A Handful of Stars Part 18

Sage or savage, it is all the same. Bunyan's great night was the night on which he found that same pillow. 'It was with joy that I told my wife, "O, now I know, _I know_!" That night was a good night to me! I never had a better. I longed for the company of some of G.o.d's people, that I might have imparted unto them what G.o.d had showed me. Christ was a precious Christ to my soul that night; I could scarcely lie in my bed for joy and peace and triumph through Christ!'

'_Those words shall be my pillow!_' said the African chief.

'_Those words shall be my pillow!_' said the English scientist.

'_Those words shall be my pillow!_' cried John Bunyan.

'_For I am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day!_'

III

'_He is able to keep!_' That was the sublime confidence that won the heart of John Newton. It came to him in the form of a dream on his voyage home from Venice. I have told the story in full in _A Bunch of Everlastings_. 'It made,' he says, 'a very great impression upon me!'

The same thought made an indelible impression upon the mind of Faraday, and he clung tenaciously to it at the last. '_He is able to keep_'--as a shepherd keeps his sheep. '_He is able to keep_'--as a sentry keeps the gate. '_He is able to keep_'--as the pilgrims kept the golden vessels on their journey to Jerusalem, both counting and weighing them before they set out from Babylon and again on their arrival at the Holy City. '_He is able to keep_'--as a banker keeps the treasure confided to his custody.

'_I know whom I have believed_,' says the margin of the Revised Version, '_and I am persuaded that He is able to guard my deposit against that day_.'

'_I know in whom my trust reposes_,' says Dr. Weymouth's translation, '_and I am confident that He has it in His power to keep what I have entrusted to Him safe until that day._'

'_I know whom I have trusted_,' says Dr. Moffatt's version, '_and I am certain that He is able to keep what I have put into His hands till the Great Day._'

_He will guard my treasure!_

_He will honor my confidence!_

_He will hold my deposit!_

_I know! I know! I know!_

IV

Faraday's text is an ill-used text. It is frequently mis-quoted. It occurred one day in the course of a theological lesson over which Rabbi Duncan was presiding.

'Repeat that pa.s.sage!' said the Rabbi to the student who had just spoken.

'_I know in whom I have_----'

'My dear sir,' interrupted the Rabbi, 'you must never let even a preposition come between you and your Saviour!'

And when Dr. Alexander, of Princeton, was dying, a friend endeavored to fortify his faith by reciting some of the most familiar pa.s.sages and promises. Presently he ventured upon the words:

'_I know in whom I have believed, and_----'

But the sick man raised his hand.

'No, no,' exclaimed the dying Princ.i.p.al, 'it is not "I know _in_ whom"

but "I know _whom_"; I cannot have even the little word "_in_" between me and Christ. _I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him against that day!_'

John Oxenham has expressed the same thought with an accent and emphasis well worthy of the theme:

Not What, but _Whom_, I do believe, _That_, in my darkest hour of need, Hath comfort that no mortal creed To mortal man may give.

Not What but _Whom_.

For Christ is more than all the creeds, And His full life of gentle deeds Shall all the creeds outlive.

Not What I do believe, but _Whom_.

_Who_ walks beside me in the gloom?

_Who_ shares the burden wearisome?

_Who_ all the dim way doth illume, And bids me look beyond the tomb The larger life to live?

Not what I do believe, But _Whom_!

Not What, But _Whom_!

It was a Person, a Living and Divine Person, of whom Faraday was so certain and on whom he rested so securely at the last.

V

Is there in all Scottish literature a more robust, more satisfying, or more lovable character than _Donal Grant_? Readers of George Macdonald will cherish the thought of Donal as long as they live. He was the child of the open air; his character was formed during long and lonely tramps on the wide moor and among the rugged mountains; it was strengthened and sweetened by communion with sheep and dogs and cattle, with stars and winds and stormy skies. He was disciplined by sharp suffering and bitter disappointments. And he became to all who knew him a tower of strength, a sure refuge, a strong city, and the shadow of a great rock in a weary land. As a shepherd-boy among the hills he learned to read his Greek Testament; and, later on, he became tutor at the Castle Graham. It was his business in life to instruct little Davie, the younger son of Lord Morven; and he had his own way of doing it.

'Davie,' he said one day, 'there is One who understands every boy, and understands each separate boy as well as if there were no other boy in the whole world.'

'Tell me who it is!' demanded Davie.

'That is what I have to _teach_ you; mere _telling_ is not much use.

_Telling_ is what makes people think they know when they do not, and makes them foolish.'

'Well, what is his name?'

'I will not tell you that just yet; for then you would think that you knew Him when you knew next to nothing about Him. Look here! Look at this book!' He pulled from his pocket a copy of Boethius. 'Look at the name on the back of it; it is the name of the man who wrote that book.'

Davie spelled it out.

'Now you know all about the book, don't you?'

'No, sir, I don't know anything about it.'

'Well, then, my father's name is Robert Grant; you know now what a good man he is!'

'No, I don't!' replied Davie.

And so Donal led Davie to see that to know _the name_ of Jesus, and to know _about_ Jesus is not to know _Jesus_.

'I know _Him_!' cried Faraday in triumph.

George Macdonald makes Faraday's text the master-pa.s.sion of his hero's life to the last. All through the adventures recorded in the book, Donal Grant behaves like a man who is very sure of G.o.d. '_I know Him_,' he seems to say. '_I know Him._' And the closing sentences of the story tell us that 'Donal is still a present power of heat and light in the town of Auchars. He wears the same solemn look, the same hovering smile.

That look and that smile say to those who can read them, "_I know whom I have believed_." His life is hid with Christ in G.o.d; he has no anxiety about anything; G.o.d is, and all is well.'