The Normal Christian Life
Chapter Fourteen
The Goal of the Gospel
For our final chapter we will take as our starting-point an incident in the
Gospels that occurs under the very shadow of the Cross -- an incident that,
in its details, is at once historic and prophetic.
"And while he was in Bethany in the house of Simon
the leper, as he sat at meat, there came a woman having an alabaster cruse
of ointment of spikenard very costly; and she brake the cruse, and poured it
over his head ... Jesus said ... Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever the
gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, that also which this
woman hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her" (Mark
14:3,6,9).
Thus the Lord ordained that the story of Mary anointing
Him with that costly ointment should always accompany the story of the
Gospel; that what Mary has done should always be coupled with what the Lord
has done. That is His own statement. What does He intend that we should
understand by it?
I think we all know the story of Mary's action well. From
the details given in John chapter 12, where the incident follows not long
after her brother's restoration to life, we may gather that the family was
not a specially wealthy one. The sisters had to work in the house
themselves, for we are told that at this feast "Martha also
served" (John 12:2 and compare Luke 10:40).[18] No doubt every penny
mattered to them. Yet one of those sisters, Mary, having among her treasures
an alabaster cruse containing three hundred pence' worth of ointment,
expended the whole thing on the Lord. Human reasoning said this was really
too much; it was giving the Lord more than His due. That is why Judas took
the lead, and the other disciples supported him, in voicing a general
complaint that Mary's action was a wasteful one.
Waste
"But there were some that had indignation among themselves, saying, To
what purpose hath this waste of the ointment been made? For this ointment
might have been sold for above three hundred pence and given to the poor.
And they murmured against her" (Mark 14:4,5). These words bring us to
what I believe the Lord would have us consider finally together, namely,
that which is signified by the little word "waste".
What is waste? Waste means, among other things, giving
more than is necessary. If a shilling will do and you give a point, it is a
waste. If two ounces will do and you give a kilogram, it is a waste. If
three days will suffice to finish a task well enough and you lavish five
days or a week on it, it is a waste. Waste means that you give something too
much for something too little. If someone is receiving more than he is
considered to be worth, then that is waste.
But remember, we are dealing here with something which the
Lord said had to go out with the Gospel, wherever that Gospel should be
carried. Why? Because He intends that the preaching of the Gospel should
issue in something along the very lines of the action of Mary here, namely,
that people should come to Him and waste themselves on Him. This is the
result that He is seeking.
We must look at this question of wasting on the Lord from
two angles: that of Judas (John 12:4-6) and that of the other disciples
(Matt. 26:8,9); and for our present purpose we will run together the
parallel accounts.
All the twelve thought is a waste. To Judas of course, who
had never called Jesus `Lord", everything that was poured out upon Him
was waste. Not only was ointment waste; even water would have been waste.
Here Judas stands for the world. In the world's estimation the service of
the Lord, and our giving ourselves to Him for such service, is sheer waste.
He has never been loved, never had a place in the hearts of the world, so
any giving to Him is a waste. Many say: `Such -and-such a man could make
good in the world if only he were not a Christian!' Because a man has some
natural talent or other asset in the world's eyes, they count such people
are really too good for the Lord. `What waste of a useful life!' they say.
Let me give a personal instance. In 1929 I returned from
Shanghai to my home town of Foochow. One day I was walking along the street
with a stick, very weak and in broken health, and I met one of my old
college professors. He took me into a teashop where we sat down. He looked
at me from head to foot and from foot to head, and then he said: `Now look
here; during your college days we thought a good deal of you and we had
hopes that you would achieve something great. Do you mean to tell me that
this is what you are?' Looking at me with penetrating eyes, he asked
that very pointed question. I must confess that, on hearing it, my first
desire was to break down and weep. My career, my health, everything had
gone, and here was my old professor who taught me law in the school, asking
me: `Are you still in this condition, with no success, no progress, nothing
to show?'
But the very next moment -- and I have to admit that in
all my life it was the first time -- I really knew what it meant to have the
"spirit of glory" resting upon me. The thought of being able to
pour our my life for my Lord flooded my soul with glory. Nothing short of
the Spirit of glory was on me then. I could look up and without a
reservation say: `Lord, I praise Thee! This is the best thing possible; it
is the right course that I have chosen!' To my professor it seemed a total
waste to serve the Lord; but that is what the Gospel is for -- to bring us
to a true estimate of His worth.
