Unto the Lord

‘¢ Whether we live, we live unto the Lord.’’ — Rom. xiv. 8.

I am recalling two very strong and gracious testimonies which were paid to the life and character of the late Bishop Westcott. One was by Archdeacon Boutflower: ‘‘In the presence of the unseen Westcott met all life, and you could not surprise him out of it.’ And the other was by Canon Scott Holland: ‘‘He read and worked in the very mind in which he prayed.’ Both testimonies are concerned with the same experience. Bishop Westcott conveyed to his friends the moving suggestion of the divine presence, because he lived continually in conscious and all-controlling communion with God. When he passed from one thing to another there was no change of atmosphere. Nay, there was no change of spiritual posture; the mood in which he studied was the mood in which he prayed. His religious life was not a bundle of shreds and patches. It was a garment woven throughout, and without seam. If you came upon him unawares the mystic influence was not absent. You could not “surprise him out of an,

Arnold of Rugby said in one of his letters that he was very much dissatisfied with his

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Unto the Lord 49

religious life because he realised such a change in spirit and attitude when he passed from his private devotions to the common affairs and business of the school. And that is a dissatisfaction which is shared by a host of Christian believers. We leave something behind when we leave our chamber. The spirit of worship is not regnant in our work. We do not pray without ceasing. We do not meet all life in the presence of the unseen. And, therefore, there are long stretches of unconsecrated ground. We worship in this mountain, and perhaps in Jerusalem, but the distance between the two heights is not the highway of the Lord. Here and there in life there is a burning bush, but the entire forest is not aflame with the glory of the Lord. We go to service occasionally; life is not a ceaseless worship.

And yet our Father seeks unbroken communion with His children. He would have us meet everything in the fellowship of the unseen Friend. In His light we are to see light. Everything is to be viewed in the light of His countenance. The unfailing sense of His presence makes life a continual consecration. We are always at worship, and the whole world becomes the temple of the Lord.