Part 20

The Lord, through the Prophet Zechariah, addresses this message to Zerubbabel under remarkably instructive circumstances. Zerubbabel was the prince and leader of the Jews, under whom the first company of the exiles, numbering about 50,000, returned from the seventy years' captivity in Babylon. On reaching Jerusalem, he with his fellow-exiles promptly set about the work of building the second temple. They laid the foundations with great rejoicing, in high hope of speedily and successfully completing the work. But seeing the smallness of their resources and the vastness of the work, the large numbers who opposed, and the fewness of those who helped, also hearing the old men, who remembered the glory of the former, _i. e._, Solomon's Temple, say, as they looked with tears on the crude beginning before them, "It is as nothing in comparison," Zerubbabel and his people became discouraged and ceased from the work. For fully fifteen years nothing was done. To arouse the leader and stir up the people, to resume and press forward the work, the Lord by Zechariah now addresses them. Though they are poor and weak in comparison with the builders of the first temple, yet the Lord will have them know that this work is not wholly theirs, but is emphatically His, and must therefore be accomplished. By way of teaching them how this would be done, He sent them an impressive symbolic vision recorded in the verses immediately preceding the line of the text.

The prophet sees a candlestick all of gold, having seven branches, and on the top of each branch nine lamps. On the right side of the candlestick is a living olive tree, and on the left side a similar olive tree. These trees pour from themselves a plentiful and unfailing supply of oil into the central bowl of the candlestick. Then the prophet asks what the vision means. The reply given are the words of the text: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." The meaning evidently is this: As the candlestick--which stands for the Church--is furnished without cost or labor, with an unfailing and abundant supply of oil--oil being the symbol of the Holy Ghost--from the living olive trees, so will the Spirit of the Lord furnish abundant power and resources in ways within His power, to enable His servants to successfully complete the building of His house.

Thus, instructed and encouraged, leader and people promptly resume the work laid aside fifteen years before. There was no lack of materials. The building advanced rapidly to completion. In the sixth year afterwards the house was dedicated to God. As the people looked upon the great structure in its completeness, every stone and timber, from the lowest foundation to the highest pinnacle, seemed to reecho the language of the text. It is done, not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord of hosts.

Such is the original meaning and application, but it by no means exhausts the lesson,--rather suggests a much wider and universal use. In the New Testament and the Church of Christ it is also most emphatically true that all depends upon the light-giving, life giving, power-giving of the Spirit of God. It was so on the first Pentecost, which we commemorate to-day; it is just so now. The source of the Church's life, and its success, is the energy of God's Spirit. That is the one prominent thought and truth that we would meditate and impress upon our minds in these moments of instruction. Men are accustomed to look on the outward appearance. They are disposed to trust to material resources. Thus, quite naturally, they are inclined to fall into the error that God's cause, the preservation and extension of Christ's Church, are dependent upon the same things, that these same things are necessary to the success of the Gospel truth. Thus, to be more explicit, they have a notion that wealth and worldly influence are such necessary helps. We see money exercising a nearly unlimited sway for external comfort and enjoyment. We behold how those who possess it secure respect and homage, thousands standing ready to do with hireling eagerness their slightest wish. To the success of every scheme, whether material or intellectual, money in our day would appear to be the one thing needful. It is called the _nervus rerum_, the nerve of things. And is the Church exempt? How is it to be supported at home, how the heathen brought within its fold, unless the ear of the rich and the powerful be first gained and their purse-strings opened to supply the financial aid? Has it not come to this, that, when inquiring as to the prosperity of a particular congregation, wealth suggests itself as the most prominent, and piety and high moral worth as only subordinate ideas, if, indeed, these occur to people at all? Now it would be foolish to contend that money and wealth may not be, and actually are, a means in God's providence to further His cause. We need money, but, let it be noted, not as a necessary, but as only a very accidental means. To take any other view of the matter is to put it in the place of God, whence alone it can derive its efficiency.

