Asceticism

“Lay not thine hand ittpon the lad, for now I know that thou fearcst God.” — Genesis xxii. 12.

AND SO, my Father does not need any pain! I used to think that He did. I used to think that pain was inseparable from holiness. I used to measure a man’s piety by his gloom. The scene on Mount Moriah puts this error to flight. Why is Abraham called to suffer pain? Because he is a man of ripe holiness? No; because he is a man whose ripeness has not been proved. The moment it is proved, the pain ceases. Isaac is given back to him. The sacrifice is repealed. The act of asceticism is forbidden. The process of immolation is pronounced unnecessary. It is pronounced unnecessary because holiness is proved, because the gates of the religious life have been opened, ‘’ Put not thine hand upon the lad, for now I know that thou fearest God.”

So shall it be with thee, O my soul! Why admirest thou the men who court religious pain! Why buildest thou a monument to the sons of the desert — the Abrahams who have given up their Isaac just in order that they might feel sad! Thinkest thou that such sadness is dear to thy Father! When His voice is heard in the garden in the cool of the day, will it please Him to find Adam in a heat of perplexity! Shall love be glad when its object trembles at its tread! Shall love be glad when its presence is greeted with tears! Shall love be glad when its footfall on the stair awakes a cry of agony! Nay, my soul, thy Father is waiting for thy joy. Thou callest thy days of joy summer days; so does thy Father. Thy summer is thy ripeness. Thou hast not perfect liberty with man till thou hast basked in the light of God. It is not on the top of the hill that thou art called to give up thine Isaac; it is at the hiUfoot. It is from thy zvorldly state that thy Father demands asceticism. Is it not written, ‘’ You are not straitened in Christ; you are straitened in your own affections! “It is not Christ that narrows thee; it is the want of Christ. To whom does He say, ‘’ Go not into the way of the Gentiles “! Is it to the developed band of disciples? No, it is to the primitive band. It is to the men that have not yet seen the kingdom, the power, and the glory. But, my soul, if thou wilt reach the summit of Mount Moriah, it will be otherwise with thee. From the top of the hill thou shalt see the glory of the outspread land. Isaac shall be restored to thee on the mountain summit. Old limits shall be broken; old prohibitions shall be annulled. For thee the way of the Gentiles shall be opened. The freedom of the city shall be given thee — the freedom of the City of God. Thou shalt be lord of the Sabbath in fellowship with the Son of Man — thou shalt walk in the cornfields with untarnished holiness. Thine shall be the joys of Cana; thine shall be the joys of Bethany. For thee all the birds of Galilee shall sing; for thee all the flowers of Sharon shall bloom. The world shall be thine; life shall be thine; principalities and powers shall be thine. The river of God’s pleasures shall give thee back thy pleasures. The fountain of Divine life shall return the spray of the earthly sea. Thy surrendered Isaac shall meet thee at the top of the hill.