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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10325-h.zip b/10325-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..5fa1f69 --- /dev/null +++ b/10325-h.zip diff --git a/10325-h/10325-h.htm b/10325-h/10325-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..169444f --- /dev/null +++ b/10325-h/10325-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,5205 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>The Gospel of the Pentateuch</title> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">The Gospel of the Pentateuch, by Charles Kingsley</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Gospel of the Pentateuch, by Charles +Kingsley + + +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: The Gospel of the Pentateuch + +Author: Charles Kingsley + +Release Date: November 27, 2003 [eBook #10325] + +Language: English + +Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOSPEL OF THE PENTATEUCH*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h1>The Gospel of the Pentateuch: A set of Parish Sermons</h1> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<h2>PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF THE GOSPEL OF THE PENTATEUCH<br />TO +THE REV. CANON STANLEY.</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>My Dear Stanley,</p> +<p>I dedicate these Sermons to you, not that I may make you responsible +for any doctrine or statement contained in them, but as the simplest +method of telling you how much they owe to your book on the Jewish Church, +and of expressing my deep gratitude to you for publishing that book +at such a time as this.</p> +<p>It has given to me (and I doubt not to many other clergymen) a fresh +confidence and energy in preaching to my people the Gospel of the Old +Testament as the same with that of the New; and without it, many of +these Sermons would have been very different from, and I am certain +very inferior to, what they are now, by the help of your admirable book.</p> +<p>Brought up, like all Cambridge men of the last generation, upon Paley’s +<i>Evidences</i>, I had accepted as a matter of course, and as the authoritative +teaching of my University, Paley’s opinions as to the limits of +Biblical criticism, <a name="citation0a"></a><a href="#footnote0a">{0a}</a> +quoted at large in Dean Milman’s noble preface to his last edition +of the <i>History of the Jews</i>; and especially that great dictum +of his, ‘that it is an unwarrantable, as well as unsafe rule to +lay down concerning the Jewish history, that which was never laid down +concerning any other, that either every particular of it must be true, +or the whole false.’</p> +<p>I do not quote the rest of the passage; first, because you, I doubt +not, know it as well as I; and next, in order that if any one shall +read these lines who has not read Paley’s <i>Evidences</i>, he +may be stirred up to look the passage out for himself, and so become +acquainted with a great book and a great mind.</p> +<p>A reverent and rational liberty in criticism (within the limits of +orthodoxy) is, I have always supposed, the right of every Cambridge +man; and I was therefore the more shocked, for the sake of free thought +in my University, at the appearance of a book which claimed and exercised +a licence in such questions, which I must (after careful study of it) +call anything but rational and reverent. Of the orthodoxy of the +book it is not, of course, a private clergyman’s place to judge. +That book seemed dangerous to the University of Cambridge itself, because +it was likely to stir up from without attempts to abridge her ancient +liberty of thought; but it seemed still more dangerous to the hundreds +of thousands without the University, who, being no scholars, must take +on trust the historic truth of the Bible.</p> +<p>For I found that book, if not always read, yet still talked and thought +of on every side, among persons whom I should have fancied careless +of its subject, and even ignorant of its existence, but to whom I was +personally bound to give some answer as to the book and its worth. +It was making many unsettled and unhappy; it was (even worse) pandering +to the cynicism and frivolity of many who were already too cynical and +frivolous; and, much as I shrank from descending into the arena of religious +controversy, I felt bound to say a few plain words on it, at least to +my own parishioners.</p> +<p>But how to do so, without putting into their heads thoughts which +need be in no man’s head, and perhaps shaking the very faith which +I was trying to build up, was difficult to me, and I think would have +been impossible to me, but for the opportune appearance of your admirable +book.</p> +<p>I could not but see that the book to which I have alluded, like most +other modern books on Biblical criticism, was altogether negative; was +possessed too often by that fanaticism of disbelief which is just as +dangerous as the fanaticism of belief; was picking the body of the Scripture +to pieces so earnestly, that it seemed to forget that Scripture had +a spirit as well as a body; or, if it confessed that it had a spirit, +asserting that spirit to be one utterly different from the spirit which +the Scripture asserts that it possesses.</p> +<p>For the Scripture asserts that those who wrote it were moved by the +Spirit of God; that it is a record of God’s dealings with men, +which certain men were inspired to perceive and to write down: whereas +the tendency of modern criticism is, without doubt, to assert that Scripture +is inspired by the spirit of man; that it contains the thoughts and +discoveries of men concerning God, which they wrote down without the +inspiration of God; which difference seems to me (and I hope to others) +utterly infinite and incalculable, and to involve the question of the +whole character, honour, and glory of God.</p> +<p>There is, without a doubt, something in the Old Testament, as well +as in the New, quite different in kind, as well as in degree, from the +sacred books of any other people: an unique element, which has had an +unique effect upon the human heart, life and civilization. This +remains, after all possible deductions for ‘ignorance of physical +science,’ ‘errors in numbers and chronology,’ ‘interpolations’ +‘mistakes of transcribers’ and so forth, whereof we have +read of late a great deal too much, and ought to care for them and for +their existence, or non-existence, simply nothing at all; because, granting +them all—though the greater part of them I do not grant, as far +as I can trust my critical faculty—there remains that unique element, +beside which all these accidents are but as the spots on the sun compared +to the great glory of his life-giving light. The unique element +is there; and I cannot but still believe, after much thought, that it—the +powerful and working element, the inspired and Divine element which +has converted and still converts millions of souls—is just that +which Christendom in all ages has held it to be: the account of certain +‘noble acts’ of God’s, and not of certain noble thoughts +of man—in a word, not merely the moral, but the historic element; +and that, therefore, the value of the Bible teaching depends on the +truth of the Bible story. That is my belief. Any criticism +which tries to rob me of that I shall look at fairly, but very severely +indeed.</p> +<p>If all that a man wants is a ‘religion,’ he ought to +be able to make a very pretty one for himself, and a fresh one as often +as he is tired of the old. But the heart and soul of man wants +more than that, as it is written, ‘My soul is athirst for God, +even for the living God.’ Those whom I have to teach want +a living God, who cares for men, works for men, teaches men, punishes +men, forgives men, saves men from their sins; and Him I have found in +the Bible, and nowhere else, save in the facts of life which the Bible +alone interprets.</p> +<p>In the power of man to find out God I will never believe. The +‘religious sentiment,’ or ‘God-consciousness,’ +so much talked of now-a-days, seems to me (as I believe it will to all +practical common-sense Englishmen), a faculty not to be depended on; +as fallible and corrupt as any other part of human nature; apt (to judge +from history) to develop itself into ugly forms, not only without a +revelation from God, but too often in spite of one—into polytheisms, +idolatries, witchcrafts, Buddhist asceticisms, Phœnician Moloch-sacrifices, +Popish inquisitions, American spirit-rappings, and what not. The +hearts and minds of the sick, the poor, the sorrowing, the truly human, +all demand a living God, who has revealed himself in living acts; a +God who has taught mankind by facts, not left them to discover him by +theories and sentiments; a Judge, a Father, a Saviour, and an Inspirer; +in a word, their hearts and minds demand the historic truth of the Bible—of +the Old Testament no less than of the New.</p> +<p>What I needed therefore, for my guidance, was a book which should +believe and confess all this, without condemning or ignoring free criticism +and its results; which should make use of that criticism not to destroy +but to build up; which employed a thorough knowledge of the Old Testament +history, the manners of the Jews, the localities of the sacred events, +to teach men not what might not be in the Bible, but what was certainly +therein; which dealt with the Bible after the only fair and trustful +method; that is, to consider it at first according to the theory which +it sets forth concerning itself, before trying quite another theory +of the commentator’s own invention; and which combined with a +courageous determination to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing +but the truth, that Christian spirit of trust, reverence and piety, +without which all intellectual acuteness is but blindness and folly.</p> +<p>All this, and more, I found in your book, enforced with a genius +which needs no poor praise of mine; and I hailed its appearance at such +a crisis as a happy Providence, certain that it would be, what I now +know by experience it has been, a balm to many a wounded spirit, and +a check to many a wandering intellect, inclined, in the rashness of +youth, to throw away the truth it already had, for the sake of theories +which it hoped that it might possibly verify hereafter.</p> +<p>With your book in my hand, I have tried to write a few plain Sermons, +telling plain people what they will find in the Pentateuch, in spite +of all present doubts, as their fathers found it before them, and as +(I trust) their children will find it after them, when all this present +whirlwind of controversy has past,</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>‘As dust that lightly rises up,<br />And is lightly laid again.’</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines1"><br /></div> +<p>I have told them that they will find in the Bible, and in no other +ancient book, that living working God, whom their reason and conscience +demand; and that they will find that he is none other than Jesus Christ +our Lord. I have not apologised for or explained away the so-called +‘Anthropomorphism’ of the Old Testament. On the contrary, +I have frankly accepted it, and even gloried in it as an integral, and +I believe invaluable element of Scripture. I have deliberately +ignored many questions of great interest and difficulty, because I had +no satisfactory solution of them to offer; but I have said at the same +time that those questions were altogether unimportant, compared with +those salient and fundamental points of the Bible history on which I +was preaching. And therefore I have dared to bid my people relinquish +Biblical criticism to those who have time for it; and to say of it with +me, as Abraham of the planets, ‘O my people, I am clear of all +these things! I turn myself to him who made heaven and earth.’</p> +<p>I do not wish, believe me, to make you responsible for any statement +or opinion of mine. I am painfully conscious, on reviewing for +the Press Sermons which would never have been published save by special +request, how imperfect, poor, and weak they seem to me—how much +worse, then, they will appear to other people; how much more may be +said which I have not the wit to say! But the Bible can take care +of itself, I presume, without my help. All I can do is, to speak +what I think, as far as I see my way; to record the obligation toward +you under which I, with thousands more, now lie; and to express my hope +that we shall be always found together fellow-workers in the cause of +Truth, and that to you and in you may be fulfilled those noble and tender +words, in which you have spoken of Samuel, and of those who work in +Samuel’s spirit:</p> +<p>‘In later times, even in our own, many names spring to our +recollection of those who have trodden or (in different degrees, some +known, and some unknown) are treading the same thankless path in the +Church of Germany, in the Church of France, in the Church of Russia, +in the Church of England. Wherever they are, and whosoever they +may be, and howsoever they may be neglected or assailed, or despised, +they, like their great prototype and likeness in the Jewish Church, +are the silent healers who bind up the wounds of their age in spite +of itself; they are the good physicians who bind together the dislocated +bones of a disjointed time; they are the reconcilers who turn the hearts +of the children to the fathers, or of the fathers to the children. +They have but little praise and reward from the partisans who are loud +in indiscriminate censure and applause. But, like Samuel, they +have a far higher reward, in the Davids who are silently strengthened +and nurtured by them in Naioth of Ramah—in the glories of a new +age which shall be ushered in peacefully and happily after they have +been laid in the grave.’ <a name="citation0b"></a><a href="#footnote0b">{0b}</a></p> +<p>That such, my dear Stanley, may be your work and your destiny, is +the earnest hope of</p> +<p>Yours affectionately,<br />C. KINGSLEY.<br />EVERSLEY RECTORY,<br />July +1, 1863.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON I. GOD IN CHRIST</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Septuagesima Sunday</i>.)</p> +<p>GENESIS i. I. In the beginning God created the heaven +and the earth.</p> +<p>We have begun this Sunday to read the book of Genesis. I trust +that you will listen to it as you ought—with peculiar respect +and awe, as the oldest part of the Bible, and therefore the oldest of +all known works—the earliest human thought which has been handed +down to us.</p> +<p>And what is the first written thought which has been handed down +to us by the Providence of Almighty God?</p> +<p>‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’</p> +<p>How many other things, how many hundred other things, men might have +thought fit to write down for those who should come after; and say—This +is the first knowledge which a man should have; this is the root of +all wisdom, all power, all wealth.</p> +<p>But God inspired Moses and the Prophets to write as they have written. +They were not to tell men that the first thing to be learnt was how +to be rich; nor how to be strong; nor even how to be happy: but that +the first thing to be learnt was that God created the heaven and the +earth.</p> +<p>And why first?</p> +<p>Because the first question which man asks—the question which +shows he is a man and not a brute—always has been, and always +will be—Where am I? How did I get into this world; and how +did this world get here likewise? And if man takes up with a wrong +answer to that question, then the man himself is certain to go wrong +in all manner of ways. For a lie can never do anything but harm, +or breed anything but harm; and lies do breed, as fast as the blight +on the trees, or the smut on the corn: only being not according to nature, +or the laws of God, they do not breed as natural things do, after their +kind: but, belonging to chaos, the kingdom of disorder and misrule, +they breed fresh lies unlike themselves, of all strange and unexpected +shapes; so that when a man takes up with one lie, there is no saying +what other lie he may not take up with beside.</p> +<p>Wherefore the first thing man has to learn is truth concerning the +first human question, Where am I? How did I come here; and how +did this world come here? To which the Bible answers in its first +line—</p> +<p>‘In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.’</p> +<p>How God created, the Bible does not tell us. Whether he created +(as doubtless he could have done if he chose) this world suddenly out +of nothing, full grown and complete; or whether he created it (as he +creates you and me, and all living and growing things now) out of things +which had been before it—that the Bible does not tell us.</p> +<p>Perhaps if it had told us, it would have drawn away our minds to +think of natural things, and what we now call science, instead of keeping +our minds fixed, as it now does, on spiritual things, and above all +on the Spirit of all spirits; Him of whom it is written, ‘God +is a Spirit’</p> +<p>For the Bible is simply the revelation, or unveiling of God. +It is not a book of natural science. It is not merely a book of +holy and virtuous precepts. It is not merely a book wherein we +may find a scheme of salvation for our souls. It is the book of +the revelation, or unveiling of the Lord God, Jesus Christ; what he +was, what he is, and what he will be for ever.</p> +<p>Of Jesus Christ? How is he revealed in the text, ‘In +the beginning God created the heaven and the earth?’</p> +<p>Thus:—If you look at the first chapter of Genesis and the beginning +of the second, you will see that God is called therein by a different +name from what he is called afterwards. He is called God, Elohim, +The High or Mighty One or Ones. After that he is called the Lord +God, Jehovah Elohim, which means properly, The High or Mighty I Am, +or Jehovah, a word which I will explain to you afterwards. That +word is generally translated in our Bible, as it was in the Greek, ‘The +Lord;’ because the later Jews had such a deep reverence for the +name Jehovah, that they did not like to write it or speak it: but called +God simply Adonai, the Lord.</p> +<p>So that we have three names for God in the Old Testament.</p> +<p>First El, or Elohim, the Mighty One: by which, so Moses says, God +was known to the Jews before his time, and which sets forth God’s +power and majesty—the first thing of which men would think in +thinking of God.</p> +<p>Next Jehovah. The I Am, the Eternal, and Self-existent Being, +by which name God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush—a +deeper and wider name than the former.</p> +<p>And lastly, Adonai, the Lord, the living Ruler and Master of the +world and men, by which he revealed himself to the later Jews, and at +last to all mankind in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ.</p> +<p>Now I need not to trouble your mind or my own with arguments as to +how these three different names got into the Bible.</p> +<p>That is a matter of criticism, of scholarship, with which you have +nothing to do: and you may thank God that you have not, in such days +as these. Your business is, not how the names got there, which +is a matter of criticism, but why they have been left there by the providence +of God, which is a matter of simple religion; and you may thank God, +I say again, that it is so. For scholarship is Martha’s +part, which must be done, and yet which cumbers a man with much serving: +but simple heart religion is the better part which Mary chose; and of +which the Lord has said, that it shall not be taken from her, nor from +those who, like her, sit humbly at the feet of the Lord, and hear his +voice, without troubling their souls with questions of words, and endless +genealogies, which eat out the hearts of men.</p> +<p>Therefore all I shall say about the matter is that the first chapter +of Genesis, and the first three verses of the second, may be the writing +of a prophet older than Moses, because they call God Elohim, which was +his name before Moses’ time; and that Moses may have used them, +and worked them into a book of Genesis; while he, in the part which +he wrote himself, called God at first by the name Jehovah Elohim, The +Lord God, in order to show that Jehovah and El were the same God, and +not two different ones; and after he had made the Jews understand that, +went on to call God simply Jehovah, and to use the two names, as they +are used through the rest of the Old Testament, interchangeably: as +we say sometimes God, sometimes the Lord, sometimes the Deity, and so +forth; meaning of course always the same Being.</p> +<p>That, I think, is the probable and simple account which tallies most +exactly with the Bible.</p> +<p>As for the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, having +been written by Moses, or at least by far the greater part of them, +I cannot see the least reason to doubt it.</p> +<p>The Bible itself does not say so; and therefore it is not a matter +of faith, and men may have their own opinions on the matter, without +sin or false doctrine. But that Moses wrote part at least of them, +our Lord and his Apostles say expressly. The tradition of the +Jews (who really ought to know best) has always been that Moses wrote +either the whole or the greater part. Moses is by far the most +likely man to have written them, of all of whom we read in Scripture. +We have not the least proof, and, what is more, never shall or can have, +that he did not write them. And therefore, I advise you to believe, +as I do, that the universal tradition of both Jews and Christians is +right, when it calls these books, the books of Moses. <a name="citation7"></a><a href="#footnote7">{7}</a></p> +<p>But now no more of these matters: we will think of a matter quite +infinitely more important, and that is, <i>Who</i> is this God whom +the Bible reveals to us, from the very first verse of Genesis?</p> +<p>At least, he is one and the same Being. Whether he be called +El, Jehovah, or Adonai, he is the same Lord.</p> +<p>It is the Lord who makes the heaven and the earth, the Lord who puts +man in a Paradise, lays on him a commandment, and appears to him in +visible shape.</p> +<p>It is the Lord who speaks to Abraham: though Abraham knew him only +as El-Shaddai, the Almighty God. It is the Lord who brings the +Israelites out of Egypt, who gives them the law on Sinai. It is +the Lord who speaks to Samuel, to David, to all the Prophets, and appears +to Isaiah, while his glory fills the Temple. In whatever ‘divers +manners’ and ‘many portions,’ as St. Paul says in +the Epistle to the Hebrews, he speaks to them, he is the same Being.</p> +<p>And Psalmists and Prophets are most careful to tell us that he is +the God, not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles; of all mankind—as +indeed, he must be, being Jehovah, the I Am, the one Self-existent and +Eternal Being; that from his throne he is watching and judging all the +nations upon earth, fashioning the hearts of all, appointing them their +bounds, and the times of their habitation, if haply they may seek after +him and find him, though he be not far from any one of them; for in +him they live and move and have their being.</p> +<p>This is the message of Moses, of the Psalmists and the Prophets, +just as much as of St. Paul on Mars’ Hill at Athens.</p> +<p>So begins and so ends the Old Testament, revealing throughout The +Lord.</p> +<p>And how does the New Testament begin?</p> +<p>By telling us that a Babe was born at Bethlehem, and called Jesus, +the Saviour.</p> +<p>But who is this blessed Babe? He, too, is The Lord.</p> +<p>‘A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.’ And from +thence, through the Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles, the Revelation +of St. John, he is the Lord. There is no manner of doubt of it. +The Apostles and Evangelists take no trouble to prove it. They +take it for granted. They call Jesus Christ by the name by which +the Jews had for hundreds of years called the El of Abraham, the Jehovah +of Moses. The Babe who is born at Bethlehem, who grows up as other +human beings grow, into the man Christ Jesus, is none other than the +Lord God who created the universe, who made a covenant with Abraham, +who brought the Israelites out of Egypt, who inspired the Prophets, +who has been from the beginning governing all the earth.</p> +<p>It is very awful. But you must believe that, or put your Bibles +away as a dream—New Testament and Old alike. Not to believe +that fully and utterly, is not to believe the Bible at all. For +that is what the Bible says, and has been sent into the world to say. +It is, from beginning to end, the book of the revelation, or unveiling +of Jesus Christ, very God of very God.</p> +<p>But some may say, ‘Why tell us that? Of course we believe +it. We should not be Christians if we did not.’</p> +<p>Be it so. I hope it is so. But I think that it is not +so easy to believe it as we fancy.</p> +<p>We believe it, I think, more firmly than our forefathers did five +hundred years ago, on some points; and therefore we have got rid of +many dark and blasphemous superstitions about witches and devils, about +the evil of the earth and of our own bodies, of marriage, and of the +common duties and bonds of humanity, which tormented them, because they +could not believe fully that Jesus Christ had created, and still ruled +the world and all therein.</p> +<p>But we are all too apt still to think of Jesus Christ merely as some +one who can save our souls when we die, and to forget that he is the +Lord, who is and has been always ruling the world and all mankind.</p> +<p>And from this come two bad consequences. People are apt to +speak of the Lord Jesus—or at least to admire preachers who speak +of him—as if he belonged to them, and not they to him; and, therefore, +to speak of him with an irreverence and a familiarity which they dared +not use, if they really believed that this same Jesus, whose name they +take in vain, is none other than the Living God himself, their Creator, +by whom every blade of grass grows beneath their feet, every planet +and star rolls above their heads.</p> +<p>And next—they fancy that the Old Testament speaks of our Lord +Jesus Christ only in a few mysterious prophecies—some of which +there is reason to suspect they quite misinterpret. They are slow +of heart to believe all that the Scriptures have spoken of him of whom +Moses and the Prophets did write, not in a few scattered texts, but +in every line of the Old Testament, from the first of Genesis to the +last of Malachi.</p> +<p>And therefore they believe less and less, that Jesus Christ is still +the Lord in any real practical sense—not merely the Lord of a +few elect or saints, but the Lord of man and of the earth, and of the +whole universe. They think of him as a Lord who will come again +to judgment—which is true, and awfully true, in the very deepest +sense: but they do not think of him—in spite of what he himself +and his apostles declared of him—as The Living, Working Lord, +to whom all power is given in heaven and earth, and not merely over +the souls of a few regenerate; as the Alpha and Omega, the first and +the last, of whom St. Paul says, ‘that the mystery of Christ has +been hid from the beginning of the world in God, who created all things +by Jesus Christ.’ * * * ‘That, in the dispensation of the +fulness of times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, +both which are in heaven, and which are in earth.’ They +fill their minds with fancies about the book of Revelation, most of +which, there is reason to fear, are little else but fancies: while they +overlook what that book really does say, and what is the best news that +the world ever heard, that he is the Prince of the kings of the earth.</p> +<p>Therefore they have fears for Christ’s Bible, fears for Christ’s +Church, fears for the fate of the world, which they could not have if +they would recollect who Christ is, and believe that he is able to take +care of his own kingdom and power and glory, better than man can take +care of it for him. Surely, surely, faith in the living Lord who +rules the world in righteousness is fast dying out among us; and many +who call themselves Christians seem to know less of Christ, and of the +work which he is carrying on in the world, than did the old Psalmist, +who said of him, ‘The Lord shall endure for ever; he hath also +prepared his seat for judgment. For he shall judge the world in +righteousness, and minister true judgment among the people.’ +He fashioneth ‘the hearts of all of them, and understandeth all +their works.’</p> +<p>Who can say that he believes that, who holds that this world is the +devil’s world, and that sinful man and evil spirits are having +it all their own way till the day of judgment?</p> +<p>Who can say that he believes that, who falls into pitiable terror +at every new discovery of science or of scholarship, for fear it should +destroy the Bible and the Christian faith, instead of believing that +all which makes manifest is light, and that all light comes from the +Father of lights, by the providence of Jesus Christ his only-begotten +Son, who is the light of men, and the inspiration of his Spirit, who +leadeth into all truth?</p> +<p>And how, lastly, can those say that they believe that, who will lie, +and slander, and have recourse to base intrigues, in order to defend +that truth, and that Church, of which the Lord himself has said that +he has founded it upon a rock, and the gates of hell shall not prevail +against it?</p> +<p>But if you believe indeed the message of the Bible, that Jesus Christ +is the Lord who made heaven and earth, then it shall be said of you, +as it was of St. Peter, ‘Blessed art thou: for flesh and blood +hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father which is in heaven.’</p> +<p>Yes. Blessed indeed is he who believes that; who believes that +the same person who was born in a stable, had not where to lay his head, +went about healing the sick and binding up the broken heart, suffered +under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, and rose again +the third day, and ascended into heaven—ascended thither that +he might fill all things; and is none other than the Lord of the earth +and of men, the Creator, the Teacher, the Saviour, the Guide, the King, +the Judge, of all the world, and of all worlds past, present, and to +come.</p> +<p>For to him who thus believes shall be fulfilled the promise of his +Lord, ‘Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and +I will give you rest.’</p> +<p>He will find rest unto his soul. Rest from that first and last +question, of which I said that all men, down to the lowest savage, ask +it, simply because they are men, and not beasts. Where am I? +How came I here? How came this world here likewise? For +he can answer—</p> +<p>‘I am in the kingdom of the Babe of Bethlehem. He put +me here. And he put this world here likewise: and that is enough +for me. He created all I see or can see—I care little how, +provided that HE created it; for then I am sure that it must be very +good. He redeemed me and all mankind, when we were lost, at the +price of his most precious blood. He the Lord is King, therefore +will I not be moved, though the earth be shaken, and the hills be carried +into the midst of the sea. Yea, though the sun were turned to +darkness, and the moon to blood, and the stars fell from heaven, and +all power and order, all belief and custom of mankind, were turned upside +down, yet there would still be One above who rules the world in righteousness, +whose eye is on them that fear him and put their trust in his mercy, +to deliver their soul from death, and to feed them in the time of dearth. +Darkness may cover the land for awhile, and gross darkness the people. +But while I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be my light, till the day +when he shall say once more, “Let there be light,” and light +shall be.’</p> +<p>Yes. To the man who is a good man and true; who has any hearty +Christian feeling for his fellow-men, and is not merely a selfish superstitious +person, caring for nothing but what he calls the safety of his own soul; +to the man, I say, who has anything of the loving spirit of Christ in +him, what question can be more important than this, Is the world well +made or ill? Is it well governed or ill? Is it on the whole +going right or going wrong? And what can be more comforting to +such a man, than the answer which the Bible gives him at the outset?—</p> +<p>This world is well made, in love and care; for Christ the Lord made +it, and behold it was very good.</p> +<p>This world is going right and not wrong, in spite of all appearances +to the contrary; for Christ the Lord is King. He sitteth between +the cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet. He is too strong +and too loving to let the world go any way but the right. Parts +of it will often go wrong here, and go wrong there. The sin and +ignorance of men will disturb his order, and rebel against his laws; +and strange and mad things, terrible and pitiable things will happen, +as they have happened ever since the day when the first man disobeyed +the commandment of the Lord. But man cannot conquer the Lord; +the Lord will conquer man. He will teach men by their neighbours’ +sins. He will teach them by their own sins. He will chastise +them by sore judgments. He will make fearful examples of wilful +and conceited sinners; and those who seem to escape him in this life, +shall not escape him in the life to come. But he is trying for +ever every man’s work by fire; and against that fire no lie will +stand. He will burn up the stubble and chaff, and leave only the +pure wheat for the use of future generations. His purpose will +stand. His word will never return to him void, but will prosper +always where he sends it. He has made the round world so sure +that it cannot be moved either by man or by worse than man. His +everlasting laws will take effect in spite of all opposition, and bring +the world and man along the path, and to the end, which he purposed +for them in the day when God made the heavens and the earth, and in +that even greater day, when he said, ‘Let us make man in our image, +after our likeness,’ and man arose upright, and knew that he was +not as the beasts, and asked who he was, and where? feeling with the +hardly opened eyes of his spirit after that Lord from whom he came, +and to whom he shall return, as many as have eternal life, in the day +when Christ the Lord of life shall have destroyed death, and put all +enemies under his feet, and given up the kingdom to God, even the Father, +that God may be all in all.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON II. THE LIKENESS OF GOD</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Trinity Sunday</i>.)</p> +<p>GENESIS i. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, +after our likeness.</p> +<p>This is a hard saying. It is difficult at times to believe +it to be true.</p> +<p>If one looks not at what God has made man, but at what man has made +himself, one will never believe it to be true.</p> +<p>When one looks at what man has made himself; at the back streets +of some of our great cities; at the thousands of poor Germans and Irish +across the ocean bribed to kill and to be killed, they know not why; +at the abominable wrongs and cruelties going on in Poland at this moment—the +cry whereof is going up to the ears of the God of Hosts, and surely +not in vain; when one thinks of all the cries which have gone up in +all ages from the victims of man’s greed, lust, cruelty, tyranny, +and shrillest of all from the tortured victims of his superstition and +fanaticism, it is difficult to answer the sneer, ‘Believe, if +you can, that this foolish, unjust, cruel being called man, is made +in the likeness of God. Man was never made in the image of God +at all. He is only a cunninger sort of animal, for better for +worse—and for worse as often as for better.’</p> +<p>Another says, not quite that. Man was in the likeness of God +once, but he lost that by Adam’s fall, and now is only an animal +with an immortal soul in him, to be lost or saved.</p> +<p>There is more truth in that latter notion than in the former: but +if it be quite right; if we did lose the likeness of God at Adam’s +fall, how comes the Bible never to say so? How comes the Bible +never to say one word on what must have been the most important thing +which ever happened to mankind before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ?</p> +<p>And how comes it also that the New Testament says distinctly that +man is still made in the likeness of God? For St. Paul speaks +of man as ‘the likeness and glory of God.’ And St. +James says of the tongue, ‘Therewith bless we God, even the Father; +and therewith’ (to our shame) ‘curse we men, which are made +in the likeness of God.’</p> +<p>But the great proof that man is made in the image and likeness of +God is the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; for if human nature +had been, as some think, something utterly brutish and devilish, and +utterly unlike God, how could God have become man without ceasing to +be God? Christ was man of the substance of his mother. That +substance had the same human nature as we have. Then if that human +nature be evil, what follows? Something which I shall not utter, +for it is blasphemy. Christ has taken the manhood into God. +Then if manhood be evil, what follows again? Something more which +I shall not utter, for it is blasphemy.</p> +<p>But man is made in the image of God; and therefore God, in whose +image he is made, could take on himself his own image and likeness, +and become perfect man, without ceasing to be perfect God.</p> +<p>Therefore, my friends, it is a comfortable and wholesome doctrine, +that man is made in the image of God, and one for which we must thank +the Bible. For it is the Bible which has revealed that truth to +us, in its very beginning and outset, that we might have, from the first, +clear and sound notions concerning man and God. The Bible, I say; +for the sacred books of the heathen say, most of them, nothing thereof.</p> +<p>Man has, in all ages, been tempted, when he looks at his own wickedness +and folly, not only to despise himself—which he has good reason +enough to do—but to despise his own human nature, and to cry to +God, ‘Why hast thou made me thus?’ He has cursed his +own human nature. He has said, ‘Surely man is most miserable +of all the beasts of the field.’ He has said, ‘I must +get rid of my human nature—I must give up wife, family, human +life of all kinds, I must go into the deserts and the forests, and there +try to forget that I am a man, and become a mere spirit or angel.’ +So said the Buddhists of Asia, the deepest thinkers concerning man and +God of all the heathens, and so have many said since their time. +But so does the Bible not say. It starts by telling us that man +is made in God’s likeness, and that therefore his human nature +is originally and in itself not a bad, but a perfectly good thing. +All that has to be done to it is to be cured of its diseases; and the +Bible declares that it can be cured. Howsoever man may have fallen, +he may rise. Howsoever the likeness may be blotted and corrupted, +it can be cleansed and renewed. Howsoever it may be perverted +and turned right round and away from God and goodness to selfishness +and evil, it can be converted, and turned back again to God. Howsoever +utterly far gone man may be from original righteousness, still to original +righteousness he can return, by the grace of baptism and the renewing +of the Holy Spirit. And what in us is the likeness of God? +That is a deep question.</p> +<p>Only one answer will I make to it to-day. Whatever in us is, +or is not, the likeness of God, at least the sense of right and wrong +is; to know right and wrong. So says the Bible itself: ‘Behold +the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil.’ +Not that he got the likeness of God by his fall—of course not; +but that he became aware of his likeness, and that in a very painful +and common way—by sinning against it; as St. Paul says in one +of his deepest utterances, ‘By sin is the knowledge of the law.’</p> +<p>And you may see for yourselves how human nature can have God’s +likeness in that respect, and yet be utterly fallen and corrupt.</p> +<p>For a man may—and indeed every man does—know good and +yet be unable to do it, and know evil, and yet be a slave to it, tied +and bound with the chains of his sins till the grace of God release +him from them.</p> +<p>To know good and evil, right and wrong—to have a conscience, +a moral sense—that is the likeness of God of which I wish to preach +to-day. Because it is through <i>that</i> knowledge of good and +evil, and through it alone, that we can know God, and Jesus Christ whom +he has sent. It is through our moral sense that God speaks to +us; through our sense of right and wrong; through that I say, God speaks +to us, whether in reproof or encouragement, in wrath or in love; to +teach us what he is like, and to teach us what he is not like.</p> +<p>To know God. That is the side on which we must look at this +text on Trinity Sunday. If man be made in the image of God, then +we may be able to know something at least of God, and of the character +of God. If we have the copy, we can guess at least at what the +original is like.</p> +<p>From the character, therefore, of every good man, we may guess at +something of the character of God. But from the character of Jesus +Christ our Lord, who is the very brightness of his Father’s glory +and the express image of his person, we may see perfectly—at least +perfectly enough for all our needs in this life, and in the life to +come—what is the character of God, who made heaven and earth.</p> +<p>I beseech you to remember this—I beseech you to believe this, +with your whole hearts, and minds, and souls, and especially just now.</p> +<p>For there are many abroad now who will tell you, man can know nothing +of God.</p> +<p>Answer them: ‘If your God be a God of whom I can know nothing, +then he is not my God, the God of the Bible. For he is the God +who has said of old, “They shall not teach each man his brother, +saying, Know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least unto the +greatest.” He is the God, who, through Jesus Christ our +Lord, accused and blamed the Jews because they did <i>not</i> know him, +which if they <i>could not</i> know him would have been no fault of +theirs. Of doctrines, and notions, and systems, it is written, +and most truly, “I know in part, and I prophesy in part,” +and again, “If a man thinketh that he knoweth anything, he knoweth +nothing yet as he ought to know.” But of God it is written, +“This is life eternal, to know thee, the only true God, and Jesus +Christ, whom thou hast sent.”’</p> +<p>But they will say, man is finite and limited, God is infinite and +absolute, and how can the finite comprehend the infinite?</p> +<p>Answer: ‘Those are fine words: I do not understand them; and +I do not care to understand them; I do not deny that God is infinite +and absolute, though what that means I do not know. But I find +nothing about his being infinite and absolute in the Bible. I +find there that he is righteous, just, loving, merciful, and forgiving; +and that he is angry too, and that his wrath is a consuming fire, and +I know well enough what those words mean, though I do not know what +infinite and absolute mean. So that is what I have to think of, +for my own sake and the sake of all mankind.’</p> +<p>But, they will say, you must not take these words to the letter; +man is so unlike God, and God so unlike man, that God’s attributes +must be quite different from man’s. When you read of God’s +love, justice, anger, and so forth, you must not think that they are +anything like man’s love, man’s justice, man’s anger; +but something quite different, not only in degree, but in kind: so that +what might be unjust and cruel in man, would not be so in God.</p> +<p>My dear friends, beware of that doctrine; for out of it have sprung +half the fanaticism and superstition which has disgraced and tormented +the earth. Beware of ever thinking that a wrong thing would be +right if God did it, and not you. And mind, that is flatly contrary +to the letter of the Bible. In that grand text where Abraham pleads +with God, what does he say? Not, ‘Of course if Thou choosest +to do it, it must be right,’ but ‘Shall not the Judge of +all the earth do RIGHT?’ Abraham actually refers the Almighty +God to his own law; and asserts an eternal rule of right and wrong common +to man and to God, which God will surely never break.</p> +<p>Answer: ‘If that doctrine be true, which I will never believe, +then the Bible mocks and deceives poor miserable sinful man, instead +of teaching him. If God’s love does not mean real actual +love,—God’s anger, actual anger,—God’s forgiveness, +real forgiveness,—God’s justice, real justice,—God’s +truth, real truth,—God’s faithfulness, real faithfulness, +what do they mean? Nothing which I can understand, nothing which +I can trust in. How can I trust in a God whom I cannot understand +or know? How can I trust in a love or a justice which is not what +<i>I</i> call love or justice, or anything like them?</p> +<p>‘The saints of old said, <i>I know</i> in whom I have believed. +And how can I believe in him, if there is nothing in him which I can +know; nothing which is like man—nothing, to speak plainly, like +Christ, who was perfect man as well as perfect God? If that be +so, if man can know nothing really of God, he is indeed most miserable +of all the beasts of the field, for I will warrant that he can know +nothing really of anything else. And what is left for him, but +to remain for this life, and the life to come, in the outer darkness +of ignorance and confusion, misrule and misery, wherein is most literally—as +one may see in the history of every heathen nation upon earth—wailing +and gnashing of teeth.</p> +<p>‘If God’s goodness be not like man’s goodness, +there is no rule of morality left, no eternal standard of right and +wrong. How can I tell what I ought to do; or what God expects +of me; or when I am right and when I am wrong, if you take from me the +good, plain, old Bible rule, that man <i>can</i> be, and <i>must</i> +be, like God? The Bible rule is, that everything good in man must +be exactly like something good in God, because it is inspired into him +by the Spirit of God himself. Our Lord Jesus, who spoke, not to +philosophers or Scribes and Pharisees, but to plain human beings, weeping +and sorrowing, suffering and sinning, like us,—told them to be +perfect, as our Father in heaven is perfect, by being good to the unthankful +and the evil. And if man is to be perfect, as his Father in heaven +is perfect, then his Father in heaven is perfect as man ought to be +perfect. He told us to be merciful as our Father in heaven is +merciful. Then our Father in heaven is merciful with the same +sort of mercy as we ought to show. We are bidden to forgive others, +even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven us: then if our forgiveness +is to be like God’s, God’s forgiveness is like ours. +We are to be true, because God is true: just, because God is just. +How can we be that, if God’s truth is not like what men call truth, +God’s justice not like what men call justice?</p> +<p>‘If I give up that rule of right and wrong, I give up all rules +of right and wrong whatsoever.’</p> +<p>No, my friends; if we will seek for God where he may be found, then +we shall know God, whom truly to know is everlasting life. But +we must not seek for him where he is not, in long words and notions +of philosophy spun out of men’s brains, and set up as if they +were real things, when words and notions they are, and words and notions +they will remain. We must look for God where he is to be found, +in the character of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who alone has +revealed and unveiled God’s character, because he is the brightness +of God’s glory, and the express image of his person.</p> +<p>What Christ’s character was we can find in the Holy Gospels; +and we can find it too, scattered and in parts, in all the good, the +holy, the noble, who have aught of Christ’s spirit and likeness +in them.</p> +<p>Whatsoever is good and beautiful in any human soul, that is the likeness +of Christ. Whatsoever thoughts, words, or deeds are true, honest, +just, pure, lovely, of good report; whatsoever is true virtue, whatsoever +is truly worthy of praise, that is the likeness of Christ; the likeness +of him who was full of all purity, all tenderness, all mercy, all self-sacrifice, +all benevolence, all helpfulness; full of all just and noble indignation +also against oppressors and hypocrites who bound heavy burdens and grievous +to be borne, but touched them not themselves with one of their fingers; +who kept the key of knowledge, and neither entered in themselves, or +let those who were trying enter in either.</p> +<p>The likeness of an all-noble, all-just, all-gracious, all-wise, all-good +human being; that is the likeness of Christ, and that, therefore, is +the likeness of God who made heaven and earth.</p> +<p>All-good; utterly and perfectly good, in every kind of goodness which +we have ever seen, or can ever imagine—that, thank God, is the +likeness and character of Almighty God, in whom we live and move, and +have our being. To know that he is that—all-good, is to +know his character as far as sinful and sorrowful man need know; and +is not that to know enough?</p> +<p>The mystery of the ever-blessed Trinity, as set forth so admirably +in the Athanasian Creed, is a mystery; and it we cannot <i>know</i>—we +can only believe it, and take it on trust: but the <i>character</i> +of the ever-blessed Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Ghost—we +can know: while by keeping the words of the Athanasian Creed carefully +in mind, we may be kept from many grievous and hurtful mistakes which +will hinder our knowing it. We can know that they are all good, +for such as the Father is such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. +That goodness is their one and eternal substance, and majesty, and glory, +which we must not divide by fancying with some, that the Father is good +in one way and the Son in another. That their goodness is eternal +and unchangeable; for they themselves are eternal, and have neither +parts nor passions. That their goodness is incomprehensible, that +is, cannot be bounded or limited by time or space, or by any notions +or doctrines of ours, for they themselves are incomprehensible, and +able to do abundantly more than we can ask or think.</p> +<p>This is our God, the God of the Bible, the God of the Church, the +God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ our Lord. And him +we can believe utterly, for we know that he is faithful and true; and +we know what <i>that</i> means, if there is any truth or faithfulness +in us. We know that he is just and righteous; and we know what +<i>that</i> means, if there is any justice and uprightness in ourselves. +Him we can trust utterly; to him we can take all our cares, all our +sorrows, all our doubts, all our sins, and pour them out to him, because +he is condescending; and we know what <i>that</i> means, if there be +any condescension and real high-mindedness in ourselves. We can +be certain too that he will hear us, just because he is so great, so +majestic, so glorious; because his greatness, and majesty, and glory +is a moral and spiritual greatness, which shows itself by stooping to +the meanest, by listening to the most foolish, helping the weakest, +pitying the worst, even while it is bound to punish. Him we can +trust, I say, because him we can know, and can say of him, Let the Infinite +and the Absolute mean what they may, I know in whom I have believed—God +the Good. Whatever else I cannot understand, I can at least ‘understand +the lovingkindness of the Lord;’ however high his dwelling may +be, I know that he humbleth himself to behold the things in heaven and +earth, to take the simple out of the dust, and the poor out of the mire. +Whatever else God may or may not be, I know that gracious is the Lord, +and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the +simple, for <i>I</i> was in misery, and he helped <i>me</i>. Whatsoever +fine theories or new discoveries I cannot trust, I can trust him, for +with him is mercy, and with the Lord is plenteous redemption; and he +shall redeem his people from all their sins. However dark and +ignorant I may be, I can go to him for teaching, and say, Teach me to +do the thing that pleaseth thee, for thou art my God; let thy loving +Spirit lead me forth into the land of righteousness.</p> +<p>The land of righteousness. The one true heavenly land, wherein +God the righteous dwelleth from eternity to eternity, righteous in all +his ways, and holy in all his works, and therefore adorable in all his +ways, and glorious in all his works, with a glory even greater than +the glory of his Almighty power. On that glory of his goodness +we can gaze, though afar off in degree, yet near in kind, while the +glory of his wisdom and power is far, far beyond my understanding. +Of the intellect of God we can know nothing; but we can know what is +better, the heart of God. For <i>that</i> glory of goodness we +can understand, and <i>know</i>, and sympathize with in our heart of +hearts, and say, If <i>this</i> be the likeness of God, he is indeed +worthy to be worshipped, and had in honour. Praise the Lord, O +my soul, for the Lord is <i>good</i>. Kings and all people, princes +and all judges of the world, young men and maidens, old men and children, +praise the name of the Lord, for his name only is excellent, because +his name is <i>good</i>. Lift up your eyes, and look upon the +face of Christ the God-man, crucified for you; and behold therein the +truth of all truths, the doctrine of all doctrines, the gospel of all +gospels, that the ‘Unknown,’ and ‘Infinite,’ +and ‘Absolute’ God, who made the universe, bids you know +him, and know this of him, that he is <i>good</i>, and that his express +image and likeness is—Jesus Christ, his Son, our Lord.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON III. THE VOICE OF THE LORD GOD</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Preached also at the Chapel Royal, St. James, Sexagesima Sunday</i>.)</p> +<p>GENESIS iii. 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking +in the garden in the cool of the day.</p> +<p>These words would startle us, if we heard them for the first time. +I do not know but that they may startle us now, often as we have heard +them, if we think seriously over them. That God should appear +to mortal man, and speak with mortal man. It is most wonderful. +It is utterly unlike anything that we have ever seen, or that any person +on earth has seen, for many hundred years. It is a miracle, in +every sense of the word.</p> +<p>When one compares man as he was then, weak and ignorant, and yet +seemingly so favoured by God, so near to God, with man as he is now, +strong and cunning, spreading over the earth and replenishing it; subduing +it with railroads and steamships, with agriculture and science, and +all strange and crafty inventions, and all the while never visited by +any Divine or heavenly appearance, but seemingly left utterly to himself +by God, to go his own way and do his own will upon the earth, one asks +with wonder, Can we be Adam’s children? Can the God who +appeared to Adam, be our God likewise, or has God’s plan and rule +for teaching man changed utterly?</p> +<p>No. He is one God; the same God yesterday, to-day, and for +ever. His will and purpose, his care and rule over man, have not +changed.</p> +<p>That is a matter of faith. Of the faith which the holy Church +commands us to have. But it need not be a blind or unreasonable +faith. That our God is the God of Adam; that the same Lord God +who taught him teaches us likewise, need not be a mere matter of faith: +it may be a matter of reason likewise; a thing which seems reasonable +to us, and recommends itself to our mind and conscience as true.</p> +<p>Consider, my friends, a babe when it comes into the world. +The first thing of which it is aware is its mother’s bosom. +The first thing which it does, as its eyes and ears are gradually opened +to this world, is to cling to its parents. It holds fast by their +hand, it will not leave their side. It is afraid to sleep alone, +to go alone. To them it looks up for food and help. Of them +it asks questions, and tries to learn from them, to copy them, to do +what it sees them doing, even in play; and the parents in return lavish +care and tenderness on it, and will not let it out of their sight. +But after a while, as the child grows, the parents will not let it be +so perpetually with them. It must go to school. It must +see its parents only very seldom, perhaps it must be away from them +weeks or months. And why? Not that the parents love it less: +but that it must learn to take care of itself, to act for itself, to +think for itself, or it will never grow up to be a rational human being.</p> +<p>And the parting of the child from the parents does not break the +bond of love between them. It learns to love them even better. +Neither does it break the bond of obedience. The child is away +from its parents’ eye. But it learns to obey them behind +their back; to do their will of its own will; to ask itself, What would +my parents wish me to do, were they here? and so learns, if it will +think of it, a more true, deep, honourable and spiritual obedience, +than it ever would if its parents were perpetually standing over it, +saying, Do this, and do that.</p> +<p>In after life, that child may settle far away from his father’s +home. He may go up into the temptations and bustle of some great +city. He may cross to far lands beyond the sea. But need +he love his parents less? need the bond between them be broken, though +he may never set eyes on them again? God forbid. He may +be settled far away, with children, business, interests of his own; +and yet he may be doing all the while his father’s will. +The lessons of God which he learnt at his mother’s knee may be +still a lamp to his feet and a light to his path. Amid all the +bustle and labour of business, his father’s face may still be +before his eyes, his father’s voice still sound in his ears, bidding +him be a worthy son to him still; bidding him not to leave that way +wherein he should go, in which his parents trained him long, long since. +He may feel that his parents are near him in the spirit, though absent +in the flesh. Yes, though they may have passed altogether out +of this world, they may be to him present and near at hand; and he may +be kept from doing many a wrong thing and encouraged to do many a right +one, by the ennobling thought, My father would have had it so, my mother +would have had it so, had they been here on earth. And though +in this world he may never see them again, he may look forward steadily +and longingly to the day when, this life’s battle over, he shall +meet again in heaven those who gave him life on earth.</p> +<p>My friends, if this be the education which is natural and necessary +from our earthly parents, made in God’s image, appointed by God’s +eternal laws for each of us, why should it not be the education which +God himself has appointed for mankind? All which is truly human +(not sinful or fallen) is an image and pattern of something Divine. +May not therefore the training which we find, by the very facts of nature, +fit and necessary for our children, be the same as God’s training, +by which he fashioneth the hearts of the children of men? Therefore +we can believe the Bible when it tells us that so it is. That +God began the education of man by appearing to him directly, keeping +him, as it were, close to his hand, and teaching him by direct and open +revelation. That as time went on, God left men more and more to +themselves outwardly: but only that he might raise their minds to higher +notions of religion—that he might make them live by faith, and +not merely by sight; and obey him of their own hearty free will, and +not merely from fear or wonder. And therefore, in these days, +when miraculous appearances have, as far as we know, entirely ceased, +yet God is not changed. He is still as near as ever to men; still +caring for them, still teaching them; and his very stopping of all miracles, +so far from being a sign of God’s anger or neglect, is a part +of his gracious plan for the training of his Church.</p> +<p>For consider—Man was first put upon this earth, with all things +round him new and strange to him; seeing himself weak and unarmed before +the wild beasts of the forest, not even sheltered from the cold, as +they are; and yet feeling in himself a power of mind, a cunning, a courage, +which made him the lord of all the beasts by virtue of his <i>mind</i>, +though they were stronger than he in body. All that we read of +Adam and Eve in the Bible is, as we should expect, the history of <i>children</i>—children +in mind, even when they were full-grown in stature. Innocent as +children, but, like children, greedy, fanciful, ready to disobey at +the first temptation, for the very silliest of reasons; and disobeying +accordingly. Such creatures—with such wonderful powers lying +hid in them, such a glorious future before them; and yet so weak, so +wilful, so ignorant, so unable to take care of themselves, liable to +be destroyed off the face of the earth by their own folly, or even by +the wild beasts around—surely they needed some special and tender +care from God to keep them from perishing at the very outset, till they +had learned somewhat how to take care of themselves, what their business +and duty were upon this earth. They needed it before they fell; +they needed it still more, and their children likewise, after they fell: +and if they needed it, we may trust God that he afforded it to them.</p> +<p>But again. Whence came this strange notion, which man alone +has of all the living things which we see, of <i>Religion</i>? +What put into the mind of man that strange imagination of beings greater +than himself, whom he could not always see, but who might appear to +him? What put into his mind the strange imagination that these +unseen beings were more or less his masters? That they had made +laws for him which he must obey? That he must honour and worship +them, and do them service, in order that they might be favourable to +him, and help, and bless, and teach him? All nations except a +very few savages (and we do not know but that their forefathers had +it like the rest of mankind) have had some such notion as this; some +idea of religion, and of a moral law of right and wrong.</p> +<p>Where did they get it?</p> +<p>Where, I ask again, did they get it?</p> +<p>My friends, after much thought I answer, there is no explanation +of that question so simple, so rational, so probable, as the one which +the text gives.</p> +<p>“And they heard the voice of the Lord God.”</p> +<p>Some, I know, say that man thought out for himself, in his own reason, +the notion of God; that he by searching found out God. But surely +that is contrary to all experience. Our experience is, that men +left to themselves forget God; lose more and more all thought of God, +and the unseen world; believe more and more in nothing but what they +can see and taste and handle, and become as the beasts that perish. +How then did man, who now is continually forgetting God, contrive to +remember God for himself at first? How, unless God himself showed +himself to man? I know some will say, that mankind invented for +themselves false gods at first, and afterwards cleared and purified +their own notions, till they discovered the true God. My friends, +there is a homely old proverb which will well apply here. If there +had been no gold guineas, there would be no brass ones. If men +had not first had a notion of a true God, and then gradually lost it, +they would not have invented false gods to supply his place. And +whence did they get, I ask again, the notion of gods at all? The +simplest answer is in the Bible: God taught them. I can find no +better. I do not believe a better will ever be found.</p> +<p>And why not?</p> +<p>Why not? I ask. To say that God cannot appear to men +is simply silly; for it is limiting God’s Almighty power. +He that made man and all heaven and earth, cannot he show himself to +man, if he shall so please? To say that God will not appear to +man because man is so insignificant, and this earth such a paltry little +speck in the heavens, is to limit God’s goodness; nay, it is to +show that a man knows not what goodness means. What grace, what +virtue is there higher than condescension? Then if God be, as +he is, perfectly good, must he not be perfectly condescending—ready +and willing to stoop to man, and all the more ready and the more willing, +the more weak, ignorant, and sinful this man is? In fact, the +greater need man has of God, the more certain is it that God will help +him in that need.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, the Bible is the revelation of a God who condescends +to men, and therefore descends to men. And the more a man’s +reason is spiritually enlightened to know the meaning of goodness and +holiness and justice and love, the more simple, reasonable, and credible +will it seem to him that God at first taught men in the days of their +early ignorance, by the only method by which (as far as we can conceive) +he could have taught them about himself; namely, by appearing in visible +shape, or speaking with audible voice; and just as reasonable and credible, +awful and unfathomable mystery though it is, will be the greater news, +that that same Lord at last so condescended to man that he was conceived +by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate; +was crucified, dead, and buried; and rose the third day, and ascended +into heaven. Credible and reasonable, not indeed to the natural +man who looks only at nature, which he can see and hear and handle; +but credible and reasonable enough to the spiritual man, whose mind +has been enlightened by the Spirit of God, to see that the things which +are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal; +even justice and love, mercy and condescension, the divine order, and +the kingdom of the Living God.</p> +<p>And now one word on a matter which is tormenting the minds of many +just now. It is often said that all that I have been saying is +contrary to science. That this science and understanding of the +world around us, which has improved so marvellously in our days, proves +that the apparitions and miracles spoken of in the Bible cannot be true; +that God, or the angels of God, can never have walked with man in visible +shape.</p> +<p>Now, my friends, I do not believe this. I believe the very +contrary. I entreat you to set your minds at rest on this point; +and to believe (what is certainly true) there is nothing in this new +science to contradict the good old creed, that the Lord God of old appeared +to his human children. It would take too much time, of course, +to give you my reasons for saying this: and I must therefore ask you +to take on trust from me when I tell you solemnly and earnestly that +there is nothing in modern science which can, if rightly understood, +contradict the glorious words of St. Paul, that God at sundry times +and in divers manners spake to the fathers by the prophets, and hath +at last spoken unto us by a Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all +things: by whom also he made the worlds, who is the brightness of his +glory, and the express image of his person, and upholdeth all things +by the word of his power: even Jesus Christ, God blessed for ever. +Amen.</p> +<p>What then shall we think of these things? Shall we say, ‘How +much better off were our forefathers than we! Ah, that we were +not left to ourselves! Ah, that we lived in the good old times +when God and his angels walked with men!’</p> +<p>My friends, what says Solomon the Wise?—‘Inquire not +why the former times were better than these, for thou dost not inquire +wisely concerning this.’</p> +<p>It is very natural for us to think that we could become more easily +good men, more certain of going to heaven, if we saw divine apparitions +and heard divine voices. A very natural thought. But natural +things are not always the best or wisest things. Spiritual things +are surely higher and deeper than natural things. It is natural +to wish to see Christ, or some heavenly being, with our natural eyes +and senses. But it is spiritual and therefore better for our souls, +to be content to see him by faith, with the spiritual eyes of our heart +and mind, to love him with all our heart and mind and soul, to worship +him, to put our whole trust in him, to call upon him, to honour his +holy name and his word, and to serve him truly all the days of our life.</p> +<p>Natural, indeed, to wish that we were back again in the old times. +But we must recollect that these old times were not good times, but +bad times, and for that very reason the Lord took pity on them. +That they were times of darkness, and therefore it was that the people +who sat in great darkness, and in the valley of the shadow of death, +were allowed to see a great light. And that after that, the fulness +of time, the very time which the Lord chose that he might be incarnate +of the Virgin Mary, and came down upon this earth in human form, was +not a good time. On the contrary, the fulness of time, 1863 years +ago, was the very wickedest, most faithless, most unjust time that the +world had ever seen—a time of which St. Paul said that there were +none who did good, no, not one; that adders’ poison was under +all lips, and all feet swift to shed blood, and that the way of peace +none had known.</p> +<p>Better, far better, to live in times like these, in which there is +(among Christian nations at least) no great darkness, even though there +be no great light; times in which the knowledge of the true God and +his Son Jesus Christ is spreading, slowly but surely, over all the earth; +and with it, the fruit of the knowledge of the Lord, justice, mercy, +charity, fellow-feeling, and a desire to teach and improve all mankind, +such as the world never saw before. These are the fruits of the +Scriptures of the Lord, and the Sacraments of the Lord, and of the Holy +Spirit of the Lord; and if that Holy Spirit be in our hearts, and we +yield our hearts to his gracious motions and obey them, then we are +really nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ than if we saw him, as Adam did, +with our bodily eyes, and yet rebelled against him, as Adam did, in +our hearts, and disobeyed him in our actions. Of old the Lord +treated men as babes, and showed himself to their bodily eyes, that +so they might learn that he was, and that he was near them. But +us he treats as grown men, who know that he is, and that he is with +us to the end of the world. And if he treats us as men, my friends, +let us behave ourselves like men, and not like silly children, who cannot +be trusted by themselves for a moment lest they do wrong or come to +harm. Let us obey God, not with eye-service, just as long as we +fancy that his eye is on us, but with the deeper, more spiritual, more +honourable obedience of faith. Let us obey him for obedience’ +sake, and honour him for very honour’s sake, as the young emigrant +in foreign lands obeys and honours the parents whom he will never see +again on earth; and let us look forward, like him, to the day when him +whom we cannot see on earth we may, perhaps, be permitted to see in +heaven, as the reward—and for what higher reward can man wish?—of +faith and obedience.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON IV. NOAH’S FLOOD</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Quinquagesima Sunday</i>.)</p> +<p>GENESIS ix. 13. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall +be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.</p> +<p>We all know the history of Noah’s flood. What have we +learnt from that history? What were we intended to learn from +it? What thoughts should we have about it?</p> +<p>There are many thoughts which we may have. We may think how +the flood came to pass; what means God used to make it rain forty days; +what is meant by breaking up the fountains of the great deep. +We may calculate how large the ark was; and whether the Bible really +means that it held all kinds of living things in the world, or only +those of Noah’s own country, or the animals which had been tamed +and made useful to man. We may read long arguments as to whether +the flood spread over the whole world, or only over the country where +Noah and the rest of the sons of Adam then lived. We may puzzle +ourselves concerning the rainbow of which the text speaks. How +it was to be a sign of a covenant from God. Whether man had ever +seen a rainbow before. Whether there had ever been rain before +in Noah’s country; or whether he did not live in that land of +which the second chapter of Genesis says that the Lord had not caused +it to rain upon the earth, but there went up a mist from the earth and +watered the face of the ground, as it does still in that high land in +the centre of Asia, in which old traditions put the garden of Eden, +and from which, as far as we yet know, mankind came at the beginning.</p> +<p>We may puzzle our minds with these and a hundred more curious questions, +as learned men have done in all ages. But—shall we become +really the wiser by so doing? More learned we may become. +But being learned and being wise are two different things. True +wisdom is that which makes a man a better man. And will such puzzling +questions and calculations as these, settle them how we may, make us +<i>better</i> men? Will they make us more honest and just, more +generous and loving, more able to keep our tempers and control our appetites? +I cannot see that. Will it make us better men merely to know that +there was once a flood of waters on the earth? I cannot see that. +If we look at the hills of sand and gravel round us, a little common +sense will show us that there have been many floods of waters on the +earth, long, long before the one of which the Bible speaks: but shall +we be better men for knowing that either? I cannot see why we +should. Now the Bible was sent to make us better men. How +then will the history of the flood do that?</p> +<p>Easily enough, my friends, if we will listen to the Bible, and thinking +less about the flood itself, think more about him who, so the Bible +tells us, sent the flood.</p> +<p>The Bible, I have told you, is the revelation of the living Lord +God, even Jesus Christ; who, in his turn, reveals to us the Father. +And what we have to think of is, how does this story of the flood reveal, +unveil to us the living Lord of the world, and his living government +thereof? Let us look at the matter in that way, instead of puzzling +ourselves with questions of words and endless genealogies which minister +strife. Let us look at the matter in that way, instead of (like +too many men now, and too many men in all ages) being so busy in picking +to pieces the shell of the Bible, that we forget that the Bible has +any kernel, and so let it slip through our hands. Let us look +at the matter in that way, as a revelation of the living God, and then +we shall find the history of the flood full of godly doctrine, and profitable +for these times, and for all times whatsoever.</p> +<p>God sent a flood on the earth.</p> +<p>True; but the important matter is that <i>God</i> sent it.</p> +<p>God set the rainbow in the cloud, for a token.</p> +<p>True; but the important matter is that <i>God</i> set it there.</p> +<p>Important? Yes. What more important than to know that +the flood did not come of itself, that the rainbow did not come of itself, +and therefore that no flood comes of itself, no rainbow comes of itself; +nothing comes of itself, but all comes straight and immediately from +the one Living Lord God?</p> +<p>A man may say, But the flood must have been caused by clouds and +rain; and there must have been some special natural cause for their +falling at that place and that time?</p> +<p>What of that?</p> +<p>Or that the fountains of the great deep must have been broken up +by natural earthquakes, such as break up the crust of the earth now. +What of that?</p> +<p>Or that the rainbow must have been caused by the sun’s rays +shining through rain-drops at a certain angle, as all rainbows are now. +What of that? Very probably it was: but if not, What of that? +What we ought to know, and what we ought to care for is, what the Bible +tells us without a doubt, that however they came, God sent them. +However they were made, God made them. Their manner, their place, +their time was appointed exactly by God for a <i>moral</i> purpose. +To do something for the immortal souls of men; to punish sinners; to +preserve the righteous; to teach Noah and his children after him a moral +lesson, concerning righteousness and sin; concerning the wrath of God +against sin; concerning God, that he governs the world and all in it, +and does not leave the world, or mankind, to go on of themselves and +by themselves.</p> +<p>You see, I trust, what a message this was, and is, and ever will +be for men; what a message and good news it must have been especially +for the heathen of old time.</p> +<p>For what would the heathen, what actually did the heathen think about +such sights as a flood, or a rainbow?</p> +<p>They thought of course that some one sent the flood. Common +sense taught them that.</p> +<p>But what kind of person must he be, thought they, who sent the flood? +Surely a very dark, terrible, angry God, who was easily and suddenly +provoked to drown their cattle and flood their lands.</p> +<p>But the rainbow, so bright and gay, the sign of coming fine weather, +could not belong to the same God who made the flood. What the +fancies of the heathen about the rainbow were matters little to us: +but they fancied, at least, that it belonged to some cheerful, bright +and kind God. And so with other things. Whatever was bright, +and beautiful, and wholesome in the world, like the rainbow, belonged +to kind gods; whatever was dark, ugly, and destroying, like the flood, +belonged to angry gods.</p> +<p>Therefore those of the heathen who were religious never felt themselves +safe. They were always afraid of having offended some god, they +knew not how; always afraid of some god turning against them, and bringing +diseases against their bodies; floods, drought, blight against their +crops; storms against their ships, in revenge for some slight or neglect +of theirs.</p> +<p>And all the while they had no clear notion that these gods made the +world; they thought that the gods were parts of the world, just as men +are, and that beyond the gods there was the some sort of Fate, or necessity, +which even gods must obey.</p> +<p>Do you not see now what a comfort—what a spring of hope, and +courage, and peace of mind, and patient industry—it must have +been to the men of old time to be told, by this story of the flood, +that the God who sends the flood sends the rainbow also? There +are not two gods, nor many gods, but one God, of whom are all things. +Light and darkness, storm or sunshine, barrenness or wealth, come alike +from him. Diseases, storm, flood, blight, all these show that +there is in God an awfulness, a sternness, an anger if need be—a +power of destroying his own work, of altering his own order; but sunshine, +fruitfulness, peace, and comfort, all show that love and mercy, beauty +and order, are just as much attributes of his essence as awfulness and +anger.</p> +<p>They tell us he is a God whose will is to love, to bless, to make +his creatures happy, if they will allow him. They tell us that +his anger is not a capricious, revengeful, proud, selfish anger, such +as that of the heathen gods: but that it is an orderly anger, a just +anger, a loving anger, and therefore an anger which in its wrath can +remember mercy. Out of God’s wrath shineth love, as the +rainbow out of the storm; if it repenteth him that he hath made man, +it is only because man is spoiling and ruining himself, and wasting +the gifts of the good world by his wickedness. If he see fit to +destroy man out of the earth, he will destroy none but those who deserve +and need destroying. He will save those whom, like Noah, he can +trust to begin afresh, and raise up a better race of men to do his work +in the world. If God send a flood to destroy all living things, +any when or anywhere, he will show, by putting the rainbow in the cloud, +that floods and destruction and anger are not his rule; that his rule +is sunshine, and peace, and order; that though he found it necessary +once to curse the ground, once to sweep away a wicked race of men, yet +that even that was, if one dare use the words of God, against his gracious +will; that his will was from the beginning, peace on earth, and not +floods, and good will to men, and not destruction; and that in his <i>heart</i>, +in the abyss of his essence, and of which it is written, that God is +Love—in his heart I say, he said, ‘I will not again curse +the ground any more for man’s sake, even though the imagination +of man’s heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I again +smite everything living, as I have done. While the earth remaineth, +seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, and day and night, shall not +cease.’</p> +<p>This is the God which the book of Genesis goes on revealing and unveiling +to us more and more—a God in whom men may <i>trust</i>.</p> +<p>The heathen could not trust their gods. The Bible tells men +of a God whom they can trust. That is just the difference between +the Bible and all other books in the world. But what a difference! +Difference enough to make us say, Sooner that every other book in the +world were lost, and the Bible preserved, than that we should lose the +Bible, and with the Bible lose faith in God.</p> +<p>And now, my friends, what shall we learn from this?</p> +<p>What shall we learn? Have we not learnt enough already? +If we have learnt something more of who God is; if we have learnt that +he is a God in whom we can trust through joy and sorrow, through light +and darkness, through life and death, have we not learnt enough for +ourselves? Yes, if even those poor and weak words about God which +I have just spoken, could go home into all your hearts, and take root, +and bear fruit there, they would give you a peace of mind, a comfort, +a courage among all the chances and changes of this mortal life, and +a hope for the life to come, such as no other news which man can tell +you will ever give. But there is one special lesson which we may +learn from the history of the flood, of which I may as well tell you +at once. The Bible account of the flood will teach us how to look +at the many terrible accidents, as we foolishly call them, which happen +still upon this earth. There are floods still, here and there, +earthquakes, fires, fearful disasters, like that great colliery disaster +of last year, which bring death, misery and ruin to thousands. +The Bible tells us what to think of them, when it tells us of the flood.</p> +<p>Do I mean that these disasters come as punishments to the people +who are killed by them? That is exactly what I do not mean. +It was true of the flood. It is true, no doubt, in many other +cases. But our blessed Lord has specially forbidden us to settle +when it is true to say that any particular set of people are destroyed +for their sins: forbidden us to say that the poor creatures who perish +in this way are worse than their neighbours.</p> +<p>‘Thinkest thou,’ he says, ‘that those Galilæans +whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, were sinners above +all the Galilæans? Or those eighteen, on whom the tower +in Siloam fell, and killed them; think you that they were sinners above +all who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you nay.’</p> +<p>‘Judge not,’ he says, ‘and ye shall not be judged,’ +and therefore we must not judge. We have no right to say, for +instance, that the terrible earthquake in Italy, two years ago, came +as a punishment for the sins of the people. We have no right to +say that the twenty or thirty thousand human beings, with innocent children +among them by hundreds, who were crushed or swallowed up by that earthquake +in a few hours, were sinners above all that dwelt in Italy. We +must not say that, for the Lord God himself has forbidden it.</p> +<p>But this we may say (for God himself has said it in the Bible), that +these earthquakes, and all other disasters, great or small, do not come +of themselves—do not come by accident, or chance, or blind necessity; +but that he sends them, and that they fulfil his will and word. +He sends them, and therefore they do not come in vain. They fulfil +his will, and his will is a good will. They carry out his purpose, +but his purpose is a gracious purpose. God may send them in anger; +but in his anger he remembers mercy, and his very wrath to some is part +and parcel of his love to the rest. Therefore these disasters +must be meant to do good, and will do good to mankind. They may +be meant to teach men, to warn them, to make them more wise and prudent +for the future, more humble and aware of their own ignorance and weakness, +more mindful of the frailty of human life, that remembering that in +the midst of life we are in death, they may seek the Lord while he may +be found, and call upon him while he is near. They may be meant +to do that, and to do a thousand things more. For God’s +ways are not as our ways, or his thoughts as our thoughts. His +ways are unsearchable, and his paths past finding out. Who hath +known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him, or even settle +what the Lord means by doing this or that?</p> +<p>All we can say is—and that is a truly blessed thing to be able +to say—that floods and earthquakes, fire and storms, come from +the Lord whose name is Love; the same Lord who walked with Adam in the +garden, who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, who was born +on earth of the Virgin Mary, who shed his life-blood for sinful man, +who wept over Jerusalem even when he was about to destroy it so that +not one stone was left on another, and who, when he looked on the poor +little children of Judæa, untaught or mistaught, enslaved by the +Romans, and but too likely to perish or be carried away captive in the +fearful war which was coming on their land, said of them, ‘It +is not the will of your Father in heaven, that one of these little ones +shall perish.’ Him at least we can trust, in the dark and +dreadful things of this world, as well as in the bright and cheerful +ones; and say with Job, ‘Though he slay me, yet will I trust in +him. I have received good from the hands of the Lord, and shall +I not receive evil?’</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON V. ABRAHAM</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>First Sunday in Lent</i>)</p> +<p>GENESIS xvii. 1, 2. And when Abram was ninety years old +and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty +God; walk before me, and be thou perfect.</p> +<p>I have told you that the Bible reveals, that is, unveils the Lord +God, Jesus Christ our Lord, and through him God the Father Almighty. +I have tried to show you how the Bible does so, step by step. +I go on to show you another step which the Bible takes, and which explains +much that has gone before.</p> +<p>From whom did Moses and the holy men of old whom Moses taught get +their knowledge of God, the true God?</p> +<p>The answer seems to be—from Abraham.</p> +<p>God taught Moses more, much more than he taught Abraham. It +was Moses who bade men call God Jehovah, the I AM; but who, hundreds +of years before, taught them to call him the Almighty God?</p> +<p>The answer seems to be, Abraham. God, we read, appeared to +Abraham, and said to him, ‘Get thee out of thy country, and from +thy father’s house, unto a land that I shall show thee, and I +will make of thee a great nation.’ And again the Lord said +to him, ‘I am the Almighty God, walk before me and be thou perfect, +and thou shalt be a father of many nations.’</p> +<p>‘And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness. +And he was called the friend of God.’