Part 8 (1/2)
”Christ's way was much rougher and darker than mine, Did Christ, my Lord, suffer, and shall I repine?”
Again, another qualification in a ruling elder is wisdom. ”Be ye wise as serpents,” said Jesus, ”and harmless as doves.” Are all these professing Christians wise? Are all elders wise? Are all ministers wise? Dr. Bonar says:
Be wise and use thy wisdom well.
_Be what thou seemest._ Live thy creed; Be what thou prayest to be made.
Lift o'er the earth the torch Divine, Let the great Master's steps be thine.
Blessed words these. Who can read them without thanking G.o.d for such words and such men, that our kind Father above raises up to instruct us in these things that pertain to our everlasting well-being? For all well-being is the result of _well-doing_ in time and in eternity.
Who is a wise man, and endued with knowledge among you, let him show, out of a good conversation, his works with meekness of wisdom. This meekness of wisdom Elder Knowles preeminently possessed. The psalmist says, concerning such: ”The meek shall inherit the land. And shall delight themselves in abundance of peace. Strike, said Diogenes, to his instructor, Antichenes, the philosopher; but you will find no staff so hard that it will drive me away from your school. I love you, and I have made up my mind to suffer anything for the sake of learning.” This yearning desire on the part of the true elder after fitness for his office, ought to be willing to bear reproach for the sake of Him who died, that we might live. There is great wisdom displayed in bearing the Cross meekly for Jesus. If we suffer with Him, we shall also reign with Him.
It is a blessed thing to suffer in love for Christ. To bear injustice and conquer. Herein is consummate wisdom displayed. ”If ye have bitter envying and strife in your hearts, glory not, and lie not against the truth. This wisdom descendeth not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish. For where envy and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work. But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy” (James iii. 14-17).
But the wisdom of the elder now lying before us in the coffin was displayed not only in his meekness, but in his _gentleness_ of disposition.
His wife used to say, ”Why, he is just like a child. So gentle and peaceable. So easily intreated.” I remember quoting that hymn at the prayer meeting:
I want to be like Jesus, Meek, lowly, loving, mild; I want to be like Jesus-- The Father's holy child.
And at the close of the meeting he shook me warmly by the hand, and the sentiment in the stanza seemed to give him unspeakable pleasure.
Once more, another qualification for the elders.h.i.+p that our deceased brother possessed, was, _that he had a good report from without_. (See 1 Timothy, iii. 7.) Our dearly beloved was not only highly esteemed for his work's sake by the members of the churches and the various pastors, as their letters in this volume testify, but his walk and conversation was such in the outside world, that his fellow-workmen, and those who lived in the same house with him, and had opportunity to know him, learned to revere and love him. You know the eyes of the world are constantly watching the Christian. I notice on the casket to-day a lovely bouquet of flowers, and I read on the card: ”Presented to James Knowles, by the printers where he was for years employed.”
This is, certainly, a token of esteem to the memory of him with whom they were long so affectionately a.s.sociated.
In every professional life there are daily occurrences that try men's tempers. But by the grace of G.o.d, our brother was enabled to adorn the doctrine of G.o.d, our Saviour, and to live unspotted from the world. As all elders have to mingle more with the world than a minister, how essential it is that the outside world should see that their walk and conversation be as becometh the Gospel of Christ.
Again: another qualification of an elder, is, that ”he should be a _prayerful man_.” Our brother had all through life cultivated a spirit of prayer. This ”is the Christian's vital breath.” It was his habit to shut himself up in his room, and pour out his soul in earnest supplication to G.o.d. He prayed in his family, as well as in the church.
He had secret prayer. ”And thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet?” said Jesus. Oh, the power of prayer is marvellous. He prayed audibly. And his wife used to say of him: ”He pleads with G.o.d as one _pleading for his life_.”
When he became so weak that he was unable longer to testify for Christ on his death-bed, his loved ones bending over him, and putting their ears down to his lips to catch his last articulations, they heard him praying, not for himself, but for Allen Street Presbyterian Church and its minister.
Lastly, an elder ought to cultivate the habit of _systematic beneficence_ for the support of the Gospel. This, our brother was constantly in the habit of doing. He remembered the injunction, ”It is more blessed to give than to receive.” It is worthy of observation that, during the three years during which his son was out in the late war, he paid monthly the pew rent for his boy during his absence, until at last his pastor would not allow him to do it longer.
Oh, that all of our office-bearers and church members would feel it their duty to give largely and in a wors.h.i.+pful spirit to the cause of their Redeemer, as the Lord has prospered them.
Blessed are such dead who die in the Lord; they rest from their labors, and their works do follow them.
Man cannot cover what G.o.d can _reveal_. Says the poet Campbell:
'Tis the sunset of life gives me mystical lore, And coming events cast their shadows before.
Their works do follow them. Where? On to the judgment. Where selfish ambition and avarice will be exposed in its true light. Where ”man's inhumanity to man” will be thoroughly scrutinized. For the books will be opened, and we will be judged according to our works.
In that great and awful day when the great white throne is erected, and when the heavens shall be removed as a scroll, when it is rolled up; and every mountain and island shall be removed out of their places. And the kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, shall hide themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they shall say to the mountains and the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of Him who sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of His wrath is come: and who is able to stand?
Oh, let us remember that now broken hearts can be healed by the power of the Gospel of Christ. Their works do follow them. Yonder? Yes! Here?