1098
THE K I N G ’ S B U S I N E S S
who espoused His cause, Nicodemus and Joseph of A rim athea. His friends for th e most p a rt were people who, in th a t climate where ophthalmy or inflamma tion of' th e eyeball sweeps ever and anon as a scourge, had become blind, sick people who were anxious to get well, and troubled people in whose fam ily th e re was some one dead or dying. If He had a purse a t all, it was empty, or we would have heard w hat was done w ith th e contents a t the post-mortem . Poor? The pigeon in th e dove-cote, the rab b it in its burrow , th e silk-worm in its cocoon, the bee in its hive is b etter provided for, b etter off, b etter sheltered. Aye, th e b ru te creation has a home on earth , which Christ had not. The Crown P rince of all heavenly dom inion had less th a n the raven, less th a n the chamois, for He was homeless. Aye, in th e histo ry of th e universe th e re is no o th er instance of such coming down. Who can count th e m iles from th e top of th e th rone to th e bottom of the cross? C leopatra giving a banquet to Antony, took a pearl worth one hun dred thousand dollars and dissolved it in vinegar and swallowed it. B u t when our P rince in His la st hours took th e vinegar, in it had been dissolved all th e pearls of H is heavenly royalty. Down un til th e re was no o ther depth fo r H im to touch, troubled un til th ere was no o ther harassm en t to suffer, poor un til th e re was no o ther pauperism to to rtu re. 7 One of John Bunyan/s g rea t books is en titled “Grace Abounding.” “ It is all of grace th a t I am saved” has been on th e lips of hundreds of dying Chris tians. The boy was rig h t when, being exam ined for adm ission into Church membership, he was asked: “Whose work was your salv ation ?” and he an swered, “ P a rt m ine and p a rt God’s.” Then the exam iner asked: “W hat p art did you do, Sammy?” and th e answer was: “ I opposed God all I could, and He did the rest.” Oh! the heigh t of it,
th e depth of it, th e length of it, the b read th of it— th e grace of God! Oh, th e personality of th is religion! Not an ab straction ; not an arch under which we walk to behold elaborate ma sonry; not an ice castle like th a t which Empress E lizabeth of Russia, over a hundred years ago ordered to be con structed, w inter w ith its trowel o ' crystal cementing th e huge blocks th a t had been qu arried from th e frozen rivers of th e N orth; b u t a F a th e r’s house, w ith a wide h ea rth crackling a h earty welcome. A religion of w arm th and inspiration, of ligh t and cheer! Something we can take into our hearts, and home, and business, and recreation, and joys, and sorrows. Not an unm an ageable gift, like the galley presented to Ptolemy, which requ ired four thou sand men to row, and whose d rau g h t of w ater was so g reat th a t it could not come n ear th e shore; b u t something you can ru n up any stream of annoyance, however shallow. E nrichm ent now, en richm ent forever. The seven wise men of Greece were chiefly known each for one apothegm : Solon for th e saying, “Know thy self” ; P eriand er for the saying, “Nothing is impossible to indu stry ” ; Philo for the saying, “Suretyship is the precursor of ru in .” And Paul, distinguished for a thousand utterances, m ight well afford to be memorable for th e saying: “YE KNOW THE GRACE OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST, THAT THOUGH HE WAS RICH, YET FOR YOUR SAKES HE BECAME POOR, THAT YE THROUGH HIS POVERTY MIGHT BE
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