IN A RAILWAY CARRIAGE IN ITALY. 413 such a man was actuated by anything but a firm conviction and a reasonable one of the truth. But it was getting time, I thought, to leave controversy, if possible, and set forth the gospel in its most simple form, and my Pisan friend soon gave me an opportunity. He had asserted that when Jesus was challenged to come down from the cross, He, if divine, ought to have accepted the challenge, as by so doing He would have rendered unbelief impossible, and would thus have accomplished His object of reforming and converting men. I replied showing that it was unreasonable to suppose that such a miracle would have had the result desired; but my chief answer was that Christ did not come to reform and convert men in the first instance, but that He came on purpose to DIE for them, and so render their reform and conversion possible; and that the challenge was an absurd and satanic invitation to Him to abandon the very work He had come from Heaven to accomplish. Here again I had the approbation of all but the Pisan; who, however, did not reply, and I proceeded to set forth the purpose of God in Christ as unfolded by Christ's sufferings. What I said amounted to a little sermon on the text, "God so loved the world," etc. When I finished there was perfect silence for awhile, and so ended the discussion. Not, however, without an incident worthy of recording. We were in the dark. The lamp which served for our compartment and three others was indeed burning, but so dimly that it threatened to go out. We could not see each other's faces, and could only just distinguish each other's forms. It was unpleasant, and there were many complaints. The Genoese lit matches one after the other to make a temporary blaze. Then the Pisan took out out of his bag a little wax taper, lit it, and stuck it on the wooden seat, and it gave light to the whole compartment. All seemed grateful for the light. I remarked to the Genoese that what we had done was to me a parable. "Indeed: what is the parable ?" "Why, that central light is Catholicism. It should give light to all, but it leaves us in miserable darkness. But we can be independent of it, lighting up for ourselves the candle of the gospel, and see what a comfort it is!" "Bellissimo! mi piace molto!" exclaims my Genoese (i.e., Beautiful! I like that). The other travellers call out: "What has he been saying?" I had to repeat it, and all shouted "Bellissimo!" But the wind blew very strong through the carriage, and I had to protect our little light with my hand. One of the party exclaims, amid much merriment : "I fear the gospel (l'evangelo) will be blown out or be exhausted." "No," I reply, "you will see that it will last as long as we need it. It will continue to light us until we get into the great blaze of the terminus-and herein is another parable." And so it did, giving its last flicker just as the train rushed into the station with its blaze of gas light. And so we separated, wishing each other felice notte, perhaps never to see each other again in this world. But who can say that that conversation of three hours duration was in vain? Twelve Papers for Young Men. X.-THE START FOR MANHOOD.* THE Manhood of Men: what is it and how is it attained? Within the Houses of Parliament there is a standard measure of length, built into the walls, available for anybody's use, and infallible, within these realms, beyond all question, as the criterion of linear measurement. Is there any such standard of moral manhood built into any observable life? And is it available for everybody's use? If so, it is undeniably most desirable to know where it is and how to use it. Supposing we know what a man is according to the highest ideal— what qualities are in him, how they are put together, and harmonized and balanced so as to make perfection-can we be equally certain as to the best methods for incorporating these qualities in our life, and attaining, without fail and at the earliest possible moment, this exalted level of human excellence ? To shew a lame and impotent man the goal is not to bring him to it. Allowing that we see the goal, have we strength to reach it? A third question: Does that set of forces comprehensively and vaguely labelled civilization aid or hinder in the attainment and development of manhood? Mr. Mark Pattison has told us within the last week that the wheels of our material civilisation crush out of us poetic feeling and sensibility, and thereby diminish the value of life. Poetry and religion are so closely akin that one may fittingly ask whether these same destructive wheels crush out of us our capacities for becoming in all respects and in the face of all difficulties, real, fullminded, and full-hearted men? These are practical questions and terribly urgent for most reflective young men, and therefore require the most frank and courageous investigation. For 30 years and more I have been thinking about them and trying, with all the light I could get and the energy I could command, to help others to think rightly about them; indeed, I may say in the scientific language of the day I have conducted a prolonged "experiment," mainly within myself, but partly by observation of others, for the purpose of determining the truest solution of the problem of man's manhood. I have looked north and south, east and west, and I have