In Thy Light

THIN the church of God the quaUty of
actions depends not altogether upon

I what they are in themselves, but what they are in their relation to Christ. Many things, quite innocent in their proper sphere, become profane when brought into that temple where God, the Holy Ghost, has his dwelling place.

That mysterious stranger who awed me by his presence in church on that morning, is no ascetic. It cannot be forgotten that he once mingled in the festivities of a marriage feast in Cana, and that he drew about him sportive children and took them in his arms and blessed them. “And if Christ is such a one, oh preacher! do not make his church a mournful place where we must repress all exhibitions of natural joy and social good cheer, and becomxe as the hypocrites are who disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast.” Well-spoken counsel, no doubt! Yet Christ is still Christ; and he has never outgrown the print of the nails. So confident of this am I

that in dreaming over my dream in waking hours, S 65 it always seemed certain to me that, had I come near to him on that memorable Sabbath morning, I should have discerned the marks of his crucifixion in his body. What John the apostle is represented as saying of our Lord still holds true: Cheerful he was to us: But let me tell you, sons, he was within A pensive man, and always had a load Upon his spirits.

A convivial Christ is not quite the personage that rises up before us in the prophets and in the Gospels. And yet when one observes the pleasant devices for introducing men to him, which abound in the modern church — the music, the feasts, the festivals, and the entertainments — it would seem as though this were a very prevalent conception. No! Jesus is the serious Christ, the faithful and true witness who will never cover up his scars in order to win disciples. Our latter day Christianity would not abolish the cross indeed, but it seeks so to festoon it with flowers, that the offense thereof may be hidden out of sight. If Christ crucified is “unto the Greeks foolishness,” why not first present him in some other character if any of this cultured people are among the hearers? But does not the reader remember that when “certain Greeks” came to worship at the feast, saying “we would see Jesus,” the first recorded word which the Saviour spoke to them was: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die it abideth alone; but if it die it bringeth forth much fruit,” thus presenting the whole deep doctrine of the cross in a single condensed parable? Never has there been such a laborious attempt to popularize Christ as in the closing years of this nineteenth century. But if the Saviour were to come to church and reveal himself to those who have so mistaken his identity, we can well think of his saying: “Behold my hands and my feet that it is If?tyself; handle me and see.” Ah, yes! here are the tokens by which we recognize his real personality. “I perceive that Christ suffered only his wounds to be touched after he had risen from the dead,” says Pascal, “as though he would teach us that henceforth we can be united to him only through his sufferings.”

But it is Christ in the Spirit not Christ in the flesh whom we recognize as dwelling in the church now; and it is the church as a spiritual temple builded of living stones, not a material structure fashioned of wood or granite and consecrated to the Lord of which we are now speaking. Yes, and out of this conception came the heartsearching and the house-searching of which we write.

I have told the reader how having in vision recognized Christ as present on that morning, an intense anxiety seized me as to whether everything in the ordering of his house was as he would have it.

There was a choir in yonder gallery, employed at an expense of nearly three thousand dollars, to sing the praises of God in his church. Some of the number were believers; the larger part made no profession of discipleship, and some were confessed disbelievers. But they had fine voices, therefore were they there. No word of criticism can be passed upon them, since they were serving solely by the appointment of the church. But when now the presence of Christ by the Holy Ghost was realized, the minister of the flock began to have pangs of indescribable misgiving about this way of administering the service of song. Had it not been a method long in vogue? Yes. And did it not conform to the general usage of Christian congregations? Yes. Then why have scruples about it? There might have been none but for the presence of that revered man from heaven. But Christ has come to church: “and who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire and like fuller’s soap.” And the burning of that fire began from that day, and could never thenceforth be quenched: and the cleansing must now go on to the end.

Does the Scripture deal in poetry or in fact when it says to the church, the body of believers: Know ye not that ye are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” Into the inner court of that Jewish temple went the high priest alone, once every year, “not without bloody Not the less rigidly was it required of the common priests who” went into the first tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God,” that they should come first to the brazen altar of sacrifice and then to the laver of cleansing in order to be qualified for their ministry. And these things happened for ensamples unto us. The types are as rigid and unchangeable in their teaching as mathematics. The altar and the laver; the blood and the water: our justification by the cross and our sanctification by the Spirit — these two are absolutely prerequisite and their order is forever fixed. David under the old covenant sought for the true qualification of an acceptable worshiper when he prayed: “Purge me with hyssop and I shall be cleati; wash me and I shall be whiter than snowy It was first the blood and then the water. The exhortation to the worshiper under the new covenant is precisely the same:” Let us draw near,... having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water’’ (Heb. lo: 22). First cleansing by the blood, then sanctification by the Spirit.

