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第17章

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If we cannot calculate to a certainty that the forces of religion

will do their work; then is religion vain。  And if we cannot express

the law of these forces in simple words; then is Christianity not

the world's religion; but the world's conundrum。



Where; then; shall one look for such a formula?  Where one would

look for any formulaamong the text…books。  And if we turn to the

text…books of Christianity we shall find a formula for this problem

as clear and precise as any in the mechanical sciences。  If this

simple rule; moreover; be but followed fearlessly; it will yield

the result of a perfect character as surely as any result that is

guaranteed by the laws of nature。



The finest expression of this rule in Scripture; or indeed in any

literature; is probably one drawn up and condensed into a single

verse by Paul。  You will find it in a letterthe second to the

Corinthianswritten by him to some Christian people who; in a city

which was a byword for depravity and licentiousness; were seeking

the higher life。  To see the point of the words we must take them

from the immensely improved rendering of the Revised translation;

for the older Version in this case greatly obscures the sense。

They are these:



〃We all; with unveiled face reflecting as a mirror the glory of

the Lord; are transformed into the same image from glory to glory;

even as from the Lord; the Spirit。〃



Now observe at the outset the entire contraction of all our previous

efforts; in the simple passive:  〃WE ARE TRANSFORMED。〃



We ARE CHANGED; as the Old Version has itwe do not change

ourselves。  No man can change himself。  Throughout the New Testament

you will find that wherever these moral and spiritual transformations

are described the verbs are in the passive。  Presently it will be

pointed out that there is a RATIONALE in this; but meantime do not

toss these words aside as if this passivity denied all human effort

or ignored intelligible law。  What is implied for the soul here

is no more than is everywhere claimed for the body。  In physiology

the verbs describing the processes of growth are in the passive。

Growth is not voluntary; it takes place; it happens; it is wrought

upon matter。  So here。  〃Ye must be born again〃we cannot be born

ourselves。  〃Be not conformed to this world; but BE YE TRANSFORMED〃we

are subjects to transforming influence; we do not transform ourselves。

Not more certain is it that it is something outside the thermometer

that produces a change in the thermometer; that it is



Something outside the soul of man



that produces a moral change upon him。  That he must be susceptible

to that change; that he must be a party to it; goes without saying;

but that neither his aptitude nor his will can produce it; is

equally certain。



Obvious as it ought to seem; this may be to some an almost startling

revelation。  The change we have been striving after is not to

be produced by any more striving。  It is to be wrought upon us by

the moulding of hands beyond our own。  As the branch ascends; and

the bud bursts; and the fruit reddens under the co…operation of

influences from the outside air; so man rises to the higher stature

under invisible pressures from without。  the radical defect of all

our former methods of sanctification was the attempt to generate

from within that which can only be wrought upon us from without。

The radical defect of all our former methods of sanctification was

the attempt to generate from within that which can only be wrought

upon us from without。  According to the first Law of Motion;

every body continues in its state of rest; or of uniform motion

in a straight line; except in so far as it may be compelled BY

IMPRESSED FORCES to change that state。  This is also a first law of

Christianity。  Every man's character remains as it is; or continues

in the direction in which it is going; until it is compelled BY

IMPRESSED FORCES to change that state。  Our failure has been the

failure to put ourselves in the way of the impressed forces。  There

is a clay; and there is a Potter; we have tried to get the clay to

mould the clay。



Whence; then; these pressures; and where this Potter?  The answer

of the formula is〃By reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord

we are changed。〃  But this is not very clear。  What is the 〃glory〃

of the Lord; and how can mortal man reflect it; and how can that

act as an 〃impressed force〃 in moulding him to a nobler form?  The

word 〃glory〃the word which has to bear the weight of holding

these 〃impressed forces〃is a stranger in current speech; and our

first duty is to seek out its equivalent in working English。  It

suggests at first a radiance of some kind; something dazzling or

glittering; some halo such as the old masters loved to paint round

the head of their Ecce Homos。  But that is paint; mere matter; the

visible symbol of some unseen thing。  What is that unseen thing?  It

is that of all unseen things the most radiant; the most beautiful;

the most Divine; and that is CHARACTER。  On earth; in Heaven;

there is nothing so great; so glorious as this。  The word has many

meanings; in ethics it can have but one。  Glory is character; and

nothing less; and it can be nothing more。  The earth is 〃full of

the glory of the Lord;〃 because it is full of His character。  The

〃Beauty of the Lord〃 is character。  〃The Glory of the Only

Begotten〃 is character; the character which is 〃fullness of grace

and truth。〃  And when God told His people HIS NAME; He simply gave

them His character; His character which was Himself:  〃And the Lord

proclaimed the name for the Lord。。。the Lord; the Lord God; merciful

and gracious; long…suffering and abundant in goodness and truth。〃

Glory then is not something intangible; or ghostly; or transcendental。

If it were this; how could Paul ask men to reflect it?  Stripped

of its physical enswathement it is Beauty; moral and spiritual

Beauty; Beauty infinitely real; infinitely exalted; yet infinitely

near and infinitely communicable。



With this explanation read over the sentence once more in

paraphrase:  We all reflecting as a mirror the character of Christ

are transformed into the same Image from character to characterfrom

a poor character to a better one; from a better one to a little

better still; from that to one still more complete; until by slow

degrees the Perfect Image is attained。  Here



The solution of the problem of sanctification



is compressed into a sentence:  Reflect the character of Christ。

You will be changed; in spite of yourself and unknown to yourself;

into the same image from character to character。



(I。)  All men are reflectorsthat is



The first law



on which this formula is based。  One of the aptest descriptions of

a human being is that he is a mirror。  As we sat at table to…night

the world in which each of us lived and moved through this day was

focused in the room。  What we saw when we looked at one another was

not one another; but one another's world。  We were an arrangement

of mirrors。  The scenes we saw were all reproduced; the people we

met walked to and fro; they spoke; they bowed; they passed us by;

did everything over again as if it had been real。  When we talked;

we were but looking at our own mirror and describing what flitted

across it; our listening was not hearing; but seeingwe but looked

on our neighbor's mirror。



All human intercourse is a seeing of reflections。  I meet a stranger

in a railway carriage。  The cadence of his first words tell me he

is English and comes from Yorkshire。  Without knowing it he has

reflected his birthplace; his parents; and the long history of their

race。  Even physiologically he is a mirror。  His second sentence

records that he is a politician; and a faint reflection in the way

he pronounces THE TIMES reveals his party。  In his next remarks I

see reflected a whole world of experiences。  The books he has read;

the people he has met; the 

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