found but one answer that has given a never-broken satisfaction, a pure and refulgent joy. That answer I hope to give you in this course of sermons and yet I say to you in all sincerity that if now I had offered me another answer covering a wider field, yielding a richer promise of spiritual and enduring success, and altogether giving stronger evidences of truth, I would-indeed, I must, by force of the very training I have received from the Master of my life, prefer it, elect it, and follow it withersoever it or its Revealer might lead. But to me at present it is as incontrovertible as that two and two make four, (1) that Jesus Christ, Son of God and Son of Man, is the *Paragraphs from a sermon in the Christian Commonwealth of October 18th, 1883, which also contains a Portrait of Mr. D. L. Moody, a Sermon by Dr. Maclaren, News of the Churches, a serial story, etc. Price One Penny. The second sermon of this course-Does "Labour" block the way to Manhood?-appears in the issue for Oct. 25th. THE START FOR MANHOOD. 415 true standard of perfect manhood, built irremovably into our abiding and progressive humanity; (2) that He who incarnates the ideal also gives the moral impact, the inspiration, the power by which we attain it, and that, (3) schooled by His loving wisdom, and drilled in his winsome methods, instead of the forces of modern civilization becoming a hindrance, they may not only be mastered, but positively made into eye and tongue, foot and hand, by means of which we may attain our coveted goal, use fully the agencies round about us, and more quickly secure the broader ends for which this manhood itself has been revealed to us as the grand possibility of our brief and troubled life. * * Glance for a moment at His matchless manhood. To me it always seems like Nature, simple and strong, steadfast and calm, not explaining itself, but moving forward with a grand and exhaustless fulness. It is like the refulgent richness of the earth in the full summer-tide of her glories, bracing as the air of mountain summits, fresh as the perennial streams, and transparently pure as the morning light. We know Him as we know it; but never fully and out and out. One man studies the stars and introduces us to their society, makes us acquainted with their kinship with our planet, and reads in their history the possible career of our home. Another interprets the story of the rocks, and tells how our world has grown. A third is in his laboratory disentangling the forces around us, telling us their significance, and multiplying in countless forms their applicability to our needs. So is it with the manhood of Christ Jesus. Paul sets it out in its grand missionary enthusiasm, in its burning ardour and Divine daring, in its philosophical grip of truth and its conquest of the foes of righteousness. John expresses it in its tender winsomeness, "sweet reasonableness," and power to bathe us with an atmosphere of love. James reveals it in its blended freedom and order, a law demanding obedience, and yet a law of liberty, to be freely chosen and loyally served in a spontaneous love. But all the men down the centuries, our apostles, and confessors, and martyrs, and saints, have revealed to us only bits, mere fragments of the inexhaustible manhood of Jesus Christ. For it is with His manhood as with the universe. Christ grows with our growing knowledge. The clearer and more capable our vision, the more there is to be seen. We thought we knew it some time ago, as it said to us, Be brave and always brave, and we stood upright and dared the world, the flesh, and the devil, strengthened by the word of Christ. But it came to us again when a valued friend had bruised and wounded us in our most cherished interests, and the voice of the suffering, crucified Man said: Forgive, and always forgive. But no; in an instant we struck out our revengeful hand. And it was not till a fresh sense of our own need of forgiveness had arisen within us, and the waters of penitence had cleansed our vision, that we learned that "forgiveness" is also a part of the manhood of Christ. It is so always, "Growth in grace is a growth in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." Start for this idea, and start at once. Make it yours now. As air rushes into a vacuum, so into a heart that is untenanted by this expanding and inspiring hope; by this conviction that a self-centred life is a folly and a sin, and by this ideal of manhood-i.e., by Christ Jesus -money or fame, business or profession, push in with irresistible force. 416 A GIRL OF THE PAST. Accept Christ; trust Him; suffer Him to fashion you according to His will, and you will be able to say to Him "O Friend, my bosom said, Through Thee above the sky is arched, All things through Thee take nobler form, The mill-round of our fate appears A sun-path in Thy worth. Me, too, Thy nobleness has taught To master my despair; The fountains of my hidden life Are, through Thy friendship, fair." JOHN CLIFFORD. The Tenth Talk with our Girls. II.-A GIRL OF THE PAST.