A door opened

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LIBRARY. OF CONGRESS.

RAR^OF CONGRI

?./wffgW No.-,.

II THE THRONE OF GRACE Hebrews iv. 16

The " throne of grace " is an expression less familiar to us than it was to our fathers. It is peculiar and full of meaning. The two principal words are not commonly associated. A throne is a place of authority which is to be obeyed. Grace is favor which is to be received. Duty is usually thought to be distinct from privilege, except as privileges are duties, and opportunities bring obligation. All language is inadequate to the description of God. Certainly any king that we know is a poor representative of the Lord of the whole earth; while grace, standing by itself, gives an incomplete idea of his attitude toward men. The Lord reigneth, and his throne is from everlasting to everlasting. Its authority is founded upon its righteousness. The grace is an important addition to the throne. It adds nothing to God's purpose, which is from the beginning, but it expresses the fulfillment of his intent in the act of redemption. The Eternal Love becomes the Incarnation, and thus extends to men the fullness of its blessing.

To come to the " throne of grace " is to come to God who has loved us. and has come to us that He might bring us to himself.

Herein is a revelation. We clearly discern the eternal compassion which comes into the world to seek and to save. We have seen the grace here ; its name upon the earth is Christ. He is the grace of God. Now unchanged He is enthroned, and because of this the throne of heaven is the throne of grace. Men came to Him boldly when He was upon the earth, bringing their varied wants, and none of them were sent empty away. His power was always one with his mercy, and He gave what men needed to receive, crowning all his compassion by giving himself to the world He loved. It was in this beneficence and holding this compassion that He ascended to heaven, where He ever liveth to give grace to those who come to Him, to help them in their time of need. TTe have a vivid presentation of this when Stephen, waiting in the presence of death, looked up into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God ; and as they stoned him, he cried, " Lord Jesus, receive my spirit ! " This is the illustration of the words of the unknown writer : " Let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help us in time of need.''

But it is to the " throne of grace " that we are to come. The place is distinct. It is not a throne, or the throne of heaven, or the throne of Jehovah which is presented to us, but the " throne of grace." The confidence which should bring us to the throne in boldness is not confidence merely in the goodness of God and his general interest in men, and his eternal affection for them, but it is confidence in God, who has in a distinct way made his compassion known, and made it effective to meet all the wants which are presented to Him ; for it pleases Him to make known his love most clearly, and to reveal his mercy most plainly, and to help men most fully through Him in whom He came into the world. It should not need to be repeated that there is no change in himself, but only this outreaching of his compassion. What He may do for men who do not know this coming of God to the world, or for those who, knowing it, pass it by that they may come to Him without regard to his coming to them, no one can say. The uncovenanted mercies are neither to be described nor determined. This we know, that He has come to us in his Son, in whom the eternal compassion accomplishes its intent, so that his throne becomes the " throne of grace," that is, the throne of Christ ; and they who come to the " throne of grace " find the eternal mercy in its highest revelation and in its di-

26 THE THE OX E OF GRACE

vinest thought of man. Let me give a very crude illustration of this : In talking with a sea-captain a few weeks ago, he told me of a fearful disaster which befell his ship and made her helpless in mid-ocean, and imperiled all the lives which were in his care. He did all that he could do for them, and for the ship. He knew r that he needed to be helped. He searched the horizon if anywhere he might see a passing ship. One came in sight, but went on its way, regardless of his signals. With deepened anxiety he looked again, and all who were with him looked. Another ship appeared. Again the signals were thrown up, but for a time they were unheeded. Presently the distant ship turned and began to approach the wreck. Then they knew that they were saved. There was no change in the ship or in the man who governed it. The only change was that she had turned to the men who needed her and who had cried out for her succor. She was the same ship, but in the act of turning she became the ship of grace. Do not press my poor story too far ; but God has turned to us, in his eternal love He has come to us, and in this coming his grace becomes real, mighty to save, and the throne of the Eternal is made the " throne of grace." Well may we heed the simple teaching of a man whose name we do not know, and " come boldly unto the throne, unto the throne of grace, that we may find grace to help us in our time of need."