</p> +<p>But from what did Abraham turn to worship the living God? From +idols? We are not certain. There is little or no mention +of idols in Abraham’s time. He worshipped, more probably, +the host of heaven, the sun and moon and stars. So say the old +traditions of the Arabs, who are descended from Abraham through Ishmael, +and so it is most likely to have been. That was the temptation +in the East. You read again and again how his children, the Jews, +turned back from God to worship the host of heaven; and that false worship +seems to have crept in at some very early time. The sun, you must +remember, and the moon are far more brilliant and powerful in the East +than here; their power of doing harm or good to human beings and to +the crops of the land is far greater; while the stars shine in the East +with a brightness of which we here have no notion. We do not know, +in this cloudy climate, what St. Paul calls the glory of the stars; +nor see how much one star differs from another star in glory; and therefore +here in the North we have never been tempted to worship them as the +Easterns were. The sun, the moon, the stars, were the old gods +of the East, the Elohim, the high and mighty ones, who ruled over men, +over their good and bad fortunes, over the weather, the cattle, the +crops, sending burning drought, pestilence, sun-strokes, and those moon-strokes +which we never have here; but of which the Psalmist speaks when he says, +‘The sun shall not smite thee by day, neither the moon by night.’ +And them the old Easterns worshipped in some wild confused way.</p> +<p>But to Abraham it was revealed that the sun, the moon, and the stars +were not Elohim—the high and mighty Ones. That there was +but one Elohim, one high and mighty One, the Almighty maker of them +all. He did not learn that, perhaps, at once. Indeed the +Bible tells us how God taught him step by step, as he teaches all men, +and revealed himself to him again and again, till he had taught Abraham +all that he was to know. But he did teach him this; as a beautiful +old story of the Arabs sets forth. They say how (whether before +or after God called him, we cannot tell) Abraham at night saw a star: +and he said, ‘This is my Lord.’ But when the star +set, he said, ‘I like not those who vanish away.’ +And when he saw the moon rising, he said, ‘This is my Lord.’ +But when the moon too set, he said, ‘Verily, if my Lord direct +me not in the right way, I shall be as one who goeth astray.’ +But when he saw the sun rising, he said, ‘This is my Lord: this +is greater than star or moon.’ But the sun went down likewise. +Then said Abraham, ‘O my people, I am clear of these things. +I turn my face to him who hath made the heaven and the earth.’</p> +<p>And was this all that Abraham believed—that the sun and moon +and stars were not gods, but that there was a God besides, who had made +them all? My friends, there have been thousands and tens of thousands +since, I fear, who have believed as much as that, and yet who cannot +call Abraham their spiritual father, who are not justified by faith +with faithful Abraham.</p> +<p>For merely to believe that, is a dead faith, which will never be +counted for righteousness, because it will never make man a righteous +man doing righteous and good deeds as Abraham did.</p> +<p>Of Abraham it is written, that what he knew, he did. That his +faith wrought with his works. And by his works his faith was made +perfect. That when he gained faith in God, he went and acted on +his faith. When God called him he went out, not knowing whither +he went.</p> +<p>His faith is only shown by his works. Because he believed in +God he went and did things which he would not have done if he had not +believed in God. Of him it is written, that he obeyed the voice +of the Lord, and kept his charge, his commandments, his statutes, and +his laws.</p> +<p>In a word, he had not merely found out that there was one God, but +that that one God was a good God, a God whom he must obey, and obey +by being a good man. Therefore his faith was counted to him for +righteousness, because it was righteousness, and made him do righteous +deeds.</p> +<p>He believed that God was helping him; therefore he had no need to +oppress or overreach any man. He believed that God’s eye +was on him; therefore he dared not oppress or overreach any man.</p> +<p>His faith in God made him brave. He went forth he knew not +whither; but he had put his trust in God, and he did not fear. +He and his three hundred slaves, born in his house, were not afraid +to set out against the four Arab kings who had just conquered the five +kings of the vale of Jordan, and plundered the whole land. Abraham +and his little party of faithful slaves follow them for miles, and fall +on them and defeat them utterly, setting the captives free, and bringing +back all the plunder; and then, in return for all that he has done, +Abraham will take nothing—not even, he says, ‘a thread or +a shoe-latchet—lest men should say, We have made Abraham rich.’ +And why?</p> +<p>Because his faith in God made him high-minded, generous, and courteous; +as when he bids Lot go whither he will with his flocks and herds. +‘Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and me. +If thou wilt take the left hand, I will go to the right.’ +He is then, as again with the king of Sodom, and with the three strangers +at the tent door, and with the children of Heth, when he is buying the +cave of Machpelah for a burying-place for Sarah—always and everywhere +the same courteous, self-restrained, high-bred, high-minded man.</p> +<p>It has been said that true religion will make a man a more thorough +gentleman than all the courts in Europe. And it is true: you may +see simple labouring men as thorough gentlemen as any duke, simply because +they have learned to fear God; and fearing him, to restrain themselves, +and to think of other people more than of themselves, which is the very +root and essence of all good breeding. And such a man was Abraham +of old—a plain man, dwelling in tents, helping to tend his own +cattle, fetching in the calf from the field himself, and dressing it +for his guests with his own hand; but still, as the children of Heth +said of him, a mighty prince—not merely in wealth of flocks and +herds, but a prince in manners and a prince in heart.</p> +<p>But faith in God did more for Abraham than this: it made him a truly +pious man—it made him the friend of God.</p> +<p>There were others in Abraham’s days who had some knowledge +of the one true God. Lot his nephew, Abimelech, Aner, Eshcol, +Mamre, and others, seem to have known whom Abraham meant when he spoke +of the Almighty God. But of Abraham alone it is said that he believed +God; that he trusted in God, and rested on him; was built up on God; +rested on God as a child in the mother’s arms—for this we +are told, is the full meaning of the word in the Bible—and looked +to God as his shield and his exceeding great reward. He trusted +in God utterly, and it was counted to him for righteousness.</p> +<p>And of Abraham alone it is said that he was the friend of God; that +God spoke with him, and he with God. He first of all men of whom +we read, at least since the time of Adam, knew what communion with God +meant; knew that God spoke to him as a friend, a benefactor, a preserver, +who was teaching and training him with a father’s love and care; +and felt that he in return could answer God, could open his heart to +him, tell him not only of his wants, but of his doubts and fears.</p> +<p>Yes, we may almost say, on the strength of the Bible, that Abraham +was the first human being, as far as we know, who prayed with his heart +and soul; who knew what true prayer means—the prayer of the heart, +by which man draws near to God, and finds that God is near to him. +This—this communion with God, is the especial glory of Abraham’s +character. This it is which has given him his name through all +generations, The friend of God. Or, as his descendants the Arabs +call him to this day, simply, ‘The Friend.’</p> +<p>This it is which gained him the name of the Father of the Faithful; +the father of all who believe, whether they be descended from him, or +whether they be, like us, of a different nation. This it is which +has made a wise man say of Abraham, that if we will consider what he +knew and did, and in what a dark age he lived, we shall see that Abraham +may be (unless we except Moses) the greatest of mere human beings—that +the human race may owe more to him than to any mortal man.</p> +<p>But why need we learn from Abraham? we who, being Christians, know +and believe the true faith so much more clearly than Abraham could do.</p> +<p>Ah, my friends, it is easier to know than to believe, and easier +to know than to do. Easier to talk of Abraham’s faith than +to have Abraham’s faith. Easier to preach learned and orthodox +sermons about how Abraham was justified by his faith, than to be justified +ourselves by our own faith.</p> +<p>And say not in your hearts, ‘It was easy for Abraham to believe +God. I should have believed of course in his place. If God +spoke to me, of course I should obey him.’ My friends, there +is no greater and no easier mistake. God has spoken to many a +man who has not believed him, neither obeyed him, and so he may to you. +God spoke to Abraham, and he believed him and obeyed him. And +why? Because there was in Abraham’s heart something which +there is not in all men’s hearts—something which <i>answered</i> +to God’s call, and made him certain that the call was from God—even +the Holy Spirit of God.</p> +<p>So God may call you, and you may obey him, if only the Spirit of +God be in you; but not else. <i>May</i> call you, did I say? +God <i>does</i> call you and me, does speak to us, does command us, +far more clearly than he did Abraham. We know the mystery of Christ, +which in other ages was <i>not</i> made known to the sons of men as +it is now revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. +God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spoke to the fathers +by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken to us by his <i>Son</i>, +Jesus Christ our Lord, and told us our duty, and the reward which doing +our duty will surely bring, far more clearly than ever he did to Abraham.</p> +<p>But do we listen to him? Do we say with Abraham, ‘O my +people, I am clear of all these things which rise and set, which are +born and die, which begin and end in time, and turn my face to him that +made heaven and earth!’ If so, how is it that we see people +everywhere worshipping not idols of wood and stone, but other things, +all manner of things beside God, and saying, ‘These are my Elohim. +These are the high and mighty ones whom I must obey. These are +the strong things on which depend my fortune and my happiness. +I must obey <i>them</i> first, and let plain doing right and avoiding +wrong come after as it can.’</p> +<p>One worships the laws of trade, and says, ‘I know this and +that is hardly right; but it is in the way of business, and therefore +I must do it.’</p> +<p>One worships public opinion, and follows after the multitude to do +evil, doing what he knows is wrong, simply because others do it, and +it is the way of the world.</p> +<p>One worships the interest of his party, whether in religion or in +politics; and does for their sake mean and false, cruel and unjust things, +which he would not do for his own private interest.</p> +<p>Too many, even in a free country, worship great people, and put their +trust in princes, saying, ‘I am sorry to have to do this. +I know it is rather mean; but I must, or I shall lose such and such +a great man’s interest and favour.’ Or, ‘I know +I cannot afford this expense; but if I do not I shall not get into good +society, and this person and that will not ask me to his house.’</p> +<p>All, meanwhile, except a few, rich or poor, worship money; and believe +more or less, in spite of the Lord’s solemn warning to the contrary, +that a man’s life does consist in the abundance of the things +which he possesses.</p> +<p>These are the Elohim of this world, the high and mighty things to +which men turn for help instead of to the living God, who was before +all things, and will be after them; and behold they vanish away, and +where then are those that have put their trust in them?</p> +<p>But blessed is he whose trust is in God the Almighty, and whose hope +is in the Lord Jehovah, the eternal I Am. Blessed is he who, like +faithful Abraham, says to his family, ‘My people, I am clear of +all these things. I turn my face from them to him who hath made +earth and heaven. I go through this world like Abraham, not knowing +whither I go; but like Abraham, I fear not, for I go whither God sends +me. I rest on God; he is my defence, and my exceeding great reward. +To have known him, loved him, obeyed him, is reward enough, even if +I do not, as the world would say, succeed in life. Therefore I +long not for power and honour, riches and pleasure. I am content +to do my duty faithfully in that station of life to which God has called +me, and to be forgiven for all my failings and shortcomings for the +sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, and that is enough for me; for I believe +in my Father in heaven, and believe that he knows best for me and for +my children. He has not promised me, as he promised Abraham, to +make of me a great nation; but he has promised that the righteous man +shall never be deserted, or his children beg their bread. He has +promised to keep his covenant and mercy to a thousand generations with +those who keep his commandments and do them; and that is enough for +me. In God have I put my trust, and I will not fear what man, +or earth, or heaven, or any created thing can do unto me.’</p> +<p>Blessed is that man, whether he inherit honourably great estates +from his ancestors, or whether he make honourably great wealth and station +for himself; whether he spend his life quietly and honestly in the country +farm or in the village shop, or whether he simply earn his bread from +week to week by plough and spade. Blessed is he, and blessed are +his children after him. For he is a son of Abraham; and of him +God hath said, as of Abraham, ‘I know him that he will command +his children and household after him, and they shall keep the way of +the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring on him +the blessing which he has spoken.’</p> +<p>Yes; blessed is that man. He has chosen his share of Abraham’s +faith; and he and his children after him shall have their share of Abraham’s +blessing.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON VI. JACOB AND ESAU</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Second Sunday in Lent</i>.)</p> +<p>GENESIS xxv. 29-34. And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from +the field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray +thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his +name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. +And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit shall +this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this day; +and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. +Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat and +drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his birthright.</p> +<p>I have been telling you of late that the Bible is the revelation +of God. But how does the story of Jacob and Esau reveal God to +us? What further lesson concerning God do we learn therefrom?</p> +<p>I think that if we will take the story simply as it stands we shall +see easily enough. For it is all simple and natural enough. +Jacob and Esau, we shall see, were men of like passions with ourselves; +men as we are, mixed up of good and evil, sometimes right and sometimes +wrong: and God rewarded them when they did right, and punished them +when they did wrong, just as he does with us now.</p> +<p>They were men, though, of very different characters: we may see men +like them now every day round us. Esau, we read, was a hunter—a +man of the field; a bold, fierce, active man; generous, brave, and kind-hearted, +as the end of his story shows: but with just the faults which such a +man would have. He was hasty, reckless, and fond of pleasure; +passionate too, and violent. Have we not seen just such men again +and again, and liked them for what was good in them, and been sorry +too that they were not more sober and reasonable, and true to themselves?</p> +<p>Jacob was the very opposite kind of man. He was a plain man—what +we call a still, solid, prudent, quiet man—and a dweller in tents: +he lived peaceably, looking after his father’s flocks and herds; +while Esau liked better the sport and danger of hunting wild beasts, +and bringing home venison to his father.</p> +<p>Now Jacob, we see, was of course a more thoughtful man than Esau. +He kept more quiet, and so had more time to think: and he had plainly +thought a great deal over God’s promise to his grandfather Abraham. +He believed that God had promised Abraham that he would make his seed +as the sand of the sea for multitude, and give them that fair land of +Canaan, and that in his seed all the families of the earth should be +blessed; and that seemed to him, and rightly, a very grand and noble +thing. And he set his heart on getting that blessing for himself, +and supplanting his elder brother Esau, and being the heir of the promises +in his stead. Well—that was mean and base and selfish perhaps: +but there is somewhat of an excuse for Jacob’s conduct, in the +fact that he and Esau were twins; that in one sense neither of them +was older than the other. And you must recollect, that it was +not at all a regular custom in the East for the eldest son to be his +father’s heir, as it is in England. You find that few or +none of the great kings of the Jews were eldest sons. The custom +was not kept up as it is here. So Jacob may have said to himself, +and not have been very wrong in saying it:</p> +<p>‘I have as good a right to the birthright as Esau. My +father loves him best because he brings him in venison; but I know the +value of the honour which is before my family. Surely the one +of us who cares most about the birthright will be most fit to have it, +and ought to have it; and Esau cares nothing for it, while I do.’</p> +<p>So Jacob, in his cunning, bargaining way, took advantage of his brother’s +weak, hasty temper, and bought his birthright of him, as the text tells.</p> +<p>That story shows us what sort of a man Esau was: hasty, careless, +fond of the good things of this life. He had no reason to complain +if he lost his birthright. He did not care for it, and so he had +thrown it away. Perhaps he forgot what he had done; but his sin +found him out, as our sins are sure to find each of us out. The +day came when he wanted his birthright and could not have it, and found +no place for repentance—that is, no chance of undoing what he +had done—though he sought it carefully with tears. He had +sown, and he must reap; he had made his bed, and he must lie on it. +And so must Jacob in his turn.</p> +<p>Now this, I think, is just what the story teaches us concerning God. +God chooses Abraham’s family to grow into a great nation, and +to be a peculiar people. The next question will be: If God favours +that family, will he do unjust things to help them?—will he let +them do unjust things to help themselves? The Bible answers positively, +No. God will not be unjust or arbitrary in choosing one man and +rejecting another. If he chooses Jacob, it is because Jacob is +fit for the work which God wants done. If he rejects Esau, it +is because Esau is not fit.</p> +<p>It is natural, I know, to pity poor Esau; but one has no right to +do more. One has no right to fancy for a moment that God was arbitrary +or hard upon him. Esau is not the sort of man to be the father +of a great nation, or of anything else great. Greedy, passionate, +reckless people like him, without due feeling of religion or of the +unseen world, are not the men to govern the world, or help it forward, +or be of use to mankind, or train up their families in justice and wisdom +and piety. If there had been no people in the world but people +like Esau, we should be savages at this day, without religion or civilization +of any kind. They are of the earth, earthy; dust they are, and +unto dust they will return. It is men like Jacob whom God chooses—men +who have a feeling of religion and the unseen world; men who can look +forward, and live by faith, and form plans for the future—and +carry them out too, against disappointment and difficulty, till they +succeed.</p> +<p>Look at one side of Jacob’s character—his perseverance. +He serves seven years for Rachel, because he loves her. Then when +he is cheated, and Leah given him instead, he serves seven years more +for Rachel—‘and they seemed to him a short time, for the +love he bore to her;’ and then he serves seven years more for +the flocks and herds. A slave, or little better than a slave, +of his own free will, for one-and-twenty years, to get what he wanted. +Those are the men whom God uses, and whom God prospers. Men with +deep hearts and strong wills, who set their minds on something which +they cannot see, and work steadfastly for it, till they get it; for +God gives it to them in good time—when patience has had her perfect +work upon their characters, and made them fit for success.</p> +<p>Esau, we find, got some blessing—the sort of blessing he was +fit for. He loved his father, and he was rewarded. ‘And +Isaac his father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall +be the fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and +by thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall +come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt break +his yoke from off thy neck.’</p> +<p>He was a brave, generous-hearted man, in spite of his faults. +He was to live the free hunter’s life which he loved; and we find +that he soon became the head of a wild powerful tribe, and his sons +after him. Dukes of Edom they were called for several generations; +but they never rose to any solid and lasting power; they never became +a great nation, as Jacob’s children did. They were just +what one would expect—wild, unruly, violent people. They +have long since perished utterly off the face of the earth.</p> +<p>And what did Jacob get, who so meanly bought the birthright, and +cheated his father out of the blessing? Trouble in the flesh; +vanity and vexation of spirit. He had to flee from his father’s +house; never to see his mother again; to wander over the deserts to +kinsmen who cheated him as he had cheated others; to serve Laban for +twenty-one years; to crouch miserably in fear and trembling, as a petitioner +for his life before Esau whom he had wronged, and to be made more ashamed +than ever, by finding that generous Esau had forgiven and forgotten +all. Then to see his daughter brought to shame, his sons murderers, +plotting against their own brother, his favourite son; to see his grey +hairs going down with sorrow to the grave; to confess to Pharaoh, after +one hundred and twenty years of life, that few and evil had been the +days of his pilgrimage.</p> +<p>Then did his faith in God win no reward? Not so. That +was his reward, to be chastened and punished, till his meanness was +purged out of him. He had taken God for his guide; and God did +guide him accordingly; though along a very different path from what +he expected. God accepted his faith, delivered his soul, gave +him rest and peace at last in his old age in Egypt, let him find his +son Joseph again in power and honour: but all along God punished his +own inventions—as he will punish yours and mine, my friends, all +the while that he may be accepting our faith and delivering our souls, +because we trust in him. So God rewarded Jacob by giving him more +light: by not leaving him to himself, and his own darkness and meanness, +but opening his eyes to understand the wondrous things of God’s +law, and showing him how God’s law is everlasting, righteous, +not to be escaped by any man; how every action brings forth its appointed +fruit; how those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind. Jacob’s +first notion was like the notion of the heathen in all times, ‘My +God has a special favour for me, therefore I may do what I like. +He will prosper me in doing wrong; he will help me to cheat my father.’ +But God showed him that that was just not what he would do for him. +He would help and protect him; but only while he was doing RIGHT. +God would not alter his moral laws for him or any man. God would +be just and righteous; and Jacob must be so likewise, till he learnt +to trust not merely in a God who happened to have a special favour to +him, but in the righteous God who loves justice, and wishes to make +men righteous even as he is righteous, and will make them righteous, +if they trust in him.</p> +<p>That was the reward of Jacob’s faith—the best reward +which any man can have. He was taught to know God, whom truly +to know is everlasting life. And this, it seems to me, is the +great revelation concerning God which we learn from the history of Jacob +and Esau. That God, how much soever favour he may show to certain +persons, is still, essentially and always, a just God.</p> +<p>And now, my friends, if any of you are tempted to follow Jacob’s +example, take warning betimes. You will be tempted. There +are men among you—there are in every congregation—who are, +like Jacob, sober, industrious, careful, prudent men, and fairly religious +too; men who have the good sense to see that Solomon’s proverbs +are true, and that the way to wealth and prosperity is to fear God, +and keep his commandments.</p> +<p>May you prosper; may God’s blessing be upon your labour; may +you succeed in life, and see your children well settled and thriving +round you, and go down to the grave in peace.</p> +<p>But never forget, my good friends, that you will be tempted as Jacob +was—to be dishonest. I cannot tell why; but professedly +religious men, in all countries, in all religions, are, and always have +been, tempted in that way—to be mean and cunning and false at +times. It is so, and there is no denying it: when all other sins +are shut out from them by their religious profession, and their care +for their own character, and their fear of hell, the sin of lying, for +some strange reason, is left open to them; and to it they are tempted +to give way. For God’s sake—for the sake of Christ, +who was full of grace and truth—for your own sakes—struggle +against that. Unless you wish to say at last with poor old Jacob, +‘Few and evil have been the days of my pilgrimage;’ struggle +against that. If you fear God and believe that he is with you, +God will prosper your plans and labour; but never make that an excuse +for saying in your hearts, like Jacob, ‘God intends that I should +have these good things; therefore I may take them for myself by unfair +means.’ The birthright is yours. It is you, the steady, +prudent, God-fearing ones, who will prosper on the earth, and not poor +wild, hot-headed Esau. But do not make that an excuse for robbing +and cheating Esau, because he is not as thoughtful as you are. +The Lord made him as well as you; and died for him as well as for you; +and wills his salvation as well as yours; and if you cheat him the Lord +will avenge him speedily. If you give way to meanness, covetousness, +falsehood, as Jacob did, you will rue it; the Lord will enter into judgment +with you quickly, and all the more quickly because he loves you. +Because there is some right in you—because you are on the whole +on the right road—the Lord will visit you with disappointment +and affliction, and make your own sins your punishment.</p> +<p>If you deceive other people, other people shall deceive you, as they +did Jacob. If you lay traps, you shall fall into them yourselves, +as Jacob did. If you fancy that because you trust in God, God +will overlook any sin in you, as Jacob did, you shall see, as Jacob +did, that your sin shall surely find you out. The Lord will be +more sharp and severe with you than with Esau. And why? +Because he has given you more, and requires more of you; and therefore +he will chastise you, and sift you like wheat, till he has parted the +wheat from the tares. The wheat is your faith, your belief that +if you trust in God he will prosper you, body and soul. That is +God’s good seed, which he has sown in you. The tares are +your fancies that you may do wrong and mean things to help yourselves, +because God has an especial favour for you. That is the devil’s +sowing, which God will burn out of you by the fire of affliction, as +he did out of Jacob, and keep your faith safe, as good seed in his garner, +for the use of your children after you, that you may teach them to walk +in God’s commandments and serve him in spirit and in truth. +For God is a God of truth, and no liar shall stand in his sight, let +him be never so religious; he requires truth in the inward parts, and +truth he will have; and whom he loves he will chasten, as he chastened +Jacob of old, till he has made him understand that honesty is the best +policy; and that whatever false prophets may tell you, there is not +one law for the believer and another for the unbeliever; but whatsoever +a man sows, that shall he reap, and receive the due reward of the deeds +done in the body, whether they be good or evil.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON VII. JOSEPH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Preached on the Sunday before the Wedding of the Prince of Wales. +March 8th, third Sunday in Lent</i>.)</p> +<p>GENESIS xxxix. 9. How can I do this great wickedness, and sin +against God?</p> +<p>The story of Joseph is one which will go home to all healthy hearts. +Every child can understand, every child can feel with it. It is +a story for all men and all times. Even if it had not been true, +and not real fact, but a romance of man’s invention, it would +have been loved and admired by men; far more then, when we know that +it is true, that it actually did so happen; that is part and parcel +of the Holy Scriptures.</p> +<p>We all, surely, know the story—How Joseph’s brethren +envy him and sell him for a slave into Egypt—how there for a while +he prospers—how his master’s wife tempts him—how he +is thrown into prison on her slander—how there again he prospers—how +he explains the dreams of Pharaoh’s servants—how he lies +long forgotten in the prison—how at last Pharaoh sends for him +to interpret a dream for him, and how he rises to power and great glory—how +his brothers come down to Egypt to buy corn, and how they find him lord +of all the land—how subtilly he tries them to see if they have +repented of their old sin—how his heart yearns over them in spite +of all their wickedness to him—how at last he reveals himself, +and forgives them utterly, and sends for his poor old father Jacob down +into Egypt. Whosoever does not delight in that story, simply as +a story, whenever he hears it read, cannot have a wholesome human heart +in him.</p> +<p>But why was this story of Joseph put into Holy Scripture, and at +such length, too? It seems, at first sight, to be simply a family +history—the story of brothers and their father; it seems, at first +sight, to teach us nothing concerning our redemption and salvation; +it seems, at first sight, not to reveal anything fresh to us concerning +God; it seems, at first sight, not to be needed for the general plan +of the Bible history. It tells us, of course, how the Israelites +first came into Egypt; and that was necessary for us to know. +But the Bible might have told us that in ten verses. Why has it +spent upon the story of Joseph and his brethren, not ten verses, but +ten chapters?</p> +<p>Now we have a right to ask such questions as these, if we do not +ask them out of any carping, fault-finding spirit, trying to pick holes +in the Bible, from which God defend us and all Christian men. +If we ask such questions in faith and reverence—that is, believing +and taking for granted that the Bible is right, and respecting it, as +the Book of books, in which our own forefathers and all Christian nations +upon earth for many ages have found all things necessary for their salvation—if, +I say, we question over the Bible in that child-like, simple, respectful +spirit, which is the true spirit of wisdom and understanding, by which +our eyes will be truly opened to see the wondrous things of God’s +law: then we may not only seek as our Lord bade us, but we shall find, +as our Lord prophesied that we should. We shall find some good +reason for this story of Joseph being so long, and find that the story +of Joseph, like all the rest of the Bible, reveals a new lesson to us +concerning God and the character of God.</p> +<p>I said that the story of Joseph looks, at first sight, to be merely +a family history. But suppose that that were the very reason why +it is in the Bible, because it is a family history. Suppose that +families were very sacred things in the eyes of God. That the +ties of husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, were +appointed, not by man, but by God. Then would not Joseph’s +story be worthy of being in the Bible? Would it not, as I said +it would, reveal something fresh to us concerning God and the character +of God?</p> +<p>Consider now, my friends: Is it not one great difference—one +of the very greatest—between men and beasts, that men live in +families, and beasts do not? That men have the sacred family feeling, +and beasts have not? They have the beginnings of it, no doubt. +The mother, among beasts, feels love to her children, but only for a +while. God has implanted in her something of that deepest, holiest, +purest of all feelings—a mother’s love. But as soon +as her young ones are able to take care of themselves, they are nothing +to her—among the lower animals, less than nothing. The fish +or the crocodile will take care of her eggs jealously, and as soon as +they are hatched, turn round and devour her own young.</p> +<p>The feeling of a <i>father</i> to his child, again, you find is fainter +still among beasts. The father, as you all know, not only cares +little for his offspring, even if he sometimes helps to feed them at +first, but is often jealous of them, hates them, will try to kill them +when they grow up.</p> +<p>Husband and wife, again: there is no sacredness between them among +dumb animals. A lasting and an unselfish attachment, not merely +in youth, but through old age and beyond the grave—what is there +like this among the animals, except in the case of certain birds, like +the dove and the eagle, who keep the same mate year after year, and +have been always looked on with a sort of affection and respect by men +for that very reason?</p> +<p>But where, among beasts, do you ever find any trace of those two +sacred human feelings—the love of brother to brother, or of child +to father? Where do you find the notion that the tie between husband +and wife is a sacred thing, to be broken at no temptation, but in man?</p> +<p>These are <i>the</i> feelings which man has alone of all living animals.</p> +<p>These then, remember, are the very family feelings which come out +in the story of Joseph. He honours holy wedlock when he tells +his master’s wife, ‘How can I do this great wickedness, +and sin against God?’ He honours his father, when he is +not ashamed of him, wild shepherd out of the desert though he might +be, and an abomination to the Egyptians, while he himself is now in +power and wealth and glory, as a prince in a civilized country. +He honours the tie of brother to brother, by forgiving and weeping over +the very brothers who have sold him into slavery.</p> +<p>But what has all this to do with God?</p> +<p>Now man, as we know, is an animal with an immortal spirit in him. +He has, as St. Paul so carefully explains to us, a flesh and a spirit—a +flesh like the beasts which perish; a spirit which comes from God.</p> +<p>Now the Bible teaches us that man did not get these family feelings +from his flesh, from the animal, brute part of him. They are not +carnal, but spiritual. He gets them from his spirit, and they +are inspired into him by the Spirit of God. They come not from +the earth below, but from the heaven above; from the image of God, in +which man alone of all living things was made.</p> +<p>For if it were not so, we should surely see some family feeling in +the beasts which are most like men. But we do not. In the +apes, which are, in their shape and fleshly nature, so strangely and +shockingly like human beings, there is not as much family feeling as +there is in many birds, or even insects. Nay, the wild negroes, +among whom they live, hold them in abhorrence, and believe that they +were once men like themselves, who were gradually changed into brute +beasts, by giving way to detestable sins; while these very negroes themselves, +heathens and savages as they are, <i>have</i> the family feeling—the +feeling of husband for wife, father for child, brother for brother; +not, indeed, as strongly and purely as we, or at least those of us who +are really Christian and civilized, but still they have it; and that +makes between the lowest man and the highest brute a difference which +I hold is as wide as the space between heaven and earth.</p> +<p>It is man alone, I say, who has the idea of family; and who has, +too, the strange, but most true belief that these family ties are appointed +by God—that they are a part of his religion—that in breaking +them, by being an unfaithful husband, a dishonest servant, an unnatural +son, a selfish brother, he sins, not only against man, and man’s +order and laws, but against God.</p> +<p>Parent and child, brother and sister—those ties are not of +the earth earthy, but of the heaven of God, eternal. They may +begin in time; of what happened before we came into this world we know +nought. But having begun, they cannot end. Of what will +happen after we leave this world, that at least we know in part.</p> +<p>Parent and child; brother and sister; husband and wife likewise; +these are no ties of man’s invention. They are ties of God’s +binding; they are patterns and likenesses of his substance, and of his +being. Of the eternal Father, who says for ever to the eternal +Son, ‘This day have I begotten <i>thee</i>.’ Of the +Son who says for ever to the Father, ‘I come to do thy will, O +God.’ Of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who is not ashamed +to call us his brethren; but like a greater Joseph, was sent before +by God to save our lives with a great deliverance when our forefathers +were but savages and heathens. Husband and wife likewise—are +not they two divine words—not human words at all? Has not +God consecrated the state of matrimony to such an excellent mystery, +that in it is signified and represented the mystical union between Christ +and his Church? Are not husbands to love their wives, and give +themselves for them as Christ loved the Church and gave himself for +it? That, indeed, was not revealed in the Old Testament, but it +is revealed in the New; and marriage, like all other human ties, is +holy and divine, and comes from God down to men.</p> +<p>Yes. These family ties are of God. It was to show us +how sacred, how Godlike they are—how eternal and necessary for +all mankind—that Joseph’s story was written in Holy Scripture.</p> +<p>They are of God, I say. And he who despises them, despises +not man but God; who hath also given us his Holy Spirit to make us know +how sacred these bonds are.</p> +<p>He who looks lightly on the love of child to parent, or brother to +brother, or husband to wife, and bids each man please himself, each +man help himself, and shift for himself, would take away from men the +very thing which raises them above the beasts which perish, and lower +them again to the likeness of the flesh, that they may of the flesh +reap corruption.</p> +<p>They who, under whatever pretence of religion part asunder families; +or tell children, like the wicked Pharisees of old, that they may say +to their parents, Corban—‘I have given to God the service +and help which, as your child, I should have given to you’—shall +be called, if not by men, at least by God himself, hypocrites, who draw +near to God with their mouths, and honour him with their lips, while +their heart is far from him.</p> +<p>I think now we may see that I was right when I said—Perhaps +the history of Joseph is in the Bible because it <i>is</i> a family +history. For see, it is the history of a man who loved his family, +who felt that family life was holy and God-appointed; whom God rewarded +with honour and wealth, because he honoured family ties; because he +refused his master’s wife; because he rewarded his brothers good +for evil; because he was not ashamed of his father, but succoured him +in his old age.</p> +<p>It is the history of a man who—more than four hundred years +before God gave the ten commandments on Sinai, saying,</p> +<p>Honour thy father and mother,</p> +<p>Thou shalt not commit adultery,</p> +<p>Thou shalt not kill in revenge,</p> +<p>Thou shalt not covet aught of thy neighbours—It is the history, +I say, of a man who had those laws of God written in his heart by the +Holy Spirit of God; and felt that to break them was to sin against God. +It is the history of a man who, sorely tempted and unjustly persecuted, +kept himself pure and true; who, while all around him, beginning with +his own brothers, were trampling under foot the laws of family, felt +that the laws were still there round him, girding him in with everlasting +bands, and saying to him, Thou shalt and Thou shalt not; that he was +not sent into the world to do just what was pleasant for the moment, +to indulge his own passions or his own revenge; but that if he was indeed +a man, he must prove himself a man, by obeying Almighty God. It +is the history of a man who kept his heart pure and tender, and who +thereby gained strange and deep wisdom; that wisdom which comes only +to the pure in heart; that wisdom by which truly good men are enabled +to see farther, and to be of more use to their fellow-creatures than +many a cunning and crooked politician, whose eyes are blinded, because +his heart is defiled with sin.</p> +<p>And now, my friends, if we pray—as we are bound to pray—for +that great Prince who is just entering on the cares and the duties, +as well as the joys and blessings of family life—what better prayer +can we offer up for him, than that God would put into his heart that +spirit which he put into the heart of Joseph of old—the spirit +to see how divine and God-appointed is family life? God grant +that that spirit may dwell in him, and possess him more and more day +by day. That it may keep him true to his wife, true to his mother, +true to his family, true, like Joseph, to all with whom he has to deal. +That it may deliver him, as it delivered Joseph, from the snares of +wicked women, from selfish politicians, if they ever try to sow distrust +and opposition between him and his kindred, and from all those temptations +which can only be kept down by the Spirit of God working in men’s +hearts, as he worked in the heart of Joseph.</p> +<p>For if that spirit be in the Prince—and I doubt not that that +spirit is in him already—then will his fate be that of Joseph; +then will he indeed be a blessing to us, and to our children after us; +then will he have riches more real, and power more vast, than any which +our English laws can give; then will he gain, like Joseph, that moral +wisdom, better than all worldly craft, which cometh from above—first +pure, then gentle, easy to be entreated, without partiality, and without +hypocrisy; then will he be able, like Joseph, to deliver his people +in times of perplexity and distress; then will he by his example, as +his noble mother has done before him, keep healthy, pure, and strong, +our English family life—and as long as <i>that</i> endures, Old +England will endure likewise.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON VIII. THE BIBLE THE GREAT CIVILIZER</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Fourth Sunday in Lent</i>.)</p> +<p>PHILIPPIANS iv. 8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are +true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever +things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are +of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, +think on these things.</p> +<p>It may not be easy to see what this text has to do with the story +of Joseph, which we have just been reading, or with the meaning of the +Bible of which I have been speaking to you of late.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, I think it has to do with them; as you will see if +you will look at the text with me.</p> +<p>Now the text does not say ‘Do these things.’ It +only says ‘<i>think</i> of these things.’</p> +<p>Of course St. Paul wished us to do them also; but he says first <i>think</i> +of them; not once in a way, but often and continually. Fill your +mind with good and pure and noble thoughts; and then you will do good +and pure and noble things.</p> +<p>For out of the abundance of a man’s heart, not only does his +mouth speak, but his whole body and soul behave. The man whose +mind is filled with low and bad thoughts will be sure, when he is tempted, +to do low and bad things. The man whose mind is filled with lofty +and good thoughts will do lofty and good things.