THE HIDDEN LIFE
By
Rev. Adolph Saphir
Author of
Expository Lectures on the Epistle to the Hebrews,
The life of faith, etc.
New Edition.
London:
John f. shaw and co.,
48, paternoster row. E.C.
Preface
THE following pages, with the exception of chapters 5, 6, and 11, contain the substance of addresses, given in the ordinary course of congregational ministration, on James 4:8, Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. I have endeavoured to offer a few elementary thoughts on the great subject of the Christians hidden life, and to describe the experienced reality of revelation and of prayer, or of communion with God.
Much is said and written in the present day in defence of truth against the attacks of unbelief and doubt; much also in the way of appeal and invitation to those who are still strangers to the enjoyment of Christs peace. While fully admitting the necessity and importance of both these aspects, the apologetic and the evangelistic, we may yet regard as of still greater importance the unfolding of Scripture itself, the testimony of the reality of the things which are freely given to us of God in Christ, and by the Spirit. It is right to guard the house against the attacks of foes, or rather to point out the strength and security of the divinely-laid foundation. It is also right to point out the gate wide and open, and to declare to all the freeness and fulness of divine grace. But to describe the home itself. the inner sanctuary. seems to be more essential, and also more in accordance with the Practice of the apostles, who declared the whole counsel of God, regarded the preaching of the gospel, in its fulness and with the power of the Holy Ghost, as at once the great argument to convince, and the great attraction to persuade. I have endeavoured to point out in chapters 5 and 6 what I regard as the Scripture method of defence of revelation and prayer.
When we meditate on the hidden life, we realize the substantial unity of all who believe in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost. We are often astonished that Christians hold doctrinal views which appear to us to be inconsistent with some vital truth, or that they are able to live in communions or churches with which we could not feel at liberty to be connected. But however perplexing this may be, we know that none can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost; and when we are brought most fully and deeply into communion with Christ, in seasons of great soul-trial or spiritual elevation, we feel most clearly and strongly that there is one spirit which unites all who love the Lord Jesus, and who have experienced the power and sweetness of divine grace. Our want of union and brotherly love arises, it seems to me, not from attaching too much importance to the points in which we differ, but from our not beholding clearly enough, and our not realizing sufficiently the magnitude of the fundamental truth, held by all Christians, God manifest in the flesh.
Hoping that these simple pages may, by Gods blessing, prove helpful to some believers and seekers, I conclude with the words of an old author, applicable to hearer as well as teacher: It is a cold, lifeless thing to speak of spiritual things upon mere report; but they that speak of them as their own, as having share or interest in them, and some experience of their sweetness, their discourse is enlivened with firm belief and ardent affection; they can-not mention them (or hear of them) but their hearts are straight taken with such gladness as they are forced to vent in praises. (Archbishop Leighton)
Adolph Saphir
Trinity Presbyterian Church
Notting Hill,
February 1877.
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The Hidden Life, Adolph Saphir Chapter 1 The Open Secret
Chapter 1
The Open Secret
Draw nigh to god; and he will draw nigh to you.
James 4:8
N OT every mystic is a Christian, but every Christian, a mystic. (See note at end of this chapter)
There is a hidden wisdom. The apostle Paul writes: We speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought: but we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory. (1 Cor. 2:6,7). The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him. In the hidden centre of their being God makes them to know wisdom. (Ps. 51:6) They have an unction from above, which teacheth them of all things, and is truth. (2 John 2:27) Knowest thou where wisdom is found? and where is the place of understanding ?.... The depth saith, It is not in me: and the sea saith, It is not with me. (Job 28:12,14) But Jesus declares that the Father hath revealed it unto babes. (Matt 11:25)
There is a hidden glory. It is manifested, (The glory of the Lord shall be revealed. Isa 40:5) and yet only faith can behold it. Jesus changed the water into wine at the marriage of Cana, and showed forth His glory. Men saw, and yet did not see; but His disciples believed in Him. (John 2:11) Jesus raised Lazarus from the grave, there were many witnesses; yet only they who believed saw the glory of God, and the Son of God glorified. (John 11:4,40) The glory of God is beheld by faith in the face of Jesus Christ; (2 Cor 3) and Jesus Christ is known only by those who know the mystery of His cross and resurrection, (Phil 3:10) and are waiting to be glorified together with Him. (Rom 8:17)
There is a hidden life, far, far away---high high above. It is life hid with Christ in God---life born out of death; as it is written, For ye have died, and your life is hid. (Col 3:3) It is mysterious in its commencement. The wind bloweth where it listeth,, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but Canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit. (John 3:8) It is mysterious in its progress: I live yet; not I, but Christ liveth in me. (Gal 2:20) It is mysterious in its consummation...the marriage of the Lamb. (Rev 19:7,9) We shall be for ever with the Lord.
There is a hidden manna. We have meat to eat that the world knows not of. (John 4:32) There is an unseen river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God. (Ps 46:4 Rev 22:1) Only Gods children see it, and know the Source whence it cometh, and the Ocean whither it is flowing.
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The Hidden Life, Adolph Saphir Chapter 1 The Open Secret
It is impossible to deny the mystical character of Christianity when we consider such passages as these: If a man love Me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. Christ will manifest Himself unto us, and not unto the world. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God. Christ dwelleth in the heart by faith. I labour, striving according to His working, which worketh in me mightily. (Especially the doctrine of grace, held to be fundamental in evangelical churches, has a mystical character; for it maintains that grace, and not nature, is the source of all our good thoughts, words, and works. If I could obey in all things, yet that would not satisfy me, unless I felt obedience flow from the birth of His life in me. My Father doeth all things in Me, saith Christ. This was Christ's comfort; and to fee Christ do all in the soul, is the comfort of one that truly believeth on Him.)
