Wanted—More Calebs

I ho is Caleb? I never heard of him.” That is quite possible; for in the Bible gallery of characters there are some modest people whose presence we only discover as blind men find out rose-bushes — by their fragrance, Dorcas probably made no sensation in Joppa; but when Dorcas’ fingers grew quiet under the grave-clothes, Joppa found out what they had lost, and the poor women came in and preached her funeral sermon in warm tear-drops on her silent face. To this same class belong Ezra, the scribe; and Hannah, the praying mother; and Andrew, who believed in personal effort; and Onesiphorus, who was not ashamed of Paul’s chain. Caleb stands in this catalogue — a type of thorough-going servants of God, who do a great deal with but little noise, who stand meekly and* steadily at their posts of duty, who never shirk their share of toil or danger, who do not attract much attention until they are gone!’ Then how we miss them in the church, in society, in the Sunday-school! How the family or the neighbourhood suffer for the want of them 1 How hard it is to get along without them!

Caleb’s whole biography is condensed into a few bright sentences. He was the cTaietom oi z. daxv in

Israel, was selected as one of the deputation to go down and spy out the land of Canaan; he came back, helping to cany the luscious load of Eshcol grapes, and made a strong report in fevour of the immediate occupation of the land; and when the panic-stricken people clamoured for retreat on account of “the giants there,” Caleb came to the front and made a ringing speech, in the face of poltroons who stood with stones in their hands to batter him to the ground. God’s verdict on the man’s steadfast heroism was in these brief words: “My servant Caleb will I bring into the land, who hath followed me faithfully In another passage it reads, “He hath followed me wholly,^^ In still another it is written,” He hath followed me fully God was as good as His word. While the cowards and the rebels all perished in the wilderness, stout, steady old Caleb lived to own the beautiful acres on the hills of Hebron, and in full view of the verdant vale of Eshcol. When the long march and the bloody war were over, he tasted of the grapes of victory — even as our Lincoln did for a few brief hours before his martjnrdom.

Caleb is the man most needed in our Churches in these latter days. He is the type-man for thorough-going fidelity. He followed the Lord fully. What we want to make Churches vigorous and successful is, not bustle, but business; not parade and puffery, but patience, prayer, and persevering work. We want the full following of Christ with the vhsAfc V’t’axX A’^^ the whole time, and for the whole life campaign. Christ started His Church on the principle of entire consecration. Over the doorway He wrote, “Whosoever would follow me, let him leave allV^ Again He said, “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” And again He said, “He that is not for me is against me.” It was thorough-going discipleship or nothing. “Sell all that thou hast and follow me” frightened the poor selfish young ruler back to his farm and to his fate. Christ would have no half-hearted disciples. He sifted His followers, and out of the whole nimiber there remained eleven men and a few faithful women to lay the foundation of His Church on the eve of Pentecost.

To follow Jesus fully requires a whole-hearted conversion at the start Half-way converts make half-way Christians. Some men’s boughs hang over on the Church side of the wall, but their roofs are on the world’s side. Such bear nothing but leaves. “Many lay false and bastard foundations,” said quaint old Rutherford; “and they get Christ for as good as half nothing, and never had a sick night of sorrow for sin. This maketh loose worky True enough; and, unless the conversion is radical and thorough, unless the submission of the soul to Christ is without compromise and conditions, there will be half-heartedness and halting to the last Caleb, we are told, “had another spirit within him.”

But there is prodigious power in singleness of love for Jesus — in the doing “Just otle twlxi?,” ^xA >(JaaX.ls» to live solely for the Master. A man of very moderate talents and endowments becomes a leading mind as soon as Christ gets complete hold of him. I can point to more than one plain, modest, moderatelyeducated Christian who has attained to a great propelling power in the Church simply from the momentum of his godliness. He follows Jesus so heartily, so projectively, that he carries others along with him by his sheer momentum. And that is not brain-power, or purse-power mainly, but heart-power.

So it comes about that thorough godliness outstrips genius in the pulpit. Thorough-going piety is the first requisite for the church officer, for the Sunday-school teacher, for the leadership of a class, of a meeting, or of any movement Thorough-going piety never commutes with the Master for half-fare; never whimpers, “I pray Thee, have me excused; “never interprets the Bible in the lax and latitudinarian sense; and when there is a doubt on any point, gives God and not himself the benefit of it Such a Christian “loves duty, even in all the wholesome severities of it” If his religion has ever a necessary pain or a pinch in it, he bears it without flinching. He never imitates Peter Pindar’s pilgrim, who, having been commanded to make a long journey with peas in his shoes, took the sly precaution to boil his peas before he started. Thousands are quite willing to go heavenward with us, provided they have a choice seat in the cushioned car; but commend me to the Calebs who, discerning the land afai off “Mcv, x ^.^”^^ for a life-time march to reach it, over rough roads and with stony pillows for a bivouac.

I have to consider those the best members in my Church who are quite as good in ordinary times as they are amid the fervours of a revival When the Church is all aglow, and its meetings are magnetic with enthusiasm, how easy it is to catch fire, to sing, to shout hosanna, and to go into raptures on the mount. It is a luxury to be a Christian then. But when the fervour is gone, and the crowd is gone, and the flesh is weak or weary, and the very air of the room numbs the spirit, then to keep aglow, and to kindle others also, requires the living fire of Christ Jesus in the soul. It was easy for Caleb to exercise faith while he was picking EshcoPs grapes, and feasting on the fresh figs; but to keep up his faith amid an army of poltroons, and to hold out for nigh forty years in the desert, demanded and developed the most resolute pluck and principle. A revival brings great glory to the Lord, but it also brings great disgrace upon the Church, for it reveals so painfully the indolence and worldliness of those who never lift a finger for Christ at any other time. Revivals fill the Church; seasons of dulness and declension winnow the Church. We pastors never love our Calebs so well as we do in those dry, dreary spells of comparative drought; for they work right along, without any need of external excitements. They are the salt that never loses its savour. If seasons of spiritual declensioiv slix. ova OvMxOcifc, so do times of swimming worldly prosperity. Then we find out how many Calebs there are who can keep lowly in heart while their income is running up firom ten thousand to a hundred thousand. When silly furores and fashions rage, the chaff in our churches always goes with the gale; but steadfast, solid Caleb never has but one fashion, and that is to follow Christ His first rule always is, to please God, which trieth the heart, rather than man.

We have said enough to indicate who the Calebs are. They are the sinew of the Church. Blessed is the pastor “who has his quiver full of them!” To those who inquire, “How shall my Church be developed?” we answer: Ask God for more Calebs, and use such Calebs as you have. Remember, too, that a hundred half-Christians do not make a single whole one. Every addition made to the weight of our own personal Christianity adds to the weight and momentum of the Church of Christ.