Two: The Lost Chord Found.
Two: The Lost Chord Found.
THE STORY OF the lost chord has been told in exquisite verse, and in stately music. We have all heard of the lady, who in the autumn twilight, which softly filled the room, laid her fingers on the open keys of a glorious organ. She knew not what she was playing, or what she was dreaming then; but she struck one chord of music, like the sound of a great amen.
It flooded the crimson twilight,
Like the close of an angel's psalm,
And it lay on her fevered spirit
With the touch of infinite calm;
It quieted pain and sorrow,
Like love overcoming strife;
It seemed the harmonious echo
From our discordant life.
It linked all perplexed meanings
Into one perfect peace,
And trembled away into silence,
As if it were loth to cease.
Something called her away, and when she returned to the organ, she had lost that chord divine. Though she longed for it, and sought it, it was all in vain. It was a lost chord.
Whenever I hear that story, it reminds me of the lost joy, the lost peace, the lost power, of which so many complain. At the beginning of their Christian life, near at hand, or right back in the past, it would seem as if they had struck the chord of a blessed and glorious life. As long as those notes lingered in their lives, they were like the days of heaven upon earth, but alas! they died away soon into silence-and all their life is now filled with regret for the grace of days that are dead.
Where is the blessedness I knew
When first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul-refreshing view
Of Jesus and His Word?
What peaceful hours I then enjoyed!
How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void
The world can never fill.
These words are written to help all such, and to give them again the sweet lost chord. Take heart! you may again have all, and more than all, that you have ever lost. You have flung your precious stones into the deep; there has been a moment's splash, a tiny ripple, and they have sunk down and down, apparently beyond hope of recovery. Yet the hand of Christ will again place them on your palm. Only henceforth, be wise enough to let Him keep them for you.
These are the steps back-steps that you may take at once:
I.-BE SURE THAT GOD WILL GIVE YOU A HEARTY WELCOME.
He is not an angry Judge. He has not given you up or ceased to love you. He longs after you. His portrait is drawn by One who could not mislead us, who compares Him to the Father of a loved and prodigal boy, ever watching from His windows the road by which the truant went, eagerly longing for his return, and ready, if He should see him a great way off, to run to meet him, and clasp him, rags and filth and all, to His yearning heart. That is thy God, my friend. Listen to His words, broken by sighs, "How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within Me, my compassions are kindled." Read the last chapter of the Book of Hosea, which may be well called the backsliders' gospel. Read the third chapter of Jeremiah, and let the plaintive pleadings to return soak into your spirit. Read the story of Peter's fall and restoration, and let your tears fall thick and fast on John xxi, as you learn how delicately the Lord forgave, and how generously He entrusted the backslider with His sheep and His lambs. Be sure that though your repeated failures and sins have worn out everyone else, they have not exhausted the infinite love of God. He tells us to forgive our offending brother unto four hundred and ninety times: how much oftener will He not forgive us? According to the height of heaven above the earth, so great is His mercy. "Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man His thoughts, and let him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon." If you go back to God, you are sure of a hearty welcome.
II.-SEEK TO KNOW AND CONFESS WHATEVER HAS COME BETWEEN GOD AND YOU.
You have lost the light of God's face, not because He has arbitrarily withdrawn it, but because your iniquities have come between you and your God; and your sins, like a cloud before the sun, have hid His face from you. Do not spend time by looking at them as a whole. Deal with them one by one. The Boer is a formidable foe to the British soldier because he is trained from boyhood to take a definite aim and bring down his mark, whilst our soldiers fire in volleys. In dealing with sin, we should imitate him in the definiteness and accuracy of his aim.
Ask God to search you and show you what wicked way is in you. Marshal all your life before Him, as Joshua marshalled Israel, sift it through, tribe by tribe, family by family, household by household, man by man, until at last you find the Achan who has robbed you of the blessed smile of God. Do not say: "Lord, I am a great sinner, I have done what I ought not, I have not done what I ought;" but say, "Lord, I have sinned in this, and this, and that, and the other." Call up each rebel sin, by its right name, to receive sentence of death. Your heart is choked with sins; empty it out, as you would empty a box, by handing out first the articles that lie on the surface. When you have removed them, you will see more underneath; hand them out also. When these are removed, you will probably see some more. Never rest till all are gone. Confession is just this process of telling God the unvarnished story-the sad, sad story-of each accursed sin; how it began: how you sinfully permitted it to grow: how you have loved and followed it to your bitter cost.
III.-BELIEVE IN GOD'S INSTANT FORGIVENESS.
How long does it take you to forgive your child when you are sure that it is really sorry and repentant? Not a moment. Time is not considered in forgiveness. The estrangment of a lifetime, the wrong-doing of years may be forgiven in the twinkling of an eye, in the time that a tear takes to form and fall. So is it with God. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us.
