Pax Vobiscum

Pax Vobiscum

The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pax Vobiscum, by Henry Drummond
#2 in our series by Henry Drummond
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Title: Pax Vobiscum
Author: Henry Drummond
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PAX VOBISCUM
BY HENRY DRUMMOND, F.R.S.E., F.G.S., LL.D.
1890
"PAX VOBISCUM," prepared for publication by the Author, is now
published for the first time, being the second of a series of which "The
Greatest Thing in the World" was the first.
Nov. 1, 1890. "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I
am meek and lowly in heart and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For
my yoke is easy, and my burden is light."

CONTENTS
PREFACE
PAX VOBISCUM
EFFECTS REQUIRE CAUSES
WHAT YOKES ARE FOR
HOW FRUITS GROW

PAX VOBISCUM
I heard the other morning a sermon by a distinguished preacher upon
"Rest." It was full of beautiful thoughts; but when I came to ask myself,
"How does he say I can get Rest?" there was no answer. The sermon
was sincerely meant to be practical, yet it contained no experience that
seemed to me to be tangible, nor any advice which could help me to
find the thing itself as I went about the world that afternoon. Yet this

omission of the only important problem was not the fault of the
preacher. The whole popular religion is in the twilight here. And when
pressed for really working specifics for the experiences with which it
deals, it falters, and seems to lose itself in mist.
The want of connection between the great words of religion and
every-day life has bewildered and discouraged all of us. Christianity
possesses the noblest words in the language; its literature overflows
with terms expressive of the greatest and happiest moods which can fill
the soul of man. Rest, Joy, Peace, Faith, Love, Light--these words
occur with such persistency in hymns and prayers that an observer
might think they formed the staple of Christian experience. But on
coming to close quarters with the actual life of most of us, how surely
would he be disenchanted. I do not think we ourselves are aware how
much our religious life is made up of phrases; how much of what we
call Christian experience is only a dialect of the Churches, a mere
religious phraseology with almost nothing behind it in what we really
feel and know.
To some of us, indeed, the Christian experiences seem further away
than when we took the first steps in the Christian life. That life has not
opened out as we had hoped; we do not regret our religion, but we are
disappointed with it. There are times, perhaps, when wandering notes
from a diviner music stray into our spirits; but these experiences come
at few and fitful moments. We have no sense of possession in them.
When they visit us, it is a surprise. When they leave us, it is without
explanation. When we wish their return, we do not know how to secure
it. All which points to a religion without solid base, and a poor and
flickering life. It means a great bankruptcy in those experiences which
give Christianity its personal solace and make it attractive to the world,
and a great uncertainty as to any remedy. It is as if we knew everything
about health--except the way to get it.
I am quite sure that the difficulty does not lie in the fact that men are
not in earnest. This is simply not the fact. All around us Christians are
wearing themselves out