</p> +<p>For thoughts are the food of a man’s mind; and as the mind +feeds, so will it grow. If it feeds on coarse and foul food, coarse +and foul it will grow. If it feeds on pure and refined food, pure +and refined it will grow.</p> +<p>There are those who do not believe this. Provided they are +tolerably attentive to the duties of religion, it does not matter much, +they fancy, what they think of out of church. Their souls will +be saved at last, they suppose, and that is all that they need care +for. Saved? They do not see that by giving way to foul, +mean, foolish thoughts all the week they are losing their souls, destroying +their souls, defiling their souls, lowering their souls, and making +them so coarse and mean and poor that they are not worth saving, and +are no loss to heaven or earth, whatever loss they may be to the man +himself. One man thinks of nothing but money—how he shall +save a penny here and a penny there. I do not mean men of business; +for them there are great excuses; for it is by continual saving here +and there that their profits are made. I speak rather of people +who have no excuse, people of fixed incomes—people often wealthy +and comfortable, who yet will lower their minds by continually thinking +over their money. But this I say, and this I am sure that you +will find, that when a man in business or out of business accustoms +himself, as very many do, to think of nothing but money, money, money +from Monday morning to Saturday night, he thinks of money a great part +of Sunday likewise. And so, after a while, the man lowers his +soul, and makes it mean and covetous. He forgets all that is lovely +and of good report. He forgets virtue—that is manliness; +and praise—that is the just respect and admiration of his fellow-men; +and so he forgets at last things true, honest, and just likewise. +He lowers his soul; and therefore when he is tempted, he does things +mean and false and unjust, for the sake of money, which he has made +his idol.</p> +<p>Take another case, too common among men and women of all ranks, high +and low.</p> +<p>How many there are who love gossip and scandal; who always talk about +people, and never about things—certainly not about things pure +and lovely and of good report, but rather about things foul and ugly +and of bad report; who do not talk, because they do not think of virtue, +but of vice; or of praise either, because they are always finding fault +with their neighbours. The man who loves a foul story, or a coarse +jest—the woman who gossips over every tittle tattle of scandal +which she can pick up against her neighbour—what do these people +do but defile their own souls afresh, after they have been washed clean +in the blood of Christ? Foul their souls are, and therefore their +thoughts are foul likewise, and the foulness of them is evident to all +men by their tongues. Out of their hearts proceed evil thoughts +about their neighbours, out of the abundance of their hearts their mouths +speak them. Now let such people, if there be any such here, seriously +consider the harm which they are doing to their own characters. +They may give way to the habits of scandal, or of coarse talk, without +any serious bad intention; but they will surely lower their own souls +thereby. They will grow to the colour of what they feed on and +become foul and cruel, from talking cruelly and foully, till they lose +all purity and all charity, all faith and trust in their fellow-men, +all power of seeing good in any one, or doing anything but think evil; +and so lose the likeness of God and of Christ, for the likeness of some +foul carrion bird, which cares nothing for the perfume of all the roses +in the world, but if there be a carcase within miles of it, will scent +it out eagerly and fly to it ravenously.</p> +<p>The truth is, my friends, that these souls of ours instead of being +pure and strong, are the very opposite; and the article speaks plain +truth when it says, that we are every one of us of our own nature inclined +to evil. That may seem a hard saying; but if we look at our own +thoughts we shall find it true. Are we <i>not</i> inclined to +take, at first, the worst view of everybody and of everything? +Are we <i>not</i> inclined to suspect harm of this person and of that? +Are we <i>not</i> inclined too often to be mean and cowardly? to be +hard and covetous? to be coarse and vulgar? to be silly and frivolous? +Do we not need to cool down, to think a second time, and a third time +likewise; to remember our duty, to remember Christ’s example, +before we can take a just and kind and charitable view? Do we +not want all the help which we can get from every quarter, to keep ourselves +high-minded and refined; to keep ourselves from bad thoughts, mean thoughts, +silly thoughts, violent thoughts, cruel and hard thoughts? If +we have not found out that, we must have looked a very little way into +ourselves, and know little more about ourselves than a dumb animal does +of itself.</p> +<p>How then shall we keep off coarseness of soul? How shall we +keep our souls <i>refined</i>? that is, true and honest, pure, amiable, +full of virtue, that is, true manliness; and deserve praise, that is, +the respect and admiration of our fellow-men? By thinking of those +very things, says St. Paul. And in order to be able to think of +them, by reading of them.</p> +<p>There are very few who can easily think of these things of themselves. +Their daily business, the words and notions of the people with whom +they have to do, will run in their minds, and draw them off from higher +and better thoughts; that cannot be helped. The only thing that +most men can do, is to take care that they are not drawn off entirely +from high and good thoughts, by reading, were it but for five minutes +every day, something really worth thinking of, something which will +lift them above themselves.</p> +<p>Above all, it is wise, at night, after the care and bustle of the +day is over, to read, but for a few minutes, some book which will compose +and soothe the mind; which will bring us face to face with the true +facts of life, death, and eternity; which will make us remember that +man doth not live by bread alone; which will give us, before we sleep, +a few thoughts worthy of a Christian man, with an immortal soul in him.</p> +<p>And, thank God, no one need go far to look for such books. +I do not mean merely religious books, excellent as they are in these +days: I mean any books which help to make us better and wiser and soberer, +and more charitable persons; any books which will teach us to despise +what is vulgar and mean, foul and cruel, and to love what is noble and +high-minded, pure and just. We need not go far for them. +In our own noble English language we may read by hundreds, books which +will tell us of all virtue and of all praise. The stories of good +and brave men and women; of gallant and heroic actions; of deeds which +we ourselves should be proud of doing; of persons whom we feel, to be +better, wiser, nobler than we are ourselves.</p> +<p>In our own language we may read the history of our own nation, and +whatsoever is just, honest and true. We may read of God’s +gracious providences toward this land. How he has punished our +sins and rewarded our right and brave endeavours. How he put into +our forefathers the spirit of courage and freedom, the spirit of truth +and justice, the spirit of loyalty and order; and how, following the +leading of that spirit, in spite of many mistakes and failings, we have +risen to be the freest, the happiest, the most powerful people on earth, +a blessing and not a curse to the nations around.</p> +<p>In our own English tongue, too, we may read such poetry as there +is in no other language in the world; poetry which will make us indeed +see the beauty of whatsoever things are lovely and of good report. +Some people have still a dislike of what they call foolish poetry books. +If books are foolish, let us have nothing to do with them. But +poetry ought not to be foolish; for God sent it into the world to teach +men not foolishness, but the highest wisdom. He gave man alone, +of all living creatures, the power of writing poetry, that by poetry +he might understand, not only how necessary it was to do right, but +how beautiful and noble it was to do right. He sent it into the +world to soften men’s rough hearts, and quiet their angry passions, +and make them love all which is tender and gentle, loving and merciful, +and yet to rouse them up to love all which is gallant and honourable, +loyal and patriotic, devout and heavenly. Therefore whole books +of the Bible—Job, for example, Isaiah, and the Psalms—are +neither more nor less than actual poetry, written in actual verse, that +their words might the better sink down into the ears and hearts of the +old Jews, and of us Christians after them. And therefore also, +we keep up still the good old custom of teaching children in school +as much as possible by poetry, that they may learn not only to know, +but to love and remember whatsoever things are lovely and of good report.</p> +<p>Lastly, for those who cannot read, or have really no time to read, +there is one means left of putting themselves in mind of what every +one must remember, lest he sink back into an animal and a savage. +I mean by pictures; which, as St. Augustine said 1400 years ago, are +the books of the unlearned. I do not mean grand and expensive +pictures; I mean the very simplest prints, provided they represent something +holy, or noble, or tender, or lovely. A few such prints upon a +cottage-wall may teach the people who live therein much, without their +being aware of it. They see the prints, even when they are not +thinking of them; and so they have before their eyes a continual remembrancer +of something better and more beautiful than what they are apt to find +in their own daily life and thoughts.</p> +<p>True, to whom little is given, of them is little required. +But it must be said, that more—far more—is given to labouring +men and women now than was given to their forefathers. A hundred, +or even fifty years ago, when there was very little schooling; when +the books which were put even into the hands of noblemen’s children +were far below what you will find now in any village school; when the +only pictures which a poor woman could buy to lay on her cottage-wall +were equally silly and ugly: then there were great excuses for the poor, +if they forgot whatsoever things were lovely and of good report; if +they were often coarse and brutal in their manners, and cruel and profligate +in their amusements.</p> +<p>But even in the rough old times there always were a few at least, +men and women, who were above the rest; who, though poor people like +the rest, were still true gentlemen and ladies of God’s making. +People who kept themselves more or less unspotted from the world; who +thought of what was honest and pure and lovely and of good report; and +who lived a life of simple, manful, Christian virtue, and received the +praise and respect of their neighbours, even although their neighbours +did not copy them. There were always such people, and there always +will be—thank God for it, for they are the salt of the earth.</p> +<p>But why have there always been such people? and why do I say confidently, +that there always will be?</p> +<p>Because they have had the Bible; and because, once having got the +Bible in a free country, no man can take it from them.</p> +<p>The Bible it is which has made gentlemen and ladies of many a poor +man and woman.</p> +<p>The Bible it is which has filled their minds with pure and noble, +ay, with heavenly and divine thoughts.</p> +<p>The Bible has been their whole library. The Bible has been +their only counsellor. The Bible has taught them all they know. +But it has taught them enough.</p> +<p>It has taught them what God is, and what Christ is. It has +taught them what man is, and what a Christian man should be. It +has taught them what a family means, and what a nation means. +It has taught them the meaning of law and duty, of loyalty and patriotism. +It has filled their minds with things honest and just and lovely and +of good report; with the histories of men and women like themselves, +who sinned and sorrowed and struggled like them in this hard battle +of life, but who conquered at last, by trusting and obeying God.</p> +<p>This one story of Joseph, which we have been reading again this Sunday, +I do not doubt that it has taught thousands who had no other story-book +to read—who could not even read themselves, but had to listen +to others’ reading; that it has taught them to be good sons, to +be good brothers; that it has taught them to keep pure in temptation, +and patient and honest under oppression and wrong; that it has stirred +in them a noble ambition to raise themselves in life; and taught them, +at the same time, that the only safe and sure way of rising is to fear +God and keep his commandments; and so has really done more to civilize +and refine them—to make them truly civilized men and gentlemen, +and not vulgar savages—than if they had known a smattering of +a dozen sciences. I say that the Bible is the book which civilizes +and refines, and ennobles rich and poor, high and low, and has been +doing so for fifteen hundred years; and that any man who tries to shake +our faith in the Bible, is doing what he can—though, thank God, +he will not succeed—to make such rough and coarse heathens of +us again as our forefathers were five hundred years ago.</p> +<p>And I tell you, labouring people, that if you want something which +will make up to you for the want of all the advantages which the rich +have—go to your Bibles and you will find it there.</p> +<p>There you will find, in the history of men like ourselves—and, +above all, in the history of a man unlike ourselves, the perfect Man—perfect +Man and perfect God together—whatsoever is true, whatsoever is +honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report; every virtue, and every +just cause of praise which mortal man can desire. Read of them +in your Bible, think of them in your hearts, feed on them with your +souls, that your souls may grow like what they feed on; and above all, +read and study the story and character of Jesus Christ himself, our +Lord, that beholding, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, you may +be changed into his likeness, from grace to grace, and virtue to virtue, +and glory to glory.</p> +<p>And that change and that growth are as easy for the poor as for the +rich, and as necessary for the rich as for the poor.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON IX. MOSES</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Fifth Sunday in Lent</i>.)</p> +<p>EXODUS iii. 14. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM.</p> +<p>And now, my friends, we are come, on this Sunday, to the most beautiful, +and the most important story of the whole Bible—excepting of course, +the story of our Lord Jesus Christ—the story of how a family grew +to be a great nation. You remember that I told you that the history +of the Jews, had been only, as yet, the history of a family.</p> +<p>Now that family is grown to be a great tribe, a great herd of people, +but not yet a nation; one people, with its own God, its own worship, +its own laws; but such a mere tribe, or band of tribes as the gipsies +are among us now; a herd, but not a nation.</p> +<p>Then the Bible tells us how these tribes, being weak I suppose because +they had no laws, nor patriotism, nor fellow-feeling of their own, became +slaves, and suffered for hundreds of years under crafty kings and cruel +taskmasters.</p> +<p>Then it tells us how God delivered them out of their slavery, and +made them free men. And how God did that (for God in general works +by means), by the means of a man, a prophet and a hero, one great, wise, +and good man of their race—Moses.</p> +<p>It tells us, too, how God trained Moses, by a very strange education, +to be the fit man to deliver his people.</p> +<p>Let us go through the history of Moses; and we shall see how God +trained him to do the work for which God wanted him.</p> +<p>Let us read from the account of the Bible itself. I should +be sorry to spoil its noble simplicity by any words of my own: ‘And +the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and +multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with +them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not +Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the +children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us deal +wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when +there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight +against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they +did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. +And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithon and Raamses. . . +. And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is +born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save +alive. And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to +wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived and bare a son: +and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months. +And when she could no longer hide him, she took for him an ark of bulrushes, +and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein: +and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink. And his +sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. And the +daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her +maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the +ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she +had opened it, she saw the child; and behold the babe wept. And +she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ +children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall +I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse +the child for thee? And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, +Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother. +And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and +nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman +took the child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought +him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And +she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the +water.’</p> +<p>Moses, the child of the water. St. Paul in the Epistle to the +Hebrews says that Moses was called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter; +that is, adopted by her. We read elsewhere that he was learned +in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, of which there can be no doubt from +his own writings, especially that part called Moses’ law.</p> +<p>So that Moses had from his youth vast advantages. Brought up +in the court of the greatest king of the world, in one of the greatest +cities of the world, among the most learned priesthood in the world, +he had learned, probably, all statesmanship, all religion, which man +could teach him in those old times.</p> +<p>But that would have been little for him. He might have become +merely an officer in Pharaoh’s household, and we might never have +heard his name, and he might never have done any good to his own people +and to all mankind after them, as he has done, if there had not been +something better and nobler in him than all the learning and statesmanship +of the Egyptians.</p> +<p>For there was in Moses the spirit of God; the spirit which makes +a man believe in God, and trust God. ‘And therefore,’ +says St. Paul, ‘he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s +daughter; esteeming the reproach of <i>Christ</i> better than all the +treasures in Egypt.’</p> +<p>And how did he do that? In this wise.</p> +<p>The spirit of God and of Christ is also the spirit of justice, the +spirit of freedom; the spirit which hates oppression and wrong; which +is moved with a noble and Divine indignation at seeing any human being +abused and trampled on.</p> +<p>And that spirit broke forth in Moses. ‘And it came to +pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his +brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting +an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that +way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and +hid him in the sand.’</p> +<p>If he cannot get justice for his people, he will do some sort of +rough justice for them himself, when he has an opportunity.</p> +<p>But he will see fair play among his people themselves. They +are, as slaves are likely to be, fallen and base; unjust and quarrelsome +among themselves.</p> +<p>‘And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the +Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore +smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and +a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the Egyptian? +And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. Now when +Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses fled +from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian’—the +wild desert between Egypt and the Holy Land.</p> +<p>So he bore the reproach of Christ; the reproach which is apt to fall +on men in bad times, when they try, like our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver +the captive, and let the oppressed go free, and execute righteous judgment +in the earth. He had lost all, by trying to do right. He +had been powerful and honoured in Pharaoh’s court. Now he +was an outcast and wanderer in the desert. He had made his first +trial, and failed. As St. Stephen said of him after, he supposed +that his brethren would have understood how God would deliver them by +his hand; but they understood not. Slavish, base, and stupid, +they were not fit yet for Moses and his deliverance.</p> +<p>And so forty years went on, and Moses was an old man of eighty years +of age. Yet God had not had mercy on his poor countrymen in Egypt.</p> +<p>It must have been a strange life for him, the adopted son of Pharaoh’s +daughter; brought up in the court of the most powerful and highly civilized +country of the old world; learned in all the learning of the Egyptians; +and now married into a tribe of wild Arabs, keeping flocks in the lonely +desert, year after year: but, no doubt, thinking, thinking, year after +year, as he fed his flocks alone. Thinking over all the learning +which he had gained in Egypt, and wondering whether it would ever be +of any use to him. Thinking over the misery of his people in Egypt, +and wondering whether he should ever be able to help them. Thinking, +too, and more than all, of God—of God’s promise to Abraham +and his children. Would that ever come true? Would <i>God</i> +help these wretched Jews, even if <i>he</i> could not? Was God +faithful and true, just and merciful?</p> +<p>That Moses thought of God, that he never lost faith in God for that +forty years, there can be no doubt.</p> +<p>If he had not thought of God, God would not have revealed himself +to him. If he had lost faith in God, he would not have known that +it was God who spoke to him. If he had lost faith in God, he would +not have obeyed God at the risk of his life, and have gone on an errand +as desperate, dangerous, hopeless—and, humanly speaking, as wild +as ever man went upon.</p> +<p>But Moses never lost faith or patience. He believed, and he +did not make haste. He waited for God; and he did not wait in +vain. No man will wait in vain. When the time was ready; +when the Jews were ready; when Pharaoh was ready; when Moses himself, +trained by forty years’ patient thought, was ready; then God came +in his own good time.</p> +<p>And Moses led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to the +mountain of God, even to Horeb. And there he saw a bush—probably +one of the low copses of acacia—burning with fire; and behold +the bush was not consumed. Then out of the bush God spoke to Moses +with an audible voice as of a man; so the Bible says plainly, and I +see no reason to doubt that it is literally true.</p> +<p>‘Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, +the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; +for he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have +surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have +heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; +and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, +and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, +unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, +and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, +and the Jebusites.’</p> +<p>Then followed a strange conversation. Moses was terrified at +the thought of what he had to do, and reasonably: moreover, the Israelites +in Egypt had forgotten God. ‘And Moses said unto God, Behold, +when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The +God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, +What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto +Moses, I Am that I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children +of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.’</p> +<p>I Am; that was the new name by which God revealed himself to Moses. +That message of God to Moses was the greatest Gospel, and good news +which was spoken to men, before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. +Ay, we are feeling now, in our daily life, in our laws and our liberty, +our religion and our morals, our peace and prosperity, in the happiness +of our homes, and I trust that of our consciences, the blessed effects +of that message, which God revealed to Moses in the wilderness thousands +of years ago.</p> +<p>And Moses took his wife, and his sons, and set them upon an ass, +and returned into the land of Egypt, to say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus +saith the Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn, Let my son go that +he may serve me, and if thou let not my firstborn go, then I will slay +thy firstborn.’</p> +<p>A strange man, on a strange errand. A poor man, eighty years +old, carrying all that he had in the world upon an ass’s back, +going down to the great Pharaoh, the greatest king of the old world, +the great conqueror, the Child of the Sun (as his name means), one of +the greatest Pharaohs who ever sat on the throne of Egypt; in the midst +of all his princes and priests, and armies with which he had conquered +the nations far and wide; and his great cities, temples, and palaces, +on which men may see at this day (so we are told) the face of that very +Pharaoh painted again and again, as fresh, in that rainless air, as +on the day when the paint was laid on; with the features of a man terrible, +proud, and cruel, puffed up by power till he thought himself, and till +his people thought him a god on earth.</p> +<p>And to that man was Moses going, to bid him set the children of Israel +free; while he himself was one of that very slave-race of the Israelites, +which was an abomination to the Egyptians, who held them all as lepers +and unclean, and would not eat with them; and an outcast too, who had +fled out of Egypt for his life, and who might be killed on the spot, +as Pharaoh’s only answer to his bold request. Certainly, +if Moses had not had faith in God, his errand would have seemed that +of a madman. But Moses <i>had</i> faith in God; and of faith it +is said, that it can remove mountains, for all things are possible to +them who believe.</p> +<p>So by faith Moses went back into Egypt; how he fared there we shall +hear next Sunday.</p> +<p>And what sort of man was this great and wonderful Moses, whose name +will last as long as man is man? We know very little. We +know from the Bible and from the old traditions of the Jews that he +was a very handsome man; a man of a noble presence, as one can well +believe; a man of great bodily vigour; so that when he died at the age +of one hundred and twenty, his eye was not dim, nor his natural force +abated. We know, from his own words, that he was slow of speech; +that he had more thought in him than he could find words for—very +different from a good many loud talkers, who have more words than thoughts, +and who get a great character as politicians and demagogues, simply +because they have the art of stringing fine words together, which Moses, +the true demagogue, the leader of the people, who led them indeed out +of Egypt, had not. Beyond that we know little. Of his character +one thing only is said: but that is most important. ‘Now +the man Moses was very meek.’</p> +<p>Meek: we know that that cannot mean that he was meek in the sense +that he was a poor, cowardly, abject sort of man, who dared not speak +his mind, dared not face the truth, and say the truth. We have +seen that that was just what he was not; brave, determined, out-spoken, +he seems to have been from his youth. Indeed, if his had been +that base sort of meekness, he never would have dared to come before +the great king Pharaoh. If he had been that sort of man he never +would have dared to lead the Jews through the Red Sea by night, or out +of Egypt at all. If he had been that sort of man, indeed, the +Jews would never have listened to him. No; he had—the Bible +tells us that he had—to say and do stern things again and again; +to act like the general of an army, or the commander of a ship of war, +who must be obeyed, even though men’s lives be the forfeit of +disobedience.</p> +<p>But the man Moses was very meek. He had learned to keep his +temper. Indeed, the story seems to say that he never lost his +temper really but once; and for that God punished him. Never man +was so tried, save One, even our Lord Jesus Christ, as was Moses. +And yet by patience he conquered. Eighty years had he spent in +learning to keep his temper; and when he had learned to keep his temper, +then, and not till then, was he worthy to bring his people out of Egypt. +That was a long schooling, but it was a schooling worth having.</p> +<p>And if we, my friends, spend our whole lives, be they eighty years +long, in learning to keep our tempers, then will our lives have been +well spent. For meekness and calmness of temper need not interfere +with a man’s courage or justice, or honest indignation against +wrong, or power of helping his fellow-men. Moses’ meekness +did not make him a coward or a sluggard. It helped him to do his +work rightly instead of wrongly; it helped him to conquer the pride +of Pharaoh, and the faithlessness, cowardice, and rebellion of his brethren, +those miserable slavish Jews. And so meekness, an even temper, +and a gracious tongue, will help us to keep our place among our fellow-men +with true dignity and independence, and to govern our households, and +train our children in such a way that while they obey us they will love +and respect us at the same time.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON X. THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Palm Sunday</i>.)</p> +<p>EXODUS ix. 13, 14. Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, +Let my people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time +send all my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon +thy people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all +the earth.</p> +<p>You will understand, I think, the meaning of the ten plagues of Egypt +better, if I explain to you in a few words what kind of a country Egypt +is, what kind of people the Egyptians were. Some of you, doubtless, +know as well as I, but some here may not: it is for them I speak.</p> +<p>Egypt is one of the strangest countries in the world; and yet one +which can be most simply described. One long straight strip of +rich flat land, many hundred miles long, but only a very few miles broad. +On either side of it, barren rocks and deserts of sand, and running +through it from end to end, the great river Nile—‘The River’ +of which the Bible speaks. This river the Egyptians looked on +as divine: they worshipped it as a god; for on it depended the whole +wealth of Egypt. Every year it overflows the whole country, leaving +behind it a rich coat of mud, which makes Egypt the most inexhaustibly +fertile land in the world; and made the Egyptians, from very ancient +times, the best farmers of the world, the fathers of agriculture. +Meanwhile, when not in flood, the river water is of the purest in the +world; the most delightful to drink; and was supposed in old times to +be a cure for all manner of diseases.</p> +<p>To worship this sacred river, the pride of their land, to drink it, +to bathe in it, to catch the fish which abound in it, and which formed +then, and forms still, the staple food of the Egyptians, was their delight. +And now I have told you enough to show you why the plagues which God +sent on Egypt began first by striking the river.</p> +<p>The river, we read, was turned into blood. What that means—whether +it was actual animal blood—what means God employed to work the +miracle—are just the questions about which we need not trouble +our minds. We never shall know: and we need not know. The +plain fact is, that the sacred river, pure and life-giving, became a +detestable mass of rottenness—and with it all their streams and +pools, and drinking water in vessels of wood and stone—for all, +remember, came from the Nile, carried by canals and dykes over the whole +land. ‘And the fish that were in the river died, and the +river stunk, and there was blood through all the land of Egypt.’</p> +<p>The slightest thought will show us what horror, confusion, and actual +want and misery, the loss of the river water, even for a few days or +even hours, would cause.</p> +<p>But there is more still in this miracle. These plagues are +a battle between Jehovah, the one true and only God Almighty, and the +false gods of Egypt, to prove which of them is master.</p> +<p>Pharaoh answers: ‘Who is Jehovah (the Lord) that I should let +Israel go?’ I know not the Jehovah. I have my own +god, whom I worship. He is my father, and I his child, and he +will protect me. If I obey any one it will be him.</p> +<p>Be it so, says Moses in the name of God. Thou shalt know that +the idols of Egypt are nothing, that they cannot deliver thee nor thy +people.</p> +<p>Thus saith Jehovah, Thou shalt know which is master, I or they. +‘Thou shalt know that I am the Lord.’</p> +<p>So the river was turned into blood. The sacred river was no +god, as they thought. Jehovah was the Lord and Master of the river +on which the very life of Egypt depended. He could turn it into +blood. All Egypt was at his mercy.</p> +<p>But Pharaoh would not believe that. ‘The magicians did +likewise with their enchantments’—made, we may suppose, +water seem to turn to blood by some juggling trick at which the priests +in Egypt were but too well practised; and Pharaoh seemed to have made +up his mind that Moses’ miracle was only a juggling trick too. +For men will make up their minds to anything, however absurd, when they +choose to do so: when their pride, and rage, and obstinacy, and covetousness, +draw them one way, no reason will draw them the other way. They +will find reasons, and make reasons to prove, if need be, that there +is no sun in the sky.</p> +<p>Then followed a series of plagues, of which we have all often heard.</p> +<p>Learned men have disputed how far these plagues were miracles. +Some of them are said not to be uncommon in Egypt, others to be almost +unknown. But whether they—whether the frogs, for instance, +were not produced by natural causes, just as other frogs are; and the +lice and the flies likewise; that I know not, my friends, neither need +I know. If they were not, they were miraculous; and if they were, +they were miraculous still. If they came as other vermin come, +they would have still been miraculous: God would still have sent them; +and it would be a miracle that God should make them come at that particular +time in that particular country, to work a truly miraculous effect upon +the souls of Pharaoh and the Egyptians on the one hand, and of Moses +and the Israelites on the other. But if they came by some strange +means as no vermin ever came before or since, all I can say is—Why +not?</p> +<p>And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Say unto Aaron, Stretch out +thy rod and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout +all the land of Egypt.’</p> +<p>Whether that was meant only as a sign to the Egyptians, or whether +the dust did literally turn into lice, we do not know, and what is more, +we need not know; if God chose that it should be so, so it would be. +If you believe at all that God made the world, it is folly to pretend +to set any bounds to his power. As a wise man has said, ‘If +you believe in any real God at all, you must believe that miracles can +happen.’ He makes you and me and millions of living things +out of the dust of the ground continually by certain means. Why +can he not make lice, or anything else out of the dust of the ground, +without those means? I can give no reason, nor any one else either.</p> +<p>We know that God has given all things a law which they cannot break. +We know, too, that God will never break his own laws. But what +are God’s laws by which he makes things? We do not know.</p> +<p>Miracles may be—indeed must be—only the effect of some +higher and deeper laws of God. We cannot prove that he breaks +his law, or disturbs his order by them. They may seem contrary +to some of the very very few laws of God’s earth which we do know. +But they need not be contrary to the very many laws which we do not +know. In fact, we know nothing about the matter, and had best +not talk of things that we do not understand. As for these things +being too wonderful to be true—that is an argument which only +deserves a smile. There are so many wonders in the world round +us already, all day long, that the man of sense will feel that nothing +is too wonderful to be true.</p> +<p>The truth is, that, as a wise man says, <i>Custom</i> is the great +enemy of Faith, and of Reason likewise; and one of the worst tricks +which custom plays us is, making us fancy that miraculous things cease +to be miraculous by becoming common.</p> +<p>What do I mean?</p> +<p>This: which every child in this church can understand.</p> +<p>You think it very wonderful that God should cause frogs to come upon +the whole land of Egypt in one day. But that God should cause +frogs to come up every spring in the ditches does not seem wonderful +to you at all. It happens every year; therefore, forsooth, there +is nothing wonderful in it.</p> +<p>Ah, my dear friends, it is custom which blinds our eyes to the wisdom +of God, and the wonders of God, and the power of God, and the glory +of God, and hinders us from believing the message with which he speaks +to us from every sunbeam and every shower, every blade of grass and +every standing pool. ‘Is anything too hard for the Lord?’</p> +<p>If any man here says that anything is too hard for the Lord, let +him go this day to the nearest standing pool, and look at the frog-spawn +therein, and consider it till he confesses his blindness and foolishness. +That spawn seems to you a foul thing, the produce of mean, ugly, contemptible +creatures. Be it so. Yet it is to the eyes of the wise man +a yearly <i>miracle</i>; a thing past understanding, past explaining; +one which will make him feel the truth of that great 139th Psalm: ‘Thou +hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me. +Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain +unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? or whither shall +I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art +there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there also.’</p> +<p>That every one of those little black spots should have in it <i>life</i>—What +is life? How did it get into that black spot? or, to speak more +carefully, is the life <i>in</i> the black spot at all? Is not +the life in the Spirit of God, who is working on that spot, as I believe? +How has that black spot the power of <i>growing</i>, and of growing +on a certain and fixed plan, merely by the quickening power of the sun’s +heat, and then of feeding itself, and of changing its shape, as you +all know, again and again, till—and if that is not wonderful, +what is?—it turns into a frog, exactly like its parent, utterly +unlike the black dot at which it began? Is that no miracle? +Is it no miracle that not one of those black spots ever turns into anything +save a frog? Why should not some of them turn into toads or efts? +Why not even into fishes or serpents? Why not? The eggs +of all those animals, in their first and earliest stages are exactly +alike; the microscope shows no difference. Ay, even the mere animal +and the human being, strange and awful as it may be, <i>seem</i>, under +the microscope, to have the same beginning. And yet one becomes +a mere animal, and the other a member of Christ, a child of God, and +an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. What causes this but the +power of God, making of the same clay one vessel to honour and another +to dishonour? And yet people will not believe in miracles! +Why does each kind turn into its kind? Answer that. Because +it is a law of nature? Not so! There are no laws <i>of</i> +nature. God is a law <i>to</i> nature. It is his <i>will</i> +that things so should be; and when it is his will they will not be so, +but otherwise.</p> +<p>Not <i>laws</i> of nature, but the <i>Spirit</i> of God, as the Psalms +truly say, gives life and breath to all things. Of him and by +him is all. As the greatest chemist of our time says, ‘Causes +are the acts of God—creation is the will of God.’</p> +<p>And he that is wise and strong enough to create frogs in one way +in every ditch at this moment, is he not wise and strong enough to create +frogs by some other way, if he should choose, whether in Egypt of old, +or now, here, this very day?</p> +<p>Whatsoever means, or no means at all, God used to produce those vermin, +the miracle remains the same. He sent them to do a work, and they +did it. He sent them to teach Egyptian and Israelite alike that +he was the Maker, and Lord, and Ruler of the world, and all that therein +is; that he would have his way, and that he <i>could</i> have his way.</p> +<p>Intensely painful and disgusting these plagues must have been to +the Egyptians, for this reason, that they were the most cleanly of all +people. They had a dislike of dirt, which had become quite a superstition +to them. Their priests (magicians as the Bible calls them) never +wore any garments but linen, for fear of their harbouring vermin of +any kind. And this extreme cleanliness of theirs the next plague +struck at; they were covered with boils and diseases of skin, and the +magicians could not stand before Pharaoh by reason of the boils. +They became unclean and unfit for their office; they could perform no +religious ceremonies, and had to flee away in disgrace.</p> +<p>After plagues of thunder, hail, and rain, which seldom or never happen +in that rainless land of Egypt; after a plague of locusts, which are +very rare there, and have to come many hundred miles if they come at +all; of darkness, seemingly impossible in a land where the sun always +shines: then came the last and most terrible plague of all. After +solemn warnings of what was coming, the angel of the Lord passed through +the land of Egypt, and smote all the first-born in Egypt, from the first-born +of Pharaoh upon his throne to the first-born of the captive in the dungeon; +and there arose a great cry in Egypt, for there was not a house in which +there was not one dead. A terrible and heart-rending calamity +in any case, enough to break the heart of all Egypt; and it did break +the heart of Egypt, and the proud heart of Pharaoh himself, and they +let the people go.</p> +<p>But this was a <i>religious</i> affliction too. Most of these +first-born children—probably all the first-born of the priests +and nobles, and of Pharaoh himself—were consecrated to some god. +They bore the name of the god to whom they belonged; that god was to +prosper and protect them, and behold, he could not. The Lord Jehovah, +the God of the Hebrews, was stronger than all the gods of Egypt; none +of them could deliver their servants out of his hand. He was the +only Lord of life and death; he had given them life, and he could take +it away, in spite of all and every one of the gods of the Egyptians.