Judas felt it a waste. `We could manage better with the
money by using it in some other way. There are plenty of poor people. Why
not rather give it for charity, do some social service for their uplift,
help the poor in some practical way? Why pour it out at the feet of Jesus?'
(See John 12:4-6.) That is always the way the world reasons. `Can you not do
something better with yourself than this? It is going a bit too far to give
yourself altogether to the Lord!'
But if the Lord is worthy, then how can it be a waste? He
is worthy to be so served. He is worthy for me to be His prisoner. He is
worthy for me just to live for Him. He is worthy! What the world says
about this does not matter. The Lord says: `Do not trouble her'. So let us
not be troubled. Men may say what they like, but we can stand on this
ground, that the Lord said: `It is a good work. Every true work is not done
on the poor; every true work is done to Me'. When once our eyes have been
opened to the real worth of our Lord Jesus, nothing is too good for
Him.
But I do not want to dwell too much on Judas. Let us go on
to see what was the attitude of the other disciples, because their reaction
affects us even more than does his. We do not greatly mind what the world is
saying; we can stand that, but we do very much mind what other Christians
are saying who ought to understand. And yet we find that they said the same
thing as Judas; and they not only said it but they were very upset, very
indignant about it. "When the disciples saw it, they had indignation,
saying, To what purpose is this waste? For this ointment might have been
sold for much, and given to the poor" (Matt. 26:8,9).
Of course we know that the attitude of mind is all too
common among Christians which says, `Get all you can for as little as
possible'. That however is not what is in view here, but something deeper.
Let me illustrate. Has someone been telling you that you are wasting your
life be sitting still and not doing much? They say, `Here are people who
ought to get out into this or that kind of work. They could be used to help
this or that group of people. Why are they not more active?' -- and in
saying so, their whole idea is use. Everything ought to be used to
the full in ways they understand.
There are those who have been very concerned with some
dear servants of the Lord on this very ground, that they are apparently not
doing enough. They could do so much more, they think, if they could
secure an entry somewhere and enjoy a greater acceptance and prominence in
certain circles. They could then be used in a far greater way. I have spoken
already of a sister whom I knew for a long time and who, I think, is the one
by whom I have been helped most. She was used of the Lord in a very real way
during those years when I was associated with her, though to some of us at
the time this was not so apparent. The one concern in my heart was this:
`She is not used!' Constantly I said to myself, `Why does she not get out
and take some meetings, go somewhere, do something? It is a waste for her to
be living in that small village with nothing happening!' Sometimes, when I
went to see her, I almost shouted at her. I said, `No one knows the Lord as
you do. You know the Book in a most living way. Do you not see the need
around? Why don't you do something? It is a waste of time, a waste of
energy, a waste of money, a waste of everything, just sitting here and doing
nothing!'
But no, brethren, that is not the first thing with the
Lord. He wants you and me to be used, certainly. God forbid that I should
preach inactivity or seek to justify a complacent attitude to the world's
need. As Jesus Himself says here, "the gospel shall be preached
throughout the whole world". But the question is one of emphasis.
Looking back today, I realize how greatly the Lord was in fact using that
dear sister to speak to a number of us who, as young men, were at that time
in His training school for this very work of the Gospel. I cannot thank God
enough for her.
What, then, is the secret? Clearly it is this, that in
approving Mary's action at Bethany, the Lord Jesus was laying down one thing
as a basis of all service: that you pour out all you have, your very self, unto
Him; and if that should be all He allows you to do, that is enough. It
is not first of all a question of whether `the poor' have been helped or
not. The first question is: Has the Lord been satisfied?
There is many a meeting we might address, many a
convention at which we might minister, many a Gospel campaign in which we
might have a share. It is not that we are unable to do it. We could labor
and be used to the full; but the Lord is not so concerned about our
ceaseless occupation in work for Him. That is not His first object. The
service of the Lord is not to be measured by tangible results. No, my
friends, the Lord's first concern is with our position at His feet and our
anointing of His head. Whatever we have as an `alabaster box': the most
precious thing, the thing dearest in the world to us -- yes, let me say it, the
outflow from us of a life that is produced by the very Cross itself --
we give that all up to the Lord. To some, even of those who should
understand, it seems a waste; but that is what He seeks above all. Often
enough the giving to Him will be in tireless service, but He reserves to
Himself the right to suspend the service for a time in order to discover to
us whether it is that or Himself that holds us.