Any one who has given calm and careful attention to the history of the Church, from the first publication of our holy faith by Christ Himself down to the present day, will have found that the favor of the rich and the powerful is not essential to its advancement. In the period of its rise and apparently greatest weakness, when it had only a few poor fishermen for its adherents and advocates, its growth was most rapid. After wealth began to make itself felt, its progress was retarded, and internal decay set in. By that we do not say that such has been, and naturally is, the result of every influence of this sort, but simply that the cause of divine truth is independent of all such agencies for its vitality and effective power. Riches and civil power cannot in themselves, and irrespective of the divine blessing, promote the cause of Christ in the world. That, I know, every one professing himself a Christian is ready at once to allow, and yet in view of the undue prominence that is made over the matter, it is proper to call heed to the warning contained in the text. Let us not overestimate and exaggerate the value of money in spiritual matters.

Again, it is well to remark that the cause of Christ is not dependent for its advancement on personal talents and high intellectual endowments. How much is not made of that these days! Correct enough, as the supernatural gifts of the Spirit ceased with the early Christian age, the Christian Church, guided by common prudence, as well as by the express statements of the Bible, has ever since required that those who occupy the sacred office should possess such an amount of mental culture as might fit them to interpret, expound, and apply the truths of Scripture, but that there is danger of overestimating and idolizing the intellectual ability of these office-holders to the practical neglect of the truth they present, is only too lamentably apparent. Since the day that Paul, Apollos, and Cephas divided the favor of the Church of Corinth, the one being for Paul, the other for Apollos, and the third for Peter, this partiality, or favoritism, has been very common and yet is. Add to this the growing intelligence of the age, its high and general standard of education, and the loud cry for men of talents and superior scholarship is strong and pronounced.

These things, accordingly, are not to be despised or neglected; on the contrary, cultivated. But let us not for one moment believe that Gospel truth is dependent on learning and genius to keep it awake. Learning and genius and oratory are nothing except when they are blessed; nay, without the blessing they are likely to be productive of injury, just in proportion as they are great. Let us beware of regarding them in any higher or different way. Unless an energy or agency superior to that of man pave the way for truth to enter, the finest scholarship and the most persuasive eloquence will not force a passage. What that energy and agency is the text tells us.

One other agency and resource upon which too much stress is laid is this: We have fallen upon a generation of fuss, bustle, trumpet-blowing, and advertising. It would almost seem as if many of us believed that we were to take the world by storm. We see it in every department, and the Church is falling in line. We have all sorts of noisy demonstrations and manifestations; ministers advertise themselves and their sermons under ridiculous announcements, as if to draw the crowd, and not rather regenerating their heart, were the only and sole purpose. Let us beware of placing too much significance on this matter of advertising. We must not be forgetful of the Master's direction: "Let your light shine before men." "A city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick." And yet, it is well to remember that vision of Elijah, when he stood upon Mount Horeb, and the Lord wished to speak to His servant. First there was a terrific earthquake that shook the ground; "but," it says, "the Lord was not in the earthquake." That was followed by a terrific whirlwind rending the trees and causing havoc around; "but," it says, "the Lord was not in the whirlwind." Then, following it, came a fire; "but," it says, "the Lord was not in the fire." Then, when tranquillity reigned again, and earth and skies lay in silence, "came a still, small voice." The Lord was in that. He is still in the still, small voice of Gospel grace.

Let the ministers preach this Gospel grace in all its purity and in all faithfulness, and it will do the work. It is the only instrument the Spirit employs in changing a man's nature. Let him and his members live that Gospel, let them show in their characters and behavior that they have been born again and are sustained by the agency of the Holy Spirit; that they are temples of God, and the Spirit dwelleth in them, and thus by a godlike life commend the religion they profess; let them both, minister and members, be found where they were all with one accord on the first Pentecost, in one place, that one place the place of worship; and let them both be doing what the first disciples were doing,--praying for the outpouring of the Spirit, upon themselves and their cause, and, verily, as God's promise is true, they shall not fail of a pentecostal outpouring, success, and blessing upon their undertaking.

Summon all your forces, mention all your resources. "Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." God, Holy Spirit, we invoke Thee, Come into our hearts, take possession of them, come into our homes, rule there. Come into our churches and our church. Come, and Thy people bless, and give Thy Word success, for Thou, and Thou only, canst and must do so. Amen.