</p> +<p>So the Lord God showed himself to be the Master and Lord of all things. +The Lord of the sacred river Nile; the Lord of the meanest vermin which +crept on the earth; the Lord of the weather—able to bring thunder +and hail into a land where thunder and hail was never seen before; the +Lord of the locust swarms—able to bring them over the desert and +over the sea to devour up every green thing in the land, and then to +send a wind off the Mediterranean Sea, and drive the locusts away to +the eastward; the Lord of light—who could darken, even in that +cloudless land, the very sun, whom Pharaoh worshipped as his god and +his ancestor; and lastly, the Lord of human life and death—able +to kill whom he chose, when he chose, and as he chose. The Lord +of the earth and all that therein is; before whom all men, even proud +Pharaoh, must bow and confess, ‘Is anything too hard for the Lord?’</p> +<p>And now, I always tell you that each fresh portion of the Old Testament +reveals to men something fresh concerning the character of God. +You may say, These plagues of Egypt reveal God’s mighty power, +but what do they reveal of his character? They reveal this: that +there is in God that which, for want of a better word, we must call +anger; a quite awful sternness and severity; not only a power to punish, +but a determination to punish, if men will not take his warnings—if +men will not obey his will.</p> +<p>There is no use trying to hide from ourselves that awful truth—God +is not weakly indulgent. Our God can be, if he will, a consuming +fire. Upon the sinner he will surely rain fire and brimstone, +storm and tempest of some kind or other. This shall be their portion +too surely. Vengeance is his, and vengeance he will take. +But upon whom? On the proud and the tyrannical, on the cruel, +the false, the unjust. So say the Psalms again and again, and +so says the history of these plagues of Egypt. Therefore his anger +is a loving anger, a just auger, a merciful anger, a useful anger, an +anger exercised for the good of mankind. See in this case why +did God destroy the crops of Egypt—even the first-born of Egypt? +Merely for the pleasure of destroying? God forbid. It was +to deliver the poor Israelites from their cruel taskmasters; to force +these Egyptians by terrible lessons, since they were deaf to the voice +of justice and humanity—to force them, I say—to have mercy +on their fellow-creatures, and let the oppressed go free. Therefore +God was, even in Egypt, a God of love, who desired the good of man, +who would do justice for those who were unjustly treated, even though +it cost his love a pang; for none can believe that God is pleased at +having to punish, pleased at having to destroy the works of his own +hands, or the creatures which he has made. No; the Lord was a +God of love even when he sent his sore plagues on Egypt, and therefore +we may believe what the Bible tells us, that that same Lord showed, +as on this day, a still greater proof of his love, when, as on this +day, he entered into Jerusalem, meek and lowly, sitting on an ass, and +going, as he well knew, to certain death. Before the week was +over he would be betrayed, mocked, scourged, crucified by the very people +whom he came to save; and yet he did it, he endured it. Instead +of pouring out on them, as on the Egyptians of old, the cup of wrath +and misery, he put out his hand, took the cup of wrath and misery to +himself, and drank it to its very dregs. Was not that, too, a +miracle? Ay, a greater miracle than all the plagues of Egypt. +They were physical miracles; this a moral miracle. They were miracles +of nature; this of grace. They were miracles of the Lord’s +power; these of the Lord’s love. Think of that miracle of +miracles which was worked in this Passion Week—the miracle of +the Lord Jehovah stooping to die for sinful man, and say after that +there is anything too hard for the Lord.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XI. THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IS THE GOD OF THE +NEW</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Palm Sunday</i>.)</p> +<p>Exodus ix. 14. I will at this time send all my plagues upon +thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, that thou mayest +know that there is none like me in all the earth.</p> +<p>We are now beginning Passion Week, the week of the whole year which +ought to teach us most theology; that is, most concerning God, his character +and his spirit.</p> +<p>For in this Passion Week God did that which utterly and perfectly +showed forth his glory, as it never has been shown forth before or since. +In this week Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, died on the cross for +man, and showed that his name, his character, his glory was love—love +without bound or end.</p> +<p>It was to teach us this that the special services, lessons, collects, +epistles, and gospels of this week were chosen.</p> +<p>The second lesson, the collects, the epistles, the gospel for to-day, +all set before us the patience of Christ, the humility of Christ, the +love of Christ, the self-sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb without spot, +enduring all things that he might save sinful man.</p> +<p>But if so, what does this first lesson—the chapter of Exodus +from which my text is taken—what does it teach us concerning God? +Does it teach us that his name is love?</p> +<p>At first sight you would think that it did not. At first sight +you would fancy that it spoke of God in quite a different tone from +the second lesson.</p> +<p>In the second lesson, the words of Jesus the Son of God are all gentleness, +patience, tenderness. A quiet sadness hangs over them all. +They are the words of one who is come (as he said himself), not to destroy +men’s lives, but to save them; not to punish sins, but to wash +them away by his own most precious blood.</p> +<p>But in the first lesson how differently he seems to speak. +His words there are the words of a stern and awful judge, who can, and +who will destroy whatsoever interferes with his will and his purpose.</p> +<p>‘I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, +and on thy servants, and all thy people, that thou mayest know that +there is none like me in all the earth.’ The cattle and +sheep shall be destroyed with murrain; man and beast shall be tormented +with boils and blains; the crops shall be smitten with hail; the locusts +shall eat up every green thing in the land; and at last all the first-born +of Egypt shall die in one night, and the land be filled with mourning, +horror, and desolation, before the anger of this terrible God, who will +destroy and destroy till he makes himself obeyed.</p> +<p>Can this be he who rode into Jerusalem, as on this day, meek and +lowly, upon an ass’s colt; who on the night that he was betrayed +washed his disciples’ feet, even the feet of Judas who betrayed +him? Who prayed for his murderers as he hung upon the cross, ‘Father, +forgive them, for they know not what they do?’</p> +<p>Can these two be the same?</p> +<p>Is the Lord Jehovah of the Old Testament the Lord Jesus of the New?</p> +<p>They are the same, my friends. He who laid waste the land of +Egypt is he who came to seek and to save that which was lost.</p> +<p>He who slew the children in Egypt is he who took little children +up in his arms and blessed them.</p> +<p>He who spoke the awful words of the text is he who was brought as +a lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, +so he opened not his mouth.</p> +<p>This is very wonderful. But why should it <i>not</i> be wonderful? +What can God be but wonderful? His character, just because it +is perfect, must contain in itself all other characters, all forms of +spiritual life which are without sin. And yet again it is not +so very wonderful. Have we not seen—I have often—in +the same mortal man these two different characters at once? Have +we not seen soldiers and sailors, brave men, stern men, men who have +fought in many a bloody battle, to whom it is a light thing to kill +their fellow-men, or to be killed themselves in the cause of duty; and +yet most full of tenderness, as gentle as lambs to little children and +to weak women; nursing the sick lovingly and carefully with the same +hand which would not shrink from firing the fatal cannon to blast a +whole company into eternity, or sink a ship with all its crew? +I have seen such men, brave as the lion and gentle as the lamb, and +I saw in them the likeness of Christ—the Lion of Judah; and yet +the Lamb of God.</p> +<p>Christ is the Lamb of God; and in him there are the innocence of +the lamb, the gentleness of the lamb, the patience of the lamb: but +there is more. What words are these which St. John speaks in the +spirit?—</p> +<p>‘And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, +and every mountain and island were moved out of their places; and the +kings of the earth, and the great, and the rich, and the chief captains, +and the mighty men, and every bondman and every freeman hid themselves +in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains +and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that +sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great +day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?’</p> +<p>Yes, look at that awful book of Revelation with which the Bible ends, +and see if the Bible does not end as it began, by revealing a God who, +however loving and merciful, long-suffering, and of great goodness, +still wages war eternally against all sin and unrighteousness of man, +and who will by no means clear the guilty; a God of whom the apostle +St. Paul, who knew most of his mercy and forgiveness to sinners, could +nevertheless say, just as Moses had said ages before him, ‘Our +God is a consuming fire.’</p> +<p>Now I think it most necessary to recollect this in Passion Week; +ay, and to do more—to remember it all our lives long.</p> +<p>For it is too much the fashion now, and has often been so before, +to think only of one side of our Lord’s character, of the side +which seems more pleasant and less awful. People please themselves +in hymns which talk of the meek and lowly Jesus, and in pictures which +represent him with a sad, weary, delicate, almost feminine face. +Now I do not say that this is wrong. He is the same yesterday, +to-day, and for ever; as tender, as compassionate now as when he was +on earth; and it is good that little children and innocent young people +should think of him as an altogether gentle, gracious, loveable being; +for with the meek he will be meek; but again, with the froward, the +violent, and self-willed, he will be froward. He will show the +violent that he is the stronger of the two, and the self-willed that +he will have his will and not theirs done.</p> +<p>So it is good that the widow and the orphan, the weary and the distressed, +should think of Jesus as utterly tender and true, compassionate and +merciful, and rest their broken hearts upon him, the everlasting rock. +But while it is written, that whosoever shall fall on that rock he shall +be broken, it is written too, that on whomsoever that rock shall fall, +it will grind him to powder.</p> +<p>It is good that those who wish to be gracious themselves, loving +themselves, should remember that Christ is gracious, Christ is loving. +But it is good also, that those who do <i>not</i> wish to be gracious +and loving themselves, but to be proud and self-willed, unjust and cruel, +should remember that the gracious and loving Christ is also the most +terrible and awful of all beings; sharper than a two-edged sword, piercing +asunder the very joints and marrow, discerning the most secret thoughts +and intents of the heart; a righteous judge, strong and patient, who +is provoked every day: but if a man <i>will</i> not turn he will whet +his sword. He hath bent his bow and made it ready, and laid his +arrows in order against the persecutors. What Christ’s countenance, +my friends, was like when on earth, we do <i>not</i> know; but what +his countenance is like now, we all may know; for what says St. John, +and how did Christ appear to him, who had been on earth his private +and beloved friend?</p> +<p>‘His head and his hair were white as snow, and his eyes were +like a flame of fire, and his voice like the sound of many waters; and +out of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was +as the sun when he shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, +I fell at his feet as dead.’</p> +<p>That is the likeness of Christ, my friends; and we must remember +that it is his likeness, and fall at his feet, and humble ourselves +before his unspeakable majesty, if we wish that he should do to us at +the last day as he did to St. John—lay his hand upon us, saying, +‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and behold, I am alive +for evermore, Amen. I have the keys of death and hell.’</p> +<p>Yes, it is good that we should all remember this. For if we +do not, we may fall, as thousands fall, into a very unwholesome and +immoral notion about religion. We may get to fancy, as thousands +do, rich and poor, that because Christ the Lord is meek and gentle, +patient and long-suffering, that he is therefore easy, indulgent, careless +about our doing wrong; and that we can, in plain English, trifle with +Christ, and take liberties with his everlasting laws of right and wrong; +and so fancy, that provided we talk of the meek and lowly Jesus, and +of his blood washing away all our sins, that we are free to behave very +much as if Jesus had never come into the world to teach men their duty, +and free to commit almost any sin which does not disgrace us among our +neighbours, or render us punishable by the law.</p> +<p>My friends, it is <i>not so</i>. And those who fancy that it +is so, will find out their mistake bitterly enough. Infinite love +and forgiveness to those who repent and amend and do right; but infinite +rigour and punishment to those who will not amend and do right. +This is the everlasting law of God’s universe; and every soul +of man will find it out at last, and find that the Lord Jesus Christ +is not a Being to be trifled with, and that the precious blood which +he shed on the cross is of no avail to those who are not minded to be +righteous even as he is righteous.</p> +<p>‘But Christ is so loving, so tender-hearted that he surely +will not punish us for our sins.’ This is the confused notion +that too many people have about him. And the answer to it is, +that just <i>because</i> Christ is so loving, so tender-hearted, therefore +he <i>must</i> punish us for our sins, unless we utterly give up our +sins, and do right instead of wrong.</p> +<p>That false notion springs out of men’s selfishness. They +think of sin as something which only hurts themselves; when they do +wrong they think merely, ‘What punishment will God inflict on +<i>me</i> for doing wrong?’ They are wrapt up in themselves. +They forget that their sins are not merely a matter between them and +Christ, but between them and their neighbours; that every wrong action +they commit, every wrong word they speak, every wrong habit in which +they indulge themselves, sooner or later, more or less hurts their neighbours—ay, +hurts all mankind.</p> +<p>And does Christ care only for <i>them</i>? Does he not care +for their neighbours? Has he not all mankind to provide for, and +govern and guide? And can he allow bad men to go on making this +world worse, without punishing them, any more than a gardener can allow +weeds to hurt his flowers, and not root them up? What would you +say of a man who was so merciful to the weeds that he let them choke +the flowers? What would you say of a shepherd who was so merciful +to the wolves that he let them eat his sheep? What would you say +of a magistrate who was so merciful to thieves that he let them rob +the honest men? And do you fancy that Christ is a less careful +and just governor of the world than the magistrate who punishes the +thief that honest men may live in safety?</p> +<p>Not so. Not only will Christ punish the wolves who devour his +sheep, but he will punish his sheep themselves if they hurt each other, +torment each other, lead each other astray, or in any way interfere +with the just and equal rule of his kingdom; and this, not out of spite +or cruelty, but simply because he is perfect love.</p> +<p>Go, therefore, and think of Christ this Passion Week as he was, and +is, and ever will be. Think of the whole Christ, and not of some +part of his character which may specially please your fancy. Think +of him as the patient and forgiving Christ, who prayed for his murderers, +‘Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.’ +But remember that, in this very Passion Week, there came out of those +most gentle lips—the lips which blessed little children, and cried +to all who were weary and heavy laden, to come to him and he would give +them rest—that out of those most gentle lips, I say, in this very +Passion Week, there went forth the most awful threats which ever were +uttered, ‘Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites. +Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation +of hell?’ Think of him as the Lamb who offered himself freely +on the cross for sinners. But think of him, too, as the Lamb who +shall one day come in glory to judge all men according to their works. +Think of him as full of boundless tenderness and humanity, boundless +long-suffering and mercy. But remember that beneath that boundless +sweetness and tenderness there burns a consuming fire; a fire of divine +scorn and indignation against all who sin, like Pharaoh, out of cruelty +and pride; against all which is foul and brutal, mean and base, false +and hypocritical, cruel and unjust; a fire which burns, and will burn +against all the wickedness which is done on earth, and all the misery +and sorrow which is suffered on earth, till the Lord has burned it up +for ever, and there is nothing but love and justice, order and usefulness, +peace and happiness, left in the universe of God.</p> +<p>Oh, think of these things, and cast away your sins betimes, at the +foot of his everlasting cross, lest you be consumed with your sins in +his everlasting fire!</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XII. THE BIRTHNIGHT OF FREEDOM</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Easter Day</i>.)</p> +<p>Exodus xii. 42. This is a night to be much observed unto the +Lord, for bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt.</p> +<p>To be much observed unto the Lord by the children of Israel. +And by us, too, my friends; and by all nations who call themselves <i>free.</i></p> +<p>There are many and good ways of looking at Easter Day. Let +us look at it in this way for once.</p> +<p>It is the day on which God himself set men <i>free.</i></p> +<p>Consider the story. These Israelites, the children of Abraham, +the brave, wild patriarch of the desert, have been settled for hundreds +of years in the rich lowlands of Egypt. There they have been eating +and drinking their fill, and growing more weak, slavish, luxurious, +fonder and fonder of the flesh-pots of Egypt; fattening literally for +the slaughter, like beasts in a stall. They are spiritually dead—dead +in trespasses and sins. They do not want to be free, to be a nation. +They are content to be slaves and idolaters, if they can only fill their +stomachs. This is the spiritual death of a nation.</p> +<p>I say, they do not want to be free. When they are oppressed, +they cry out—as an animal cries when you beat him. But after +they are free, when they get into danger, or miss their meat, they cry +out too, and are willing enough to return to slavery; as the dog which +has run away for fear of the whip, will go back to his kennel for the +sake of his food. ‘Because there were no graves in Egypt, +hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast +thou dealt thus with us to carry us out of Egypt?’ And again, +‘Would God we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of +Egypt, where we did sit by the flesh-pots, and eat meat to the full!’ +<i>Brutalized</i>, in one word, were these poor children of Israel.</p> +<p>Then God took their cause into his own hand; I say emphatically into +his own hand. If that part of the story be not true, I care nothing +for the rest. If God did not personally and actually interfere +on behalf of those poor slaves; if the plagues of Egypt are not <i>true—</i>the +passage of the Red Sea be not <i>true—</i>the story tells me and +you nothing; gives us no hope for ourselves, no hope for mankind.</p> +<p>For see. One says, and truly, God is good; God is love; God +is just; God hates oppression and wrong.</p> +<p><i>But</i> if God be love, he must surely show his love by doing +loving things.</p> +<p>If God be just, he must show his justice by doing just things.</p> +<p>If God hates oppression, then he must free the oppressed.</p> +<p>If God hates wrong, then he must set the wrong right.</p> +<p>For what would you think of a man who professed to be loving and +just, and to hate oppression and wrong, and yet never took the trouble +to do a good action, or to put down wrong, when he had the power? +You would call him a hypocrite; you would think his love and justice +very much on his tongue, and not in his heart.</p> +<p>And will you believe that God is like that man? God forbid!</p> +<p>Comfortable scholars and luxurious ladies may content themselves +with a <i>dead</i> God, who does not interfere to help the oppressed, +to right the wrong, to bind up the broken-hearted; but men and women +who work, who sorrow, who suffer, who partake of all the ills which +flesh is heir to—they want a <i>living</i> God, an acting God, +a God who <i>will</i> interfere to right the wrong. Yes—they +want a living God. And they have a living God—even the God +who interfered to bring the Israelites out of Egypt with signs and wonders, +and a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and executed judgment upon +Pharaoh and his proud and cruel hosts. And when they read in the +Bible of that God, when they read in their Bibles the story of the Exodus, +their hearts answer, <i>This</i> is right. This is the God whom +we need. This is what ought to have happened. This is true: +for it must be true. Let comfortable folks who know no sorrow +trouble their brains as to whether sixty or six hundred thousand fighting +men came out of Egypt with Moses. We care not for numbers. +What we care for is, not how many came out, but who brought them out, +and that he who brought them out was <i>God</i>. And the book +which tells us that, we will cling to, will love, will reverence above +all the books on earth, because it tells of a living God, who works +and acts and interferes for men; who not only hates wrong, but rights +wrong; not only hates oppression, but puts oppressors down; not only +pities the oppressed, but sets the oppressed free; a God who not only +wills that man should have freedom, but sent freedom down to him from +heaven.</p> +<p>Scholars have said that the old Greeks were the fathers of freedom; +and there have been other peoples in the world’s history who have +made glorious and successful struggles to throw off their tyrants and +be free. And they have said, We are the fathers of freedom; liberty +was born with us. Not so, my friends! Liberty is of a far +older and far nobler house; Liberty was born, if you will receive it, +on the first Easter night, on the night to be much remembered among +the children of Israel—ay, among all mankind—when God himself +stooped from heaven to set the oppressed free. Then was freedom +born. Not in the counsels of men, however wise; or in the battles +of men, however brave: but in the counsels of God, and the battle of +God—amid human agony and terror, and the shaking of the heaven +and the earth; amid the great cry throughout Egypt when a first-born +son lay dead in every house; and the tempest which swept aside the Red +Sea waves; and the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by +night; and the Red Sea shore covered with the corpses of the Egyptians; +and the thunderings and lightnings and earthquakes of Sinai; and the +sound as of a trumpet waxing loud and long; and the voice, most human +and most divine, which spake from off the lonely mountain peak to that +vast horde of coward and degenerate slaves, and said, ‘I am the +Lord thy God who brought thee out of the land of Egypt. Thou shalt +obey my laws, and keep my commandments to do them.’ Oh! +the man who would rob his suffering fellow-creatures of that story—he +knows not how deep and bitter are the needs of man.</p> +<p>Then was freedom born: but not of man; not of the will of the flesh, +nor of the will of man, but of the will of God, from whom all good things +come; and of Christ, who is the life and the light of men and of nations, +and of the whole world, and of all worlds, past, present, and to come.</p> +<p>From God came freedom. To be used as his gift, according to +his laws; for he gave, and he can take away; as it is written, ‘He +shall take the kingdom of God from you, and give it to a people bringing +forth the fruits thereof.’ ‘For there be many first +that shall be last; and last that shall be first.’ It is +this which makes the Jews indeed a peculiar people: the thought that +the living God had actually and really done for them what they could +not do for themselves; that he had made them a nation, and not they +themselves. It is this which makes the Old Testament an utterly +different book, with an utterly different lesson, to the written history +of any other nation in the world.</p> +<p>And yet it is this which makes the history of the Jews the key to +every other history in the world. For in it Jesus Christ our Lord, +the living God who makes history, who governs all nations, reveals and +unveils himself, and teaches not the Jews only, but us and all nations, +that it is he who hath made us, and not we ourselves; that we got not +the land in possession by our own sword, nor was it our own strength +that helped us, but thou, O Lord, because thou hadst a favour unto us; +that not to us, not to us is the praise of any national greatness or +glory, but to God, from whom it comes as surely a free gift as the gift +of liberty to the Jews of old.</p> +<p>I say, the history of the Jews is the history of the whole Church, +and of every nation in Christendom.</p> +<p>As with the Jews, so with the nations of Europe; whenever they have +trusted in themselves, their own power and wisdom, they have ended in +weakness and folly. Whenever they have trusted in Christ the living +God, and said, ‘It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves,’ +they have risen to strength and wisdom. When they have forgotten +the living God, national life and patriotism have died in them, as they +died in the Jews. When they have remembered that the most high +God was their Redeemer, then in them, as in the Jews, have national +life and patriotism revived.</p> +<p>And as it was with the Jews in the wilderness, so it has been with +them since Christ’s resurrection. They fancied that they +were going at once into the promised land. So did the first Christians. +But the Jews had to wander forty years in the wilderness; and Christendom +has had to wander too, in strange and bloodstained paths, for one thousand +eight hundred years and more. For why? The Israelites were +not worthy to enter at once into rest; no more have the nation of Christ’s +Church been worthy. The Israelites brought out of Egypt base and +slavish passions, which had to be purged out of them; so have we out +of heathendom. They brought out, too, heathen superstitions, and +mixed them up with the worship of God, bearing about in the wilderness +the tabernacle of Moloch and the image of their god Remphan, and making +the calf in Horeb; and so, alas! again and again, has the Church of +Christ.</p> +<p>Nay, the whole generation, save two, who came out of Egypt, had to +die in the wilderness, and leave their bones scattered far and wide. +And so has mankind been dying, by war and by disease, and by many fearful +scourges besides what is called now-a-days, natural decay.</p> +<p>But all the while a new generation was springing up, trained in the +wilderness to be bold and hardy; trained, too, under Moses’ stern +law, to the fear of God; to reverence, and discipline, and obedience, +without which freedom is merely brutal license, and a nation is no nation, +but a mere flock of sheep or a herd of wolves.</p> +<p>And so, for these one thousand eight hundred years have the generations +of Christendom, by the training of the Church and the light of the Gospel, +been growing in wisdom and knowledge; growing in morality and humanity, +in that true discipline and loyalty which are the yoke-fellows of freedom +and independence, to make them fit for that higher state, that heavenly +Canaan, of which we know not <i>when</i> it will come, nor whether its +place will be on this earth or elsewhere; but of which it is written, +‘And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from +God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. +And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle +of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his +people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. +And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be +no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any +more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that +sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.</p> +<p>‘And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and +the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the +sun, neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten +it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them +which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of the +earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of +it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. +And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. +And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither +whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie: but they which are written +in the Lamb’s book of life.’</p> +<p>That, the perfect Easter Day, seems far enough off as yet; but it +will come. As the Lord liveth, it will come; and to it may Christ +in his mercy bring us all, and our children’s children after us. +Amen.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XIII. KORAH, DATHAN, AND ABIRAM</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>First Sunday after Easter</i>, 1863.)</p> +<p>Numbers xvi. 32-35. And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed +them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, +and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went +down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished +from among the congregation. And all Israel that were round about +them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the earth swallow +us up also. And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed +the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.</p> +<p>I will begin by saying that there are several things in this chapter +which I do not understand, and cannot explain to you. Be it so. +That is no reason why we should not look at the parts of the chapter +which we can understand and can explain.</p> +<p>There are matters without end in the world round us, and in our own +hearts, and in the life of every one, which we cannot explain; and therefore +we need not be surprised to find things which we cannot explain in the +life and history of the most remarkable nation upon earth—the +nation whose business it has been to teach all other nations the knowledge +of the true God, and who was specially and curiously trained for that +work.</p> +<p>But the one broad common-sense lesson of this chapter, it seems to +me, is one which is on the very surface of it; one which every true +Englishman at least will see, and see to be true, when he hears the +chapter read; and that is, the necessity of <i>discipline.</i></p> +<p>God has brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and set them free. +One of the first lessons which they have to learn is, that freedom does +not mean license and discord—does not mean every one doing that +which is right in the sight of his own eyes. From that springs +self-will, division, quarrels, revolt, civil war, weakness, profligacy, +and ruin to the whole people. Without order, discipline, obedience +to law, there can be no true and lasting freedom; and, therefore, order +must be kept at all risks, the law obeyed, and rebellion punished.</p> +<p>Now rebellion may be and ought to be punished far more severely in +some cases than in others. If men rebel here, in Great Britain +or Ireland, we smile at them, and let them off with a slight imprisonment, +because we are not afraid of them. They can do no harm.</p> +<p>But there are cases in which rebellion must be punished with a swift +and sharp hand. On board a ship at sea, for instance, where the +safety of the whole ship, the lives of the whole crew, depend on instant +obedience, mutiny may be punished by death on the spot. Many a +commander has ere now, and rightly too, struck down the rebel without +trial or argument, and ended him and his mutiny on the spot; by the +sound rule that it is expedient that one man die for the people, and +that the whole nation perish not.</p> +<p>And so it was with the Israelites in the desert. All depended +on their obedience. God had given them a law—a constitution, +as we should say now—perfectly fitted, no doubt, for them. +If they once began to rebel and mutiny against that law, all was over +with them. That great, foolish, ignorant multitude would have +broken up, probably fought among themselves—certainly parted company, +and either starved in the desert, or have been destroyed piecemeal by +the wild warlike tribes, Midianites, Moabites, Amalekites—who +were ready enough for slaughter and plunder. They would never +have reached Canaan. They would never have become a great nation. +So they had to be, by necessity, under martial law. The word must +be, Obey or die. As for any cruelty in putting Korah, Dathan, +and Abiram to death, it was worth the death of a hundred such—or +a thousand—to preserve the great and glorious nation of the Jews +to be the teachers of the world.</p> +<p>Now this Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rebel. They rebel against +Moses about a question of the priesthood. It really matters little +to us what that question was—it was a question of Moses’ +law, which, of course, is now done away. Only remember this, that +these men were princes—great feudal noblemen, as we should say; +and that they rebelled on the strength of their rank and their rights +as noblemen to make laws for themselves and for the people; and that +the mob of their dependents seem to have been inclined to support them.</p> +<p>Surely if Moses had executed martial law on them with his own hand, +he would have been as perfectly justified as a captain of a ship of +war or a general of an army would be now.</p> +<p>But he did not do so. And why? Because <i>Moses</i> did +not bring the people out of Egypt. Moses was not their king. +<i>God</i> brought them out of Egypt. God was their king. +That was the lesson which they had to learn, and to teach other nations +also. They have rebelled, not against Moses, but against God; +and not Moses, but God must punish, and show that he is not a dead God, +but a living God, one who can defend himself, and enforce his own laws, +and execute judgment—and, if need be, vengeance—without +needing any man to fight his battles for him.</p> +<p>And God does so. The powers of Nature—the earthquake +and the nether fire—shall punish these rebels; and so they do.</p> +<p>‘And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent +me to do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. +If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited +after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hath not sent me. +But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth and swallow +them up, with all that appertain to them and they go down quick into +the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord.’</p> +<p>Men have thought differently of the story; but I call it a righteous +story, and a noble story, and one which agrees with my conscience, and +my reason, and my notion of what ought to be, and my experience also +of what is—of the way in which God’s world is governed unto +this day.</p> +<p>What then are we to think of the earth opening and swallowing them +up? What are we to think of a fire coming out from the Lord, and +consuming two hundred and fifty men that offered incense?</p> +<p>This first. That discipline and order are so absolutely necessary +for the well-being of a nation that they must be kept at all risks, +and enforced by the most terrible punishments.</p> +<p>It seems to me (to speak with all reverence) as if God had said to +the Jews, ‘I have set you free. I will make of you a great +nation; I will lead you into a good land and large. But if you +are to be a great nation, if you are to conquer that good land and large, +you must obey: and you shall obey. The earthquake and the fire +shall teach you to obey, and make you an example to the rest of the +Israelites, and to all nations after you.’ But how hard, +some may think, that the wives and the children should suffer for their +parents’ sins.</p> +<p>My friends, we do not know that a single woman or child died then +for whom it was not better that he or she should die. That is +one of the deep things which we must leave to the perfect justice and +mercy of God.</p> +<p>And next—what is it after all, but what we see going on round +us all the day long? God does visit the sins of the fathers on +the children. There is no denying it. Wives do suffer for +their husbands’ sins; children and children’s children for +whole generations after generations suffer for their parents’ +sins, and become unhealthy, or superstitious, or profligate, or poor, +or slavish, because their parents sinned, and dragged down their children +with them in their fall. It is a law of the world; and therefore +it is a law of God. And it is reasonable to be believed that God +might choose to teach the Israelites, once and for all, that it <i>was</i> +a law of his world. For by swallowing up those women and children +with the men, God said to the Israelites, it seems to me in a way which +could not be mistaken, ‘This is the consequence of lawlessness +and disorder—that you not only injure yourselves, but your children +after you, and involve your families in the same ruin as yourselves.’</p> +<p>But there was another lesson, and a deep lesson, in the earthquake +and in the fire. And what was this? that the earthquake and the +fire came out from the Lord.</p> +<p>Earthquakes have swallowed up not hundreds merely, but many thousands, +in many countries, and at many times.</p> +<p>Fire has come forth, and still comes forth from the ground, from +the clouds, from the consequences of man’s own carelessness, and +destroys beast and man, and the works of man’s hands. Then +men ask in terror and doubt, ‘Who sends the earthquake and the +fire? Do they come from the devil—the destroyer? Do +they come by chance, from some brute and blind powers of nature?’</p> +<p>This chapter answers, ‘No. They come from the Lord, from +whom all good things do come; from the Lord who delivered the Israelites +out of Egypt; who so loved the world that he spared not his only begotten +Son, but freely gave him for us.’</p> +<p>Now I say that is a gospel, and good news, which we want now as much +as ever men did; which the children of Israel wanted then, though not +one whit more than we.</p> +<p>Many hundreds of years had these Israelites been in Egypt. +Storm, lightning, earthquake, the fires of the burning mountains, were +things unknown to them. They were going into Canaan—a good +land and fruitful, but a land of storms and thunders; a land, too, of +earthquakes and subterranean fires. The deepest earthquake-crack +in the world is the valley of the Jordan, ending in the Dead Sea—a +long valley, through which at different points the nether fires of the +earth even now burst up at times. In Abraham’s time they +had destroyed the five cities of the plain. The prophets mention +them, especially Isaiah and Micah, as breaking out again in their own +times; and in our own lifetime earthquake and fire have done fearful +destruction in the north part of the Holy Land.</p> +<p>Now what was to prevent the Israelites worshipping the earthquake +and the fire as gods?</p> +<p>Nothing. Conceive the terror and horror of the Jews coming +out of that quiet land of Egypt, the first time they felt the ground +rocking and rolling; the first time they heard the roar of the earthquake +beneath their feet; the first time they saw, in the magnificent words +of Micah, the mountains molten and the valleys cleft as wax before the +fire, like water poured down a steep place; and discovered that beneath +their very feet was Tophet, the pit of fire and brimstone, ready to +burst up and overwhelm them they knew not when.</p> +<p>What could they do, but what the Canaanites did who dwelt already +in that land? What but to say, ‘The fire is king. +The fire is the great and dreadful God, and to him we must pray, lest +he devour us up.’ For so did the Canaanites. They +called the fire Moloch, which means simply the king; and they worshipped +this fire-king, and made idols of him, and offered human sacrifices +to him. They had idols of metal, before which an everlasting fire +burned; and on the arms of the idol the priests laid the children who +were to be sacrificed, that they might roll down into the fire and be +burnt alive. That is actual fact. In one case, which we +know of well, hundreds of years after Moses’ time, the Carthaginians +offered two hundred boys of their best families to Moloch in one day. +This is that making the children pass through the fire to Moloch—burning +them in the fire to Moloch—of which we read several times in the +Old Testament; as ugly and accursed a superstition as men ever invented.</p> +<p>What deliverance was there for them from these abominable superstitions, +except to know that the fire-kingdom was God’s kingdom, and not +Moloch’s at all; to know with Micah and with David that the hills +were molten like wax <i>before the presence of the Lord</i>; that it +was the blast of his breath which discovered the foundations of the +world; that it was <i>he</i> who made the sea flee and drove back the +Jordan stream; that it was before <i>him</i> that the mountains skipped +like rams and the little hills like young sheep; that the battles of +shaking were God’s battles, with which he could fight for his +people; that it was he who ordained Tophet, and whose spirit kindled +it. That it was he—and that too in mercy as well as anger—who +visited the land in Isaiah’s time with thunder and earthquake, +and great noise, and storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. +That the earth opened and swallowed up those whom God chose, and no +others. That if fire came forth, it came forth from the Lord, +and burned where and what God chose, and nothing else. Yes. +If you will only understand, once and for all, that the history of the +Jews is the history of the Lord’s turning a people from the cowardly, +slavish worship of sun and stars, of earthquakes and burning mountains, +and all the brute powers of nature which the heathen worshipped, and +teaching them to trust and obey him, the living God, the Lord and Master +of all, then the Old Testament will be clear to you throughout; but +if not, then not.</p> +<p>You cannot read your Bibles without seeing how that great lesson +was stamped into the very hearts of the Hebrew prophets; how they are +continually speaking of the fire and the earthquake, and yet continually +declaring that they too obey God and do God’s will, and that the +man who fears God need not fear them—that God was their hope and +strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore would they +not fear, though the earth was moved, and though the mountains be carried +into the midst of the sea.</p> +<p>And we, too, need the same lesson in these scientific days. +We too need to fix it in our hearts, that the powers of nature are the +powers of God; that he orders them by his providence to do what he will, +and when and where he will; that, as the Psalmist says, the winds are +his messengers and the flames of fire his ministers. And this +we shall learn from the Bible, and from no other book whatsoever.