Ministering To His Pleasure
"Wheresoever the gospel shall be preached ... that also which this
woman hath done shall be spoken of" (Mark 14:9).
Why did the Lord say this? Because the Gospel is meant to
produce this. It is what the Gospel is for. The Gospel is not just to
satisfy sinners. Praise the Lord, sinners will be satisfied! but their
satisfaction is, we may say, a blessed by-product of the Gospel and not its
primary aim. The Gospel is preached in the first place so that the Lord
may be satisfied.
I am afraid we lay too much emphasis on the good of
sinners and we have not sufficiently appreciated what the Lord has in view
as His goal. We have been thinking how the sinner will fare if there is no
Gospel, but that is not the main consideration. Yes, Praise God! the sinner
has his part. God meets his need and showers him with blessings; but that is
not the most important thing. The first thing is this, that everything
should be to the satisfaction of the Son of God. It is only when He is
satisfied that we shall be satisfied and the sinner will be satisfied. I
have never met a soul who has set out to satisfy the Lord and has not been
satisfied himself. It is impossible. Our satisfaction comes unfailingly when
we satisfy Him first.
But we have to remember this, that He will never be
satisfied without our `wasting' ourselves upon Him. Have you ever given too
much to the Lord? May I tell you something? One lesson some of us have come
to learn is this, that in Divine service the principle of waste is the
principle of power. The principle which determines usefulness is the very
principle of scattering. Real usefulness in the hand of God is measured in
terms of `waste'. The more you think you can do, and the more you
employ your gifts up to the very limit (and some even go over the limit!) in
order to do it, the more you find that you are applying the principle of the
world and not of the Lord. God's ways with us are all designed to establish
in us this other principle, namely, that our work for Him springs out
of our ministering to Him. I do not mean that we are going to do
nothing; but the first thing for us must be the Lord Himself, not His work.
But we must come down to very practical issues. You say:
`I have given up a position; I have given up a ministry; I have foregone
certain attractive possibilities of a bright future, in order to go on with
the Lord in this way. Now I try to serve Him. Sometimes it seems that the
Lord hears me, and sometimes He keeps me waiting for a definite answer.
Sometimes He uses me, but sometimes it seems that He passes my by. Then,
when this is so, I compare myself with that other fellow who is in a certain
big system. He too had a bright future, but he has never given it up. He
continues on and he serves the Lord. He sees souls saved and the Lord
blesses his ministry. He is successful -- I do not mean materially, but
spiritually -- and I sometimes think he looks more like a Christian than I
do, so happy, so satisfied. After all, what do I get out of this? He has a
good time; I have all the bad time. He has never gone this way, and yet he
has much that Christians today regard as spiritual prosperity, while I have
all sorts of complications coming to me. What is the meaning of it all? Am I
wasting my life? Have I really given too much?'
So there is your problem. You feel that were you to follow
in that other brother's steps -- were you, shall we say, to consecrate
yourself enough for the blessing but not enough for the trouble, enough for
the Lord to use you but not enough for Him to shut you up -- all would be
perfectly all right. But would it? You know perfectly well that it would
not.
Takes your eyes off that other man! Look at your Lord, and
ask yourself again what it is that He values most highly. The
principle of waste is the principle that He would have govern us. `She is
doing this for Me.' Real satisfaction is brought to the heart of the
Son of God only when we are really, as people would think, `wasting'
ourselves upon Him. It seems as though we are giving too much and getting
nothing -- and that is the secret of pleasing God.
Oh, friends, what are we after? Are we after `use' as
those disciples were? They wanted to make every penny of those three hundred
pence go to its full length. The whole question was one of obvious
`usefulness' to God in terms that could be measured and put on record. The
Lord waits to hear us say: `Lord, I do not mind about that. If I can only
please Thee, it is enough'.
Anointing Him Beforehand
"Let her alone; why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me.
For ye have the poor always with you, and whensoever ye will ye can do them
good: but me ye have not always. She hath done what she could: she hath
anointed my body aforehand for the burying" (Mark 14:6-8).
In these verses the Lord Jesus introduces a time-factor
with the word `beforehand', and this is something of which we can have a new
application today, for it is as important to us now as it was to her then.