The congregation of the regenerate church now constitutes the earthly priesthood under Christ our great High Priest. He could not enter into the holiest in heaven except by his own blood; no more can any one on earth perform the smallest service yo HOW CHRIST CAME TO CHURCH

in the worship of his house — that “holy temple in the Lord, builded together for a habitation of God through the Spirit “— who has not been justified by the blood of Christ. This was the deep and abiding conviction which seized one minister of Christ as his eyes were opened by the coming of the Lord to search his sanctuary. And then followed unutterable distress of conscience about this whole grave question. There were those singers standing above the communion table, leading a divinely appointed ministry of song. And yet the question had never been asked whether they had come under the cleansing of the blood of Christ and the renewing of the Holy Spirit; only whether they had fine voices, well trained and harmonious. The situation brought such burden of soul that sometimes the whole service — the prayer, the praise, the sermon — was gone through with under indescribable constraint and spiritual repression. When the mind of Christ was sought for in the matter, his voice was heard saying:” God is a Spirit, and they that worship him must worship in spirit and 17t truths Half the stanzas sung in an ordinary service are such that unconverted persons could not possibly sing them in truth, and none of them could they sing in “the Spirit.” Then came the habit of searching for hymns more neutral and more remote from Christian experience, lest I should be the occasion of causing any to speak falsely in God’s presence. And more than all, came what

IN THY LIGHT Jl

may be called a corporate conviction, a taking of blame on behalf of the whole church concerning this matter. For plainly the sin seemed nothing else than simony. The Lord has appointed the Holy Ghost to be the inspirer and director of sacred song in his temple: “Be filled with the Spirit, speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” (Eph. 5:18, 19, R. v.). This delight of sacred song is greatly coveted; and they who have wealth say, “We will give you three thousand dollars that you may buy this gift of the Holy Ghost, and may bring in singing men and singing women, the best that can be procured, that the attractions of our sanctuary may not be a whit behind the chiefest in all the city.” And it seemed to me that the voice of the Spirit concerning it all would be: “Thy money perish with thee, because thou hast thought that the gift of God may be purchased with money.”

Then in thought the vision came back, and yonder silent Christ seemed to speak: “Reach hither thy finger and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side.” And while we wondered he reasoned with us saying: “Who think ye that I am, oh, my brethren? And wherefore came I unto that hour when my soul was exceeding sorrowful, even unto death?” Was it that you might live delicately and bring in the minstrels to perform before you in my house? Behold they that live delicately are in king’s courts; but ye are they whom I have appointed to bear the cross and to fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ for his body’s sake, which is the church.” The sacrifice of praise, even tJte fruit of the lips,’’ have I enjoined upon you; but the luxury of sumptuous music, who has required it at your hands? Wherefore do ye spend your money for that which is not bread, when millions are perishing for the bread of life which I have commanded you to bring them; and I still wait to see of the travail of my soul and be satisfied?

As I heard all this the whole heart became sick. I thought of churches which were bestowing ten times, and in some instances fifty times as much for artistic music as they contributed to foreign missions, and I said: “We are believers by the cleansing of the blood and by the indwelling of the Spirit; have been constituted ’ a spiritual house, an holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices ‘/ but instead of using our ministry in humble dependence on the Holy Ghost, we have brought up minstrels from Egypt, that ’ music with its voluptuous swell ’ may take the place of that chastened, self-denying, holy song which no man can learn but they that have been redeemed.”

And out of this storm of questioning and misgiving, and all this deep inquisition of conscience, there arose at last one of the calmest, maturesr, and most unconquerable convictions of my life. I could never in any circumstance accept a ministry where the worship appointed by God has been so perverted by men. Not in the language of metaphor or of poetry, but in the words of literal truth I hear God saying: ‘’For the teinple of God is holy, which temple ye are.’’ When I can consent to have the communion table moved out into the court of the Gentiles, and call upon the thoughtless and unconverted to receive the sacred elements lying thereon, then I may see the propriety of bringing a choir of unregenerated musical artists into the Holy of Holies of the church, and of committing to their direction the service of song. This conviction rests neither upon prejudice nor preference, but upon the fixed assurance that in the house of God I am servant, not the master, and that I have no alternative but to comply strictly with the divine arrangements of the church fixed by the Lord himself.

When I had written all this I imagined I heard some reader exclaiming: “Is not this a Pharisee of the Pharisees risen up within the Christian church, and tithing the mint, anise and cummin of religious worship? Is there really any ground for his scruples, or anything practical in his suggestions?” Let this appear in later chapters.