</p> +<p>God taught the Jews this, by a strange and miraculous education, +that they might teach it in their turn to all mankind. And they +have taught it. For the Bible bids us—as no other book does—not +to be afraid of the world on which we live; not to be afraid of earthquake +or tempest, or any of the powers of nature which seem to us terrible +and cruel, and destroying; for they are the powers of the good and just +and loving God. They obey our Father in heaven, without whom not +a sparrow falls to the ground, and our Lord Jesus Christ, who came not +to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. And therefore +we need not fear them, or look on them with any blind superstition, +as things too awful for us to search into. We may search into +their causes; find out, if we can, the laws which they obey, because +those laws are given them by God our Father; try, by using those laws, +to escape them, as we are learning now to escape tempests; or to prevent +them, as we are learning now to prevent pestilences: and where we cannot +do that, face them manfully, saying, ‘It is my Father’s +will. These terrible events must be doing God’s work. +They may be punishing the guilty; they may be taking the righteous away +from the evil to come; they may be teaching wise men lessons which will +enable them years hence to save lives without number; they may be preparing +the face of the earth for the use of generations yet unborn. Whatever +they are doing they are and must be doing good; for they are doing the +will of the living Father, who willeth that none should perish, and +hateth nothing that he hath made.’</p> +<p>This, my friends, is the lesson which the Bible teaches; and because +it teaches that lesson it is the Book of books, and the inspired word +or message, not of men concerning God, but of God himself, concerning +himself, his kingdom over this world and over all worlds, and his good +will to men.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XIV. BALAAM</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>NUMBERS xxiii. 19. God is not a man, that he should lie; neither +the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not +do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?</p> +<p>If I was asked for any proof that the story of Balaam, as I find +it in the Bible, is a true story, I should lay my hand on this one only—and +that is, the deep knowledge of human nature which is shown in it.</p> +<p>The character of Balaam is so perfectly natural, and yet of a kind +so very difficult to unravel and explain, that if the story was invented +by man, as poems or novels are, it must have been invented very late +indeed in the history of the Jews; at a time when they had grown to +be a far more civilised people, far more experienced in the cunning +tricks of the human heart than they were, as far as we can see from +the Bible, before the Babylonish captivity. But it was <i>not</i> +invented late; for no Jew in these later times would have thought of +making Balaam a heathen, to be a prophet of God, or a believer in the +true God at all. The later Jews took up the notion that God spoke +to and cared for the Jews only, and that all other nations were accursed.</p> +<p>There is no reason, therefore, against simply believing the story +as it stands. It seems a very ancient story indeed, suiting exactly +in its smallest details the place where Moses, or whoever wrote the +Book of Numbers, has put it.</p> +<p>We, in these days, are accustomed to draw a sharp line between the +good and the bad, the converted and the unconverted, the children of +God and the children of this world, those who have God’s Spirit +and those who have not, which we find nowhere in Scripture; and therefore +when we read of such a man as Balaam we cannot understand him. +He is a bad man, but yet he is a prophet. How can that be? +He knows the true God. More, he has the Spirit of God in him, +and thereby utters deep and wonderful prophecies; and yet he is a bad +man and a rogue. How can that be?</p> +<p>The puzzle, my friends, is one of our own making. If, instead +of taking up doctrines out of books, we will use our own eyes and ears +and common sense, and look honestly at this world as it is, and men +and women as they are, we shall find nothing unnatural or strange in +Balaam; we shall find him very like a good many people whom we know; +very like—nay, probably, too like—ourselves in some particulars.</p> +<p>Now bear in mind, first, that Balaam is no impostor or magician. +He is a wise man, and a prophet of God. God really speaks to him, +and really inspires him.</p> +<p>And bear in mind, too, that Balaam’s inspiration did not merely +open his mouth to say wonderful words which he did not understand, but +opened his heart to say righteous and wise things which he did understand.</p> +<p>‘Remember,’ says the prophet Micah, ‘O my people, +what Balak, king of Moab, consulted, and what Balaam, the son of Beor, +answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteousness +of the Lord. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself +before the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, +with calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands +of rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give +my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin +of my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good, and what +doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, +and to walk humbly with thy God.’ Why, what deeper or wiser +words are there in the whole Old Testament? This man Balaam had +seen down into the deepest depths of all morality, unto the deepest +depths of all religion. The man who knew that, knew more than +ninety-nine in a hundred do even in a Christian country now, and more +than nine hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine +in a million knew in those days. Let no one, after that speech, +doubt that Balaam was indeed a prophet of the Lord; and yet he was a +bad man, and came deservedly to a bad end.</p> +<p>So much easier, my friends, is it to know what is right than to do +what is right.</p> +<p>What then was wrong in Balaam?</p> +<p>This, that he was double-minded. He wished to serve God. +True. But he wished to serve himself by serving God, as too many +do in all times.</p> +<p>That was what was wrong with him—self-seeking; and the Bible +story brings out that self-seeking with a delicacy, a keenness, and +a perfect knowledge of human nature, which ought to teach us some of +the secrets of our own hearts. Watch how Balaam, as a matter of +course, inquires of the Lord whether he may go, and refuses, seemingly +at first honestly.</p> +<p>Then how the temptation grows on him; how, when he feels tempted, +he fights against it in fine-sounding professions, just because he feels +that he is going to yield to it. Then how he begins to tempt God, +by asking him again, in hopes that God may have changed his mind. +Then when he has his foolish wish granted he goes. Then when the +terrible warning comes to him that he is on the wrong road, that God’s +wrath is gone out against him, and his angel ready to destroy him, he +is full still of hollow professions of obedience, instead of casting +himself utterly upon God’s mercy, and confessing his sin, and +entreating pardon.</p> +<p>Then how, instead of being frightened at God’s letting him +have his way, he is emboldened by it to tempt God more and more, and +begins offering bullocks and rams on altars, first in this place and +then in that, in hopes still that <i>God</i> may change his mind, and +let him curse Israel; in hopes that God may be like one of the idols +of the heathen, who could (so the heathen thought) be coaxed and flattered +round by sacrifices to do whatever their worshippers wished.</p> +<p>Then, when he finds that all is of no use; that he must not curse +Israel, and must not earn Balak’s silver and gold, he is forced +to be an honest man in spite of himself; and therefore he makes the +best of his disappointment by taking mighty credit to himself for being +honest, while he wishes all the while he might have been allowed to +have been dishonest. Oh, if all this is not poor human nature, +drawn by the pen of a truly inspired writer, what is it?</p> +<p>Moreover, it is curious to watch how as Balaam is forced step by +step to be an honest man, so step by step he rises. A weight falls +off his mind and heart, and the Spirit of God comes upon him.</p> +<p>He feels for once that he must speak his mind, that he must obey +God. As he looks down from off the mountain top, and sees the +vast encampment of the Israelites spread over the vale below, for miles +and miles, as far as the eye can see, all ordered, disciplined, arranged +according to their tribes, the Spirit of God comes upon him, and he +gives way to it and speaks.</p> +<p>The sight of that magnificent array wakens up in him the thought +of how divine is older, how strong is order, how order is the life and +root of a nation, and how much more, when that order is the order of +God.</p> +<p>‘How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O +Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the +river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, +and as cedar trees beside the waters. His king shall be higher +than Agag,’ and all his wild Amalekite hordes. He will be +a true nation, civilized, ordered, loyal and united, for God is teaching +him.</p> +<p>Who can resist such a nation as that? ‘God has brought +him out of Egypt. He has the strength of an unicorn.’ +‘I shall see him,’ he says, ‘but not now; I shall +behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and +a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, and shall smite the corners of Moab, +and destroy all the children of Sheth.’ And when he looked +on Amalek, he took up his parable, and said, ‘Amalek was the first +of the nation; but his latter end shall be that he perish for ever.’ +And he looked on the Kenites, and took up his parable, and said, ‘Strong +is thy dwelling-place, and thou puttest thy nest in a rock. Nevertheless, +the Kenite shall be wasted, till Asshur shall carry thee away captive.’ +‘Alas, who shall live when God doeth this!’</p> +<p>And then, beyond all, after all the Canaanites and other Syrian races +have been destroyed, he sees, dimly and afar off, another destruction +still.</p> +<p>In his home in the far east the fame of the ships of Chittim has +reached him; the fame of the new people, the sea-roving heroes of the +Greeks, of whom old Homer sang; the handsomest, cunningest, most daring +of mankind, who are spreading their little trading colonies along all +the isles and shores, as we now are spreading ours over the world. +Those ships of Chittim, too, have a great and glorious future before +them. Some day or other they will come and afflict Asshur, the +great empire of the East, out of which Balaam probably came; and afflict +Eber too, the kingdom of the Jews, and they too shall perish for ever.</p> +<p>Dimly he sees it, for it is very far away. But that it will +come he sees; and beyond that all is dark. He has said his say; +he has spoken the whole truth for once. Balak’s house full +of silver and gold would not have bought him off and stopped his mouth +when such awful thoughts crowded on his mind. So he returns to +his place—to do what?</p> +<p>If he cannot earn Balak’s gold by cursing Israel, he can do +it by giving him cunning and politic advice. He advises Balak +to make friends with the Israelites and mix them up with his people +by enticing them to the feasts of his idols, at which the women threw +themselves away in shameful profligacy, after the custom of the heathens +of these parts.</p> +<p>In the next chapter we read how Moses, and Phinehas, Aaron’s +grandson, put down those filthy abominations with a high hand; and how +Balaam’s detestable plot, instead of making peace, makes war; +and in chapter xxxi. you read the terrible destruction of the whole +nation of the Midianites, and among it this one short and terrible hint: +‘Balaam also, the son of Beor, they slew with the sword.’</p> +<p>But what may we learn from this ugly story?</p> +<p>Recollect what I said at first, that we should find Balaam too like +many people now-a-days; perhaps too like ourselves.</p> +<p>Too like indeed. For never were men more tempted to sin as +Balaam did than in these days, when religion is all the fashion, and +pays a man, and helps him on in life; when, indeed, a man cannot expect +to succeed without professing some sort of religion or other.</p> +<p>Thereby comes a terrible temptation to many men. I do not mean +to hypocrites, but to really well-meaning men. They like religion. +They wish to be good; they have the feeling of devotion. They +pray, they read their Bibles, they are attentive to services and to +sermons, and are more or less pious people. But soon—too +soon—they find that their piety is profitable. Their business +increases. Their credit increases. They are trusted and +respected; their advice is asked and taken. They gain power over +their fellow-men. What a fine thing it is, they think, to be pious!</p> +<p>Then creeps in the love of the world; the love of money, or power, +or admiration; and they begin to value religion because it helps them +to get on in the world. They begin more and more to love Piety +not for its own sake, but for the sake of what it brings; not because +it pleases God, but because it pleases the world; not because it enables +them to help their fellow-men, but because it enables them to help themselves.</p> +<p>So they get double-minded, unstable, inconsistent, as St. James says, +in all their ways; trying to serve God and Mammon at once. Trying +to do good—as long as doing good does not hurt them in the world’s +eyes; but longing oftener and oftener to do wrong, if only God would +not be angry. Then comes on Balaam’s frame of mind, ‘If +Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond +the commandment of the Lord.’</p> +<p>Oh no. They would not do a wrong thing for the world—only +they must be quite sure first that it is wrong. Has God really +forbidden it? Why should they not take care of their interest? +Why should they not get on in the world? So they begin, like Balaam, +to tempt God, to see how far they can go; to see if God has forbidden +this and that mean, or cowardly, or covetous, or ambitious deed. +So they soon settle for themselves what God has forbidden and what he +has not; and their rule of life becomes this—that whatsoever is +safe and whatsoever is profitable is pretty sure to be right; and after +that no wonder if, like Balaam, they indulge themselves in every sort +of sin, provided only it is respectable, and does not hurt them in the +world’s eyes.</p> +<p>And all the while they keep up their religion. Ay, they are +often more attentive than ever to religion, because their consciences +pinch them at times, and have to be silenced and drugged by continual +church-goings and chapel-goings, and readings and prayings, in order +that they may be able to say to themselves with Balaam, ‘Thus +saith Balaam, he who heard the word of God, and had the knowledge of +the Most High.’</p> +<p>So they say to themselves, ‘I must be right. How religious +I am; how fond of sermons, and of church services, and church restorations, +and missionary meetings, and charitable institutions, and everything +that is good and pious. I <i>must</i> be right with God.’ +Deceiving their ownselves, and saying to themselves, ‘I am rich +and increased with goods, I have need of nothing,’ and not knowing +that they are wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked.</p> +<p>Would God that such people, of whom there are too many, would take +St. John’s warning and buy of the Lord gold tried in the fire—the +true gold of honesty—that they may be truly rich, and anoint their +eyes with eye-salve that they may see themselves for once as they are.</p> +<p>But what does this story teach us concerning God? For remember, +as I tell you every Sunday, that each fresh story in the Pentateuch +reveals to us something fresh about the character of God. What +does Balaam’s story reveal? Balaam himself tells us in the +text, ‘God is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man +that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it?’</p> +<p>Yes. Fancy not that any wishes or prayers of yours can persuade +God to alter his everlasting laws of right and wrong. If he has +commanded a thing, he has commanded it because it is according to his +everlasting laws, which cannot change, because they are made in his +eternal image and likeness. Therefore if God has commanded you +a thing, <i>do it</i> heartily, fully, without arguing or complaining. +If you begin arguing with God’s law, excusing yourself from it, +inventing reasons why <i>you</i> need not obey it in this particular +instance, though every one else ought, then you will end, like Balaam, +in disobeying the law, and it will grind you to powder.</p> +<p>But if you obey God’s law honestly, with a single eye and a +whole heart, you will find in it a blessing, and peace, and strength, +and everlasting life.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XV. DEUTERONOMY</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Third Sunday after Easter</i>.)</p> +<p>Deut. iv. 39, 40. Know therefore this day, and consider it +in thine heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the +earth beneath: there is none else. Thou shall keep therefore his +statutes and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that it +may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that thou +mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God giveth +thee, for ever.</p> +<p>Learned men have argued much of late as to who wrote the book of +Deuteronomy. After having read a good deal on the subject, I can +only say that I see no reason why we should not believe the ancient +account which the Jews give, that it was written, or at least spoken +by Moses.</p> +<p>No doubt there are difficulties in the book. If there had not +been, there would never have been any dispute about the matter; but +the plain, broad, common-sense case is this:</p> +<p>The book of Deuteronomy is made up of several great orations or sermons, +delivered, says the work itself, by Moses, to the whole people of the +Jews, before they left the wilderness and entered into the land of Canaan; +wherefore it is called Deuteronomy, or the second law. In it some +small matters of the law are altered, as was to be expected, when the +Jews were going to change their place and their whole way of life. +But the whole teaching and meaning of the book is exactly that of Exodus +and Leviticus. Moreover, it is, if possible, the grandest and +deepest book of the Old Testament. Its depth and wisdom are unequalled. +I hold it to be the sum and substance of all political philosophy and +morality of the true life of a nation. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, +and Ezekiel, grand as they are, are, as it were, its children; growths +out of the root which Deuteronomy reveals.</p> +<p>Now if Moses did not write it, who did?</p> +<p>As for the style of it being different from that of Exodus and Leviticus, +the simple answer is, Why not? They are books of history and of +laws. This is a book of sermons or orations, spoken first, and +not written, which, of course, would be in a different style. +Besides, why should not Moses have spoken differently at the end of +forty years’ such experience as never man had before or since? +Every one who thinks, writes, or speaks in public, knows how his style +alters, as fresh knowledge and experience come to him. Are you +to suppose that Moses gained nothing by <i>his</i> experience?</p> +<p>As for a few texts in it being like Isaiah or Jeremiah, they are +likely enough to be so; for if (as I believe) Deuteronomy was written +long before those books, what more likely than that Isaiah and Jeremiah +should have studied it, and taken some of its words to themselves when +they were preaching to the Jews just what Deuteronomy preaches?</p> +<p>As for any one else having written it in Moses’ name, hundreds +of years after his death, I cannot believe it. If there had been +in Israel a prophet great and wise enough to write Deuteronomy, we must +have heard more about him, for he must have been famous at the time +when he did live; while, if he were great enough to write Deuteronomy, +he would have surely written in his own name, as Isaiah and all the +other prophets wrote, instead of writing under a feigned name, and putting +words into Moses’ mouth which he did not speak, and laws he did +not give. Good men are not in the habit of telling lies: much +less prophets of God. Men do not begin to play cowardly tricks +of that kind till after they have lost faith in the <i>living</i> God, +and got to believe that God was with their forefathers, but is not with +them. A Jew of the time of the Apocrypha, or of the time of our +Lord, might have done such a thing, because he had lost faith in the +living God; but then his work would have been of a very different kind +from this noble and heart-stirring book. For the pith and marrow, +the essence and life of Deuteronomy is, that it is full of faith in +the living God; and for that very reason I am going to speak to you +to-day.</p> +<p>For the rest, whether Moses wrote the book down, and put it together +in the shape in which we now have it, we shall never be able to tell. +The several orations may have been put together into one book. +Alterations may have crept in by the carelessness of copiers; sentences +may have been added to it by later prophets—as, of course, the +grand account of Moses’ death, which probably was at first the +beginning of the book of Joshua. And beyond that we need know +nothing—even if we need know that.</p> +<p>There the book is; and people, if they be wise, will, instead of +trying to pick it to pieces, read and study it in fear and trembling, +that the curses pronounced in it may <i>not</i> come, and the blessings +pronounced in it may come upon this English land.</p> +<p>Now these Jews were to worship and obey Jehovah, the one true God, +and him only. And why?</p> +<p>Why, indeed? You <i>must</i> understand why, or you will never +understand this book of Deuteronomy or any part of the Old Testament, +and if you do not, then you will understand very little, if anything, +of the New.</p> +<p>You must understand that this was not to be a mere matter of <i>religion</i> +with the old Jews, this trusting and obeying the true God. Indeed, +the word religion, so far as I know, is never mentioned once in the +Old Testament at all. By religion we now mean some plan of believing +and obeying God, which will save our souls after we die. But Moses +said nothing to the Jews about that. He never even anywhere told +them that they would live again after this life. We do not know +the reason of that. But we may suppose that he knew best. +And as we believe that God sent him, we must believe that God knew best +also; and that he thought it good for these Jews not to be told too +much about the next life; perhaps for fear that they should forget that +God was the living God; the God of now, as well as of hereafter; the +God of this life, as well as of the life to come. My friends, +I sometimes think we need putting in mind of that in these days as much +as those old Jews did.</p> +<p>However that may be, what Moses promised these Jews, if they trusted +in the living God, was that they should be a great nation, they and +their children after them; that they should drive out the Canaanites +before them; that they should conquer their enemies, and that a thousand +should flee before one of them; that they should be blessed in their +crops, their orchards, their gardens; that they should have none of +the evil diseases of Egypt; that there should be none barren among them, +or among their cattle. In a word, that they should be thoroughly +and always a strong, happy, prosperous people.</p> +<p>This is what God promised them by Moses, and nothing else; and therefore +this is what we must think about, and see whether it has anything to +do with us, when we read the book of Deuteronomy, and nothing else.</p> +<p>On the other hand, God warned them by the mouth of Moses that if +they forgot the Lord God, and went and worshipped the things round them, +men or beasts, or sun and moon and stars, then poverty, misery, and +ruin of every kind would surely fall upon them.</p> +<p>And that this last was no empty threat is proved by the plain facts +of their sacred history. For they <i>did</i> forget God, and worshipped +Baalim, the sun, moon, and stars; and ruin of every kind <i>did</i> +come upon them, till they were carried away captive to Babylon. +And this we must think of when we read the book of Deuteronomy, and +nothing else. If they wished to prosper, they were to know and +consider in their hearts that Jehovah was God, and there was none else. +Yes—this was the continual thought which a true Jew was to have. +The thought of a God who was <i>his</i> God; the God of his fathers +before him, and the God of his children after him; the God of the whole +nation of the Jews, throughout all their generations.</p> +<p>But not their God only. No. The God of the Gentiles also, +of all the nations upon the earth. He was to believe that his +God alone, of all the gods of the nations, was the true and only God, +who had made all nations, and appointed them their times and the bounds +of their habitations.</p> +<p>We cannot understand now, in these happier days, all that that meant; +all the strength and comfort, all the godly fear, the feeling of solemn +responsibility which that thought ought to have given, and did give +to the Jews—that they were the people of Jehovah, the one true +God.</p> +<p>For you must remember that all the nations round them then, and all +the great heathen nations afterwards, were, as far as we know, the people +of some god or other. Religion and politics were with them one +and the same thing. They had some god, or gods, whom they looked +to as the head or king of their nation, who had a special favour to +them, and would bless and prosper them according as they showed him +special reverence, and after that god the whole nation was often named.</p> +<p>The Ammonites’ god was Ammon, the hidden god, the lord of their +sheep and cattle. The Zidonians had Ashtoreth, the moon. +The Phœnicians worshipped Moloch, the fire. Many of the +Canaanites worshipped Baal, the lord, or Baalim, the lords—the +sun, moon, and stars. The Philistines afterwards (for we read +nothing of Philistines in Moses’ time) worshipped Dagon, the fish-god, +and so forth. The Egyptians had gods without number—gods +invented out of beasts, and birds, and the fruits of the earth, and +the season, and the weather, and the sun and moon and stars. Each +class and trade, from the highest to the lowest, and each city and town +throughout the land seems to have had its special god, who was worshipped +there, and expected to take care of that particular class of men or +that particular place.</p> +<p>What a thought it must have been for the Jews—all these people +have their gods, but they are all wrong. We have the <i>right</i> +God; the only true God. They are the people of this god, or of +that; we are the people of the one true God. They look to many +gods; we look to the one God, who made all things, and beside whom there +is none else. They look to one god to bless them in one thing, +and another in another; one to send them sunshine, one to send them +fruitful seasons, one to prosper their crops, another their flocks and +herds, and so forth. We look to one God to do all these things +for us, because he is Lord of all at once, and has made all.</p> +<p>Therefore we need not fear the gods of the heathen, or cry to any +of them, even in our utmost distress; for we belong to him who is before +all gods, the God of gods, of whom it is written, ‘Worship him, +all ye gods;’ and ‘It is the Lord who made the heaven and +the earth, the sea and all that therein is. Him only shalt thou +worship, and him only shalt thou serve.’ If we obey him, +and keep his commandments; if we trust in him, utterly, through good +fortune and through bad—then we must prosper in peace and war, +we and our children after us; because our prosperity is grounded on +the real truth, and that of the heathen on a lie; and all that the heathen +expect their false gods to do for them, one here and another there, +all that, the one real God will do for us, himself alone.</p> +<p>Do you not see what a power and courage that thought must have given +to the Jews? Do you not see how worshipping God, and loving God, +and serving God, must have been a very different, a much deeper, and +a truly holier matter to them than the miserable selfish thing which +is miscalled religion by too many people now-a-days, by which a man +hopes to creep out of this world into heaven all by himself, without +any real care or love for his fellow-creatures, or those he leaves behind +him?</p> +<p>No. An old Jew’s faith in God, and obedience to God, +was part of his family life, part of his politics, part of his patriotism. +If he obeyed God, and clave earnestly to God, then a blessing would +come on him in the field and in the house, on his crops and on his cattle, +going out and coming in; and on his children and his children’s +children to a thousand generations. He would be helping, if he +obeyed and trusted God, to advance his country’s prosperity; to +insure her success in war and peace, to raise the name and fame of the +Jewish people among all the nations round, that all might say, ‘Surely +this great nation is a wise and an understanding people.’</p> +<p>Thus the duty he owed to God was not merely a duty which he owed +his own conscience or his own soul; it was a duty which he owed to his +family, to his kindred, to his country. It was not merely an opinion +that there was one God and not two; it was a belief that the one and +only true God was protecting him, teaching him, inspiring him and all +his nation. That the true God would teach their hands to war and +their fingers to fight. That the true God would cause their folds +to be full of sheep. That their valleys should stand rich with +corn, that they should laugh and sing. That the true God would +enable them to sit every man under his own vine and his own fig-tree, +and eat the labour of his hands, he and his children after him to perpetual +generations.</p> +<p>This was the message and teaching which God gave these Jews. +It is very different from what many people now-a-days would have given +them, if they had had the ordering of the matter, and the making of +those slaves into a free nation. But perhaps there is one proof +that God <i>did</i> give it them, and that the Bible speaks truth, when +it says that not man, but God gave them their law.</p> +<p>No doubt man would have done it differently. But God’s +ways are not as man’s ways, nor God’s thoughts as man’s +thoughts.</p> +<p>And God’s ways have proved themselves to be the right ways. +His purpose has come to pass. This little nation of the Jews, +inhabiting a country not as large as Wales, without sea-port towns and +commerce, without colonies or conquests—and at last, for its own +sins, conquered itself, and scattered abroad over the whole civilized +world—has taught the whole civilized world, has converted the +whole civilized world, has influenced all the good and all the wise +unto this day so enormously, that the world has actually gone beyond +them, and become Christian by fully understanding their teaching and +their Bible, while they have remained mere Jews by not fully understanding +it. Truly, if that is not a proof that God revealed something +to the Jews which they never found out for themselves, which was too +great for them to understand, which was God’s boundless message +and not any narrow message of man’s invention—if that does +not prove it, I say—I know not what proof men would have.</p> +<p>But now I have told you that God bade these Jews to look for blessings +in <i>this</i> life, and blessings on their whole nation, and on their +children after them, if they obeyed and served him. Does God <i>not</i> +bid us to look for any such blessings? The Jews were to be blessed +in <i>this</i> world. Are we only to be blessed in the next?</p> +<p>To that the Seventh Article of our Church gives a plain and positive +answer. For it says that those are not to be heard who pretend +that the old Fathers, <i>i.e</i>. Moses and the Prophets, looked only +for transitory promises—<i>i.e</i>. for promises which would pass +away. No. They looked for eternal promises which could not +pass away, because they were according to the eternal laws of God, which +stand good both for this world and for all worlds for this life and +for the life everlasting.</p> +<p>Yes, my friends, settle in your hearts that the book of Deuteronomy +is meant for you, and for all the nations upon earth, as much as for +the old Jews. That its promises and warnings are to you and to +your children as surely as they were to the old Jews. Ay, that +they are meant for every nation that is, or ever was, or ever will be +upon earth. If you would prosper on the earth, fear God and keep +his commandments; and know and consider it in your heart that the Lord +Jesus Christ he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath: there +is none else. He it is who gives grace and honour. He it +is who delivers us out of the hands of our enemies. He it is who +blesses the fruit of the womb, and the fruit of the flock, and the fruit +of the garden and the field. He is the living God, in whom this +world, as well as the world to come, lives and moves and has its being; +and only by obeying his laws can man prosper, he and his children after +him, upon this earth of God.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XVI. NATIONAL WEALTH</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Fifth Sunday after Easter</i>.)</p> +<p>Deut. viii. 11-18. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy +God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, +which I command thee this day: lest when thou hast eaten and art full, +and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy herds +and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, +and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart be lifted up, +and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the +land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led thee through that +great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, +and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water +out of the rock of flint; who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, +which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee and that he might +prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end: and thou say in thine +heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. +But thou shall remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee +power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware +unto thy fathers, as it is this day.</p> +<p>I told you before that the book of Deuteronomy was the foundation +of all sound politics—as one would expect it to be, if its author +were Moses, the greatest lawgiver whom the world ever saw. But +here, in this lesson, is a proof of the truth of what I said. +For here, in the text, is Moses’ answer to the first great question +in politics, What makes a nation prosperous?</p> +<p>To that wise men have always answered, as Moses answered, ‘Good +government; government according to the laws of God.’ That +alone makes a nation prosperous.</p> +<p>But the multitude—who are not wise men, nor likely to be for +some time to come—give a different answer. They say, ‘What +makes a nation prosperous is its wealth. If Britain be only <i>rich</i>, +then she must be safe and right.’</p> +<p>To which Moses, being a wise lawgiver, and having, moreover, in him +the Spirit of the Lord who knoweth what is in man, makes a reasonable, +liberal, humane answer.</p> +<p>Moses does not deny that wealth is a good thing. He does not +bid them not try to be rich. He takes for granted that they will +grow rich; that the national fruit of their good government will be +that they will increase in cattle and in crops and in money, and in +all which makes an agricultural people rich.</p> +<p>He takes for granted, I say, that these Jews will grow very rich; +but he warns them that their riches, like all other earthly things, +may be a curse or a blessing to them. Nay, that they are not good +in themselves, but mere tools which may be used for good or for evil. +He warns them of a very great danger that riches will bring on them. +And herein he shows his knowledge of the human heart; for it is a certain +fact that whenever any nation has prospered, and their flocks and herds, +and silver and gold, all that they had, have multiplied, then they have, +as Moses warned the Jews, forgotten the Lord their God, and said, ‘My +power and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth.’</p> +<p>And it is true, also, that whenever any nation has begun to say that, +they have fallen into confusion and misery, and sometimes into utter +ruin, till they repented, and turned and remembered the Lord their God, +and found out that the strength of a nation did not consist in riches, +but in <i>virtue</i>. For it is he that giveth the power to get +wealth. He gives it in two ways: First, God gives the raw material; +secondly, he gives the wit to use it.</p> +<p>You will all agree that God gives the first; that he gives the soil, +the timber, the fisheries, the coal, the iron.</p> +<p>Do you believe it? I hope and trust that you do. But +I fear that now-a-days many do not; for they boast of the resources +of Britain as if we ourselves had made Britain, and not Almighty God; +as if we had put the coal and the iron into the rocks, and not Almighty +God ages before we were born.</p> +<p>And if they will not say that openly, at least they will say, ‘But +the coal, and iron, and all other raw material would have been useless, +if it had not been for the genius and energy of the British race.’</p> +<p>Of course not. But who gave them that genius and energy? +Who gave them the wit to find the coal and iron?</p> +<p>God; and God gave it to us when we needed it, and not before.</p> +<p>Think of this, I beseech you; for it is true, and wonderful, and +a thing of which I may say, ‘Come, and I will reason with you +of the righteous acts of the Lord.’</p> +<p>Men say, ‘As long as England is ahead of the world in coal +and iron she may defy the world.’ I do not believe it; for +if she became a wicked nation all the coal and iron in the universe +would not keep her from being ruined.</p> +<p>But even if it were true, which it is not, that the strength of Britain +lies in coal and iron, and not in British hearts, what right have we +to boast of coal and iron?</p> +<p>Did our forefathers know of them when they came into this land? +Did they come after coal and iron?</p> +<p>Not they. They came here to settle as small yeomen; to till +miserable little patches of corn, of which we should be now ashamed, +and to feed cattle on the moors, and swine in the forests—and +that was all they looked to. Then they found that there was iron, +principally down south, in Sussex and Surrey; and they worked it, clumsily +enough, with charcoal; and for more than twelve hundred years they were +here in England, with no notion of the boundless wealth in iron and +coal lying together in the same rocks which God had provided for them; +or if they did guess at it, they could not use it, because they could +not work deep mines, being unable to pump out the water; for God had +not opened their eyes and shown them how to do it.</p> +<p>But just when it was wanted, God did show them. About the middle +of the last century the iron in the Weald was all but worked out; the +charcoal wood was getting scarcer and scarcer, and there was every chance +that England, instead of being ahead of all nations in iron, would have +fallen behind other nations; and then where should we have been now?</p> +<p>But, just about one hundred years ago, it pleased God to open the +eyes of certain men, and they invented steam-engines. Then they +could pump the mines, then they could discover and use the vast riches +of our coal-mines. Then, too, sprung up a thousand useful arts +and manufactures; while the land, not being wanted for charcoal and +firewood, as of old, could be cleared of wood, and thousands of acres +set free to grow corn. Population, which had been all but standing +still, without increasing, has now more than doubled, and wealth inestimable +has come to this generation, of which our forefathers never dreamed.</p> +<p>Now what have we to boast of in that? What, save to confess +ourselves a very stupid race, who for twelve hundred years could not +discover, or at least use the boundless wealth which God had given us, +because we had not wit enough to invent so simple a thing as a steam-engine.</p> +<p>All we should do, instead of boasting, is to bless God that he revealed +to us just what we needed, and at the very time at which we needed it, +and confess that it is <i>he</i> that giveth us power to get wealth. +It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves.</p> +<p>Look again at another case, even more extraordinary, which has happened +during our own times—indeed within the last ten years—the +discovery of gold in Australia.</p> +<p>There had been rumours and whispers of gold for years before; and +yet no one looked for gold, cared for it, hardly believed in it. +God had dulled their understanding and blinded their eyes for some good +purpose of his own. That is what the Bible would have said of +such a matter, and that is what we should say.</p> +<p>And at last some man finds lying out upon the downs a huge lump of +gold—by accident (as men call it; by the special providence of +God, as they ought to call it); and at that every one starts up and +awakes, and begins looking for gold. And now that their eyes are +opened, behold! the gold is everywhere. Not merely in lonely forests +and unexplored mountains, but on farms where the sheep have been pastured +for years past; ay, even Melbourne streets were full of gold, under +the feet of the passengers and the wheels of the carriages; there had +the gold been all along, but men could not see it till God opened their +eyes. Verily, verily, God is great, and man is small. I +do not say that this was a miracle in the common meaning of the word; +but I do say that this was a striking instance of that everlasting and +special providence of the living God, who ordereth all things in heaven +and earth, from the rise of a nation to the fall of a sparrow; and does +so, not by breaking his own laws, but by making his laws work exactly +as he will, when he will, and where he will; and I say that it is a +fresh proof of the great saying, that no man can see a thing unless +God shows it to him. For it is the Lord who gives us power to +get wealth. It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; +and in him we live and move, and have our being.</p> +<p>This, then, was what Moses commanded—to remember that they +owed all to God. What they had, they had of God’s free gift. +What they were, they were by God’s free grace. Therefore +they were not to boast of themselves, their numbers, their wealth, their +armies, their fair and fertile land. They were to make their boast +of God, and of God’s goodness.</p> +<p>He that gloried was to glory in the Lord, and confess that a Syrian +ready to perish was their father Jacob, when the Lord had mercy on him, +and made him the head of a great tribe, and the father of a great nation; +that not themselves, but God had brought them out of Egypt with signs +and wonders; that they got not the land in possession by their own bow, +neither was it their own sword that helped them, but that God had driven +out before them nations greater and mightier than they.</p> +<p>This they were to remember, because it was true. And this we +are to remember, because it is more or less true of us. God has +put us where we are. God has made of us a great nation; God has +discovered to us the immense riches of this land. It is he that +hath made us, and not we ourselves.</p> +<p>But more. You will see that Moses warns them that if they forget +God, the Lord who brought them out of the land of Egypt, they would +go after other gods.</p> +<p>He cannot part the two things. If they forget that God brought +them out of Egypt, they will turn to idolatry, and so end in ruin.</p> +<p>Now why was this?