TRINITY SUNDAY.

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all.--_2 Cor. 13, 14._

We are entering to-day upon the second part of the Christian church-year. The seasons and festivals of the church-year may be compared to a river that takes its rise, like the stream which washes the banks of our city, in some small and distant lake, and then ever continues to grow, widen, and deepen, until it becomes a majestic flow, and finally empties into the vast gulf of the ocean.

We have seen in the past months the river of grace and salvation issuing as a tiny rivulet from under a humble manger on Bethlehem's plains, passing through the gorge of Nazareth, flowing along the banks of Jordan, sweeping past the cities of Galilee and Judea, lifting up its surging billows to the height of Calvary and Olivet, until it overflowed the world with its heavenly billows on the day of Pentecost.

By that river it has been our good fortune to linger each Sunday, to dip up of its waters many a draught for our thirsty souls, and bathe in its currents for the washing away of our sins. To-day, however, we are called to ascend to its source, to leave Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Judea behind, to climb above Golgotha's Mount and Olivet's top, yes, to soar beyond the cloud which once received our ascended Lord out of sight, and to gaze upon a gulf, an ocean, which has no boundary and no shore. To speak in simple and unadorned speech: It is the subject of God Himself which we are invited to contemplate, the most overwhelming, mysterious, deepest of them all. "Who by searching," asks Job, "can find out God? Who can find out the Almighty to perfection?" And yet there are some things which we can and which we must know, for the subject of God is at the base of all things, of all religion. Without the right knowledge of God no man is a right man, and no one can rightly adjust himself to his place in this world or in the next. Let us, then, approach the great mystery of godliness, letting heavenly wisdom be our teacher.--

To-day's festival is called the Festival of the Trinity. What is the doctrine of the Trinity? For it certainly behooves every one to understand what is meant thereby, and this doctrine is held by all the Christian churches. Whosoever believes it, becomes a member of the Church. Whoever rejects it, ceases to belong to the Christian Church, and becomes a heretic.

Scripture tells us on the one hand that God is one, that there are not three Gods, but one God; on the other hand, that the Father is God, that our blessed Lord Jesus, the Son, is God, that the Holy Ghost is God, each person being a perfect God, yet so joined, each to each, that they constitute one invisible God. We are taught that these three persons are uncreated, incomprehensible, eternal, almighty, equal in glory, majesty, and power. None is before, none after, none greater or less than another; they are coeternal and coequal.

That is the plain teaching of God's holy Word. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, each of them is God, and yet there are not three Gods, but one God. How these three persons are so united as to make up only one God, so that the persons are neither confounded, nor the substance divided, we are nowhere told in Scripture. On this, as with regard to many other matters, we must be content to be ignorant. That is a great hardship to the pride of the would-be wise. And so in the earliest ages men arose and strove against this doctrine of the Trinity. The first violent strife that agitated the early Christian Church was just on this point. Arius, a certain bishop, would not accept the simple statement of Scripture that Christ is God, in the same sense as the Father is God; he would make Him inferior in divine nature. A most fierce controversy was waged, which ended in Arius' being branded a heretic, as, indeed, he was, and the true faith being only the more clearly confessed in the creeds of the Church, called the Athanasian and the Nicene Creed.

Does this doctrine sound strange and hard to believe to the carnal understanding? Let those who would be wise come forward, and prove their right to be admitted into the mystery of heaven, by showing that they have fully mastered the lesser mysteries of earth. Let them tell us, for instance, why the needle of the compass always turns toward the north. Perhaps they will say, Because it is in its nature to do so. But that is no answer. Our question is, _Why_ does the needle so turn? What secret and invisible hand twists it around and causes it to point always the same way? Or, if this be too puzzling a question, perhaps these wise people who think it so great a hardship that they are not permitted to understand God, may tell us a little about themselves. They can perhaps teach us how it comes to pass that the blood keeps flowing unceasingly through our veins, without our being aware of it, except when we are in a high fever. We grow tired with labor or with exercise, we tire even with doing nothing, but the blood never ceases in its flow; from the hour of our birth, day and night, summer and winter, year after year, it keeps on with its silent round, never stopping, till it stops once for all. How, I ask, can these things be? No answer. And this is not the only matter by any means. There is, for instance, sleep. Who does not sleep? One-third of our lifetime is spent in sleep. Who can say what this is? And if you cannot,--and no one can,--let those who know nothing about the how and the why in so many, yea, in most of earthly matters, not be so very much surprised that they cannot understand the existence of that invisible, that eternal, that infinite Spirit whom we call God.

