Chapter 22: What Have You To Give?
Chapter 22: What Have You To Give?
"Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee." - Acts 3:6.
THERE WAS A great contrast between the Gate Beautiful, standing on the top of the flight of fifteen steps that led from the lower terraces of the Temple to the sacred level of the holy shrine, and the helpless beggar that lay at its foot. It towered far above his prostrate form, composed of the finest metal of the world, whilst he lived upon the scant gifts of charity; it needed twenty men to roll its exquisitely carved leaves backwards and forwards, while friends as poor as himself daily carried to the same spot his wasted form. Such a contrast obtains still between the beautiful gates of nature's temple; the beautiful gates of song, and art, and music; the beautiful gates of dawn, and eve, and childhood; and the misery that sin has brought on those who lie broken and helpless on the steps trodden by the world's life.
But there was a greater contrast still between the appearance of the two Apostles, as they climbed those steps at the hour of afternoon prayer, and the resources concealed beneath their humble guise. To the eye of the world they were but two poor peasants; before the gaze of God's angels they stood possessed of a secret which would unlock the measureless stores of eternity.
When first they stood against him, bidding him look on them, he thought that they would give him alms. Quaint Andrew Bonar suggests that he may have somehow heard of the recent distribution among the members of that early Church, and have thought that he was now to receive a share. If so, he must have been disappointed to learn that, though so much had passed through the hands of its foremost leaders, not one coin had stuck to the lining of their pockets, and it was news to him that penniless men had something to give that could not be counted up in coins of precious metal. "Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I thee."
What comfort is suggested by these words to some of us, who have neither the silvery tongue of eloquence nor the golden ore of knowledge; who, like Moses or Jeremiah, cry, "Behold, I am a child, I cannot speak!" Believe me, young people, that gold and silver are the last things that men need. They can dispense with these more quickly than with the gifts of the heart; and though you have none of them, either literally or symbolically, though you have nothing to distinguish you in the way of talent or gift; though you may account yourself unable to supply the lack that cries aloud from the heart of your fellows: yet you may have and give that which silver could not purchase, and gold could not procure, and compared with which the rubies of the mine would be worthless as bags of pebbles.
Remember that the world has been enriched more through the poverty of its saints than by the wealth of its millionaires. Remember that the men whose hymns and words and achievements are the priceless heritage of the ages-that the martyrs, confessors, reformers, prophets, teachers, and leaders of men, have all been classed in that great and noble brotherhood which Peter represented when he became the medium through which the wealth of Paradise passed into the common coinage of earth. These men have given blood, tears, spiritual impulses, faith, hope, love. What have you to give?
What did Peter include in the expression, "Such as I have"? You may be sure he did not refer to his vehemence, petulance, or cowardice; to those outbreaks of his own idiosyncracy which had marred the happy years of relationship with his Lord - those would have been a sorry gift indeed. Better not to live than to pass on such an inheritance. But he must have referred to the blessed gifts which had come to hand through the grace of his risen Lord. Had He not gone up on high, and received gifts for men, even for the rebellious? Had He not received of the Father the supreme gift of the Holy Ghost? Had He not, and only recently, shed Him forth in a golden shower of blessing? Had not the tongue of fire settled on his head, and the gift of a new courage filled his soul? Was he not conscious of a faith in the name of Christ, through which lame men might be made whole; of a love which would bear and endure all things for Christ's sake; of a hope in the times of refreshing which must surely come again to a parched and dying world? These things he had, and he knew he had them, and he knew that he could give them also. The Son of God had come, and given him an understanding, and a power, a realizing sense of the Unseen, and an unction from the Holy One. Rich in these sacred gifts, he felt that he might be a spendthrift in their distribution; dowered as God's heir, he could imitate the generosity of God, who giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not.
Have you anything like this? Is there aught in your heart with which to enrich this poor and needy world? All around the beggars lie, with their whining voices, their thin outstretched hands, their helplessness and misery. Are you preparing to go into the great Temple of Life by yourselves, passing alone through the beautiful gate of early manhood and womanhood; or will you pick up the lame beggars as you pass by, lifting them up, and leading them in with you-your joy being doubled by theirs, and your praises being all the sweeter, because you hear them praising God, and saying, as they hold you tightly, "Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together."
What have you, young maidens, with which to enrich and bless the world? See to it that you seek and obtain from the risen Christ something which all the culture of these modern days can never give the modest purity, the patient love, the encouragement of an invincible hope. Beauty in art, or dress, or face, cannot heal the gaping wounds of men. If these be all, they will lie at the Beautiful Gate unhelped. But Christ will give you that which, while it costs you nothing to receive, will make the lame leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing.
What have you, young men? See to it that in Jesus Christ you get that purity, that manly strength, that authority to cast out devils, that power in prayer, which are characteristic of the highest life possible to men. You may get gold as the years pass, but this will not make you more able to bless men than you are to-day, when as yet you own nothing of the wealth of the world.
Poor, you may make many rich, if you have found the Pearl of Great Price, and by faith have learnt to avail yourself of the unsearchable stores treasured in the Divine Redeemer.
Passing through the Vatican on one occasion Thomas Aquinas came on the Pope superintending the counting of a great donation. "See," said the Pope, "the Church has left behind the days in which she said, 'Silver and gold have I none.''' "True, holy father," was the reply; "but can she say to the lame, 'Rise and walk'?" See to it, young friends, that growing wealth does not rob you of the divine and blessed power of meeting the needs of souls that money cannot touch.