Part 25 (1/2)

Jesus admits us into the inner circle of friends.h.i.+p. He gives us the one rarest token of friends.h.i.+p, that is, a task to do for our Friend's sake.

He asks us to go out to all men, and tell them about His love and sacrifice for them. And He asks that everything we have be held and used for this sacred friends.h.i.+p trust. Are we being true to our Friend's trust? Is there more stored away for ourselves than is being sent out on His errand? Is there any discoloration on our gold? Anything that looks like rust, a dull-red color--ah, it looks strangely like the color--the stain--of blood.

Is Judas so lonely, after all? He coupled a token of friends.h.i.+p with a betrayal of his Friend's trust. In his heart he meant far less than the act actually involved. Is he so much alone?

”The latest years shall tremble hearing this And burn for human shame unto the end, That one of us betrayed the tryst his Friend Would keep with G.o.d. A sign that none might miss

He named--the pledge of love. The soul's abyss, Christ saw, the heart of night, the purse, the end; Knew all, a Man, and knowing stui could bend With soul unpoisoned to receive the kiss.

Before the mult.i.tude have I kist Thee Fresh come from my blood-barter--thou but come From intercession for all souls--and me.

And, mocking Love Divine, amazed and dumb, I learn Love's deathlessness, and trembling press The lips that kiss away my faithlessness.”[37]

Sacrifice

One Hank Over For the Candle.

Sin's Healing Shadow.

The Underground Way into Life.

A Rare Harvest.

The Fellows.h.i.+p of Scars.

”Won't You Save Me?”

Sacrifice

One Hank Over For the Candle.

The light of a common candle in the window of a little cottage near the coast shone far out over the sea. It was up north of Scotland, in one of the Orkney Islands. Near the window sat a frail, gray-haired woman with cheery, thoughtful face. She was busy working at her spinning-wheel, and watching the candle, turning now and again to trim it. All night long she sat at the spinning-wheel and watching the candle. Fishermen out on the water, heading for home, knew that light could be counted on, and came safely in, past all the dangers of their coast.

For more than fifty years that woman tended her little lighthouse. When she was a young girl there had been a wild storm, and her father, out in his fisherman's boat, lost his life. There were no sh.o.r.e-lights. His boat had struck a huge, dangerous rock called Lonely Rock, and been wrecked.

The father's body was found in the morning washed up on the sh.o.r.e. She watched by her father's body, as was the habit of her people, until it was laid away. Then she laid down on her bed and slept the day through. When night came she rose, lit a candle, put it in the window, drew up her spinning-wheel, and began her night vigil for the unknown out at sea.

All night long, and all her life long, her vigil of love and light continued. From youth to old age, through winter and summer, storm and calm, fog and clear, that humble lighthouse beacon failed not. Each night she spun so many hanks of yarn for her daily bread, and one hank over for the candle. She turned night into day, reversing the whole habit of her life, and holding every other thing subject to her self-imposed task of love. And through the years many a fisherman out at sea, and many an anxious woman watching by hearth and crib, sent up heart-felt thanks to G.o.d for that little, steady light. And many a life was saved, of which no record could be kept.

That tells the whole story of sacrifice. A need, n.o.body to meet it; the need pa.s.sing into an emergency; and that into the tragedy of an unmet emergency; a heart sore torn to bleeding by the tragedy thrust bitterly home; then sacrifice, lifelong, that others might be saved where her loved one was lost, and still others spared what she herself suffered. And that story has been repeated with endless variations, and is being repeated, in every land, on every mission-field, home and foreign, and in almost every home of all the world.

Sin's Healing Shadow.

Sacrifice has come to be a law of life. Wherever there is sin there will be a call for sacrifice. For sin makes need, and need intensifies into emergency. And need and emergency mean sacrifice thrust upon some one in peril. And they call for sacrifice, volunteered by some one, who would save the man in peril. And wherever there are true men and women, as well as need, there will be sacrifice.