</p> +<p>Why should not the Jews have gone on worshipping one God, even if +they had forgotten that he brought them out of the land of Egypt?</p> +<p>Some people now-a-days think that they would, and that they might +have very well been what is called Monotheists, without believing all +the story of the signs and wonders in Egypt, and the passage of the +Red Sea, and the giving of the law to Moses.</p> +<p>Such men may be very learned; but there is one thing of which they +know very little, and that is, human nature. Moses knew human +nature; and he knew that if men forgot that God was the living God, +the acting God, who had helped them once, and was helping them always, +and only believed about there being one God far away in heaven, and +not two, that <i>that</i> sort of dead faith in a dead God would never +keep them from idols. They would want gods who <i>would</i> help +them, who <i>would</i> hear their prayers, to whom they could feel gratitude +and trust; and they would invent them for themselves, and begin to worship +things in the heavens above, and the earth beneath, because they had +forgotten their true friend and helper, the living God.</p> +<p>And so shall we. If we forget that God is the living God, who +brought our forefathers into this land; who has revealed to us the wealth +of it step by step, as we needed it; who is helping and blessing us +now, every day and all the year round—then we shall begin worshipping +other gods.</p> +<p>I do not mean that we shall worship idols, though I do not see why +our children’s children should not do so a few hundred years hence +if we teach them to forget the living God. There are too many +Christians at this day who worship saints, and idols of wood and stone; +and so may our descendants do—or do even worse.</p> +<p>But we ourselves shall begin—indeed we are doing it too much +already—worshipping the so-called laws of nature, instead of God +who made the laws, and so honouring the creature above the creator; +or else we shall worship the pomps and vanities of this world, pride +and power, money and pleasure, and say in our hearts, ‘These are +our only gods which can help us—these must we obey.’ +Which if we do, this land of England will come to ruin and shame, as +surely as did the land of Israel in old time.</p> +<p>If we do not believe in the living God, we shall believe in something +worse than even a dead god.</p> +<p>For in a dead god—a god who does nothing, but lets mankind +and the world go their own way—no man nor nation ever will care +to believe.</p> +<p>And now, nay dear friends, remember that a nation is, after all, +only the people in that nation: you, and I, and our neighbours, and +our neighbours’ neighbours, and so forth; and that therefore, +in as far as we are wrong, we do our worst to make the British nation +wrong. If we give way to ungodly pride and self-sufficiency, then +we are injuring ourselves; and not only that, but injuring our neighbours +and our children after us, as far as we can. And therefore our +duty is, if we wish well to our nation, not to judge our neighbour, +nor our neighbour’s neighbour, but to judge ourselves.</p> +<p>If we go on trusting in ourselves rather than God; if we keep within +us the hard self-sufficient spirit, and boast to ourselves (though we +may be ashamed to boast to our neighbours), ‘My power and the +strength of my hands have got me this and that;’ and in fact live +under the notion, which too many have, that we could do very well without +God’s help if God would let us alone—then we are heaping +up ruin and shame for ourselves and for our children after us. +Ruin and shame, I say. We are apt to forget how easy and common +it is for God to turn the wisdom of men into folly; to frustrate the +tokens of the liars, and make the prophets mad. How men blow great +bubbles, and God bursts them with the slightest touch. How, when +all seems well, and men cry peace and safety, sudden destruction comes +upon them unawares. How, when men say, ‘Soul, take thine +ease, eat, drink, and be merry; thou hast much goods laid up for many +years,’ God answers, ‘Thou fool, this night shall thy soul +be required of thee.’</p> +<p>My friends, we see God doing thus in these very days by great nations, +by great branches of industry. Look at the American war, look +at the Manchester cotton famine, and see how God can confound the strong +and cunning, and blind their eyes to the ruin which is coming till it +is come in all its might. And then think, If it be so easy for +him to confound such as them, is it less easy for him to confound you +and me, if we begin to fancy that we can do without him, and ask, ‘Doth +God perceive it? Or is there knowledge in the Most High? +We are they that ought to speak. Who is Lord over us?’</p> +<p>Yes, in this sense God is indeed a jealous God, who will not give +his honour to another. And a blessed thing for men it is that +God <i>is</i> a jealous God, that he <i>will</i> punish us for trusting +in anything but him—will punish us for trusting in ourselves, +or in our wisdom, or in wealth, or in science, or in armies and navies, +or in constitutions and laws; in anything, in short, save the living +God.</p> +<p>For if he left us alone to go our own way without trusting or fearing +him, we should surely go down and down (as the Chinese seem to have +gone down), generation after generation, till we became only a mere +cunning and spiteful sort of animals, hateful and hating one another. +But when we are chastened for our folly, we are chastened by him that +we may be partakers of his holiness; that we may be his children, looking +up to him as our father, from whom comes every good and perfect gift; +the Father of Lights, with whom is no variableness or shadow of turning; +and who therefore will and can give us, his children, light, more and +more to understand those his invariable and eternal laws, by which he +has made earth and heaven; who has given us his Son Jesus Christ our +Lord, and will with him likewise freely give us all things.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XVII. THE GOD OF THE RAIN</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>Fifth Sunday after Easter</i>.)</p> +<p>DEUT. xi. 11, 12. The land, whither ye go to possess +it, is a land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of +heaven. A land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of +the Lord thy God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year, +even unto the end of the year.</p> +<p>I told you, when I spoke of the earthquakes of the Holy Land, that +it seems as if God had meant specially to train that strange people +the Jews, by putting them into a country where they <i>must</i> trust +him, or become cowards and helpless; that so they might learn not to +fear the powers of Nature which the heathen worshipped, but to fear +him the living God.</p> +<p>In this chapter is another instance of the same. They were +to be an agricultural people. Their very worship was (if you can +understand such a thing now-a-days) to be agricultural. Pentecost +was a feast of the first-fruits of the harvest. The Feast of Tabernacles +was a great national harvest home. The Passover itself, though +not at first an agricultural festival, became one by the waving of the +Paschal sheaf, which gave permission to the people to begin their spring-harvest—so +thoroughly were they to be an agricultural and cattle-feeding people. +They were going into a good land, a land of milk and honey and oil olive; +a land of vines and figs and pomegranates; a rich land; but a most uncertain +land—a land which might yield a splendid crop one year, and be +almost barren the next.</p> +<p>It was not as the land of Egypt—a land which was, humanly speaking, +sure to be fertile, because always supplied with water, brought out +of the Nile by dykes and channels which spread in a network over every +field, and where—as I believe is done now—the labourer turned +the water from one land to the other simply by moving the earth with +his foot.</p> +<p>It was a mountain land, a land of hills and valleys, and drank water +of the rain of heaven; a land of fountains of water, which required +to be fed continually by the rain. In that hot climate it depended +entirely on God’s providence from week to week whether a crop +could grow.</p> +<p>Therefore it was a land which the Lord cared for—a land which +needed his special help, and it had it. ‘The eyes of the +Lord God were always upon it, from the beginning of the year unto the +end of the year.’</p> +<p>Beautiful, simple, noble, true words—deeper than all the learned +words, however true they may be (and true they are, and to be listened +to with respect), which men talk about the laws of Nature and of weather. +Who would change them for all the scientific phrases in the world? +The eyes of the Lord were upon the land. It needed his care; and +therefore his care it had.</p> +<p>Therefore the Jew was to understand from his first entry into the +land, that his prosperity depended utterly on God. The laws of +weather, by which the rain comes up off the sea, were unknown to him. +They are all but unknown to us now. But they were known to God. +Not a drop could fall without his providence and will; and therefore +they were utterly in his power.</p> +<p>‘And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently +unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord +your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, +that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the first +rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, and thy +wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields for thy +cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to yourselves, +that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and serve other gods, +and worship them; and then the Lord’s wrath be kindled against +you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no rain, and that the +land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish quickly from off the good +land which the Lord giveth you.’</p> +<p>Now the Bible story is, that this warning came true. More than +once we read of drought—long, and severe, and ruinous. In +one famous case, there was no rain for three years; and Ahab has to +go out to search through the land for a scrap of pasture. ‘Peradventure +we shall find grass enough to save the horses and mules alive.’</p> +<p>And most distinctly does the Bible say that these droughts came at +times when the Jews had fallen into idolatry, and profligacy therewith. +That is the Scripture account. And if you believe in the living +God, whose providence ordereth all things in heaven and earth, that +account will seem reasonable and credible to you.</p> +<p>What special means God used to bring about these great droughts we +cannot know, any more than we can know why a storm or a shower should +come one week and not another. And we need not know. God +made the world, and God governs the world, and that is enough for us.</p> +<p>Be that as it may, Moses goes down to the very root and ground and +true cause of the riches of the land, and of the rainfall, and of the +prosperity of the Jews, and of the prosperity of any living nation on +earth, when he says, ‘Therefore shall ye lay up these my words +in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, +that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.’</p> +<p>‘Ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and your soul, +and teach them your children when thou sittest in thine house and when +thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down and when thou risest up.’ +That is, thou shalt believe continually in a living God—a God +who is working everywhere at every moment, about thy path and about +thy bed, and spying out all thy ways; and not only about thee, but about +all that thou seest. From him comes alike rain and sunshine; from +him comes the life of man; from him comes all which makes it possible +for man to live upon the earth.</p> +<p>And it is a plain fact that the Jews for a long time did believe +this—at least the prophets, psalmists and good men among them—to +the most intense degree; to a degree in which perhaps no nation has +believed it since. With them God is everything, and man nothing. +Man finds out nothing: God reveals it to him. Man’s intellect +does nothing: the Spirit of God gives him understanding to do it—even, +says Isaiah, understanding to plough, and to sow, and to reap his crops +in due season. It is the Spirit of God, according to the prophets +and psalmists, which makes the difference between a man and a beast. +But upon the beasts too, and the green things of the earth, and on all +nature, the Spirit of God works. He is the Lord and giver of life. +Take only those four Psalms, the 8th, 18th, 29th, 104th, and learn from +them what the old Jews thought of this wonderful world in which we live.</p> +<p>‘These all wait upon thee’—all living things by +land and sea—‘that thou mayest give them meat in due season. +When thou givest it them they gather it. When thou openest thy +hand they are filled with good. When thou hidest thy face they +are troubled. When thou takest away their breath they die, and +are turned again to their dust. When thou lettest thy breath go +forth they shall be made, and thou shalt renew the face of the earth.’</p> +<p>So again, in the world of man, God is the living Judge, the living +overlooker, rewarder, punisher of every man, not only in the life to +come, but in this life. His providence is a special providence. +But not such a poor special providence as men are too apt to dream of +now-a-days, which interferes only now and then on some great occasion, +or on behalf of some very favoured persons, but a special providence +looking after every special act of man, and of the whole universe, from +the fall of a sparrow to the fall of an empire.</p> +<p>And it is this intense faith in the living God, which can only come +by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, which proves the old Testament +to be truly inspired. This it is which makes it different from +all books in the world. This it is, I hold, which marks the canon +of Scripture. For in the Apocrypha—true, noble, and good +as most of it is—you do not find the same intense faith in the +living God, or anything to be compared therewith; and that for the simple +reason that the Jews, at the time the Apocrypha was written, were losing +that faith very fast. They felt themselves that there was an immense +difference between anything that they could write and what the old psalmists +and prophets had written. They felt that they could not write +Scripture. All they could do was to write commentaries about it, +and to carry out in their own fashion Moses’ command, ‘Thou +shalt bind my words for a sign upon your hands, and they shall be as +frontlets between your eyes, and thou shalt write them upon the doorposts +of thine house.’ They were right in that; but as they lost +faith in the living God, they began to observe the command in the letter, +and neglect it in the spirit.</p> +<p>You know—some of you, at least—how these words were misused +afterwards; how the scribes and the Pharisees, in their zeal to carry +out the letter of the law, went about with texts of Scripture on their +foreheads, and wrists, and the hems of their robes, enlarging their +phylacteries, as our Lord said of them. But all the time they +did not understand the texts, or love them, or get any good from them; +but only made them excuses for hating and scoffing at the rest of the +world. They had them written only on their foreheads, not on their +hearts—an outside and not an inside religion. They had lost +all faith in the living God. God had spoken, of course, to their +forefathers; but they could not believe that he was speaking to them—not +even when he spoke by his only begotten Son, the brightness of his glory, +and the express image of his person. God, so they held, had finished +his teaching when Malachi uttered his last prophecy. And now it +was for them to teach, and expound the law at secondhand. There +could be no more prophets, no more revelation; and when one came and +spoke with authority, at first hand, out of the depth of his own heart, +he was to be persecuted, stoned, crucified. No. They had +the key of knowledge; and no man could enter in, unless they chose to +open the door. Nothing new could be true. John the Baptist +came neither eating nor drinking, and they said, ‘He hath a devil.’ +The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they said, ‘Behold +a gluttonous man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.’ +And meanwhile the poor, the ignorant, those whose hearts were really +in earnest, were looking out for a prophet and a deliverer—often +going after false prophets, with Theudas and Barcochab, into the wilderness; +but going, too, to be baptized with the baptism of John, and crowding +in thousands to hear our Lord preach to them of the living God of whom +Moses had preached of old; while the scribes and Pharisees sat at home, +wrapped up in their narrow, shallow book-divinity, and said, ‘This +people, who knoweth not the law, is accursed.’ Nothing new +could be true. It must be put down, persecuted down, lest the +Romans should come and take away their place and nation.</p> +<p>But they did not succeed. Our Lord and his truth, whom they +crucified and buried, rose again the third day and conquered; and the +Romans came after all, and took away their place and nation. And +so they failed, as all will fail, who will not believe in the living +God.</p> +<p>My friends, all these things were written for our example. +As it was then, so may it be again.</p> +<p>There may come a time in this land when people shall profess to worship +the word of God; and yet, like those old scribes, make it of none effect +by their own commandments and traditions. When they shall command +men, like the scribes, to honour every word and letter of the Bible, +and yet forbid them to take the Bible simply and literally as it stands, +but only their interpretation of the Bible; when they shall say, with +the scribes, ‘Nothing new can be true. God taught the Apostles, +and therefore he is not teaching us. God worked miracles of old; +but whosoever thinks that God is working miracles now is a Pantheist +and a blasphemer. God taught men of old the thing which they knew +not; but whosoever dares to say that he does so now is bringing heresy +and false doctrine, and undermining the Christian faith by science falsely +so called.’</p> +<p>And all because they have lost all faith in the living God—the +ever-working, ever-teaching, ever-inspiring, ever-governing God whom +our Lord Jesus Christ revealed to men; in whom the Apostles, and the +Fathers, and the great middle-age Schoolmen, and the Reformers believed, +and therefore learned more and more, and taught men more and more concerning +God and the dealings of God, as time went on.</p> +<p>And then, when they see ignorant people running after quacks and +impostors, spirit-rappers and table-turners, St. Simonians and Mormons, +and false prophets of every kind, they will have nothing to say but +‘This people which knoweth not the law is accursed.’ +While when they see anything like new truth, or new teaching from God +appear, instead of welcoming the light, and going to meet the light, +and accepting the light, they will say, ‘What shall we do? +For all men will believe on him, and then the powers of this world will +come and take away our station and our order?’ As if Christ +could not take better care of his Church for which he died than they +can in his stead! And so they will persecute God’s servants, +in the name of God, and call upon the law to put down by force the men +whom they cannot put down by reason.</p> +<p>From ever falling into that state of stupid lip-belief, and outward +religion, and loss of faith in the living God: Good Lord, deliver us.</p> +<p>From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; +from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness: Good Lord, +deliver us.</p> +<p>From all false doctrine, heresy, and schism; from hardness of heart +and contempt of thy word and commandment: Good Lord, deliver us.</p> +<p>For if people ever fall into that frame of mind (as did the scribes +and Pharisees), and the good Lord do not deliver them from it, it will +surely happen to them as it is written in the Bible.</p> +<p>The powers of this world will come and take away their place, and +their power, and their station: but meanwhile the truth which they think +that they have stifled will rise again, for Christ, who is the truth, +will raise it again; and it shall conquer and leaven the hearts of men +till all be leavened; and while the scribes and Pharisees shall be cast +into the outer darkness of discontented and hopeless bigotry, the kingdoms +of the world, which they fancied were the devil’s dominion, shall +become the kingdoms of God and of his Christ, and be adopted into that +holy and ever-growing Church, of which it is written, that the gates +of hell shall not prevail against it, for in it is the Spirit of God +to lead it into all truth.</p> +<p>To which blessed end may God bring us, and our children after us. +Amen.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<h2>SERMON XVIII. THE DEATH OF MOSES</h2> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>(<i>First Sunday after Trinity</i>.)</p> +<p>DEUT. xxxiv. 5, 6. So Moses the servant of the Lord died there +in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he +buried him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; +but no man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day.</p> +<p>Some might regret that the last three chapters of Deuteronomy are +not read among our Sunday lessons. There was not, however, room +for them; and I do not doubt that those who chose our lessons knew better +than I what chapters they ought to choose. We may, however, read +them for ourselves, not only in the daily lessons, but as often as we +choose. And well worth reading they are.</p> +<p>For I know of no stronger proof of the truth of the book of Deuteronomy, +and of the whole Pentateuch, than its ending so differently from what +we should have expected, or indeed wished. If things went in this +world, as they do in novels and fables, according to man’s notion +of what is right and good, then Moses and his history would have had +a very different ending.</p> +<p>And if the story of Moses had been of man’s invention, we should +have heard—I think, from what we know of the fables, ‘myths’ +as they call them now, which nations have invented about themselves, +and their own early history, we may guess fairly what we should have +heard—how Moses brought the Jews into the land of Canaan, and +established his laws, and reigned over them, and died in honour and +great glory—if he died at all, and was not taken up into the skies, +and changed into a star, or into a god; and how he was buried with great +pomp; and how his sepulchre did remain among the Jews until that day; +and probably how men worshipped at it, and miracles were worked at it, +and so forth.</p> +<p>Also, we should have heard how, as soon as the Israelites came into +the land of Canaan, they began forthwith to serve the Lord with all +their heart and soul, as they never did afterwards, and to keep Moses’ +law, while it was yet fresh in their minds, more exactly than ever they +did afterwards; and in short, we should have had one of those stories +of a ‘golden age,’ a ‘good old time,’ a pattern-time +of early purity and devotion, of which nations and Churches, of all +tongues and all creeds, have been so ready to dream in their own case; +and which they have used, not altogether ill, to rebuke vice in their +own day, by saying, ‘Look how perfect your forefathers were. +Look how you, their unworthy children, have fallen from their faith +and their virtue.’</p> +<p>This, I think, is what we should have been told if the Pentateuch +had been the invention of man. This is exactly what we are <i>not</i> +told; but, on the contrary, the very opposite.</p> +<p>What we are told is disappointing, sad, gloomy, full of dark fears +and warnings about what the Jews will be and what they will have to +endure. But it is far more true to human nature, and to the facts +which we see in the world about us, than any story of a good old time +would have been.</p> +<p>They are still wandering in the land of Moab, when the time draws +near when Moses must die. He is a hundred and twenty years old, +but hale and vigorous still. His eye is not dim, nor his natural +force abated. But the Lord has told him that his death is near. +He gives the command of the army of Israel to Joshua the son of Nun, +and then he speaks his last words.</p> +<p>Songs they are, dark and rugged, like all the higher Hebrew poetry; +but, like it, full of the very Spirit of God—the Spirit of wisdom +and understanding, the Spirit of faith and of the fear of the Lord.</p> +<p>There are three of these songs which seem to belong to those last +days of his.</p> +<p>The Prayer of Moses the man of God—which is our 90th Psalm, +our burial Psalm. We all know the sadness of that Psalm; its weariness, +as of one who had laboured long, and would fain be at rest; its confession +of man’s frailty—fading away suddenly like the grass; its +confession of God’s strength, God from everlasting, before the +mountains were brought forth; its eternal gospel of hope and comfort, +that the strength of God takes pity on the weakness of man, ‘Lord, +thou hast been our refuge, from one generation to another.’</p> +<p>Then comes the Song of the Rock—the song of which (it seems) +the Lord said to him, ‘Write this song, and teach it the children +of Israel, that it may be a witness for me against them.’</p> +<p>And so Moses writes; and seemingly before all the congregation of +Israel, according to the custom of those times, he chants his death-song, +the Song of the Rock. It is such a song as we should expect from +him. God is the Rock. He was thinking, it may be, of the +everlasting rocks of Sinai, where God had appeared to him of old. +But God is the true, everlasting Rock, on which all things rest; the +Eternal, the Self-existent, the I Am, whom he was sent to preach to +men. But he is a good and righteous God likewise. His work +is perfect. ‘A God of truth, and without iniquity, just +and right is he.’</p> +<p>In him Moses can trust, but not in the children of Israel; they are +a perverse and crooked generation, who have waxen fat and kicked. +God has done all for them, but they will not obey him. Even in +the wilderness they have worshipped strange gods, and sacrificed to +devils, not to God; and so they will do after Moses is gone; and then +on them will come all the curses of which he has so often warned them. +‘The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the +young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs. +O that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider +their latter end! How should one chase a thousand; and two put +ten thousand to flight?’ What a people they might be, and +what a future there is before them, if they would but be true to God! +But they will not. And so Moses’ death-song, like his life’s +wish, ends in disappointment and sadness, and dread of the evils which +are coming upon his beloved countrymen.</p> +<p>Lastly, he blesses them, tribe by tribe, in strange and grand words, +such as dying men utter, who, looking earnestly across the dark river +of death, see further than they ever saw amid the cares and temptations +of life. And he blesses them. He will say nothing of them +but good. He will speak not of what they will be, but of what +they ought to be and can be. But not in their own strength—only +in the strength of God. Man is to be nothing to the last; and +God is all in all.</p> +<p>‘There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon +the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The +eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms.</p> +<p>‘Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people +saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help and who is the sword of thy +excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou +shalt tread upon their high places.’</p> +<p>Those are the last words of Moses. Then he goes up into the +mountain top, never to return; and the children of Israel are left alone +with God and their own souls, to obey and prosper, or disobey and die.</p> +<p>The time of their schooling is past, and their schoolmaster is gone +for ever. They are no more to be under a human tutor. They +are come to man’s estate and man’s responsibility, and they +are to work out their own fortunes by their own deeds, like every other +soul of man.</p> +<p>For Moses himself must not enter into the promised land. In +spite of all his faith, his courage, his endurance, his patriotism, +he has sinned against God, and he must be punished; and punished, too, +in kind—in the very thing which he will feel most deeply, in being +shut out from the very happiness on which he has set his heart all along.</p> +<p>He who has brought the Jews to the edge of the promised land must +not have the honour and glory of taking them into it. He must +have no honour and glory. That must be God’s alone. +Man must be nothing, and God all in all. Moses must die in faith, +not having received the promises, as many another saint of God has died.</p> +<p>And why? To teach him and the Jews and us that man <i>is</i> +nothing, and God is all in all.</p> +<p>Moses had given way to the very temptation which would beset such +a man. He had spoken unadvisedly with his lips, and said, ‘Hear +now, ye rebels, or ye fools, must <i>we</i> bring you water out of this +rock?’ <i>We</i>, and not God. He had claimed for +himself the power and glory of working miracles. The miracles, +he thought for a moment, were his, and not God’s. And it +may be that this was not the only time that he had so sinned. +He may naturally have thought that he had some special power and influence +with God. But be that as it may, the Jews were trained to believe +that the miracles were God’s, God’s immediate work, and +not performed by the wisdom or sanctity or supernatural power of any +saint or prophet whatsoever. Let the Jews once learn to give the +honour and glory to Moses, and not to God, and the whole of their strange +education went for nothing. Instead of worshipping God they would +begin to worship saints. Instead of trusting in God, they would +begin to trust in men; whether on earth or in heaven matters not. +If Moses was to have the honour and glory, the Jews would surely grow +into a superstitious, saint-worshipping, miracle-mongering people, and +come to ruin and slavery thereby. They were to fear God and nought +else. To trust in God and nought else.</p> +<p>So Moses must vanish out of their sight, sadly and mysteriously. +All they know of him is, that he is punished for a sin which he committed +long ago, as you and I may be. All they know of his death and +burial is, that his body was not left foully to the birds of the air +and the beasts of the field; for the Lord buried him. They know +not how, and did not need to know. And we need not know. +Enough for them and for us to know that no dishonour was done to the +grand old man; that as he died far away on the lonely mountain top without +a child to close his eyes, his last look fixed upon the good land and +large which lay spread out below, of entering which he had been dreaming +for forty—it may be for more than forty—years. Enough +for us to know that the kindly earth received his body again into her +bosom, and that the true Moses—the immortal spirit of the man—returned +to God who created him, and inspired him, and sustained him to be perhaps +the greatest man—save One who was more than man—who ever +trod this earth.</p> +<p>So our human feelings, like those of the Jews, are satisfied. +But Moses is not to be worshipped by them or by us; no splendid temple +is to rise over his bones; no lamps are to burn, or priest to chant +round his shrine; no miracles are to be worked by his relics; no man +is to invoke his patronage and intercession in their prayers. +The people whom he has brought out of Egypt are to be free—free +from the slavery of the body, free from the more degrading slavery of +the soul.</p> +<p>And so they go on over Jordan to fulfil their strange destiny, to +fight their way into the promised land, to root out the Canaanite tribes, +whose iniquity was full, whose sins had made them a nuisance not to +be suffered on the earth of God. But do they go to establish a +golden age; to become a perfect people?</p> +<p>Nothing less. To become, according to the book of Judges, just +what Moses foretold—an ignorant, selfish, often profligate and +disorderly people, doing each what is right in his own eyes, falling +continually into idolatry, civil war, and slavery to the heathens round +about. Nothing more shows the truth of this history than its humility, +its continual confession of sin, its readiness to confess the ugly truth +that the Jews are a foolish, ignorant, unmanageable, lawless, sensual +race, stiffnecked and rebellious, always resisting the Holy Spirit. +The immense difference between the Old Testament history and that of +all other nations is, that it is a history not of their virtues, but +of their sins; and a history, on the other hand, of God’s punishments +and mercies. God in the Old Testament is all, and the Jews are +nothing; and one may say that it differs from all other histories in +this, that it is not a history of the Jews themselves at all, but a +history of God’s dealings with them.</p> +<p>If any man chooses to explain that, by saying that the story was +all invented by priests and prophets afterwards, to rebuke the people +for falling into idolatry, he must have his fancy. Thought is +free—for the present, at least—though it is written that +for every idle word that men speak, they shall give account at the day +of judgment. But one question I must ask, and I am sure that British +common sense and British honesty will ask it too: If these prophets +were really good men, fearing God, and wishing to make their countrymen +fear him likewise, would it not have been a rather strange way of showing +that they feared God to tell their countrymen a set of fables and lies? +Good men are not in the habit of telling lies now, and never have been; +for no lie is of the truth, or can possibly help the truth in any way; +and all liars have their portion in the lake which burneth with fire +and brimstone. And that such men as the prophets of whom we read +in the Old Testament did not know that, and therefore invented this +history, or invented anything else, is a thing incredible and absurd.</p> +<p>Here we have the Old Testament, an infinitely good book, giving us +infinitely good advice and good news, and news too concerning God—God’s +laws, God’s providence, God’s dealings, such as we get nowhere +else. And shall we believe that this infinitely good book is founded +upon falsehood? or that the good men who wrote it could fancy it necessary +to stoop to falsehood, and take the devil’s tools wherewith to +do God’s work? That they may have been imperfectly informed +on some points there is no doubt; for the Bible tells us that they were +men of like passions with ourselves, and they may not always have been +true to the Spirit of God who was teaching them, even as we are not, +though he teaches us. They only knew in part and prophesied in +part; and now that which is perfect is come, that which is in part is +done away; the mystery of Christ was not revealed to them as it has +been to us by the holy apostles and prophets of the new dispensation, +of which St. Paul says, comparing it with the knowledge which the old +Jews had when the gospel came, That the glory of the law had no glory, +by reason of the more excellent glory of the gospel. They may, +I say, have made slight errors in unimportant matters, though it is +far more probable that those errors have crept into the text, as the +Scriptures were copied again and again through many centuries by different +scribes, of whose perfect good sense and honesty we cannot be certain. +But who that really values his Bible cares for them any more than he +cares for the spots on the sun which he can find through a telescope? +The sun still shines, and gives light to the whole earth, and the Bible +still shines, and gives light to every soul of man who will read it +in reverence and faith. But that the prophets ever invented, or +ever dared to tamper with truth, is a thing not to be believed of men +whose writings are plainly, by their own meaning and end, inspired by +the Holy Spirit of God.</p> +<p>One more reason—and a reason which to me is unanswerable—for +believing, like our forefathers, that the Old Testament is true. +The Old Testament, as well as the New, tells us of the ‘noble +acts’ of the Lord—of certain gracious and merciful and just +things which the Lord did to the children of Israel. But if that +be not true, what follows? That God has not done the noble acts +which men thought he had, and therefore that God is not as noble as +men thought he was; that men have actually fancied for themselves a +better God than the God who exists already.</p> +<p>Absurd.</p> +<p>Absurd, truly; and if you choose to call it by a harder name still, +you have a right to do so.</p> +<p>Do not you think that God must be better, not worse; more generous, +not less; more condescending, not less; more just, not less; more helpful, +not less, than man can fancy or describe? Are not the riches of +Christ unsearchable, and the mercies of the Lord boundless? Is +he not able and willing to do exceeding abundantly beyond all that we +can ask or think? Did not even St. Paul say that he only knew +in part and prophesied in part? And must it not be true of the +whole Bible what the beloved apostle St. John says of his own Gospel, +‘And there are many other things which Jesus did, the which if +they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself +could not contain the books that should be written?’</p> +<p>Bear that in mind, remembering always that the God of the Old Testament +is the God of the New likewise; and whenever you read, either in the +Old or New Testament, of the noble acts of the Lord, say boldly, as +millions of hearts have said already, when the good news of the Bible +came to them, ‘This is so beautiful that it must be true. +The Spirit of God in the Bible, and the judgment of the Church in all +ages, bears witness with my spirit that this is true. So ought +God to have done, and therefore surely so hath God done. Shall +not the Judge of all the earth do RIGHT?’</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines2"><br /><br /></div> +<p>Footnotes:</p> +<p><a name="footnote0a"></a><a href="#citation0a">{0a}</a> <i>Evidences</i>, +Part III. Cap. iii.</p> +<p><a name="footnote0b"></a><a href="#citation0b">{0b}</a> <i>Lectures +on the Jewish Church</i>, Lect. xviii. p. 401.</p> +<p><a name="footnote7"></a><a href="#citation7">{7}</a> I must +say that all attempts to put a later date on these books seems to me +to fail simply from want of evidence. I must say, also, that all +attempts to distinguish between ‘Jehovistic’ and ‘Elohistic’ +documents (with the exception, perhaps, of the first chapter of Genesis) +seem to me to fail likewise; and that the theory of an Elohistic and +a Jehovistic sect has received its <i>reductionem ad absurdum</i> in +a certain recent criticism of the Psalms.