Unconscious Christianity

“Then asked they him, What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk? And he that was healed wist not who it was.” — John v. 12, 13.

Here is a man who is very defective in his answers to the catechism, yet who bears in his body the marks of the Lord Jesus. The schoolmaster puts to him the question, “What man is that which said unto thee, Take up thy bed and walk ‘? “He is speechless. He is absolutely without a theology. He can give no account of Jesus — who He was, where He came from, whither He was going. Men would have said he was an agnostic; he “wist not.” Yet, all unconsciously to himself, this man was already a Christian. He had bathed in the crystal fountain; he had felt the sparkling spray; he had experienced a new life in heart and limb. He was a disciple without knowing it — a follower without a faith, a convert without a creed, a devotee without a doctrine. If you had asked him what church he belonged to, he would assuredly have answered, I am member of no church “; I do not know of 146 f-L

any communion that would have received a man of such limited knowledge. Yet at that very moment his name was certainly enrolled among the members of the Church Invisible. He was one of the hundred and forty-four thousand. He was numbered in the census of the New Jerusalem. He was a singer in the Choir Celestial; but he knew not the song he was singing. He was a painter in the Gallery of Grace; but he saw not the forms he was weaving. He was a builder of the Church Universal; but he thought he was making only a place for men to dwell in. He was led by the hand of Jesus; but he thought it was a servant’s hand.

Lord, there are many men of Bethesda among Thy people still. There are those who, like Jacob, get a blessing from Thee before they have learned Thy name. Often have I figured to myself that little child whom Thou didst raise in Thine arms. It got the blessing before it received the teaching. Many there be who enter into Thy temple by that door. They serve Thee ere they can name Thee. Like Abraham, they walk in the Promised Land and think themselves elsewhere. They do not know the cause of their own hearts’ burning. They say,” I got it from the torch of Nature; I was walking on the road to 147 K 2

Emmaus, and a man met me and gave me light.” Thou art that man, O Lord. It is Thou who disguisest Thyself in the dress of common day. It is Thou that meetest us on the secular road, the Emmaus road, the road of those who think they have abandoned Thee. It is Thou whom we take to be the gardener; it is Thou whom we mistake for the stranger. Often do we say to a wayworn traveller, ‘’ Abide with us, for it is evening, and the day is far spent.” We call the deed our philanthropy, our humanity, our natural charity. And, all the time, it is prompted by Thee. It is Thou whom I have asked to abide with me. It is Thou whom I have sheltered from the night. It is Thou whom I have constrained to come in and rest awhile. My charity has been chimed by Thee; my pity has been plumed by Thee; my heart has been heated by Thee; my kindness has been kindled by Thee; my compassion has been created by Thee. My benevolence is Thy blessing; my philanthropy is Thy flame; my grace is Thy gift; my love is Thy light; my mercy is Thy mediation; my sympathy is Thy sacrifice; my tenderness is Thy tending; my warmth is the working of Thy wings. I have sought my brother by the footprints left by Thee, and I wist not that they were Thine. 148