We all know that in the age to come we shall be called to a greater work --
not to inactivity. "Well done, good and faithful servant: thou hast
been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many things: enter
thou into the joy of thy Lord" (Matthew 25:21; and compare Matthew
24:47 and Luke 19:17). Yes, there will be a greater work; for the work of
God's house will go on, just as in the story the care of the poor went on.
The poor would always be with them, but they could not always have Him.
There was something, represented by this pouring out of the ointment, which
Mary had to do beforehand or she would have no later opportunity. I
believe that in that day we shall all love Him as we have never done now,
but yet that it will be most blessed for those who have poured out their all
upon the Lord today. When we see Him face to face I trust that we shall all
break and pour out everything for Him. But today -- what are we doing today?
Several days after Mary broke the alabaster box and poured
the ointment on Jesus' head, there were some women who went early in the
morning to anoint the body of the Lord. Did they do it? Did they succeed in
their purpose on that first day of the week? No, there was only one soul who
succeeded in anointing the Lord, and it was Mary, who anointed Him before
hand. The others never did it, for He had risen. Now I suggest that in just
such a way the matter of time may be important to us also, and that the
whole question for us is : What am I doing to the Lord today?
Have our eyes been opened to see the preciousness of the
One whom we are serving? Have we come to see that nothing less than the
dearest, the costliest, the most precious, is fit for Him? Have we come to
see that working for the poor, working for the benefit of the world, working
for the souls of men and for the eternal good of the sinner -- all these so
necessary and valuable things -- are right only if they are in their place?
In themselves, as things apart, they are as nothing compared with work that
is done to the Lord.
The Lord has to open our eyes to His worth. If there is in
the world some precious art treasure, and I pay the high price asked for it,
be it one thousand, ten thousand, or even a million pounds, dare anyone say
it is a waste? The idea of waste only comes into our Christianity when we
underestimate the worth of our Lord. The whole question is: How precious is
He to us now? If we do not think much of Him, then of course to give Him
anything at all, however small, will seem to us a wicked waste. But when He
is really precious to our soul, nothing will be too good, nothing too costly
for Him; everything we have, our dearest, our most priceless treasure, we
shall pour out upon Him, and we shall not count it a shame to have done so.
Of Mary the Lord said: "She hath done what she could". What does that mean? It means that she had given up her all. She had kept nothing in reserve for a future day. She had lavished on Him all she had; and yet on the resurrection morning she had no reason to regret her extravagance. And the Lord will not be satisfied with anything less from us than that we too should have done `what we could'. By this, remember, I do not mean the expenditure of our effort and energy in trying to do something for Him, for that is not the point here. What the Lord Jesus looks for in us is a life laid at His feet -- and that in view of His death and burial and of a future day. His burial was already in view that day in the home in Bethany. Today it is His crowning that is in view -- when He shall be acclaimed in glory as the Anointed One, the Christ of God. Yes, then we shall pour out our all upon Him! But it is a precious thing -- indeed it is a far more precious thing to Him -- that we should anoint Him now, not with any material oil but with something costly, something from our hearts.
That which is merely external and superficial has no place here. It has
already been dealt with by the Cross, and we have given our consent to God's
judgment upon it and learnt to know in experience its cutting off. What God
is demanding of us now is represented by that flask of alabaster: something
mined from the depths, something turned and chased and wrought upon,
something that, because it is so truly of the Lord, we cherish as Mary
cherished that flask -- and we would not, we dare not break it. It comes now
from the heart, from the very depth of our being; and we come to the Lord
with that, and we break it and pour it out and say: `Lord, here it is. It is
all Yours, because You are worthy!' -- and the Lord has got what He desired.
May He receive such an anointing from us today.
Fragrance
"And the house was filled with the odor of the ointment" (John
12:3). By the breaking of that flask and the anointing of the Lord Jesus,
the house was pervaded with the sweetest fragrance. Everyone could smell it
and none could be unaware of it. What is the significance of this?
Whenever you meet someone who has really suffered --
someone who has gone through experiences with the Lord that have brought
limitation, and who, instead of trying to break free in order to be `used',
has been willing to be imprisoned by Him and has thus learned to find
satisfaction in the Lord and nowhere else -- then immediately you become
aware of something. Immediately your spiritual senses detect a sweet savour
of Christ. Something has been crushed, something has been broken in that
life, and so you smell the odor. The odor that filled the house that day in
Bethany still fills the Church today; Mary's fragrance never passes. It
needed but one stroke to break the flask for the Lord, but that breaking and
the fragrance of that anointing abides.