I do not wish to enter upon any consideration of the relation between the Father in heaven and the Son of man. Many things might be said, but I leave them for the present. Yet this practical truth should be clear in our thought and constant in our action, that the love of God is at its best in his grace, and that his grace is in his Son, who loved us and gave himself for us. So that evidently, if we would come to the grace of God for help, the shortest and plainest way is the way that leads us to Christ, who is the grace, where to our mind and heart God is nearer than anywhere beside.

It is evident that we are always in need of help. This is in the very construction of our being. It is not power alone we need, it is help ; which does not come to lessen our work, but to enlarge and exalt our strength. As civilization advances, dependence upon others is more manifest. The savage easily fashions a hut for himself, but when he has risen in intelligence he needs the architect and builder, and many men who shall make his house complete. His form of government is simple and easily administered ; as he rises government becomes more intricate and his system of finance more inexplicable. Hence we find everywhere spe-

28 THE THBONE OF GRACE

eialists, men who work on extended but attenuated lines. Under this system every man becomes the helper of others, and every man needs to receive an assistance which balances that which he bestows. So that we may say that dependence is the basis of advance, and that to do our best work and make the most of life we must be helped. It is natural to say this in the presence of students, who by the very fact of their being here confess themselves unequal to the life to which they aspire. They look to older men and wiser men, saying: " We wish to do our work in the world, but we do not know enough. We are not strong enough. Tell us what you know. Teach us your methods. Inspire us with the vigor of your lives." This dependence will remain so long as they continue to do good work in the world. We might define man as a person who must be helped. This rule is too evident and too common to be limited. We come very early where we need more than the help of our fellows. We need the help of God. He gives us our natural powers. He sustains them, as the sun sustains the light ; for if the light parted from the sun it would lose itself. Light cannot be left at your door every morning, as the tradesman leaves his wares, but must be continually shining upon your path and into your house, or you will lose it all. If you doubt this, some day when your room is very bright close all the shutters and tryto keep the light as the winter's supply of illumination. In ceasing to be helped, you will cease to possess what you have received before.

God must be continually giving to us. Life is ordered upon this plan. Our constitution shows this need. The Holy Scriptures declare it. It has the manifest advantage of keeping our minds gratefully and trustfully upon God. As our mutual dependence fosters friendship and affection, makes society possible and pleasant, so does our dependence upon God promote and enrich our spiritual life. We can never think of God as in any sense dependent, except as He may choose to be. Yet in a very real way He does depend upon us and employ us. When He wants his child nurtured and instructed, He places him in the care of a father and mother who will be glad to do this for Him. He gives his teaching through the lives of men ; He proclaims his loving-kindness, not by angels descending from heaven, but by men and women who go into all the world proclaiming the good news of God. Thus, while making use of us, He carries his love the further, and allows us to call upon Him for his assistance, not to remove our work, but to enable us to do it and to accomplish the purpose of our being. It is this desire to help us because He loves us which brings into the world the divine grace which we name Christ, who does not come to conceal the Father, but to reveal Him ; who is not here to compel us, but to assist us ; who indeed brings fullness of rest and strength, but who offers these to all who come to Him, who in the coming shall find grace to help. There is an evident advantage in having the grace of God thus clearly manifested to us, for we know Christ.

