348
June 1927
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
The K ing W ith the Golden Touch B y R ev . A. D. B elden , B.D.
T HERE is no story that Nathaniel Hawthorne has told better than his version of the old Greek myth of King Midas. Having lost his soul to love of gold, King Midas was given the golden touch—the power to turn all to gold. He touches books-^their wisdom is lost in gold; he touches flowers^—their fragrance and va ried beauty are lost in gold ; he touches his little daughter Marigold—and she too turns to gold. Wisdom, beauty, love fall before the all-consuming gold. It is a story whose moral is ever needed. It is not of that moral, however, that I write. It is, instead, of the fact that, legendary though the' story is, it is right in one great feature—there is a golden touch—a true golden touch. There, is a power which can change the dross of human nature into the gold of divine character, the soul leprous with sin into the soul resplendent with shining purity, the dullest circumstances into the brightest prospects. Very much is made in history of the power of touch. A whole world of mystic lore and symbolism gathers round it. The processes of anointing and of “the laying on of hands” point to the ancient belief that intrinsic power could be passed from individual to individual by touch. The same idea is found in the pathetic superstition of the healing power of the royal touch. The king’s touch, as being of special benefit, was believed in, in England, as late as the reign of Queen Anne. Charles II. and Tames II. both touched many a sick person brought to them for healing, and without a doubt some recovered after it, if not because of it. T he T ouch of J esus It is not surprising, therefore, that we find in the Gos pel stories a marked emphasis upon the touch of Jesus. In several of His miracles Jesus makes physical contact with those He heals. Are we to believe then that physical touch is necessary for the conveyance of supernatural power and grace? I think not. The touch of Jesus was, like His laying hands on the heads of little children, an inevitable and natural expression of His great and tender good-will towards men. The only vital contact we can believe in is the contact of soul with soul—-a spiritual touch. When a man shakes your hand, it is not the phy sical contact that matters—it is thé spirit behind it, control ling it, stamping its own character upon it, and it is only that spiritual contact which gives you the key to the exact significance of the physical touch. Remember the leper whom Jesus touched. “Jesus put forth His hand and touched him. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed.” That leper was in the deepest abyss of misery conceivable. Outcast from kith and kin and human society, he was utterly alone in his affliction. Wherever he went he must warn people away from con tact with him, crying, “Unclean! Unclean!” To touch such an one was strictly forbidden by the law, and was viewed by all with horror, disgust and loathing. Yet Jesus, sinless, stainless, the perfect vehicle of life and divine power, is moved with compassion, enters fully into this man’s condition and gives free and natural expression to His love. He bridges the gulf between the world of health and this man of sin and shame, and touches him.
Was the healing in the touch of flesh upon flesh? Surely it was in that royal will, that flame of love, that passion to bless behind the touch of that hand. And thus the story becomes a great symbol of the work of Jesus everywhere, of His ministry to every generation. He has the golden touch. He lives to touch men and to bless them in the touching. H idden G old And all through His ministry, and all through the cen turies succeeding,- Jesus has been touching the sinning, suffering souls of men and women with a touch that calls into being and brings to the light all the buried hidden gold of goodness. There was a woman so evil in life and nature that people said she was possessed by seven devils. Tesus touched her, and Mary Magdalene became a saint whose pure devotion to her Lord is a proverb. A man named Peter was convicted of base treachery and meanest cow ardice. Jesus waylaid him on the shore of the Galilean sea, and by renewed contact changed him into the boldest of His band. A man named Saul was consenting to the death of Christ’s followers and hunting them to the slaughter. Jesus arrested him ,on the Damascus road,, and Paul the Apostle began hunting for Christians in a very different sense, resting neither day nor night in his passion for. bringing all mankind under the golden touch of Jesus. There was a swearing tinker of Bradford whom Jesus touched and transformed into the Immortal Dreamer, the writer of the most widely circulated and most saving book, except the Bible, in all literature. There was a worthy, rather formal Church of England minister whom Jesus touched, with the amazing result that he broke away from Church buildings and preached to the people in the fields and under the hedgerows, till the name of John Wesley and the sound of his Gospel were in the ears of every Englishman. And so one might go on. As numberless as the sands upon the seashore is that multitude of souls that Jesus has touched with a golden touch, turning the very dross of hu man-kind into the pure gold of divine character. We have all of us been charmed at some time in our life by the story of the Sleeping Beauty, awakened to life and happiness by the kiss of the heroic prince. Little did we think of the true depth of meaning in that parable of our childhood. In every one of us is that Sleeping Beauty, that Bride of Christ whose heavenly splendor none can bring forth to life and light except Jesus, the Prince of Life, the King with the golden touch. No less wonderful than His influence upon persons is the transforming power of the touch of Jesus upon cir cumstances. The most sordid surroundings reveal aspects of unrealized beauty and brightness- under His touch. The supreme instance of this is, of course, the Cross. It was the symbol of utter shame, hopeless torture and cruel hate, when Jesus found it. He touched it, and lo! it became evermore sacred and beautiful, a perpetual symbol of the highest glory and the greatest love. And what Jesus did for His own Cross He is ever striving to do for yours and mine. He has done the same for a great host of His suffering servants.
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