We are speaking here of what we are; not of what we do or
what we preach. Perhaps you may have been asking the Lord for a long time
that He will be pleased to use you in such a way as to impart impressions of
Himself to others. That prayer is not exactly for the gift of preaching or
teaching. It is rather that you might be able, in your touch with others, to
impart God, the presence of God, the sense of God. Dear friends, you cannot
produce such impressions of God upon others without the breaking of
everything, even your most precious possessions, at the feet of the Lord
Jesus.
But if once that point is reached, you may or may not seem
to be much used in an outward way, but God will begin to use you to create a
hunger in others. People will scent Christ in you. The least saint in the
Body will detect that. He will sense that here is one who has gone with the
Lord, one who has suffered, one who has not moved freely, independently, but
who has known what it is to let go everything to Him. That kind of life
creates impressions, and impressions create hunger, and hunger provokes men
to go on seeking until they are brought by Divine revelation into fullness
of life in Christ.
God does not set us here first of all to preach or to do
work for Him. The first thing for which He sets us here is to create in
others a hunger for Himself. That is, after all, what prepares the soil for
the preaching.
If you set a delicious cake in front of two men who have just had a heavy meal, what will be their reaction? They will talk about it, admire its appearance, discuss the recipe, argue about the cost -- do everything n fact but eat it! But if they are truly hungry it will not be very long before that cake is gone. And so it is with the things of the Spirit. No true work will ever begin in a life without first of all a sense of need being created. But how can this be done? We cannot inject spiritual appetite by force into others; we cannot compel people to be hungry. Hunger has to be created, and it can be created in others only by those who carry with them the impressions of God.
I always like to think of the words of that "great woman" of
Shunem. Speaking of the prophet, whom she had observed but whom she did not
know well, she said: "Behold now, I perceive that this is an holy man
of God, which passeth by us continually" (2 Kings 4:9). It was not what
Elisha said or did that conveyed that impression, but what he was. By his
merely passing by she could detect something; she could see. What are
people sensing about us? We may leave many kinds of impressions: we may
leave the impression that we are clever, that we are gifted, that we
are this or that or the other. But no: the impression left by Elisha was an
impression of God Himself.
This matter of our impact upon others turns upon one
thing, and that is the working of the Cross in us with regard to the
pleasure of the heart of God. It demands that I seek His pleasure, that I
seek to satisfy Him only, and that I do not mind how much it costs me to do
so. The sister of whom I have spoken came once into a situation that was
very difficult for her: I mean, it was costing her everything. I was with
her at the time, and together we knelt down and prayed with wet eyes.
Looking up she said: Lord, I am willing to break my heart in order that I
may satisfy Thy heart!' To talk thus of heart-break might with many of us be
merely romantic sentiment, but in the particular situation in which she was,
it meant to her just that.
There must be something -- a willingness to yield, a
breaking and a pouring out of everything to Him -- which gives release to
that fragrance of Christ and produces in other lives an awareness of need,
drawing them out and on to know the Lord. This is what I feel to be the
heart of everything. The Gospel has as its one object the producing in us
sinners of a condition that will satisfy the heart of our God. In order that
He may have that, we come to Him with all we have, all we are -- yes, even
the most cherished things in our spiritual experience -- and we make known
to Him: `Lord, I am willing to let go all of this for You: not just for Your
work, not for Your children, not for anything else, but for Yourself!'
Oh, to be wasted! It is a blessed thing to be wasted for
the Lord. So many who have been prominent in the Christian world know
nothing of this. Many of us have been used to the full -- have been used, I
would say, too much -- but we do not know what it means to be wasted on God.
We like to be always `on the go': the Lord would sometimes prefer to have us
in prison. We think in terms of apostolic journeys: God dares to put his
greatest ambassadors in chains.
"But thanks be unto God, which always leadeth us in
triumph in Christ, and maketh manifest through us the savour of his
knowledge in every place" (2 Cor. 2:14).
"And the house was filled with the odor of the
ointment (John 12:3).
The Lord grant us grace that we may learn how to please
Him. When, like Paul, we make this our supreme aim (2 Cor. 5:9), the Gospel
will have achieved its end.
