The Union of Sanctity and Liberty

“By me if any man enter in, he shall go in and out, and find pasture.” — John x. 9. “He shall go no more out.” — Rev. iii. 12.

WHICH of these two statements is correct? They are made by the same man; and yet they seem contradictory. The one says that when a man comes to Christ he shall come out again into the world whenever he likes; the other says that when he once goes in he shall never come out at all. What does John mean? Has he changed his mind about the relation of Christ to the world? No, he is in perfect harmony with himself. What he means is that when a Christian comes out into the world he will cease any longer to regard the world as outside; he will count it a bit of the temple. He will find pasture in the places where he used to find waste. He never found pasture in the world before he came to Jesus; he thought it a scene of mental starvation. But when he comes to Jesus the world will take a new colour; it will catch the gloiy of Jesus. We often see a Christian coming out from the temple door and joining the merry secular throng. We say, ‘’ I told you the revival would not last; that man has cooled down; he has gone back to the world.” No, he has not; he has extended his Christian premises. To the eye of the spectator he is coming out — but not to his ozvn eye. The world is to him a mansion of the Father’s house — one of the many mansions. It is a room within the temple. It is a place of worship. It is an altar of sacrifice. It is a scene of prayer. It is a school for humility. It is a spot for revelation. It is a possible meeting-place with God.

My soul, thinkest thou that the only cross of Christ is that of the desert! Thinkest thou that there is no altar of sacrifice in the world! There is such an altar — and it burns most in the hour of social gaiety. I hear thee speak of the sacrifice involved in worldly griefs; hast thou pondered the sacrifice in worldly joys! Hast thou considered the hour of festivity! When thou art sitting at the festive board and listening to the ringing laughter, hast thou meditated how many of these men are covering a cross! Why do they cover it? To prevent the sight of their pain from spoiling the evening’s joy. All such are bearing the true cross — Christ’s cross. They are hiding the thorn in the rose. They are burying the sigh in the song. They are shrouding the tear in the smile. They are concealing the weight at their heart by the lightness of their own movement. Abraham has risen up from before his dead to perform the courtesies of the householder; he has anointed his face and washed his hands that he may not break his brother’s joy. He still keeps his cross, but he keeps it under a wreath of flowers. Truly the service of this earthly table is a service in the courts of the Lord!