We have seen Him. We have looked day by day upon his helpfulness. We know the method and the spirit of his kindness, and when we come to Him we come boldly, because it is not to a stranger, but to one whose good will has been proved to the uttermost, and who has taken to himself the fullest power and right to help us to the largest blessings of the love of God. We come to Him, then, and, coming, find the eternal grace. He taught us that this was his place. More than any other He seemed to disown himself; He said He could do nothing apart from the Father who had sent him ; that his life was only to do the Father's will. This was so complete that He spoke the words which have sometimes confused while they should always convince, " He that hath seen me hath seen the Father." He taught us to come to Him for the divine blessing. He claimed the authority to teach, and in all ways to help. He said the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment to the Son ; that men should honor the Son even as they honor the Father. He saw in the temple men who had exhausted the power of their religion to help them, and on the great day of the feast He cried, " Come unto me. If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink." He made that sublime declaration, " I give unto men eternal life." He paraphrased the twenty-third Psalm, which He had learned at his mother's knee, when she interested Him by telling Him it was his grandfather's hymn. It was after this manner that He repeated it : "I am the Good Shepherd, ye shall not want. I will make you to lie down in green pastures. I will lead you beside the still waters. Yea, though you walk through the valley of the shadow of death, you need fear no evil, for I am with you. My rod and my staff shall comfort you." He even added what had not entered into the thought of the first Psalmist, the promise which exalts and glorifies the Psalm, "I will give my life for the sheep." He let men come to Him and remain there. I believe that He never pointed men away from himself. When a young man asked Him what he should do to have eternal life He answered, " Come, follow me." When a man was dying at his side, bewildered by the pains of crucifixion, appalled at the future opening before him, and turned to Him for help, He let the dying man commit himself to

32 THE TIIROXE OF GRACE

his compassion : " I shall be in Paradise to-day, and yon shall be with me." He said, " I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto myself." Only He could say these things. When a man in his fear came to the apostle in the prison, and prayed to be told what he must do to be saved, St. Paul pointed him to One who is able to save men. If Christ had been there He would have pointed him to no one. He would have drawn him to himself, and saved him there. We may wonder what would have happened if those who came to Christ had passed Him by and sought the more distant help, if the ruler whose daughter was nigh to death, and dead, had prayed to the God of Abraham for her life ; if the sailors in their sinking boat had cried to Him who holds the sea in the hollow of his hand ; if the blind man had turned his sightless eyes towards the sun crying for light ; if the sisters of Bethany had prayed to God in his high heaven. We do not know what the result would have been ; but this we know, that the prayer to Him restored the girl to her home, quieted the storm, saved the ship, gave sight to a man born blind, brought the Resurrection and the Life to those who loved Him.

Can we not learn the way of the divine help, and see that it does not stand aloof from us, but comes nigh to our door ; that we have not to seek it as if it were far away, but to receive it as it comes seeking and saving us ; for our seeking is but receiving ? We call upon Him when He is near and here where we stand, where we kneel, we find that He will abundantly pardon. We are indeed told to ask, to seek, to knock, but his asking is before ours, and because of his call upon us, we call upon Him. We knock at his door, but there is another word : " Behold, I stand at the door and knock." To hear his voice and open the door is to bring Him in, where He will sup with us and we shall sup with Him. We cannot feel deeply enough how strongly and constantly, with what passion and desire, with what importunity of love, He longs to help us in our life. Why should any one forget this, or refusing to see how truly He comes to us in his Son, who has all authority to bless us in the name of God, out of his own unsearchable riches, address himself to the King, eternal, almighty, invisible, who from his throne governs the universe ? He is nearer to us than that. He is more than king ; He is our Father. He is more than our Father in heaven ; He is our Father upon the earth. He is more than help ; He is " a very present help," and He stands in the greatness of his affection, stands so near to us that our whisper can reach his ear, that our outstretched hand can fall into the hand of almighty strength and everlasting love*

