Expositions of Holy Scripture: Ephesians; Epistles of St. Peter and St. JohnMaclaren, Alexander
Religion
Expositions of Holy Scripture: Ephesians; Epistles of St. Peter and St. John
Maclaren, Alexander
Bible. Ephesians -- Commentaries; Bible. Epistle of John, 1st -- Commentaries; Bible. Peter -- Commentaries
do not need to travel out to dim and doubtful analogies, nor do we even
depend entirely upon the fact of a risen Christ ascended to the heavens,
and living evermore, but we can say, 'I am God's; God is mine, and death
has no power over such a mutual possession.'
The very incompleteness adds strength to the assurance, for the facts of
the Christian life are such as to demand, both by its greatness and by
its littleness, by its loftiness and by its lapses into lowliness, by
the floodtide of devotion that sometimes sweeps rejoicingly over the
mud-shoals and by the ebb that sometimes leaves them all black and
festering, a future life wherein what was manifestly meant to be, and
capable of being, dominant, supreme, but was hampered and hindered here,
shall reach its full development, and where the plant that was dwarfed
in this alien soil, transplanted into that higher house, shall blossom
and bear immortal fruits. The new moon has a ragged edge, and each of
the protrusions and concavities are the prophecy of the perfect orb
which shall ere long fill the night with calm light from its silvery
shield. The incompleteness prophesies completion.
And if the incompleteness is so blessed, what will the completeness be?
A shilling to a million pounds, Knowledge which is partial and
intermittent, like the twilight, as contrasted with the blaze of
noonday, Joy like winter sunshine as compared with the warmth and heat
of the midday sun at the zenith on the Equator. The 'earnest' of the
'inheritance' is wealth; the inheritance itself shall be unaccountable
treasure.
III. And so, lastly, a word about the completion of the possession.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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