The Emancipation from School
’ Having abolished the lazv of commandments contained in ordinances.” — Ephesians ii. 15.
WHEN a boy finally leaves the class-room the methods of school are for him abolished. He forgets the old rules for doing things. He adds up his sums in the ofifice by a much quicker process than that used in the class. He speaks good grammar without remembering one rule of syntax. He modulates his voice without recalling one precept of the elocution master. He acts with perfect politeness without recollecting a single passage from the book of etiquette. So, too, is it in Christ’s world. When I reach the spirit of Christ I forget the old rules for being good. I have heard a child say, “I am tired of being good!” I do not wonder at such a spcev:h. Everything committed to memory by rule is essentially tiresome. Goodness is no exception. If I have to count every morning how many kind things I shall do for my brother during the day, I shall be very weary ere the day is done. But when there comes to me that one thing called love, I cease to be careful and troubled about the many things. Love gives me the instinct of the bee. It becomes my immediate monitor. It abolishes rules. It guides me by the impulse of the moment. It says: Take no thought what you shall speak. Love will tdl you on the spot what you shall speak. You will be like the lily of the field — growing spontaneously, like the bird of the air — singing unconsciously. Your goodness will be innate, and therefore irrepressible. You will have no need to commit the ten commandments; grace in the heart can dispense with stores in the memory; Moses can leave the mount when Christ appears.
O Love, Divine Love, set me free from the yoke of weariness! Thy yoke is easy and Thy burden is light! Thou canst make me an instinctive thinker, a spontaneous worker, an extemporaneous speaker. The schoolmaster can lead me into the paths of rightonsness; but when lie leads me thither, the pastures are not green and the waters are not quiet. Thou, O Love, canst make the pastures green; Thou, canst make the waters quiet! With Thee I shall run and not be weary; with Thee I shall walk and not faint. I shall not count how often I must forgive my brother; I shall forgive him only once — once for all. I shall not weep that I am taxed for the poor; I shall deem it a privilege to pay., I shall not congratulate myself that I was absent from a scene of misery; I shall feel bound to seek out that scene. I shall not ask nervously whether a task is commanded in the Bible; if it is commanded in my heart, I shall anticipate the Bible. I shall be dead to the law when Thou Shalt come. I shall tear up the old rules when Thou Shalt come. I shall abolish the school lessons when Thou shalt come. I shall enter life’s playground when Thou shalt come. I shall be free as a bird when Thou shalt come. Even so come, Divine Love, come quickly!