The Penn's Grove record., 1912-01-05
Close Fellowship
Is
Christian Life
By Rev. Washington GLADDEN.
Columbus, Ohio

TEXT-Behold I stand at the door and
knock. If any man hear My voice and
open the door 1 will come in to him and
be with Me.-Revelations 1920.
The companionship here suggested
between the divine and the human is
intimate and familiar. The figure is
that of a social meal together. And
the great friend represents himself as
taking the initiative. He does not
force his companionsnip upon us. The
divine reverence for the human per-
sonality Is one of the great truths
which it has taken the world a long
time to learn, but We are beginning
to understand it. I'VE force no doors
In friendship" says DIR. King, but,
like the Christ in Revelation, We
stand r%everently at the door without,
to knock. And only If the door be
opened from within may we come in
to sup with our friend, and he with
U.S." But 1t is only the most init
mate of our friends who venture to in
vite themselves to supper.
Is it not a beautiful relation be-
tween the divine and the human that
Is thus advocated? But what we have
learned of God from Jesus Christ
makes 1t easy 10 accept this sugges
ton. We are ure that If Jesus should
come to Columbus the people who
loved him might expect to have him
drop in any evening to supper, and
they would not be at all embarrassed
at hearing his familiar knock at the
door. No formalities would be called
for In his case. He would know how
to make himself at home. And he
that hath seen me-" he said, hath
seen the father" That Is the kind OF
friendship that the great friend wish
es to maintain with all of us.
But the text is a parable, as Is the
supper of which we are soon to par
take. What is the deeper fact to
which these symbols bear witness?
1t is a communion, a sharing of the
divine life by the human life. We are
partakers, Paul says, Of the divine
nature. In some way he lives in us,
and We in him.
Let US not conceive that this is a
mere mystical impressionism. But
what is clear? When the great friend
comes In to sup with us how we shall
be aware Of his presence? 1t will be
something more than a p~leasurable
thrill Of spiritual excitement. The
guests that he brings with him will
be good thoughts, generous wishes,
definite direction of life toward def
mite objects. Now all these move
ments of mind are realities. A thought
is just as real as a stone or a tree
or a breeze. So is a wish or a pur-
pose.
These are all realities. We are
more sure of them han of anything
else. The fact that you cannot weigh
them in scales or measure them with
a yard stick Is no proof that they are
not real. 1t is in these realities that
God ONE into our lives. He desires
to share our thoughts, to enoble our
wishes, to guide our purposes. And
he can do this for US. The human
mind is made to be i~rradiated with
the divine thought, as the diamond is
made for the light. The central forces
Of our lives are these thoughts and
wishes and purposes of ours. What
We habitually think about, what we
h~abitually wish for, what we habitual-
ly choose and prefer. that are we. And
the man who wants to have the truth
of God in his mind and the purity
and love of God in his purpose can
have the inspiration that will make
his life divine.
This, l suppose, is the kind Of COM
munion that the text offers us, and it
s the substance Of this that we ought
to be thinking of as we sit here be-
fore this table. 1t was to bring men
into this relation with the great friend
that Jesus lived and taught and died.
When any la has learned to realize
this great friendship 1t Is well for
him. All things are his-life, death,
things present, things to come.