I speak lightly of no man's religion. It is too sacred. But to me the most pitiful thing which is known by that name would be to see a man who has looked upon Christ our Saviour, who has heard his words, who has marked his compassion, who has felt the glory and the sweetness of his presence, pass Him by to find elsewhere the help which He came to bring, and lived and died to make possible for us. We cannot do so. We know that life of mercy. We are familiar with that face radiant with its kindness. The tones of the voice linger upon the ear, " Come unto me, all ye that are in need ; come unto me." And the bidding would detain us, if we had the heart to pass Him by. We come to Him. We come boldly, for we are certain of his care for us. We come boldly, for He invites us, and we have known, and those whom we honor most have known how true it is that He is strong to bless. We come boldly, whatever be our want. Hungry and athirst, we call upon Him. Weary, we rest in Him. Uncertain, we confide in his wisdom. With our vision dimmed, we walk in his light. Sorrowful, we ask his solace. Sinful, we pray for his mercy. Living, we draw from Him our life. Dying, we are quiet in his resurrection, and in his gift of eternal life is immortality. We find grace, timely grace, grace for this world in its common ways and common wants ; grace for this day with its real necessities and opportunities. We come to Him boldly, trustingly, constantly ; we wait with Him, content that eye and heart shall remain with Him. We are willing that life with all its changes shall reach us through his compassion, and that eternity, with all its solemnity, shall find us resting content in his redeeming love and in his exceeding great and precious promises. We trust Him steadfastly to the end. This is our confidence. We stay with Him. We mark the divine love in Him. We find all things that we need in Him, and at the throne of grace, which is the throne of Christ, we obtain mercy, and find grace to help us in time of need.

Ill

THE ROYAL BOUNTY 1 Kings x. 13

THE EOYAL BOUNTY

The Queen of Sheba came from the uttermost part of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. She was amazed at all that she heard, and delighted with all that she saw, and confessed that after the generous rumors that had reached her in her distant home the half had not been told her. She brought her present to him, as was the custom of the times ; and when she went away she asked a gift of him, and history says that the king gave her all that she desired ; and that, having given her everything of which she had thought, he added something more of his own thought. He gave her this, not because she had desired it, but because he had desired it ; not for her heart's seeking, but out of his heart's wishing to bestow. This is the simple record: " And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty." These last words describe the added gift, and this was doubtless the best of all ; that upon which she would think with the greatest pleasure, and of

40 THE ROYAL BOUXTY

which she would speak with the greatest pride. The word "royal" is well chosen, for we think of something which is great when we apply this term to it, as we speak of a royal deed, royal magnificence, royal benevolence, royal bounty. We readily approve the action of the king, for it is this excess of giving, beyond that which is demanded of us, which makes the real generosity. We are in the habit ourselves, so far as we are generous at all, of reaching beyond the real necessities and requests of our friends, and giving out of the largeness of our hearts. There is something in the fruit which we admire which is more than fruit, and it is this excess which commands the high price. It is the added, extraordinary beauty of a painting which enhances its worth. Some pictures are sold by the square yard, and some by the inch. It is that which genius adds which is the royal bounty. . It marks the difference between genius and talent. To be what we must, and to do what we must, is narrow and uninteresting. The man who is just, and no more, wins our praise for his integrity, but not our regard for his liberality. There are some men who would on no account have their measures in the slightest degree too small, but would be quite as careful not to have them too large. There is no reason why justice should not be combined with charity, and a strict regard for the legal demands which are made upon us with the excess out of a free heart which will make our justice beautiful. I saw in a fine country town a tall, graceful tree which cast its pleasant shade upon the path, and I marked that men had fastened upon it an iron frame which held a lamp that gave out its light upon the path. The tree was not the less a tree that it added the light, and the lamp was not less a lamp because it belonged to the tree. I came afterward and found that the bark of the tree had grown up around the iron where it was fastened to it, till the frame and the lamp were fairly incorporated in the tree itself. It is easy thus to enlarge our life, adding beauty to strength, giving what our heart desires to give to that which Sheba asks at our hands. This thought is strongly expressed by St. Paul, " Scarcely for a righteous man," the man who does exactly what he ought to do, and nothing more, " will one die." Yet peradventure, for a good man, who does all he ought to do, and adds something because he wants to do it, some would even give their life. This man appeals to our heart which is ready to respond. The best things are indeed only to be given in this way. They cannot be bought. They cannot be had for the asking ; such things as confidence, and friendship, and courtesy, which no statute can demand, but which the royal heart delights to give ; and there is a

THE EOTA1 BOUNTY

like royalty which is able to receive and prize the gift.

