Parables of the Christ-life

the Christ-life, by I. Lilias
Trotter

Project Gutenberg's Parables of the Christ-life, by I. Lilias Trotter This
eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
Title: Parables of the Christ-life
Author: I. Lilias Trotter
Release Date: August 29, 2007 [EBook #22432]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ASCII
*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PARABLES
OF THE CHRIST-LIFE ***

Parables of the Christ-life, by I. Lilias Trotter
Marshall Brothers, Ltd. London & Edinburgh.
To F.N.F. B.G.L.N. G.S.T. & A.M.E. 'fellow workers unto the
kingdom of God.'

LIFE--the first glance would hardly find it on this African hillside in
the summertime. The hot wind of the desert has passed over it, and the
spring beauty of iris and orchid, asphodel and marigold, has vanished.
Nothing is to be seen but the mellow golden-brown of the grass, broken
by blue-green aloe leaves, and here and there a deep madder head of
dried-up fennel.
Yet life is reigning, not death, all the while; it is there, in infinitely
greater abundance than when the field was green--life enough to clothe
a score of fields next year.
Stoop down and look into that withered grass, and a whole new world
of God's handiwork will come into view in the burnt-up tangle. For of
all the growing things out here, the seed-vessels are among the most
wonderful. Even little insignificant plants that would hardly catch your
eye when in flower, develop forms of quaint beauty as the capsules
ripen. And now that all is finished, they lie stored with vitality in the
midst of the seeming loss around.
Do you see the parable? We will trace it out step by step.
Back we must go, to the days of early spring. The annuals that clothed
the field had each but one life then; a perishing life, though it looked so
strong in its young vigour. Left to itself, it stood "condemned already."
But the critical moment came, changing its whole destiny, when a new
birth took place: the vitalizing pollen was received by the pistil, and set
up the reign of a fresh undying creation. All that had gone before in the
plant's history was a preparation for this moment: all that followed was
a working out to its fruition.
"Verily, verily I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot
see the Kingdom of God." Every soul carries like the flower a possible
life, other than that of its first birth; more than that, to every soul within
reach of the Gospel there comes probably a moment when the Life of
God draws near and could be received if it were willing. There is a
crisis like that which the flower reaches, when all things are ready. If
that crisis is not seized, nothing lies before the plant but useless,

irrevocable decay; the power to receive withers and vanishes; and
nothing can renew it.
"That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the
Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again."
"Flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God, neither doth
corruption inherit incorruption." Are you letting pass the moment on
which all eternity hangs?
* * * * * *
The hour at which this new birth can take place in the flower is the hour
at which the stigma is able to grasp the pollen that comes to it, blown
by the wind or carried by the bees and butterflies. Up till then the
grains fall off unheeded; but now it develops a surface, glutinous in
some cases, velvety in others, that can clasp and keep them fast. The
pollen grains lay hold at the same moment by their sculptured points
and ridges. They "apprehend" each other, and the pollen, with its
mysterious quickening power, does the rest. As soon as it is received it
sinks down into the innermost depths of the flower's heart, and starts
there the beginning of the new creation.
The most wonderful secrets of the plant world hang round the process
of fertilisation, and the ways in which these springs of the second birth
are guarded and set going, but the flower's simple work is to open and
receive.
"The gift of God is eternal life"--oh, marvellous words!--"through Jesus
Christ our Lord." "As many as received Him, to them gave He power to
become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name." "He
that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not
life."