The Distant Scene and the Next Step

“I follow after. ..I press toward the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” — PHIL. iii. 14.

I rutnKx I know perfectly well what John Henry Newman meant in the familiar lines

“I do not ask to see The distant scene; one step enough for me,”

The sun has gone down, darkness has fallen over the world. The roads lose themselves in the gloom. No moon is in the sky, no stars. I have just a lamp in my hand, and it throws its friendly light about my feet, and I can see the next step, and then the next, but I can see nothing beyond. That is Newman’s symbolism, and in this symbolism his vital concerns are expressed. His world is filled with confusion. Reason has no clear landscape. There are, no long, open roads of definite comprehension. He does not see how things are going to emerge. He cannot discern a way out. Clouds and

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darkness are round about him. But he silences his clamorous spirit. He draws it back from its struggles with the night. He realises the strain of trying to peer into things which are concealed. “I do not ask to see the distant scene!’ And yet he would not sit down and become inactive. He would not be passive until the darkness lifted, when he might continue his journey through the landscape filled with light. Even though there is gloom in front of him he would keep on moving, ever moving! ‘** Keep Thou my feet.”” Even though the darkness enfold me let me continue walking! One step ata time! ‘‘ One step enough for me,”’

That is something of Newman’s meaning, and the movement of his spirit is clear. And yet I have always some reluctance, some slight check of hesitancy, when I sing the line, “‘I do not ask to see the distant scene!” “I do not ask!’ And yet I am afraid I often do. At any rate I ask that the goal may shine through the gloom and that the slow journey may be cheered by the sessed adi ay EE 172 The Distant Scene and the Neat Step

thought of destination. But, then, probably Newman would do all this, and his soul would keep the end in view even when the darkness was thick upon the intermediate road. Because the distant scene has so much to do with the next step. If there be some light ahead, even though it be only a gleam from a cottage window, it gives direction and inspiration to one’s steps.

I remember I was once appointed to preach at Saddleworth. It was a “supply” on our college list. I stayed with an old farmer. After the afternoon service I put up at his house until the time of the evening train. And the darkness fell; and the quiet day turned to a very stormy night, and soon the rutty roads were living streams. When the time for my train was getting near my friend gave me a farm lantern, “just to help you to see where you are going, and to keep you out o’ the ditch!” Well, that was something, but he added something that made it better. ‘‘ Do you see that glimmer of light yonder?” ‘“No,{where?” And

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ene ener eran — — —

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then he trained my eyes to catch a far-off gleam that looked miles away. “That is Saddleworth Station; make for that!” The two things gave me what I needed. The old, worn lamp gave me light for my feet, and each step became clear, and that glimmer of the distant scene gave me cheer and appointed the course of my journey.

And this surely is something like what the Apostle Paul had upon the way of his troubled and stormy life. There was always something shining through the gloom and confusion, even “‘ the mark of the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.” His imagination was always lit up with the splendour of the goal. His eyes were never empty of light. The goal was never separated from his steps. It inspired every step he took. You can see it in the story of his life, and in his own account of his spiritual moods and movements. ‘ That light yonder!’? He never missed it, and he never lost it. ‘I follow on if that I may apprehend that for which also I was apprehended by Christ Jesus.” His eyes were bright

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with the light of destiny. That which was distant brought a glory to that which was near.

And so the Apostle followed on to the next step because of the continued inspiration he found in the goal. He drew reserves from the distance and they gave spring and buoyancy to his feet. Indeed, it may be said that he took the very next step in a sort of association with the final step. The ultimate was wedded to the immediate. He practised walking in the golden streets even while his feet were still on the flinty roads. That is the wonderful thing. about God’s shining goals. They come out to meet you. They are like the mysterious island in ““Peter Pan” — we go out to seek the island, and we discover that the island is out seeking us,

There are many people who take the next step badly just because they have no distant scene. Nay, there are many folk who have no next step because they have no home. It is all right about your next step when you have home to go to, and you are on your

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way home. But to have no home, to be a vagrant, to have “‘ nowhere to go ’’ — well, there is no next step which marks the line of an increasing purpose, the highway of a growing progress and attainment.

And one further word about the ministry of the distant scene. It is the feeling for the distant that so often reveals what the next step is to be. We discipline and refine our sense of the immediate by our fellowship with that which is far away. Our eyes acquire a keenness and we discover an increased power of discernment. And so there is something profitable in star gazing! It strengthens the eyes for the nearer tasks. It is more than likely that we shall increase our common sense by enlarging our spiritual sense, and that our immediate duties will become clear in the light of the ultimate vision. ‘“‘In Thy light shall we see light.” ‘“‘Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a guide unto my path.”

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