In them
is neither self-will nor selfishness; and therefore by faith, that is, by
trust and loyalty, they stand. And so, by consenting to lose their
individual life of selfishness, they have saved their eternal life in
God, the life of blessedness and holiness; just as all evil spirits have
lost their eternal life by trying to save their selfish life, and be
something in themselves and of themselves without respect to God.
This is a great mystery; indeed, it is the mystery of the eternal,
divine, and blessed life, to which God of His mercy bring us all. And
therefore Good Friday, Easter Day, Ascension Day, are set as great lights
in the firmament of the spiritual year,--to remind us that we are not
animals, born to do what we like, and fulfil the sinful lusts of the
flesh, the ways whereof are death; but that we are moral and rational
beings, members of Christ, children of God, inheritors of the kingdom of
heaven; and that, therefore, I say it again, like Christ our Lord, we
must die in order to live, stoop in order to conquer. They remind us
that honour must grow out of humility; that freedom must grow out of
discipline; that sure conquest must be born of heavy struggles; righteous
joy out of righteous sorrow; pure laughter out of pure tears; true
strength out of the true knowledge of our own weakness; sound peace of
mind out of sound contrition; and that the heart which has a right to
cry, "The Lord is on my side, I will not fear what man doeth unto me,"
must be born out of the heart which has cried, "God be merciful to me a
sinner!" They remind us that in all things, as says our Lord, there
cannot be joy, because a man is born into the world, unless there first
be sorrow, because the hour of birth is come; and that he who would be
planted into the likeness of Christ's resurrection, must, like the corn
of wheat, be first planted into the likeness of His death, and die to sin
and self, that he may live to righteousness and to God; and, like the
corn of wheat, become truly living, truly strong, truly rich, truly
useful, and develop the hidden capabilities of his being, fulfilling the
mind and will of God concerning him.
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