If we know these hidden things, then are we ourselves hidden ones, who shall be made manifest when Christ, who is our Life, shall appear. Of this hidden life these pages treat. The soul draws nigh to God; God draws nigh to the soul: the result is communion with God. This is the simplest, the most elementary aspect of the hidden life; and it addresses itself to all. For although wisdom is justified only of her children, although they only hear and understand her voice, yet wisdom speaks to all the words of light and love: He that hath ears, let him hear. Different from the exclusiveness of human wisdom is the Divine Teacher: He welcomes the simple and the sinful, babes and little children, and all who are bowed down with sorrow, and oppressed with darkness and the shadow of death.
Drawing nigh to God is the most comprehensive expression to describe the soul's attitude toward God. Prayer is the culminating point of this attitude. If we rightly view prayer, it embraces our whole life, our thought and feeling, our will and work, our conflict and rest. Drawing nigh to God describes the character of Christians life. In the meditation of our hearts, in the desires of our soul, in the activities and enjoyments of our daily path, we approach God; for we wish to live before Him, conscious of His presence, in constant dependence and in constant enjoyment of His grace. And God drawing nigh to us is the most comprehensive expression to describe Gods dealings with us. The Word, or the Scripture, is the great, and in many respects the unique, channel of Gods communications to the soul; or rather it is central, round which all other divine influences gather. Scripture is the divine revelation in a special sense, but so that it connects itself with all other manifestations of God to the soul, be they in Nature or Providence, or by the direct influence of the Spirit.
Hence the advice, which is a household word among Christians, that prayer and the reading of Scripture are the great means of sustaining and nourishing the inner life, is perfectly correct, if it is understood in a spiritual and not a mechanical manner, if prayer and Scripture are viewed, not as isolated powers, but as central and culminating points.
There is no safety in distance from God. If we take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, we cannot go from Gods Spirit, nor flee from His presence. Fear of a guilty conscience seeks a hiding-place; but where can we escape the eye of Omniscience, or shield ourselves against the anger of our holy God?
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The Hidden Life, Adolph Saphir Chapter 1 The Open Secret
There is only one hiding-place, even God Himself. The only safe place for helpless and sinful men is close to God...in the arms of the Father, at the feet of Jesus, the Friend of sinners, once crucified and now exalted, to give repentance and the remission of sins. Come to Jesus, and thou art in the secret place of the Most High, where no evil can befall thee, nor any plague come nigh thy dwelling. There is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. The Lord has forgiven all our transgressions, and will remember our sins no more. There is no life, or light, or love in distance from God. Even if man had not fallen, his only happiness and strength would have been in constant dependence on God and communion with Him. In Paradise sinless Adam lived by faith in God. It was in Gods light that he saw light, and in receiving constantly the bright and blessed influence of divine love, his spirit rejoiced and was strong in God. No creature is good in itself; no creature has within itself a fountain of life and of blessedness; no creature has even committed to its care a treasure of strength and goodness; but with God is the fountain of life. Constantly beholding the countenance of the Father in heaven, angels and saints are upheld by divine love, and replenished out of the divine fulness.
Now that sin has entered, no effort on mans part can ever bring him nigh to God. Sin has so clouded and darkened the mind, that man cannot rise to the spiritual idea of God he is always changing the glory of God into the similitude and shadowy image of the creaturely. Jesus is the Image of the invisible God, and in Him all previous revelations of the Name find their ultimate and perfect fulfilment. No human effort could have removed sin as the obstacle between God and us. In Jesus is both deliverance from guilt and the source of renewal. God was in Christ. In the Incarnation, death, resurrection, and the sending forth of the Holy Ghost from the Father, through the glorified humanity of His Son, there is the most perfect fulfilment of the great problem, How can fallen man be brought nigh to God? how can God dwell among and within men? Jesus is the way...the way of God to man, the way of man to God. In Jesus man finds God the Father; in Jesus God finds the lost sheep. Man finds in Jesus God, to have God as his portion; God finds in Jesus man, to be His portion for evermore.
Blessed be God, He has brought us nigh to Himself. We adore the great mystery of godliness, God manifest in the flesh. We rejoice with the joy of broken and healed, of contrite and comforted hearts, because Jesus loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and brought us near to God, into the Holy of Holies---a royal priesthood. We give thanks for the gift of the Holy Ghost, in whom we now worship the Father, and by whom the light and life has been kindled within our hearts. Herein is love, that, notwithstanding our sin, God has brought us nigh unto Himself. More wonderful and glorious than angelic purity or the innocence of Paradise is the divine righteousness in which we now stand before God; and high above all hopes and thoughts of the human heart are our union with the Incarnate Son of God, and the indwelling of the Holy Ghost in our souls.
Draw nigh to God, and He will draw nigh to you. The word sounds like a precept, and yet is all promise. At first sight the words have a somewhat legal air, and they who do not understand the deep gospel-spirituality of this epistle might for a moment imagine that this exhortation does not proceed out of the full and living consciousness of grace, and that it implies the thought that man by his own will and exertion can draw nigh to God, who is high above, and by reason of our sin far away. If James required this of us, he would ask not merely what is unevangelical, but impossible. Only attempt to effect nearness to God by your own exertions, when He has departed from you. Give yourselves all possible trouble, you cannot attain and compel it. We enjoy His presence, then, only when He comes of His own accord; this most precious of all gifts none can take to himself. (Rothe, Prediglen, vol. 3, p 213.)