The Wreath of Victory

HeEncErortH there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness,

which the Lord; the righteous judge, shall give me at that day. A.V.

There only awaits me now the victor-wreath of righteousness, which the Lord shall award me in that day, He, the righteous Judge. WE have lingered a little over St. Paul’s metaphorical setting of his work and of its approaching end, and have seen how the forms of thought of his prime recur to him with a profound naturalness as he comes to die. We see him now using the like imagery for that sequel of glory which lies before him, certain with the certainty of the promise of his Lord, beyond the shades of death.

He has let his heart settle for a moment upon the deep and simple thought of the mere cessation of the long stress, the close of the wrestling, the goal of the race. This is absolutely true to the human nature which is God’s own making, and which divine grace, so far from annulling, only deepens and developes. We are so constituted by our Creator that while indeed we are designed essentially for action we can never be ultimately well off under friction. And the metaphors of wrestling and of racing connote not action merely but friction. When once the period of friction in our being reaches its end, if that end is legitimately reached, reached by

The Wreath of Victory

one who has ‘kept the faith,’ loyal to his Master’s 2 Tim. iv. word and will, then the reposeful happiness of the 8.

soul in the relief, the cessation, the exemption, is a The Bliss feeling perfectly pure and right. It means no weari- esness under the will of God, but a thankfulness, deep

as the being, that the time has come for doing that

will for ever in an action out of which the wear and

tear are gone. So it is no sin when the man is ‘glad

that he is quiet’ (Psal. cvii. 30), safe in the ‘desired

haven.’ One after another Bunyan’s pilgrims, as

they pass the river, rejoicing in their Lord, rejoice in

their rest. Valiant will no more need his sword,

that ‘true Jerusalem blade.’ Standfast’s ‘toilsome

days are over.’ They rest, and it is good.

But then the Christian’s prospect is never merely Yet Rest is rest. As we have seen, it is rest in an activity out 70¢ all. of which wear and tear are gone,

‘ L’éternel mouvement dans léternel repos.’ And it is more than even this. It is a prospect which, for the true wrestler, and runner, and keeper of the faith, includes a crown, a ‘wreath of victory.’

The brilliant sequel of the Greek’s athletic triumph The Wreath was his wreath. To be sure, it was only a circlet of aie ‘corruptible’ leaves. But what did it not denote and convey to the recipient? A wealth of admiring and generous welcome, above all at his exultant home.

Many a little town in those days of old Hellas took

down a piece of its white wall in order that its son,

crowned with the crown of the Isthmus or of Olympia,

might enter it by a gate unused before! Loving

honour, no mere negative exemption from toil and

struggle, was the issue of the physical stress and strife. K 145

2 Tim. iv.
8.

Grace and
Personality.

Love crowning Love.

So it was with the Apostle, not merely as he was an Apostle — we shall see more of this in our next chapter — but as he was a faithful servant of his King. He was about to rest, at once, profoundly, gloriously, and for ever, with Him whom he knew and loved. But ‘in that day’ he was also to receive ‘the victor-wreath (stephanos) of righteousness’ from the hands of the righteous Arbiter of the conflict and of the course. He was to be decorated, to be acclaimed, to be honoured with the open approbation of his Lord.

All was of course ‘of grace.’ Had it not been for free grace this man would never have been a believer, a worker, a witness at all. But when grace came it made — not an automaton but — Pavt to be, in all his large personal freedom and spontaneity, all these wonderful things. Its result was — a person, responding to the personal will of God, in holy love and self-forgetting sacrifice.

To that result, in the sublime ‘righteousness’ which is implied in God’s fidelity to Himself, He must needs respond in turn with His own ‘well done, good and faithful servant’ (Matt. xxv. 21, 23), hailing the man ‘into his Master’s joy.’

Such was the prospect, full of a sinless personal exultation, for this great Christian. Rest, a ‘glorious rest,’ awaited him now, at once. Then, a little later, ‘in that day,’ the hand of eternal Love would be extended from the throne, and the Lord would coe with light and power for ever His true servant’sove.