* SUCH care and industry was certain, sooner or later, to have its effect. The other children, too, were growing up. Soon the eldest daughter found an opportunity of leaving home. She took a shop in the Eastgate, Bourne, and started business. Here, whilst active in work for her own support, the welfare of her neighbours lay near her heart. She became a teetotaler so that she could the more consistently persuade drunkards to take the pledge. At this time temperance had all its laurels yet to win as a public force. Ignorance was rife; books hardly to be had. Couldn't this be helped? A circulating library was bought, and she acted as librarian. The wave of agitation for the abolition of slavery in the colonies was rising, and had her enthusiastic support. Steps were taken that may be said to have coloured all her after life. One way was pre-eminent above others by which she might know God's will this was the study of the Scriptures. How could this be carried out so effectually as by learning to read the sacred books in the original tongues, in which they were written and spoken? She would learn Greek and Hebrew. Effort, doubtless, would be involved; work generally thought considerable by men enjoying the advantages of college life; but she, the village shop-keeper, with little leisure, in labours more abundant, must make the attempt. Such help as could be got she gladly availed herself of. Patience, and a strong will, can do much. Soon the New Testament was read in its original Greek, and the Old Testament in Hebrew. During this time she was saving money for an object that had long been on her mind. The condition of the village of Morton had attracted the attention of herself and friends; it appeared shut up to moral and spiritual darkness. Religious services had been held in cottages, or in the open-air, but had been firmly opposed. Whenever the evangelisers obtained a room for preaching, they were soon deprived of it. In the open-air brick-bats and rotten eggs were pitted against the ministers of the gospel of peace. Jane's quiet tactics "bided their time;" most of the land in the place was held by opponents, but there were one or two lots that might possibly become obtainable some day, and the money went on * Continued from page 380. A GIRL OF THE PAST. 417 saving. One morning she heard that a small property was for sale. She was ready. She walked over and bought it, and returned to her work resolved to remove there and foster the getting the gospel into Morton. She was left in no uncertainty as to the propriety of the step; the indications of Providence are often plain to the eye that is clear to read them. On her return she found a discharge" of the premises she occupied. So you see I went out, and was thrust out," she remarked. But the battle was not won in a day; the matter grew; a room in a small house was inadequate for the numbers who came; a chapel must be built; land for it was offered to the "church," but others had not her enthusiasm; caution, rather than enterprise, ruled; they would have nothing to do with any pecuniary responsibility, the burden must still be her own; she accepted it. With limited means she built a chapel in 1846. The spiritual results through the succeeding years were an abundant reward. Her cherished wish attained in regard to Morton it might have been expected that comparative rest and ease would follow, but her parents health failing she had to leave the place and return to Dyke. At home her vigour found its natural outlet in care for her father and mother; both were getting into years, one was not strong, the other blind: she took the post of leader: the shop was removed to better premises. Here for many years she maintained a dayschool; and here, as at Morton, built a small chapel. Both at Dyke and Morton the material places of worship, and still more the improved moral and spiritual conditions of the people, attest the value of Miss Redmile's pioneer efforts. In the various surrounding villages, at Edenham, Hackonby, Cawthorpe, Tongue End, and Stainfield, where the favourable disposition of residents, or the visits of herself or others could be brought to bear, she would endeavour to spread the knowledge of the Saviour. She was well-known, and access was free to her anywhere. The recognition she met, and confidence placed in her, was not the result of any repression of her own strong convictions. The good in opponents was to be acknowledged, but never at the cost of condoning the evil. Her large-heartedness was real. But there was nothing in her of the sham charity that can be wide because it has no preferences, to which one thing and another is pretty much alike. She was a Christian, and wanted everybody to be so with her; she was a dissenter, and whilst her charity extended to all, she would be a political dissenter. That a church should be ruled by the secular power she couldn't understand; that it should be supported through the tax-gatherer was a grievous anomaly. Neither was her interest in public questions at the cost of home and family. Christian duties were not undertaken whilst things nearer home were left undone. No trace of the public spiritedness that can mind everybody's business but its own. Never a trace of the shadow of Dickens's Mrs. Jellaby possible with her. What she was outside she was at home, the outward life being but an expansion of the life at home. There is not much to record of the remaining years at Dyke. About fifteen years before her death she retired from business and removed to Bourne. Frugal and industrious habits had provided more than sufficient for her small wants. It was life's afternoon-the evening drawing 32 |