He
elected him to the agony he endured while she was away upon the
hills! That is God's election; an election to the cross and to the
cry, 'Eli, Eli, lama Sabachthani.' 'Yes,' you will say, 'but He
elected him to the victory over Ammon.' Doubtless He did; but what
cared Jephthah for his victory over Ammon when she came to meet him,
or, indeed, for the rest of his life? What is a victory, what are
triumphal arches and the praise of all creation to a lonely man? Be
sure, if God elects you, He elects you to suffering. Whom He loveth
He chasteneth, and His stripes are not play-work. Ammon will not be
conquered unless your heart be well nigh broken. I tell you, too, as
Christ's minister, that you are not to direct your course according
to your own desires. You are not to say, -'I will give up this and
that so that I may be saved.' Did not St. Paul wish himself accursed
from Christ for his brethren? If God should command you to go down
to the bottomless pit in fulfilment of His blessed designs, it is
your place to go. Out with self--I was about to say this damned
self; and if Israel calls, if Christ calls, take not a sheep or ox--
that is easy enough--but take your choicest possession, take your own
heart, your own blood, your very self, to the altar.
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