciples, as in some sense his rival. Jesus' disciples had been, in very many instances, John's disciples. They left John to follow Christ. Christ's authority was increasing. His followers were increasing. His kingdom was being built up, we may say, on the ruins of John's influence and success. It was natural, at least it was according to human nature, that John should sympathize with the feelings of his disciples who remained with him. But no ; with a noble freedom from envy, and a noble self-forgetfulness, he saw what was taking place, and rejoiced in it, and could gladly see his own influence waning, if Christ's was only increasing ; willing that his star should go down in forgetfulness and oblivion, if he could only see Christ's star ascend into mid heaven and fill the whole earth with its effulgence.

And so his words were the maxim of his own life, and a prophecy for the future. Christ's kingdom and power and dominion should increase everywhere and evermore. John's disciples should disappear, but Christ's should be multiplied. John's influence should die, but Christ's should live, until the whole " earth should be brought under its control. " He must increase, but I must decrease."

Let us think more of John the Baptist, and of his noble, magnanimous character than we have been wont, and let us try to possess his rare and beautiful spirit, for these words of his contain not only the secret of his life, but the rule and maxim of all Christian living. There must be the gradual increase of Christ in the soul, and the gradual disappearance of self.

V. THE INCREASING CHRIST, AND THE DECREASING SELF.

THE INCREASING CHRIST AND THE DE- CREASING SELF.

The significant reply of John the Baptist, " He must increase, but I must decrease," contained not only the secret of his own life, but the rule and maxim of every Christian life. There must be the gradual increase of Christ, and the gradual disappearance of self.

And by " self " I mean not personalicy, not you as a whole, as a conscious being. That is not to disappear, or to be weakened, or to grow less, but rather to be strengthened and developed. When we speak in the language of the Bible, of Christ's becoming "all in all," we do not think of a kind of Christian pantheism, or Buddhistic annihilation, by which personality, consciousness, self, is to be lost and swallowed up in Christ. No man is so much himself as the Christian. No man preserves so much of himself as the Christian. It was when the prodigal came to himself, that is, when he found his lost self, that he returned to his father. The Christian finds his life. He saves his soul, that spirit of his which is personal, conscious, loving, immortal, which is to go on expanding throughout the endless eternities, in "increasing knowledge, increasing

34 The Increasing Christ

powers, increasing occupations." That is not the self that is to be destroyed but to be kept, not the self that is to decrease, but to increase.

But I use the word " self ' as referring to that tendency or part of man's nature which refuses to bow to the supremacy of the will of God, and resists the work and spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is what the Scriptures call " the heart of stone," " the law of sin," "the old man with his deeds." It is this self, which in the unrenewed heart is regnant and supreme, that must decrease more and more, and will decrease as Christ is allowed to increase in the soul.

This self appears, first, in the form of self-will. This indicates a man's attitude towards his Maker. There ought to be but one supreme will in the universe. He who made all should govern all. The child who sets up his will against wise parental authority, introduces rebellion into the home, and is said to be wilful. The home is at peace when all wills are one. The universe is at peace when all wills are in harmony with the divine will. When man arrays himself against that one holy and beneficent will, as revealed in the word of God, in the law of his being and in his own conscience, he brings rebellion and disorder into the universe and into his own soul. That is self-will opposed to the divine will.

Need I say, then, that if Christ is to increase, selfand the Decreasing Self. 35

will must decrease ? The very essence of religion is submission, the simple submission of the heart and will to Christ. It exalts the will of Jesus to the throne. It acknowledges him as Lord and Master. All sin resolves itself into this one defiant declaration, " We will not have this man to reign over us." There can be no religion, there can be no peace or hope, until the will is broken and subdued. Is it an easy thing ? All men have not equal strength of will. With some how difficult, how prolonged is the stuuggle, before the unbending, iron will is brought to yield, saying, "I submit to thee, O, will divine," and sweet peace reigns in the soul ! And yet, until a man is brought to that place he cannot truly be said to be Christ's. We certainly ought not to think ourselves to be his, unless we put his will first, and make ours subordinate. Christ said, if any man will be my disciple, let him take up his cross. And the first thing to be crucified on that cross is self-will. When we have given up our opposition to God and duty and the voice of conscience, when we have bowed submissively as a little child, heart-broken and will-broken, then we are his.