The Anonymous Ministries of Life
And Jacob was left alone; and there wrestled a man with, him until the breaking of the day. — Gen. xxxii. 24.
And there came a man of Grod unto Eli. — 1 Sam. ii. 27. Two men stood by them in white apparel. — Acts i. 11. There stood a man of Macedonia. — Acts xvi. 9.
In these passages no names of speakers are given; yet all the speakers made most solemn and important communications. As a rule, we properly ask Who speaks to us? We wish to know the name of the speaker that we may properly estimate the value and Authority of his words. It appears however, from the passages before us, that there may be occasions when the thing said is of infinitely greater importance than the mere personality of the speaker; and when indeed, any question of mere personality would debase and mar the communication. Some statements require all the help they can get from the individual influence of the speaker; others come to us with the authority of human nature; — they calmly yet mightily make their own way, and the speaker becomes to us as God. Strange as it may appear there are many instances in which we require personal confirmation of mere trifles, and yet receive the most vital statements without asking for the credentials of the speaker. The reason is that the statements »re vital. They find a witness in our own nature. They are but the articulation of our own thoughts. In preaching the Grospel for example this is the supreme advantage of the preacher. Any question of the speakers name, position, or antecedents, is an impertinence compared with the momentousness of his message. So the humblest social position does not detract from the dignity of the servant of Christ. He never calls attention to himself; he is the voice of God to the soul of universal man. The one truth, then, the profound and most solemn truth, suggested by the passages before us is, that human nature as such, apart altogether from all accidents of mere personality, is continually and urgently teaching the highest lessons, and imposing upon men the most imperative obligations.
I. There aee anonymous ministries in life which
TEACH THE GREAT FACTS OF SPIRITUALITY AND INVISIBLEness. Look at the case of Jacob. There wrestled a man with him until the breaking of the clay. Jacob had no doubt of his humanity. He spoke to him as a man. The strange visitor in his turn spoke to Jacob the language common amongst men. Jacob was in sorrow. The sword of self-accusation was piercing him through and through. He was in that state in which he longed for some human voice to speak one word of kindness to him. He could not live without being blessed. He had reached that well-known point of agony which must end either in a moment of supreme blessedness, or in the gloom of final despair. Jacob, having been blessed, inquired the name of his interlocutor; but the truth of the doctrine on which we are now insisting was illustrated by the instant inquiry, Wherefore is it that thou dost ask after my name? What are mere names? Receive the blessing, — ‘’ as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed,”’ So it was to Jacob an anonymous ministry; yet it blessed him; it drew him close to the limit of the material and visible, and impressed him with the solemnity of the spiritual and unseen. Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: for I have seen God face to face.’’^ Of course there is a speciality about this case which marks it as miraculous. There is here a hint of the one Incarnation which has given all flesh a new standing before God. Still there are human elements enough in the incident to justify the inference that man is not self-complete and self-terminating: there is something beyond him: again and again in the sublimity of his speculation, in the flashes of transcendent genius, in the agony of vehement prayer, he shows that beyond him is life unattained — around him are mysteries which chasten him by their solemnity, and elevate him by their grandeur. Often through the human we see the divine. It is impossible to rest upon any theory of human nature which is, so to speak, exclusively human. When the poet sings, we feel that the whole case is not before us; the man is a mystery; in him there is an angel; his notes are not earthly voices altogether; they descend from a higher melody. When a mother pours the river of her love upon a poor sick child, we feel that we do not see all. This love is not original, nor is it exhaustive. We dare not say the grave will swallow this up, and death shall triumph over love. A sensation of appalling yet hopeful mystery overcomes us. To the far-seeing poet, to the self-sacrificing woman, our heart says, ‘^ I will not let thee go, except thou bless me,^^ for we feel surely that such light and such love are immediately of God. We get this view of human nature most vividly, of course, when human nature is seen in its highest condition. In the poet there is more of mystery, because more of God, than in the unenlightened Hottentot. We are.
however, to remember the difference between life and the mere characteristics of life; between essences and accidents. If ‘^Hhe meanest flower that blows could give the poet ^Hhoughts that do lie too deep for tears/^ so the meanest man the most neglected child, the most degraded heathen, will reveal to us more of God than we can find in the pomp and wealth of nature. Regarded in this light, humanity becomes a continual ministry; anonymous so far as mere personality is concerned, yet bearing the awful signature of God Himself. The less is daily seeking the blessing of the greater. If not actually invoking it in words, mutely pleading for it in every aspect of destitution and every pang of misery.
