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October 11, 1911] T H B 1
THE ANGEL MINISTRY.
From a Sermon by Rev. J. II. Jowett.
Text?Are they not all ministering spirits
sent forth to minister to them who shall be the
heirs of salvation ? Hebrews 1:14.
I believe in the angel-ministry in human life.
There is nothing incredible about it, nothing
? I? _ * v -t
iar-ieicnea or unreasonable. The mist is no
thicker here than it is elsewhere, and the faltering
of comprehension does not destroy the experience
of the heart. There is nothing in the
conception of the angel-ministry derogatory to
the august dignity of God. There is nothing
demeaning to those holy spirits who dwell in
ampler air and move in larger freedom. I can
conceive of no heavenly ministry more gracious,
more beautiful, more divine. But, whatever
may be our thoughts on these mysterious
themes, do not let us allow our reluctance to
accept explanations lead us to ignore the reality
of their experience. Do not let theory obliterate
fact.
In Honrs of flriaia
There are wonderful experiences which come
to men in hours of crisis. In the very mouth of
the immediate peril strange deliverances are
found. Cordials are discovered in the wilderness.
Uagar finds the well of water in the desert
sands. The special need brings the special
equipment, and Faint-heart finds the vitalizing
spring at his feet. Our fathers would
sometimes call these experiences "special providences;"
they were never "special" in the
sense of marking an interposition of grace which
at other times was absent. The Lord's grace is
just as present in the seasonable withdrawal of
a boon as in its seasonable endowment. We
only call such experiences "special providences"
because our need appeared to be particularly
urgent, and the gracious succor was
therefore particularly manifest and plain. But
what some men have thus called '' special providences"
the Bible calls the ministry of angels.
and it teaches us that spirits of blessedness are
at work among the children of men, now granting
a boon, now withdrawing a boon, now opening
doors, now closing doors, and all to nourish
the soul in spiritual growth and to establish it
in the way everlasting.
Not Always Serving.
Now, first of all, let us note the economy of
the ministry. The angels were not always serving
our Lord by direct reinforcement of his
strength. Sometimes these beings who " excel
in strength" were kept in abeyance. "Thinkest
thou that I cannot beseech my Father, and
he shall even now send me more than twelve
legions of angels.'' It was a possibility, but the
Dossibilitv was not. RPlZPd Thfl fWPrwViolmina'
strength of the legions would have marred a
deep and sober purpose which was then ripening
into glorious destiny. The angel-ministry
does not unduly force or precipitate events.
It seems to our short-sightedness that nothing
could be morally healthier than a more active
and positive angel-ministry secretly engaged
among the affairs of men.
What More Welcome?
What could be more welcome than to have
these cohorts of invisible allies moving about,
secretly destroying weeds? What would be
more gracious than that they should prepare
my way before me, removing every thorn and
-i l-l ^J- ^ " -
Hiumuiing-siune, ana proviamg me witn mystic
wings whenever I come to the hill? How good
it would be if these strong presences would
strangle an evil desire as soon as it is born, and
deliver me from its encumbrance! How beneficent
it would be if the angel would strip every
temptation of its glitter and charm, and reveal
it to me as the gruesome presence of death!
PRESBYTERIAN OF THE 8<
How serviceable it would be if the angel would
be our minister in social redemption, immediately
poisoning evil causes, and endowing every
good cause with immediate and invincible
health!
Not Good for Us.
But would all this be really good for us?
to have the angel-ministry without stint, with
no reserve and no economy in its support? In
ovomr 1-1?- A- 1 1 *
vvij utyaiviuuit ui liumaLi ui6 100 mucn neip
becomes the enemy of progress. Make everything
easy, and you can make nothing strong.
Destroy difficulty, and you impoverish destiny.
Hardship provides discipline, and it is in the
house of discipline that our powers discover a
finer edge. Let the angel remove the discipline
and life would become dull. If we had too
much angel we should have too little man. So
that even in the life of the Master there is an
economy in the service of the angel, and he
himself learned obedience by "the things which
He suffered."
Ministering to the Master.
Remembering this economy in the ministry,
let us turn to the recorded angel-ministry in the
life of Christ. The first record occurs in the
season which is known to us as the temptation.
Thp WQo ^ 4-U-r* "U C?i-U L C
? uo ovauum^ 111 II1C UIJL tll-liuur U1
his public ministry. Mighty and solemn purposes
thronged his soul. He withdrew himself
from the distracting crowd, and he went out
into the wilderness that he might collect himself.
And there he was tempted. No angel intervened
to destroy the temptation. He met it
face to face in all the strength of its strong
enticement as it lay in the way of his purpose
and goal. He met all the temptations one by
one, quietly, firmly, decisively, and he left them
like slain Goliaths upon the field. But here
is the special significance of the narrative for
us, that when the seductive season was over,
on/1 tlin ^ rvvr il Vin/1 pi*\av?4- *
uuu Iiuu Ubiu uau apcui ma Uiianug ftIIa guiles
in vain, when the Master was left in quietude
again, "angels came and ministered unto him."