But though Scripture has only told us _that_ these things are, without teaching us _how_ they are, yet for the sake of showing that the mystery of the Trinity is not so utterly at variance with what we find in earthly things, as unbelievers would fain persuade us, for the sake of proving how possible it is, even according to our limited notions, for that which is three in one sense to be one in another sense, learned and pious men have busied themselves in seeking out likenesses for the Trinity among the things of this world. These likenesses, it should be borne in mind, are very imperfect, and they do not give us a full and just idea of the glorious Trinity; yet such comparisons may help us in attaching some sort of notion to the words of the Creed, may keep those words from lying dead in our minds or, rather, on our tongues.

One such likeness or comparison is the glorious object which our eyes see in the sky--the sun. That grand orb yonder, from which all life doth come, may be compared to the Father, from whom all blessings flow. From it issues light. This we may compare to the second person of the Trinity, who came forth from the Father, and who John tells us is the true Light, which lights every man that cometh into this world. But besides this, there comes from the sun, heat, which is different from light, and may exist altogether without it. This heat of the sun may not imperfectly be compared to the Holy Ghost, the Lord and Giver of Life, as the Creed calls Him, for heat is the great fosterer of life. Thus we have, first, the sun in the sky; secondly, the light which issues from the sun; thirdly, the heat which accompanies the light--three separate and distinguishable things; for the sun viewed as an orb is one thing, the light sent forth from it is another thing, the heat still another; and yet, what can be more undivided than the sun, its light and its warmth?

To mention another.--As with the most glorious of heavenly bodies, so with the purest of earthly bodies--water. Here, too, we have, first, the fountain, high up among the rocks, far out of man's reach, answering to the Father; secondly, the stream which issues from the fountain, and flows down into the valley for the use of man, which may be likened to Jesus Christ, the Son; thirdly, the mist which rises from the water, and falls in rain or dew upon the thirsty ground, which, I need hardly state, answers to the Holy Ghost, who, as we regarded last Sunday, came down visibly, like the rain, with a sound as of a rushing mighty wind on the apostles, but who now descends gently and silently, like the dew, in the silence of night, on the heart of the believer.

And these comparisons may be multiplied without number. Thus you are yourself a trinity, a three in one, consisting of body, soul, and spirit. A clover leaf is one, yet has three lobes. A tree is roots, trunk, and branches, yet one tree. Time is past, present, and future; constitutes one thing,--time. By these comparisons we do not make the difficulty in the mystery of the Trinity conceivable to man's reason. What God is in Himself,--how the Son is the Only-begotten of the Father; how the Holy Ghost proceeds from the Father; how the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost abide forever in inseparable union and trinity,--these are questions of no importance for us to know, and therefore God has not thought fit to reveal them to us more clearly.

And having considered the doctrine of the Trinity, as expressed in the words of the text and of Scripture at large, let us draw a few practical lessons from it. Many regard the doctrine of the Trinity to be what is called a speculative doctrine only, that is to say, a doctrine concerning which men may think and conjecture and dispute for their amusement, but of no effect or importance in real life. This is a mistake. The doctrine of the Holy Trinity is eminently practical and eminently profitable. Our religion is founded upon it. Deny or think lightly of this article of our faith, and you remove the very corner-stone. If it be not true that Christ Jesus is God in the same degree and sense that the Father is, then He was not God at all, then He was a creature, then His redemption is none-availing,--"for no man can redeem his brother,"--then, in other words, we have no Savior, and our faith is vain, and our salvation a delusion, and all that brings us together in Christian worship is false; for in whose name, then, have we been baptized, for what purpose do we recite the Creed, and does the minister at the end of the service pronounce the blessing, and the congregation sing the doxology?