II. Theee aee anonymous ministries in life which
PEONOUNCE upon HUMAN CONDUCT THE JUDGMENT OF
Almighty Gou. “There came a man of God unto Eli.’’^ No name is given. The ministry was anonymous, yet most personal in its application. The nameless man spoke in the name of God. “The Lord God of Israel saith, I said indeed that thy house and the house of thy father should walk before me for ever: but now the Lord saith, be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.” There are announcements which vindicate their own righteotisness. They strike us dumb. They are conj&rmed by a voice within our own hearts. We feel that we should be but trifling with ourselves were we to raise any question of personal name or authority. No moral question lies entirely between man and man. Even the petty contentions of life have an outlook upon absolute righteousness and the eternal fitness of things. Every man who speaks a right word; every man who upholds an honest cause; every man who aims at a pure life; by so much condemns the corruption of the world, and brings sharp messages from God to fallen priests and unfaithful counsellors. Man must judge man; not carpingly and maliciously, in which case the judgment would recoil upon himself, but with all the dignity and poignancy of a judgment which is jealous for God. “There is a spirit in man, and the inspiration of the Almighty giveth him understanding.^^ It is not difficult, if a man be so minded, to escape the judicial bearing of human nature. Where it is not escaped, it may be resented. The probability is that the resentment will be in proportion to the personality. The man who reproves merely in his own name defeats his own object. It is only when he represents great breadths of humanity, and speaks in the name of common human interests, that he compels attention and rouses conscience. The minister of Jesus Christ is bound to take advantage of this principle. He deals with man, not witL. men. He is so to speak, that men will answer him as they answered his Lord — “Well, Master, Thou hast said the truth,” He is not to propose little personal theories, or preach narrow sectarian dogmas, which will excite unprofitable controversies. On the contrary, he is to utter, with all energy and pathos, truths which, whilst they are echoed by human consciousness, constrain men to acknowledge their need of redemption by the precious blood of Christ.
The ministry of a godly life, as also the ministry of a holy teacher, is to be a ministry of severe judgment upon bad men. They are to cry out, What have I to do with Thee, Thou Holy One! ‘^ The good man is to be the torment of the bad man. Not through pedantic displays of moral superiority, but by the continuous, unobtrusive, penetrating influence of a heavenly life. There are to be sharp collisions in society. Christianity is to be as a sword and a fire. Bad men are more and more to be made to feel that they live by sufierance, that their only safety is in the concealment of darkness, and that even there the avenging hand will afflict them with grievous pain. This, let me repeat, is to be done, not by the personality which says, “I am holier than thou,” but by the impersonality which merges the crotchets of the individual in the moral consciousness of the race.
III. Theee are anonymous ministries in life which
RECALL MEN FROM USELESS CONTEMPLATION AND REVERIE.
The disciples had just witnessed the ascension of their Lord. They had not begun to feel the temptations which arise from social and official equality, nor had they yet felt the chill of solitude. They could almost see the shining path up which their Lord had moved to the seat of universal power. Whilst they looked, as only eager and wondering love can look, “two men stood by them in white apparel, which also said. Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? ^’ It was but natural that they should so gaze. As it appeared to them, they had lost all that made their life different from the life of other men. The world was now disenchanted and impoverished — why not gaze into the consecrated clouds until they should be called to follow the Lord into His glory? It was at this point that an anonymous ministry saved them from the perils of religious ecstasy. There is a temptation to some minds to live entirely on the mysterious side of religion. Persons who yield to this temptation become contemplatists, idealists, mystics, and the like. They have an upward look, have they therefore a heavenward life? In the thrill of their own rapture do they remember the pain of the sorrowing world? Humanity calls us away from what may be described as the luxurious side of religion, and invites us to the luxury of doing good. A world of want is dailysaying to the cliurcli of Jesus Christ, Why stand ye gazing into heaven? The same world calls men back from transfiguration hills, to re-establish its wandering reason and bind up its broken hearts. It was enough that man needed Jesus Christ. The Saviour did not call for names and addresses. Necessity was its own plea. Behold, there was A man which had his hand withered. “There came to Him A MAN, saying. Lord, have mercy on my son.^^ “Behold, A WOMAN of Canaan cried unto him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou son of David.-” These were human calls, and the Son of God answered them as such. It was not because of the name of the individual, or the social position of the applicant; Jesus came to save humanity — to seek and to save whatever was lost.
