He who has the warm, child-like touch of heart with Jesus, that the word "believeth" stands for, shall--as the Holy Spirit has full control--do the same works as Jesus did, same in kind and in degree, and then shall do even greater than Jesus ever did. _Because_ it is now the glorified crowned Christ who is doing them through some child of His, simple-hearted enough to let Him have full control.
And the means through which He will do them is simple, child-like, trusting, humble prayer. The man using the power is on his knees. The lower down he gets the more and more freely the power flows down and out among men.
As one learns to keep in touch--learns it slowly, stumblingly, with many a stupid fall, and many a tremble and quiver--as he learns to keep in simple touch with the crowned Christ he will find _all_ the power of that Christ coming with a soft surging throb of life wherever needed.
_We may have all we can take._ But _the taking must be with one"s very life_. No mere earnest repeating of a creed in Church service will avail here. The repeating must be, syllable by syllable, with feet and will, with hands and life, in the daily tread where each step is stubbornly contested.
This is the bit of truth for the waiting time. This is the song to be singing in this present "not-yet" interval. And the song will help cut down the length of that "not-yet," until the friction of our lived faith shall wear off the "not" and wipe out the "yet," and we shall find the crowned Christ a reigning Christ.
For some day this patient waiting crowned Man will rise up from His seat at the Father"s right hand. He will step directly into the action of earth once again. Man will have had his fullest opportunity lengthened out to the last notch of his possible use of it. Then we shall see the crowned Christ quietly stepping in, taking matters wholly into His own hands, and acting in all the affairs of earth as the Crowned One. Then He shall reign from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates out to where the ends of the earth become a common line on the other side. The Kingdom will have come, for the King will be reigning.
The night will be gone. The day has come. The shadows flee. He has come, whose presence puts the new day at dawn, with the East all aflame, and the fragrant dew glistening gladly on every tender green blade. This time of expectancy is over;[30] the time of making real has _come_. Then comes the restoration of the old original love plan to earth and beast and man.[31]
"Thou art coming, O my Saviour!
Thou art coming, O my King!
In thy glory all-transcendent; In thy beauty all resplendent; Well may we rejoice and sing!
Coming! In the opening east, Herald brightness slowly swells; Coming, O my glorious Priest, Hear we not thy golden bells?
"Thou art coming, Thou art coming!
We shall meet Thee on Thy way, We shall see Thee, we shall know Thee, We shall bless Thee, we shall show Thee All our hearts could never say!
What an anthem that will be, Ringing out our love to Thee; Pouring out our rapture sweet At Thine own all-glorious feet!
"Thou art coming! Rays of glory, Through the veil Thy death has rent, Touch the mountain and the river With a golden glowing quiver, Thrill of light and music blent.
Earth is brightened when this gleam Falls on flower, rock, and stream; Life is brightened when this ray Falls upon its darkest day.
"Not a cloud and not a shadow, Not a mist and not a tear, Not a sin and not a sorrow, Not a dim and veiled to-morrow, For that sunrise grand and clear!
Jesus, Saviour, once with Thee, Nothing else seems worth a thought!
Oh, how marvellous will be All the bliss Thy pain hath bought!
"Thou art coming! At Thy table, We are witnesses of this, While remembering hearts Thou meetest, In communion clearest, sweetest, Earnest of our coming bliss.
Showing not Thy death alone, And Thy love exceeding great, But Thy coming and Thy throne, All for which we long and wait.
"Thou art coming! We are waiting With a hope that cannot fail; Asking not the day or hour, Resting on Thy word of power Anch.o.r.ed safe within the veil, Time appointed may be long, But the vision must be sure; Certainty shall make us strong, Joyful patience can endure!
"O the joy to see Thee reigning, Thee, my own beloved Lord!
Every tongue Thy name confessing, Worship, honor, glory, blessing, Brought to Thee with glad accord!
Thee, my Master and my Friend, Vindicated and enthroned!
Unto earth"s remotest end Glorified, adored, and owned!"[32]
Working by the Light of the Throne.
But we are still in the "not-yet" interval. We see not yet all things subject to Him. This is still the waiting time. It is the pleading time for Him. He pleads for the _personal crowning_ of Himself in our lives, that He may reign there and He alone. This is our great opportunity. We shall never see its like again, nor anywhere else than on this earth.
In the reigning time that"s coming this peculiar opportunity of crowning Christ while He still is absent and despised, this will be gone. In the upper world they have no such opportunity. There is no opposition there.
Now and here is the rarest opportunity to put this great waiting patient Man on the throne of heart and life, with possessions and ambitions and plans all in subjection under His feet.
Every woman knows the name of Brussels lace. The old capital of the low countries of Europe has long been famous for its lace. It is of great interest to note the conditions under which it is sometimes made. They are conditions studiously prepared after long experience. In one of the famous lace factories in Brussels there are a number of small rooms devoted to the making of some of the most delicate patterns.
Each room is just large enough for a single worker, and is quite dark except for one narrow window. The worker sits so that the stream of light falls from above directly upon the threads, while he himself sits in the darkness. The darkness aids the workman"s eyes to see better, and to work more skilfully in the narrow line of clear light centred on the delicate task. He weaves in the upper light intensified by the surrounding gloom, and does exquisite work.
There is a clear line of light _from a throne_ shining down into the darkness in which we sit and move. It shines from the face of a crowned Man. In the light of that light we can see clearly to do a difficult bit of crowning work,--to crown the Christ in our lives and to keep Him crowned.
As our eyes follow that line of upper light we may catch glimpses of His wondrous Face up there in the glory. So we shall be steadied and cheered in the darkness as we stick to our glad crowning work. And so we shall move forward on the calendar the day when that thin line of light seen now only by watching eyes shall become a burst of glory light seen by all eyes.
And this is the thing the crowned Christ is asking of us during this waiting time, this "not-yet" interval. He is counting on each of us being faithful to Him, our absent Lord, in this.
"He is counting on you.
He has need of your life In the thick of the strife: For that weak one may fall If you fail at His call.
He is counting on you, If you fail Him-- What then?
"He is counting on you.
On your silver and gold, On that treasure you hold; On that treasure still kept, Though the doubt o"er you swept "Is this gold not _all_ mine?
(Lord, I knew it was _Thine_.") He is counting on you, If you fail Him-- What then?
"He is counting on you.
On a love that will share In His burden of prayer, For the souls He has bought With His life-blood; and sought Through His sorrow and pain To win "Home" yet again.
He is counting on you, If you fail Him-- What then?
"He is counting on you.
On life, money, and prayer; And "the day shall declare"
If you let Him have _all_ In response to His call; Or if He in that day To your sorrow must say, "I had counted on you, But you failed me"-- What then?
"He is counting on you.
Oh! the wonder and grace, To look Christ in the face And not be ashamed; For you gave what He claimed, And you laid down your all For His sake--at His call.
He had counted on you, And you failed not.
What then?"[33]
Ah! Please G.o.d, by His grace, we shall not fail in _the ruling purpose_ of our lives. We may crown Him Lord of all. We _can_. He asks it. We surely _will_.
"With all my powers Him I greet, All subject to His call; And bowing low at His pierced feet _Now_ crown him Lord of all."
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Joseph Addison Richards.
[2] Mark xvi. 19.
[3] Matthew xxvi. 64.
[4] Acts ii. 33; iii. 13-16; v. 31-32; vii. 55, 56.
[5] Psalm lxviii. 18; Ephesians iv. 8; Acts ii. 33.
[6] Romans viii. 34; Ephesians i. 20-22; Philippians ii. 9-11; Colossians iii. 1.
[7] I Peter iii. 22.