He does sometimes keep us waiting for an answer to other prayers, but He never keeps us waiting one single second for an answer to our prayer for forgiveness. It is hardly possible for the prodigal to stammer out the words: " Father, I have sinned," before the answer flashes upon him," I have put away thy sin; thou shalt not die." There is not a moment's interval between the humble and sad telling of the story of sin, and God's forgiveness. As soon as a penitent appears in the doorway of God's throne-room, the golden sceptre of His royal forgiveness is stretched out for him to touch. You may not feel forgiven. You may have no ecstasy of joy. But you are forgiven in the thoughts of God. The angels hear Him say: "Child, thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee; go in peace." If we confess, and as soon as we confess, He is faithful and just to forgive. He never says, "Go thy way, and return to-morrow, and I will see whether I can forgive." He hates the sin, and is only too glad to sweep it away. He loves the sinner, and is only too happy to receive him again to His embrace. And He is able to do all this so quickly and so entirely, because Jesus Christ our Lord bare our sins in His own body on the tree.
IV.-GIVE UP THE CAUSE OF PAST FAILURE.
True repentance shows itself in eager care not to offend again. This care prompts the sinner to go back on his past life to discover how it was that he came to sin, and to avoid the cause.
Is it a friendship? Then he will cut the tender cord, though it were the thread of his life.
Is it an amusement? Then he will forever absent himself from that place, those scenes, and that companionship.
Is it a profitable means of making money? Then he will rather live on a crust than follow it a moment longer.
Is it a study, a pursuit, a book? Then he will rather lose hand, or foot, or eye, than miss the favor of God, which is life.
Is it something that the Church permits? Nevertheless, to him it shall be sin.
If you can not walk on ice without slipping or falling, it is better not to go on at all. If you can not digest certain food, it is better not to put it into the mouth. It may seem impossible to extricate yourself from certain entanglements which have woven themselves about you. Nevertheless, remember Him who said, "Let My people go, that they may serve Me." He cut the knot for them, and if you trust Him, He will cut it for you. Or if He do not cut it at a single blow, He will untie it by the patient workings of His Providence.
V.-TAKE ANY PUBLIC STEP THAT MAY BE NECESSARY.
It is not enough to confess to God; you must also confess to man, supposing that you have sinned against him. Leave your gift at the altar and go to be reconciled to thy brother. If you have done him a wrong, go and tell him so. If you have defrauded him, whether he knows or not, send him the amount you have taken or kept back, and add to it something to compensate him for his loss. Under the Levitical law it was enacted that the delinquent should restore that which he took violently away, or that about which he had dealt falsely, and should add one-fifth part thereto, and only then might he come with his trespass offering to the priest, and be forgiven. This principle holds good to-day. You will never be happy till you have made restitution. Write the letter or make the call at once. And if the one whom you defrauded is no longer alive, then make the debt right with his heirs and representatives. You must roll away this stone from the grave, or the dead joy can never arise, however loudly you may call it to come forth. I do not believe in a repentance which is not noble enough to make amends for the past, so far as they may lie within its reach.
VI.-GIVE YOUR WHOLE HEART ONCE AND FOREVER TO GOD.
You may have done it before, but do it again. You may never have done it, then do it for the first time. Kneel down and give yourself, your life, your interests, your all, to God. Lay the sacrifice on the altar. If you can not give, then ask God to come and take. Tell Him that you wish to be only, always, all for Him. We might well hesitate to give the Glorious Lord such a handful of withered leaves if He had not expressly asked us each to give Him our heart. It is very wonderful; but He would not make such a request if He did not really mean it. No doubt He can make something out of our poor nature: a vessel for His use; a weapon for His hand; a receptacle for His glory; a crown for His brow.
VII.-TRUST GOD TO KEEP YOU IN ALL THE FUTURE.
The old version of the Bible used to tell us that He was able to keep us from falling. The new version, giving a closer rendering of the Greek, tells us that He is able to guard us from stumbling. So He can. So He will. But we must trust Him. Moment by moment we must look into His face and say, "Hold Thou me up, and I shall be safe; keep me as the apple of Thine eye; hide me under the shadow of Thy wings." He will never fail thee. He will never fail thee nor forsake thee. He will give His angels charge to keep thee in all thy ways. He will cover thee with His feathers, and under His wing thou shall trust.
But you say, "I fail to look at the moment of temptation." Then do this: Ask the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to bring all things to our remembrance, to remind you to look off to Jesus when you are in danger. Entrust yourself each morning into His hands. Look to Him to keep you looking. Trust in Him to keep you trusting. Do not look at your difficulties or weaknesses. Do not keep thinking that you will some day fall again. Go through life, whispering, saying, singing a thousand times a day, "Jesus saves me now."
A friend once told me that she had been kept from backsliding thus: She always took time at night to consider quietly in the presence of God where she had lost ground during the day, and if she felt that she had done so, she never slept until she had asked to be forgiven and restored.
'Tis a good expedient, dear reader, for thee and me. Let us repair the little rift within the lute, lest by-and-by it spread and make our music mute, and slowly widening, silence all.
If these directions are followed the lost chord will be no longer lost, nor shall we have to wait until God's great Angel sounds it, but it will ring again in our heart, and make sweet music in our life.