We view human life superficially, if we do not see in its daily history a reason for turning Christian contemplativeness into Christian activity. There is no need to seeh fields of usefulness, they are ready to our hand. The man who is next to us may demand our godly concern and service. A gazing ’ church is a useless church. A gazing church is the most obstructive of stumbling-blocks. Christ is most honoured when men are most cared for. When we seek the wandering sheep, we make the heart of the Shepherd glad.
All this is in anticipation of the fourth point, viz., —
IV. There are anonymous ministries in life which
URGENTLY CALL MEN TO BENEVOLENT ACTIVITY. “A vision
appeared to Paul in the night: there stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us. A man without a name, yet from his speech the apostle ‘^’^ assuredly gathered that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them.^^ All humanity is calling upon the ambassadors of Christ for help. The men of the Cross must assure themselves that they only, as ministers of the Word of Life, have the help which the world needs. Ye are the light of the world.^^ Ye are the salt of the earth/^ “As ye have freely received, freely give.^^ ^’ Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Every man in his unrest is unconsciously calling for Christian help. Every inquirer, when he passes out of twilight into darkness, when he nears the limit of his little world, and looks out upon the silent, solemn infinite, sighs and cries for help with all the trembling hope and anxious joy of a soul baffled, yet not in despair. Men cannot be fully satisfied with fragments. They want the fulness of the Godhead — the living, loving ALL! What is the meaning of the worlds strife, the worlds cry of failure, the world’s moan of continual pain? It is a sigh for Christ. It is a call to the church.. It is not this man or that man in particular known by name; it is man, the lost child of God, that cries in his danger and anguish,” Come over and help me! Not, indeed, that he does this consciously, or in all cases with an immediately Christian aim. The Christian is called upon to interpret to man the meaning of the hearths hunger and distress. The man himself is the victim of all sorts of delusions; he hews out broken cisterns; he consults lying oracles; he prays to dumb idols; he yields himself to the base wizardry of false expectations. The man who knows the redeeming mystery of the Cross must say to him, ‘^ This is the meaning of your discontent; this is what you have all the while been vainly struggling to say; this is what that burdened aching heart of yours wants; ‘^ — then must be unfolded the glorious gospel of the blessed God; salvation through the work of God the Son, who was delivered for our ojffences, and raised again for our justification.
Our subject says to us — through man, God sends blessing; through man, God delivers judgments; and man cries to the church, ^’^Why stand ye gazing up into heaven? Come over and help us.^^ The two lessons arising out of this subject are as important as they are obvious.
First: We are to view our own position and duty in the light of humanity as distinct from mere personality. We are parts of a whole. We belong to one another. One has what another lacks. “Ye then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak.^^ The universality of our benevolence most surely consolidates our personal welfare. In watering others we are watered ourselves.
Second: We are not to wait for calls to service that are merely personal. The whole world calls. Humanity needs us. At home in the desert on the far-away island men appeal to us. He who speaks truth has the whole world for a congregation. He who speaks truth with pathos will bind many hearts to his ministry. Our gospel addresses itself to man. Our own little perishing name is not needed. We do not lift the gospel into dignity. It catches no lustre from our genius. It asks to be spoJcen, that it may vindicate its claim to be the answer of God to the unrest and the penitence of man.