Endnotes
[1]1 John 1:7: Marginal reading of New Translation by J.N. Darby
[2]Note - The author uses `the Cross' here and throughout these studies in a special sense. Most readers will be familiar with the current use of the expression `the Cross' to signify, firstly, the entire redemptive work accomplished historically in the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Himself (Phil. 2:8,9), and secondly, in a wider sense, the union of believers with Him therein through grace (Rom. 6:4; Eph. 2:5,6). Clearly in that use of the term the operation of `the Blood' in relation to forgiveness of sins (as dealt with in Chapter 1 of this book) is, from God's viewpoint, included (with all that follows in these studies) as a part of the work of the Cross. In this and the following chapters, however, the author is compelled, for lack of an alternative term, to use `the Cross' in a more particular and limited doctrinal sense in order to draw a helpful distinction, namely, that between substitution and identification, as being, from the human angle, two separate aspects of the doctrine of redemption. Thus the name of the whole is of necessity used for one of its parts. The reader should bear this in mind in what follows. -- Ed.
[3]The expression "with him" in Romans 6:6 carries of course a doctrinal as well as historical, or temporal sense. It is only in the historical sense that the statement is reversible. W.N.
[4]The quotations are from Hudson Taylor and the China Inland Mission by Dr. and Mrs. Howard Taylor, Chapter 12, `The Exchanged Life'. The whole passage should be read. -- Ed.
[5]The verb katargeo translated `destroyed' in Romans 6:6 (A.V.) does not mean `annihilated', but `put out of operation', `made ineffective'. It is from the Creek root argos, `inactive', `not working', `unprofitable', which is the word translated `idle' in Matthew 20:3,6 of the unemployed laborers in the market place. -- Ed.
[6]Greek sumphtuos `planted or grown along with', `united with'. The word is used in the sense of `grafted' in Classical Greek. in the delightful illustration which follows, the analogy of grafting should perhaps not be pressed too closely, for it is not quite safe to imply, without some qualification, that Christ is grafted into the old stock. But what parable can adequately describe the miracle of the new creation? -- Ed.
[7]long-ien (Euphoria longana) is a tree native to China. Its fruit resembles an apricot in size and has a round central stone, a dry, light brown, papery skin and a delicious white, grape-like pulp. It is eaten either fresh or dried, and is prized by the Chinese both for its flavour and for its food value. -- Ed.
[8]Whatever question medical men may raise as to the account of this unusual incident, the statement which follows is not open to challenge.-- Ed.
[9]Note.--Two Greek verbs paristano and paristemi are translated in these verses by `present' in the R.V. where the A.V. has `yield'. Paristemi occurs frequently with this meaning, e.g. in Rom. 12:1; 2 Cor. 11:2; Col. 1:22,28, and in Luke 2:22 where it is used of the presenting of the infant Jesus to God in the Temple. Both words have an active sense for which the R.V. translation `present' is greatly to be preferred. `Yield' contains a passive idea of `surrender' that has coloured much evangelical thought, but which is not in keeping with the context here in Romans. -- Ed.
[10]The Holy Spirit, who He is and what He does, by R.A. Torrey, D.D., pp. 198-9.
[11]The Life of Dwight L. Moody, by his son, W.R. Moody, p. 149.
[12]Autobiography of Charles E. Finney, chapter 2.
[13]The author has in mind the Greek preposition ek, the sense of which is not easily conveyed by any single English word. -- Ed.
[14]`Resident Boss' -- The author's own rendering of li-mien tang-chia tih. -- Ed.
[15]The two apparent exceptions to this are found in 1 Corinthians 11:28,31 and 2 Corinthians 13:5. But the former passage calls upon us to discern ourselves as to whether we recognize the Lord's body or not, and this is in particular connection with the Lord's table. It is not concerned with self-knowledge as such. The strong command of Paul in the latter passage is to examine ourselves as to whether or not we are "in the faith". It is a question of the existence or otherwise in us of a fundamental faith; of whether, in fact, we are Christians. This is in no way related to our daily walk in the Spirit, or to self-knowledge. -- W.N.
[16]This is one of several references by the author to the late Miss Maragaret E. Barber of Pagoda Anchorage, Foochow. See also pp. 95-6, 239, 256-7, 266-7. -- Ed.
[17]1938. -- Ed.
[18]The author here takes the fairly common view that the "house of
Simon the leper" was the home of Mary, Martha and Lazarus, Simon
presumably also being a relative of the two sisters. -- Ed.
End