God's Argument Against Asceticism

I will not henceforth drive out any from before them of the nations which Joshua left when he died, that through them I may prove Israel.” — Judges ii. 21, 22.

“I WILL not henceforth “— after this time. Up to this time God had made life easy for His people. He had lightened the force of their temptations by isolating them from bad company — by driving out the idolatrous tribes which used to inhabit the land. But now God says, ‘* I will make a change; I will let the bad company remain.” The spectator would have said, “This shows there is no Providence in history; if there were, would God allow the tares to corrupt the wheat?” But God Himself claims the seeming blot as a bit of the handwriting. He says that it is just for the sake of His people He lets the bad company remain, “that through them I may prove Israel.” And have we not here a lesson for all time? We all feel that the temptations of individual life grow deeper as the years roll. A child has few temptations; it has too little sense of the value of things to be tempted by them. Childhood is the age of Joshua; it is sheltered from its foes. But as life opens, temptation comes. Youth’s paradise has forbidden trees which are nevertheless revealed trees. The child may hide himself among the leaves of the garden; the young man dare not. Would you have it otherwise! Is there any father who does not wish to prove his son! Do you think a single Christian virtue could exist if the bad nations were expelled! Could there be faith without a cloud, patience without a delay, hope without a fear, strength without a struggle! The flowers of God are ripened by the frost. Charity comes in the chill; pity is born of pain; sympathy is woven by sorrow; courage is bred by conflict; love is revealed by the threat of loss. Grace, too, is a flower of the battle-field. God has prepared for His people not a desert, but a city. He would not be loved without rivals. He would not have you come to Him just because there is no other. He would be the chief among ten thousand. He would be the conqueror amid conflicting claims. He would be the chosen out of the million, the one attraction amid many meetings. That is why He drives not out the temptations of the soul.

Not in the desert would I serve Thee, O my God. I would not come to Thee simply because I have lost my world, because Thou hast driven out the old nations. I should like to give Thee a better proof of my love than that. Even human love has sighed to prove itself. It has longed for the presence of danger that it may reveal its power of sacrifice. Shall my love for Thee be less strong, O my Father! Shall all my thirst for chivalry be kept for earthly beings! Is there to be no more amongst us the spirit of that man who cried, “Lord, if it be Thou, bid me that I come to Thee on the waters “! Shall not my love for Thee, like Peter’s, wish to show itself! Shall it have no romance in it — no longing to dare something, to brave something, to sacrifice something! Has not romantic youth dreamed of how it will plunge into the water to serve the object of its love! And shall I have no such dream of serving Thee! Shall the desert be dear because it is not dangerous! Shall the solitude be sweet because it is not sacrificial! Shall the hermitage be holy because it has no hard hours! Nay, my Father, give me scope for my love! Bid me that I come to Thee on the waters! Let me cherish the dream that youth delights in — the dream of devotion in danger! Let me seek Thee in the storm; let me wait Thee on the wave; let me find Thee ‘mid the fires; let me bless Thee in the battle; let me praise Thee in Thy peril; let me help Thee in Thy heaviness; let me join Thee at Jerusalem; let me crown Thee in front of Thy cross! Drive not out the nations from before me