When the Victory is Won.
Now, why just then, when the combat was
over and the victory won? Why should not the
ministering spirits have brought an earlier aid,
while the struggle was yet proceeding, and by
their strong alliance have chased the tempter
from the field? Why after the triumph? I think
this is the reason. There is no season so perilous,
so fraught with deadly issues as that which
succeeds a great fight and a great decision.
Many men prevail in the fight who succumb in
the consequences. The re-action which follows
a critical decision is often the hour of a man's
fall. Look at some of the momentous issues of
a crisis. When a man has been wrestling with
inanv alt.prnativpa r?rmt?nrlinr? wi+Vi lni.? ?
^ . WMJ wuvvuVtllAg IT A til iUlC UCiC
and enticement there, and winning his way
through to a clear and open way, he frequently
emerges impoverished and exhausted. His very
body is nervously spent and drained. The alertness
goes out of his mind. The spring goes out
of his will. A certain greyness settles down
upon the fields, and life loses its inviting perfumes
and hues. Yes, the day after a moral
victory finds us limp and lean. And it was just
in that hour, when collapse follows hard upon
the heels of triumph, that "angels came and
ministered" unto our Master.
In the Hour of Vision,
A i T .1 . ' " ~
Again, laae tnat scene wnen trie "Ureeks
would see Jesus." The Master looks upon
these young and eager Greeks, and they are to
him as the first swallows that herald the summer,
as "the handful of corn on the top of the
mountain," and in his exultation he cries, "The
hour is come that the Son of Man should be
glorified." And then it seems to me that the
field of vision is immediately darkened. The
OUIH (971) 11
bright vision fades, and the old, grim reality
abides. Between the moment of vision and its
fulfilment there stretches a dark anl dreary
road. There is the sin of the world to deal with,
its guilt, its terror, its servitude. There is rejection,
contempt, crucifixion, abandonment.
"Now is my soul troubled." It is like a cold
east wind when the night has suddenly fallen!
"NOW is my SOUl troubled: nnd what oholl T
say?" The humanness of it! There stretches
the black, oppressive road. Is it worth while?
"What shall I say? Father, save me from this
hour." It is the momentary balancing which
reveals the utter reality of his kinship with you
and me. Which shall it be?the dark road to
Calvary and darker night, or back to privacy
and unsacrificial ease? And just then and
there, when the human fear became a glorious
choice, there caine the angel-ministry, the angelspeech
and heartening.
True to Experience.
All this is extraordinarily true to common
experience, and to the emergency of uttermost
need. It is just when we have made the choice
of the lonely way that we need the angel-presence
and help. Again I say, it is the moment
after a great decision that brings the peril of
faulting. It is when we put our hand to a grim
crusade, and we shut the door behind us, and
we turn unaccompanied to the bitter way that
we are in danger of collapse. "I had fainted,
unless 1 had believed to see the goodness of the
Lord in the laud of the living." Yes, and when
we shut our door behind us, and take the sacrilieial
turning, the angel-presence awaits us at
the gate. Whenever we choose the right, the
sacrificial right, the blood-costing right, the
angel-presence attends us with rich spiritual
cordials from the paradise of God.?The Advance.
Dr. Duff said, in 1829, as he was Just leaving
for India, '4 There was a time when I had no care
or concern for the heathen. That was a time
when I had no care or concern for mv own soul.
When, by the grace of God, I was led to care
my own soul, then it was that 1 began to care
for the heathen abroad. In my closet, on my
bended knees, I then said to God, ' O Lord, thou
knowest that silver and gold to give to this cause
I have none. What I have I give to Thee. I
offer Thee myself- Wilt thou accept the gift?' "
Such consecration on the part of all who love the
Saviour would inaugurate a religious revolution.
Thank God every morning when you get up
that you have something to do that day which
must be done, whether you like it or not. Being
forced to work, and forced to do your best,
will breed in you temperance and self-control,
diligence and strength in will, cheerfulness and
content, and a hundred virtues which the idle
never know.?Charles Kingsley.
SPRINKLING.
(Continued from page 3.)
his work mentioned in the Bible and gives
Christ's work two seals. For everybody admits
that the Lord's Supper is the symbol and
seal of his work. A second is not needed,
espeially as the burial was an unimportant
event nowhere emphasiezd in the Scriptures.
Is it any wonder then that many leave the
Spirit out of their thinking and trust in baptism
for their (supposed) regeneration? "I
confess to you," said another Baptist to the
writer, "I don't believe half of our folks at
lrnAW +IIA*A TT -1? ^1 1 4 11
auun uicic i? any xxuiy vinost. All
they know is to join the Church and he baptized."
It is the logical consequence of the
burial theory. We are thankful that many
thousands, as we hope, certainly some immersionists
are illogical and do not go so far.