This is G i*> way. to whom all life is but the expression of his heart. TTe rej ntinually

in his bountiful goodness. What is the need of He could have made a strong and honest th which would take in the seed and give it out in harvest, and thus we could .: > . bur when He had made the earth substantial, useful as it is. He - - -::.-/.— He wished ro give them, was delighted to look . ... :hem. and knew how happy we should be who *; blossom by the road-

side. There is no need of birds. The wor] would go its way. the seasons would ::i_: ■ .:.- another, the sun would rise and set. the forest trees would reach up toward the clouds, without them. God -1 this, and then tilled the quiet woods

with forms of beauty, ai Lged silence into

song. Even heaven itself has more than we should havelooke:! for J - might have had

a good, delightful heaven. wi:/_ ;;: ::u r sorrow signing. v-i:h:»u: leath. and such a heaven we in the vision of the Apocalypse, which

.. gli-ten wi:h jewels. So i: mi^ht have

:: v-i:h :. n^-rment uf this w,_.rld. We might have had men to care for us, women to nurture us, fathers to work for us, a society whose process might move on with industry and safety from year to year. But God has added the richer delights of love and sympathy, of all that we name friend and friendship. It is in the same way that He frames his ordinances for us. We could have had all days alike, but when He had made six good days He added a seventh which should be wearied by no work, wherein the soul should be at leisure to live with itself in quietness, and worship God. He might have supplied all our wants in the course of nature, bringing his gifts to our door with regularity, and we should have lived our appointed time ; but He does more than this. He lets us thank Him when we take our daily bread, and blesses the bread with the love which gives it. He even lets us tell Him what we wish, and to our wishes He gives patient heed. He might have left us to conscience and experience, in the light of nature to frame our character and our hope, but to these He has added the thought of other men, the revelation of his wisdom by his saints, the gift of his spirit to our spirit, to be in us a continual light.

There is a very good expression of God's way of dealing with us in a line of the twenty-third Psalm, " My cup runneth over." This seems unnecessary. To have the cup full, or a little less than full, is enough for us, and more convenient. For us, but not for God, who delights in filling it ; and when we bid Him stay his hand, He keeps on pouring, and the water flows, till, presently, the cup is overflowing, not because we thought to have it so, but because of his great delight in giving ; until it would seem as if He could not stop, or content himself with that which He has already bestowed upon us. Let this stand as a simple expression of his way with us.

When we come upon anything that all good men approve, we may be very certain that we have found something which God himself approves, and which is in the method of his life. We like, among ourselves, this principle of the cup that runneth over. Our liking for it we have inherited from God. We might expect, therefore, that when the Son of God has his life in the world He will live by this rule, which is of heaven and of earth ; and it is even so. His first miracle would seem unnecessary. There have been people who blindly but honestly wished that He had never wrought it. Why did He do it if there was no need of it, if it were even possible that it should be wrested from its meaning ? He had gone as a guest to a wedding, perhaps because the bride was his friend, and there came that grave calamity which would mar the feast ; for presently it was whispered to Him, " They have no wine." Surely they could have a wedding without wine. Not that wedding. Not in the custom of that time. He knew that the bride, if she lived to be old, would never recover from the shame of her wedding-day, whose beauty was lost. Here was a necessity, in love, in kindness ; and that the cheeks of this girl might not redden with shame, He reddened the water into wine.

He was at Capernaum. They brought to him a man sick with the palsy. They broke up the roof, and lowered him to the feet of Jesus, who knew well what they wanted. He passed over the little thing which they sought, and, governed by his own feeling, not by theirs, he said, " Son, be of good cheer ; thy sins are sent away from thee." That was enough. In a few days, the man would be able to walk without his help. Death comes to the succor of cripples. The man gave no sign of discontent, but Jesus found that the friends were unsatisfied, and He thought within himself, " You brought him here that he might be raised up, and be made able to carry his bed home. I have done a greater thing for him, but I will add this which you want." " Arise," He said, " take up your bed and go your way." He did the greater work which made the soul strong, and for the lesser work, —