</p> +<div class="GutenbergBlankLines3"><br /><br /><br /></div> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOSPEL OF THE PENTATEUCH***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 10325-h.htm or 10325-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/2/10325 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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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: The Gospel of the Pentateuch + +Author: Charles Kingsley + +Release Date: November 27, 2003 [eBook #10325] + +Language: English + +Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOSPEL OF THE PENTATEUCH*** + + +Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +The Gospel of the Pentateuch: A set of Parish Sermons + + + + +PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION OF THE GOSPEL OF THE PENTATEUCH +TO THE REV. CANON STANLEY. + + + +My Dear Stanley, + +I dedicate these Sermons to you, not that I may make you responsible +for any doctrine or statement contained in them, but as the simplest +method of telling you how much they owe to your book on the Jewish +Church, and of expressing my deep gratitude to you for publishing +that book at such a time as this. + +It has given to me (and I doubt not to many other clergymen) a fresh +confidence and energy in preaching to my people the Gospel of the +Old Testament as the same with that of the New; and without it, many +of these Sermons would have been very different from, and I am +certain very inferior to, what they are now, by the help of your +admirable book. + +Brought up, like all Cambridge men of the last generation, upon +Paley's Evidences, I had accepted as a matter of course, and as the +authoritative teaching of my University, Paley's opinions as to the +limits of Biblical criticism, {0a} quoted at large in Dean Milman's +noble preface to his last edition of the History of the Jews; and +especially that great dictum of his, 'that it is an unwarrantable, +as well as unsafe rule to lay down concerning the Jewish history, +that which was never laid down concerning any other, that either +every particular of it must be true, or the whole false.' + +I do not quote the rest of the passage; first, because you, I doubt +not, know it as well as I; and next, in order that if any one shall +read these lines who has not read Paley's Evidences, he may be +stirred up to look the passage out for himself, and so become +acquainted with a great book and a great mind. + +A reverent and rational liberty in criticism (within the limits of +orthodoxy) is, I have always supposed, the right of every Cambridge +man; and I was therefore the more shocked, for the sake of free +thought in my University, at the appearance of a book which claimed +and exercised a licence in such questions, which I must (after +careful study of it) call anything but rational and reverent. Of +the orthodoxy of the book it is not, of course, a private +clergyman's place to judge. That book seemed dangerous to the +University of Cambridge itself, because it was likely to stir up +from without attempts to abridge her ancient liberty of thought; but +it seemed still more dangerous to the hundreds of thousands without +the University, who, being no scholars, must take on trust the +historic truth of the Bible. + +For I found that book, if not always read, yet still talked and +thought of on every side, among persons whom I should have fancied +careless of its subject, and even ignorant of its existence, but to +whom I was personally bound to give some answer as to the book and +its worth. It was making many unsettled and unhappy; it was (even +worse) pandering to the cynicism and frivolity of many who were +already too cynical and frivolous; and, much as I shrank from +descending into the arena of religious controversy, I felt bound to +say a few plain words on it, at least to my own parishioners. + +But how to do so, without putting into their heads thoughts which +need be in no man's head, and perhaps shaking the very faith which I +was trying to build up, was difficult to me, and I think would have +been impossible to me, but for the opportune appearance of your +admirable book. + +I could not but see that the book to which I have alluded, like most +other modern books on Biblical criticism, was altogether negative; +was possessed too often by that fanaticism of disbelief which is +just as dangerous as the fanaticism of belief; was picking the body +of the Scripture to pieces so earnestly, that it seemed to forget +that Scripture had a spirit as well as a body; or, if it confessed +that it had a spirit, asserting that spirit to be one utterly +different from the spirit which the Scripture asserts that it +possesses. + +For the Scripture asserts that those who wrote it were moved by the +Spirit of God; that it is a record of God's dealings with men, which +certain men were inspired to perceive and to write down: whereas +the tendency of modern criticism is, without doubt, to assert that +Scripture is inspired by the spirit of man; that it contains the +thoughts and discoveries of men concerning God, which they wrote +down without the inspiration of God; which difference seems to me +(and I hope to others) utterly infinite and incalculable, and to +involve the question of the whole character, honour, and glory of +God. + +There is, without a doubt, something in the Old Testament, as well +as in the New, quite different in kind, as well as in degree, from +the sacred books of any other people: an unique element, which has +had an unique effect upon the human heart, life and civilization. +This remains, after all possible deductions for 'ignorance of +physical science,' 'errors in numbers and chronology,' +'interpolations' 'mistakes of transcribers' and so forth, whereof we +have read of late a great deal too much, and ought to care for them +and for their existence, or non-existence, simply nothing at all; +because, granting them all--though the greater part of them I do not +grant, as far as I can trust my critical faculty--there remains that +unique element, beside which all these accidents are but as the +spots on the sun compared to the great glory of his life-giving +light. The unique element is there; and I cannot but still believe, +after much thought, that it--the powerful and working element, the +inspired and Divine element which has converted and still converts +millions of souls--is just that which Christendom in all ages has +held it to be: the account of certain 'noble acts' of God's, and +not of certain noble thoughts of man--in a word, not merely the +moral, but the historic element; and that, therefore, the value of +the Bible teaching depends on the truth of the Bible story. That is +my belief. Any criticism which tries to rob me of that I shall look +at fairly, but very severely indeed. + +If all that a man wants is a 'religion,' he ought to be able to make +a very pretty one for himself, and a fresh one as often as he is +tired of the old. But the heart and soul of man wants more than +that, as it is written, 'My soul is athirst for God, even for the +living God.' Those whom I have to teach want a living God, who +cares for men, works for men, teaches men, punishes men, forgives +men, saves men from their sins; and Him I have found in the Bible, +and nowhere else, save in the facts of life which the Bible alone +interprets. + +In the power of man to find out God I will never believe. The +'religious sentiment,' or 'God-consciousness,' so much talked of +now-a-days, seems to me (as I believe it will to all practical +common-sense Englishmen), a faculty not to be depended on; as +fallible and corrupt as any other part of human nature; apt (to +judge from history) to develop itself into ugly forms, not only +without a revelation from God, but too often in spite of one--into +polytheisms, idolatries, witchcrafts, Buddhist asceticisms, +Phoenician Moloch-sacrifices, Popish inquisitions, American spirit- +rappings, and what not. The hearts and minds of the sick, the poor, +the sorrowing, the truly human, all demand a living God, who has +revealed himself in living acts; a God who has taught mankind by +facts, not left them to discover him by theories and sentiments; a +Judge, a Father, a Saviour, and an Inspirer; in a word, their hearts +and minds demand the historic truth of the Bible--of the Old +Testament no less than of the New. + +What I needed therefore, for my guidance, was a book which should +believe and confess all this, without condemning or ignoring free +criticism and its results; which should make use of that criticism +not to destroy but to build up; which employed a thorough knowledge +of the Old Testament history, the manners of the Jews, the +localities of the sacred events, to teach men not what might not be +in the Bible, but what was certainly therein; which dealt with the +Bible after the only fair and trustful method; that is, to consider +it at first according to the theory which it sets forth concerning +itself, before trying quite another theory of the commentator's own +invention; and which combined with a courageous determination to +tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, that +Christian spirit of trust, reverence and piety, without which all +intellectual acuteness is but blindness and folly. + +All this, and more, I found in your book, enforced with a genius +which needs no poor praise of mine; and I hailed its appearance at +such a crisis as a happy Providence, certain that it would be, what +I now know by experience it has been, a balm to many a wounded +spirit, and a check to many a wandering intellect, inclined, in the +rashness of youth, to throw away the truth it already had, for the +sake of theories which it hoped that it might possibly verify +hereafter. + +With your book in my hand, I have tried to write a few plain +Sermons, telling plain people what they will find in the Pentateuch, +in spite of all present doubts, as their fathers found it before +them, and as (I trust) their children will find it after them, when +all this present whirlwind of controversy has past, + + +'As dust that lightly rises up, +And is lightly laid again.' + + +I have told them that they will find in the Bible, and in no other +ancient book, that living working God, whom their reason and +conscience demand; and that they will find that he is none other +than Jesus Christ our Lord. I have not apologised for or explained +away the so-called 'Anthropomorphism' of the Old Testament. On the +contrary, I have frankly accepted it, and even gloried in it as an +integral, and I believe invaluable element of Scripture. I have +deliberately ignored many questions of great interest and +difficulty, because I had no satisfactory solution of them to offer; +but I have said at the same time that those questions were +altogether unimportant, compared with those salient and fundamental +points of the Bible history on which I was preaching. And therefore +I have dared to bid my people relinquish Biblical criticism to those +who have time for it; and to say of it with me, as Abraham of the +planets, 'O my people, I am clear of all these things! I turn +myself to him who made heaven and earth.' + +I do not wish, believe me, to make you responsible for any statement +or opinion of mine. I am painfully conscious, on reviewing for the +Press Sermons which would never have been published save by special +request, how imperfect, poor, and weak they seem to me--how much +worse, then, they will appear to other people; how much more may be +said which I have not the wit to say! But the Bible can take care +of itself, I presume, without my help. All I can do is, to speak +what I think, as far as I see my way; to record the obligation +toward you under which I, with thousands more, now lie; and to +express my hope that we shall be always found together fellow- +workers in the cause of Truth, and that to you and in you may be +fulfilled those noble and tender words, in which you have spoken of +Samuel, and of those who work in Samuel's spirit: + +'In later times, even in our own, many names spring to our +recollection of those who have trodden or (in different degrees, +some known, and some unknown) are treading the same thankless path +in the Church of Germany, in the Church of France, in the Church of +Russia, in the Church of England. Wherever they are, and whosoever +they may be, and howsoever they may be neglected or assailed, or +despised, they, like their great prototype and likeness in the +Jewish Church, are the silent healers who bind up the wounds of +their age in spite of itself; they are the good physicians who bind +together the dislocated bones of a disjointed time; they are the +reconcilers who turn the hearts of the children to the fathers, or +of the fathers to the children. They have but little praise and +reward from the partisans who are loud in indiscriminate censure and +applause. But, like Samuel, they have a far higher reward, in the +Davids who are silently strengthened and nurtured by them in Naioth +of Ramah--in the glories of a new age which shall be ushered in +peacefully and happily after they have been laid in the grave.' {0b} + +That such, my dear Stanley, may be your work and your destiny, is +the earnest hope of + +Yours affectionately, +C. KINGSLEY. +EVERSLEY RECTORY, +July 1, 1863. + + + +SERMON I. GOD IN CHRIST + + + +(Septuagesima Sunday.) + +GENESIS i. I. In the beginning God created the heaven and the +earth. + +We have begun this Sunday to read the book of Genesis. I trust that +you will listen to it as you ought--with peculiar respect and awe, +as the oldest part of the Bible, and therefore the oldest of all +known works--the earliest human thought which has been handed down +to us. + +And what is the first written thought which has been handed down to +us by the Providence of Almighty God? + +'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.' + +How many other things, how many hundred other things, men might have +thought fit to write down for those who should come after; and say-- +This is the first knowledge which a man should have; this is the +root of all wisdom, all power, all wealth. + +But God inspired Moses and the Prophets to write as they have +written. They were not to tell men that the first thing to be +learnt was how to be rich; nor how to be strong; nor even how to be +happy: but that the first thing to be learnt was that God created +the heaven and the earth. + +And why first? + +Because the first question which man asks--the question which shows +he is a man and not a brute--always has been, and always will be-- +Where am I? How did I get into this world; and how did this world +get here likewise? And if man takes up with a wrong answer to that +question, then the man himself is certain to go wrong in all manner +of ways. For a lie can never do anything but harm, or breed +anything but harm; and lies do breed, as fast as the blight on the +trees, or the smut on the corn: only being not according to nature, +or the laws of God, they do not breed as natural things do, after +their kind: but, belonging to chaos, the kingdom of disorder and +misrule, they breed fresh lies unlike themselves, of all strange and +unexpected shapes; so that when a man takes up with one lie, there +is no saying what other lie he may not take up with beside. + +Wherefore the first thing man has to learn is truth concerning the +first human question, Where am I? How did I come here; and how did +this world come here? To which the Bible answers in its first line- +- + +'In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.' + +How God created, the Bible does not tell us. Whether he created (as +doubtless he could have done if he chose) this world suddenly out of +nothing, full grown and complete; or whether he created it (as he +creates you and me, and all living and growing things now) out of +things which had been before it--that the Bible does not tell us. + +Perhaps if it had told us, it would have drawn away our minds to +think of natural things, and what we now call science, instead of +keeping our minds fixed, as it now does, on spiritual things, and +above all on the Spirit of all spirits; Him of whom it is written, +'God is a Spirit' + +For the Bible is simply the revelation, or unveiling of God. It is +not a book of natural science. It is not merely a book of holy and +virtuous precepts. It is not merely a book wherein we may find a +scheme of salvation for our souls. It is the book of the +revelation, or unveiling of the Lord God, Jesus Christ; what he was, +what he is, and what he will be for ever. + +Of Jesus Christ? How is he revealed in the text, 'In the beginning +God created the heaven and the earth?' + +Thus:--If you look at the first chapter of Genesis and the beginning +of the second, you will see that God is called therein by a +different name from what he is called afterwards. He is called God, +Elohim, The High or Mighty One or Ones. After that he is called the +Lord God, Jehovah Elohim, which means properly, The High or Mighty I +Am, or Jehovah, a word which I will explain to you afterwards. That +word is generally translated in our Bible, as it was in the Greek, +'The Lord;' because the later Jews had such a deep reverence for the +name Jehovah, that they did not like to write it or speak it: but +called God simply Adonai, the Lord. + +So that we have three names for God in the Old Testament. + +First El, or Elohim, the Mighty One: by which, so Moses says, God +was known to the Jews before his time, and which sets forth God's +power and majesty--the first thing of which men would think in +thinking of God. + +Next Jehovah. The I Am, the Eternal, and Self-existent Being, by +which name God revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush--a +deeper and wider name than the former. + +And lastly, Adonai, the Lord, the living Ruler and Master of the +world and men, by which he revealed himself to the later Jews, and +at last to all mankind in the person of our Lord Jesus Christ. + +Now I need not to trouble your mind or my own with arguments as to +how these three different names got into the Bible. + +That is a matter of criticism, of scholarship, with which you have +nothing to do: and you may thank God that you have not, in such +days as these. Your business is, not how the names got there, which +is a matter of criticism, but why they have been left there by the +providence of God, which is a matter of simple religion; and you may +thank God, I say again, that it is so. For scholarship is Martha's +part, which must be done, and yet which cumbers a man with much +serving: but simple heart religion is the better part which Mary +chose; and of which the Lord has said, that it shall not be taken +from her, nor from those who, like her, sit humbly at the feet of +the Lord, and hear his voice, without troubling their souls with +questions of words, and endless genealogies, which eat out the +hearts of men. + +Therefore all I shall say about the matter is that the first chapter +of Genesis, and the first three verses of the second, may be the +writing of a prophet older than Moses, because they call God Elohim, +which was his name before Moses' time; and that Moses may have used +them, and worked them into a book of Genesis; while he, in the part +which he wrote himself, called God at first by the name Jehovah +Elohim, The Lord God, in order to show that Jehovah and El were the +same God, and not two different ones; and after he had made the Jews +understand that, went on to call God simply Jehovah, and to use the +two names, as they are used through the rest of the Old Testament, +interchangeably: as we say sometimes God, sometimes the Lord, +sometimes the Deity, and so forth; meaning of course always the same +Being. + +That, I think, is the probable and simple account which tallies most +exactly with the Bible. + +As for the first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, having +been written by Moses, or at least by far the greater part of them, +I cannot see the least reason to doubt it. + +The Bible itself does not say so; and therefore it is not a matter +of faith, and men may have their own opinions on the matter, without +sin or false doctrine. But that Moses wrote part at least of them, +our Lord and his Apostles say expressly. The tradition of the Jews +(who really ought to know best) has always been that Moses wrote +either the whole or the greater part. Moses is by far the most +likely man to have written them, of all of whom we read in +Scripture. We have not the least proof, and, what is more, never +shall or can have, that he did not write them. And therefore, I +advise you to believe, as I do, that the universal tradition of both +Jews and Christians is right, when it calls these books, the books +of Moses. {7} + +But now no more of these matters: we will think of a matter quite +infinitely more important, and that is, WHO is this God whom the +Bible reveals to us, from the very first verse of Genesis? + +At least, he is one and the same Being. Whether he be called El, +Jehovah, or Adonai, he is the same Lord. + +It is the Lord who makes the heaven and the earth, the Lord who puts +man in a Paradise, lays on him a commandment, and appears to him in +visible shape. + +It is the Lord who speaks to Abraham: though Abraham knew him only +as El-Shaddai, the Almighty God. It is the Lord who brings the +Israelites out of Egypt, who gives them the law on Sinai. It is the +Lord who speaks to Samuel, to David, to all the Prophets, and +appears to Isaiah, while his glory fills the Temple. In whatever +'divers manners' and 'many portions,' as St. Paul says in the +Epistle to the Hebrews, he speaks to them, he is the same Being. + +And Psalmists and Prophets are most careful to tell us that he is +the God, not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles; of all mankind-- +as indeed, he must be, being Jehovah, the I Am, the one Self- +existent and Eternal Being; that from his throne he is watching and +judging all the nations upon earth, fashioning the hearts of all, +appointing them their bounds, and the times of their habitation, if +haply they may seek after him and find him, though he be not far +from any one of them; for in him they live and move and have their +being. + +This is the message of Moses, of the Psalmists and the Prophets, +just as much as of St. Paul on Mars' Hill at Athens. + +So begins and so ends the Old Testament, revealing throughout The +Lord. + +And how does the New Testament begin? + +By telling us that a Babe was born at Bethlehem, and called Jesus, +the Saviour. + +But who is this blessed Babe? He, too, is The Lord. + +'A Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.' And from thence, through the +Gospels, the Acts, the Epistles, the Revelation of St. John, he is +the Lord. There is no manner of doubt of it. The Apostles and +Evangelists take no trouble to prove it. They take it for granted. +They call Jesus Christ by the name by which the Jews had for +hundreds of years called the El of Abraham, the Jehovah of Moses. +The Babe who is born at Bethlehem, who grows up as other human +beings grow, into the man Christ Jesus, is none other than the Lord +God who created the universe, who made a covenant with Abraham, who +brought the Israelites out of Egypt, who inspired the Prophets, who +has been from the beginning governing all the earth. + +It is very awful. But you must believe that, or put your Bibles +away as a dream--New Testament and Old alike. Not to believe that +fully and utterly, is not to believe the Bible at all. For that is +what the Bible says, and has been sent into the world to say. It +is, from beginning to end, the book of the revelation, or unveiling +of Jesus Christ, very God of very God. + +But some may say, 'Why tell us that? Of course we believe it. We +should not be Christians if we did not.' + +Be it so. I hope it is so. But I think that it is not so easy to +believe it as we fancy. + +We believe it, I think, more firmly than our forefathers did five +hundred years ago, on some points; and therefore we have got rid of +many dark and blasphemous superstitions about witches and devils, +about the evil of the earth and of our own bodies, of marriage, and +of the common duties and bonds of humanity, which tormented them, +because they could not believe fully that Jesus Christ had created, +and still ruled the world and all therein. + +But we are all too apt still to think of Jesus Christ merely as some +one who can save our souls when we die, and to forget that he is the +Lord, who is and has been always ruling the world and all mankind. + +And from this come two bad consequences. People are apt to speak of +the Lord Jesus--or at least to admire preachers who speak of him--as +if he belonged to them, and not they to him; and, therefore, to +speak of him with an irreverence and a familiarity which they dared +not use, if they really believed that this same Jesus, whose name +they take in vain, is none other than the Living God himself, their +Creator, by whom every blade of grass grows beneath their feet, +every planet and star rolls above their heads. + +And next--they fancy that the Old Testament speaks of our Lord Jesus +Christ only in a few mysterious prophecies--some of which there is +reason to suspect they quite misinterpret. They are slow of heart +to believe all that the Scriptures have spoken of him of whom Moses +and the Prophets did write, not in a few scattered texts, but in +every line of the Old Testament, from the first of Genesis to the +last of Malachi. + +And therefore they believe less and less, that Jesus Christ is still +the Lord in any real practical sense--not merely the Lord of a few +elect or saints, but the Lord of man and of the earth, and of the +whole universe. They think of him as a Lord who will come again to +judgment--which is true, and awfully true, in the very deepest +sense: but they do not think of him--in spite of what he himself +and his apostles declared of him--as The Living, Working Lord, to +whom all power is given in heaven and earth, and not merely over the +souls of a few regenerate; as the Alpha and Omega, the first and the +last, of whom St. Paul says, 'that the mystery of Christ has been +hid from the beginning of the world in God, who created all things +by Jesus Christ.' * * * 'That, in the dispensation of the fulness of +times, he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both +which are in heaven, and which are in earth.' They fill their minds +with fancies about the book of Revelation, most of which, there is +reason to fear, are little else but fancies: while they overlook +what that book really does say, and what is the best news that the +world ever heard, that he is the Prince of the kings of the earth. + +Therefore they have fears for Christ's Bible, fears for Christ's +Church, fears for the fate of the world, which they could not have +if they would recollect who Christ is, and believe that he is able +to take care of his own kingdom and power and glory, better than man +can take care of it for him. Surely, surely, faith in the living +Lord who rules the world in righteousness is fast dying out among +us; and many who call themselves Christians seem to know less of +Christ, and of the work which he is carrying on in the world, than +did the old Psalmist, who said of him, 'The Lord shall endure for +ever; he hath also prepared his seat for judgment. For he shall +judge the world in righteousness, and minister true judgment among +the people.' He fashioneth 'the hearts of all of them, and +understandeth all their works.' + +Who can say that he believes that, who holds that this world is the +devil's world, and that sinful man and evil spirits are having it +all their own way till the day of judgment? + +Who can say that he believes that, who falls into pitiable terror at +every new discovery of science or of scholarship, for fear it should +destroy the Bible and the Christian faith, instead of believing that +all which makes manifest is light, and that all light comes from the +Father of lights, by the providence of Jesus Christ his only- +begotten Son, who is the light of men, and the inspiration of his +Spirit, who leadeth into all truth? + +And how, lastly, can those say that they believe that, who will lie, +and slander, and have recourse to base intrigues, in order to defend +that truth, and that Church, of which the Lord himself has said that +he has founded it upon a rock, and the gates of hell shall not +prevail against it? + +But if you believe indeed the message of the Bible, that Jesus +Christ is the Lord who made heaven and earth, then it shall be said +of you, as it was of St. Peter, 'Blessed art thou: for flesh and +blood hath not revealed it to thee, but my Father which is in +heaven.' + +Yes. Blessed indeed is he who believes that; who believes that the +same person who was born in a stable, had not where to lay his head, +went about healing the sick and binding up the broken heart, +suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried, and +rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven--ascended thither +that he might fill all things; and is none other than the Lord of +the earth and of men, the Creator, the Teacher, the Saviour, the +Guide, the King, the Judge, of all the world, and of all worlds +past, present, and to come. + +For to him who thus believes shall be fulfilled the promise of his +Lord, 'Come unto me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I +will give you rest.' + +He will find rest unto his soul. Rest from that first and last +question, of which I said that all men, down to the lowest savage, +ask it, simply because they are men, and not beasts. Where am I? +How came I here? How came this world here likewise? For he can +answer-- + +'I am in the kingdom of the Babe of Bethlehem. He put me here. And +he put this world here likewise: and that is enough for me. He +created all I see or can see--I care little how, provided that HE +created it; for then I am sure that it must be very good. He +redeemed me and all mankind, when we were lost, at the price of his +most precious blood. He the Lord is King, therefore will I not be +moved, though the earth be shaken, and the hills be carried into the +midst of the sea. Yea, though the sun were turned to darkness, and +the moon to blood, and the stars fell from heaven, and all power and +order, all belief and custom of mankind, were turned upside down, +yet there would still be One above who rules the world in +righteousness, whose eye is on them that fear him and put their +trust in his mercy, to deliver their soul from death, and to feed +them in the time of dearth. Darkness may cover the land for awhile, +and gross darkness the people. But while I sit in darkness, the +Lord shall be my light, till the day when he shall say once more, +"Let there be light," and light shall be.' + +Yes. To the man who is a good man and true; who has any hearty +Christian feeling for his fellow-men, and is not merely a selfish +superstitious person, caring for nothing but what he calls the +safety of his own soul; to the man, I say, who has anything of the +loving spirit of Christ in him, what question can be more important +than this, Is the world well made or ill? Is it well governed or +ill? Is it on the whole going right or going wrong? And what can +be more comforting to such a man, than the answer which the Bible +gives him at the outset?-- + +This world is well made, in love and care; for Christ the Lord made +it, and behold it was very good. + +This world is going right and not wrong, in spite of all appearances +to the contrary; for Christ the Lord is King. He sitteth between +the cherubim, be the earth never so unquiet. He is too strong and +too loving to let the world go any way but the right. Parts of it +will often go wrong here, and go wrong there. The sin and ignorance +of men will disturb his order, and rebel against his laws; and +strange and mad things, terrible and pitiable things will happen, as +they have happened ever since the day when the first man disobeyed +the commandment of the Lord. But man cannot conquer the Lord; the +Lord will conquer man. He will teach men by their neighbours' sins. +He will teach them by their own sins. He will chastise them by sore +judgments. He will make fearful examples of wilful and conceited +sinners; and those who seem to escape him in this life, shall not +escape him in the life to come. But he is trying for ever every +man's work by fire; and against that fire no lie will stand. He +will burn up the stubble and chaff, and leave only the pure wheat +for the use of future generations. His purpose will stand. His +word will never return to him void, but will prosper always where he +sends it. He has made the round world so sure that it cannot be +moved either by man or by worse than man. His everlasting laws will +take effect in spite of all opposition, and bring the world and man +along the path, and to the end, which he purposed for them in the +day when God made the heavens and the earth, and in that even +greater day, when he said, 'Let us make man in our image, after our +likeness,' and man arose upright, and knew that he was not as the +beasts, and asked who he was, and where? feeling with the hardly +opened eyes of his spirit after that Lord from whom he came, and to +whom he shall return, as many as have eternal life, in the day when +Christ the Lord of life shall have destroyed death, and put all +enemies under his feet, and given up the kingdom to God, even the +Father, that God may be all in all. + + + +SERMON II. THE LIKENESS OF GOD + + + +(Trinity Sunday.) + +GENESIS i. 26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after +our likeness. + +This is a hard saying. It is difficult at times to believe it to be +true. + +If one looks not at what God has made man, but at what man has made +himself, one will never believe it to be true. + +When one looks at what man has made himself; at the back streets of +some of our great cities; at the thousands of poor Germans and Irish +across the ocean bribed to kill and to be killed, they know not why; +at the abominable wrongs and cruelties going on in Poland at this +moment--the cry whereof is going up to the ears of the God of Hosts, +and surely not in vain; when one thinks of all the cries which have +gone up in all ages from the victims of man's greed, lust, cruelty, +tyranny, and shrillest of all from the tortured victims of his +superstition and fanaticism, it is difficult to answer the sneer, +'Believe, if you can, that this foolish, unjust, cruel being called +man, is made in the likeness of God. Man was never made in the +image of God at all. He is only a cunninger sort of animal, for +better for worse--and for worse as often as for better.' + +Another says, not quite that. Man was in the likeness of God once, +but he lost that by Adam's fall, and now is only an animal with an +immortal soul in him, to be lost or saved. + +There is more truth in that latter notion than in the former: but +if it be quite right; if we did lose the likeness of God at Adam's +fall, how comes the Bible never to say so? How comes the Bible +never to say one word on what must have been the most important +thing which ever happened to mankind before the coming of our Lord +Jesus Christ? + +And how comes it also that the New Testament says distinctly that +man is still made in the likeness of God? For St. Paul speaks of +man as 'the likeness and glory of God.' And St. James says of the +tongue, 'Therewith bless we God, even the Father; and therewith' (to +our shame) 'curse we men, which are made in the likeness of God.' + +But the great proof that man is made in the image and likeness of +God is the incarnation of our Lord Jesus Christ; for if human nature +had been, as some think, something utterly brutish and devilish, and +utterly unlike God, how could God have become man without ceasing to +be God? Christ was man of the substance of his mother. That +substance had the same human nature as we have. Then if that human +nature be evil, what follows? Something which I shall not utter, +for it is blasphemy. Christ has taken the manhood into God. Then +if manhood be evil, what follows again? Something more which I +shall not utter, for it is blasphemy. + +But man is made in the image of God; and therefore God, in whose +image he is made, could take on himself his own image and likeness, +and become perfect man, without ceasing to be perfect God. + +Therefore, my friends, it is a comfortable and wholesome doctrine, +that man is made in the image of God, and one for which we must +thank the Bible. For it is the Bible which has revealed that truth +to us, in its very beginning and outset, that we might have, from +the first, clear and sound notions concerning man and God. The +Bible, I say; for the sacred books of the heathen say, most of them, +nothing thereof. + +Man has, in all ages, been tempted, when he looks at his own +wickedness and folly, not only to despise himself--which he has good +reason enough to do--but to despise his own human nature, and to cry +to God, 'Why hast thou made me thus?' He has cursed his own human +nature. He has said, 'Surely man is most miserable of all the +beasts of the field.' He has said, 'I must get rid of my human +nature--I must give up wife, family, human life of all kinds, I must +go into the deserts and the forests, and there try to forget that I +am a man, and become a mere spirit or angel.' So said the Buddhists +of Asia, the deepest thinkers concerning man and God of all the +heathens, and so have many said since their time. But so does the +Bible not say. It starts by telling us that man is made in God's +likeness, and that therefore his human nature is originally and in +itself not a bad, but a perfectly good thing. All that has to be +done to it is to be cured of its diseases; and the Bible declares +that it can be cured. Howsoever man may have fallen, he may rise. +Howsoever the likeness may be blotted and corrupted, it can be +cleansed and renewed. Howsoever it may be perverted and turned +right round and away from God and goodness to selfishness and evil, +it can be converted, and turned back again to God. Howsoever +utterly far gone man may be from original righteousness, still to +original righteousness he can return, by the grace of baptism and +the renewing of the Holy Spirit. And what in us is the likeness of +God? That is a deep question. + +Only one answer will I make to it to-day. Whatever in us is, or is +not, the likeness of God, at least the sense of right and wrong is; +to know right and wrong. So says the Bible itself: 'Behold the man +is become as one of us, to know good and evil.' Not that he got the +likeness of God by his fall--of course not; but that he became aware +of his likeness, and that in a very painful and common way--by +sinning against it; as St. Paul says in one of his deepest +utterances, 'By sin is the knowledge of the law.' + +And you may see for yourselves how human nature can have God's +likeness in that respect, and yet be utterly fallen and corrupt. + +For a man may--and indeed every man does--know good and yet be +unable to do it, and know evil, and yet be a slave to it, tied and +bound with the chains of his sins till the grace of God release him +from them. + +To know good and evil, right and wrong--to have a conscience, a +moral sense--that is the likeness of God of which I wish to preach +to-day. Because it is through THAT knowledge of good and evil, and +through it alone, that we can know God, and Jesus Christ whom he has +sent. It is through our moral sense that God speaks to us; through +our sense of right and wrong; through that I say, God speaks to us, +whether in reproof or encouragement, in wrath or in love; to teach +us what he is like, and to teach us what he is not like. + +To know God. That is the side on which we must look at this text on +Trinity Sunday. If man be made in the image of God, then we may be +able to know something at least of God, and of the character of God. +If we have the copy, we can guess at least at what the original is +like. + +From the character, therefore, of every good man, we may guess at +something of the character of God. But from the character of Jesus +Christ our Lord, who is the very brightness of his Father's glory +and the express image of his person, we may see perfectly--at least +perfectly enough for all our needs in this life, and in the life to +come--what is the character of God, who made heaven and earth. + +I beseech you to remember this--I beseech you to believe this, with +your whole hearts, and minds, and souls, and especially just now. + +For there are many abroad now who will tell you, man can know +nothing of God. + +Answer them: 'If your God be a God of whom I can know nothing, then +he is not my God, the God of the Bible. For he is the God who has +said of old, "They shall not teach each man his brother, saying, +Know the Lord, for all shall know Me, from the least unto the +greatest." He is the God, who, through Jesus Christ our Lord, +accused and blamed the Jews because they did NOT know him, which if +they COULD NOT know him would have been no fault of theirs. Of +doctrines, and notions, and systems, it is written, and most truly, +"I know in part, and I prophesy in part," and again, "If a man +thinketh that he knoweth anything, he knoweth nothing yet as he +ought to know." But of God it is written, "This is life eternal, to +know thee, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast +sent."' + +But they will say, man is finite and limited, God is infinite and +absolute, and how can the finite comprehend the infinite? + +Answer: 'Those are fine words: I do not understand them; and I do +not care to understand them; I do not deny that God is infinite and +absolute, though what that means I do not know. But I find nothing +about his being infinite and absolute in the Bible. I find there +that he is righteous, just, loving, merciful, and forgiving; and +that he is angry too, and that his wrath is a consuming fire, and I +know well enough what those words mean, though I do not know what +infinite and absolute mean. So that is what I have to think of, for +my own sake and the sake of all mankind.' + +But, they will say, you must not take these words to the letter; man +is so unlike God, and God so unlike man, that God's attributes must +be quite different from man's. When you read of God's love, +justice, anger, and so forth, you must not think that they are +anything like man's love, man's justice, man's anger; but something +quite different, not only in degree, but in kind: so that what +might be unjust and cruel in man, would not be so in God. + +My dear friends, beware of that doctrine; for out of it have sprung +half the fanaticism and superstition which has disgraced and +tormented the earth. Beware of ever thinking that a wrong thing +would be right if God did it, and not you. And mind, that is flatly +contrary to the letter of the Bible. In that grand text where +Abraham pleads with God, what does he say? Not, 'Of course if Thou +choosest to do it, it must be right,' but 'Shall not the Judge of +all the earth do RIGHT?' Abraham actually refers the Almighty God +to his own law; and asserts an eternal rule of right and wrong +common to man and to God, which God will surely never break. + +Answer: 'If that doctrine be true, which I will never believe, then +the Bible mocks and deceives poor miserable sinful man, instead of +teaching him. If God's love does not mean real actual love,--God's +anger, actual anger,--God's forgiveness, real forgiveness,--God's +justice, real justice,--God's truth, real truth,--God's +faithfulness, real faithfulness, what do they mean? Nothing which I +can understand, nothing which I can trust in. How can I trust in a +God whom I cannot understand or know? How can I trust in a love or +a justice which is not what _I_ call love or justice, or anything +like them? + +'The saints of old said, _I_ KNOW in whom I have believed. And how +can I believe in him, if there is nothing in him which I can know; +nothing which is like man--nothing, to speak plainly, like Christ, +who was perfect man as well as perfect God? If that be so, if man +can know nothing really of God, he is indeed most miserable of all +the beasts of the field, for I will warrant that he can know nothing +really of anything else. And what is left for him, but to remain +for this life, and the life to come, in the outer darkness of +ignorance and confusion, misrule and misery, wherein is most +literally--as one may see in the history of every heathen nation +upon earth--wailing and gnashing of teeth. + +'If God's goodness be not like man's goodness, there is no rule of +morality left, no eternal standard of right and wrong. How can I +tell what I ought to do; or what God expects of me; or when I am +right and when I am wrong, if you take from me the good, plain, old +Bible rule, that man CAN be, and MUST be, like God? The Bible rule +is, that everything good in man must be exactly like something good +in God, because it is inspired into him by the Spirit of God +himself. Our Lord Jesus, who spoke, not to philosophers or Scribes +and Pharisees, but to plain human beings, weeping and sorrowing, +suffering and sinning, like us,--told them to be perfect, as our +Father in heaven is perfect, by being good to the unthankful and the +evil. And if man is to be perfect, as his Father in heaven is +perfect, then his Father in heaven is perfect as man ought to be +perfect. He told us to be merciful as our Father in heaven is +merciful. Then our Father in heaven is merciful with the same sort +of mercy as we ought to show. We are bidden to forgive others, even +as God for Christ's sake has forgiven us: then if our forgiveness +is to be like God's, God's forgiveness is like ours. We are to be +true, because God is true: just, because God is just. How can we +be that, if God's truth is not like what men call truth, God's +justice not like what men call justice? + +'If I give up that rule of right and wrong, I give up all rules of +right and wrong whatsoever.' + +No, my friends; if we will seek for God where he may be found, then +we shall know God, whom truly to know is everlasting life. But we +must not seek for him where he is not, in long words and notions of +philosophy spun out of men's brains, and set up as if they were real +things, when words and notions they are, and words and notions they +will remain. We must look for God where he is to be found, in the +character of his only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, who alone has +revealed and unveiled God's character, because he is the brightness +of God's glory, and the express image of his person. + +What Christ's character was we can find in the Holy Gospels; and we +can find it too, scattered and in parts, in all the good, the holy, +the noble, who have aught of Christ's spirit and likeness in them. + +Whatsoever is good and beautiful in any human soul, that is the +likeness of Christ. Whatsoever thoughts, words, or deeds are true, +honest, just, pure, lovely, of good report; whatsoever is true +virtue, whatsoever is truly worthy of praise, that is the likeness +of Christ; the likeness of him who was full of all purity, all +tenderness, all mercy, all self-sacrifice, all benevolence, all +helpfulness; full of all just and noble indignation also against +oppressors and hypocrites who bound heavy burdens and grievous to be +borne, but touched them not themselves with one of their fingers; +who kept the key of knowledge, and neither entered in themselves, or +let those who were trying enter in either. + +The likeness of an all-noble, all-just, all-gracious, all-wise, all- +good human being; that is the likeness of Christ, and that, +therefore, is the likeness of God who made heaven and earth. + +All-good; utterly and perfectly good, in every kind of goodness +which we have ever seen, or can ever imagine--that, thank God, is +the likeness and character of Almighty God, in whom we live and +move, and have our being. To know that he is that--all-good, is to +know his character as far as sinful and sorrowful man need know; and +is not that to know enough? + +The mystery of the ever-blessed Trinity, as set forth so admirably +in the Athanasian Creed, is a mystery; and it we cannot KNOW--we can +only believe it, and take it on trust: but the CHARACTER of the +ever-blessed Trinity--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost--we can know: +while by keeping the words of the Athanasian Creed carefully in +mind, we may be kept from many grievous and hurtful mistakes which +will hinder our knowing it. We can know that they are all good, for +such as the Father is such is the Son, and such is the Holy Ghost. +That goodness is their one and eternal substance, and majesty, and +glory, which we must not divide by fancying with some, that the +Father is good in one way and the Son in another. That their +goodness is eternal and unchangeable; for they themselves are +eternal, and have neither parts nor passions. That their goodness +is incomprehensible, that is, cannot be bounded or limited by time +or space, or by any notions or doctrines of ours, for they +themselves are incomprehensible, and able to do abundantly more than +we can ask or think. + +This is our God, the God of the Bible, the God of the Church, the +God who has revealed himself in Jesus Christ our Lord. And him we +can believe utterly, for we know that he is faithful and true; and +we know what THAT means, if there is any truth or faithfulness in +us. We know that he is just and righteous; and we know what THAT +means, if there is any justice and uprightness in ourselves. Him we +can trust utterly; to him we can take all our cares, all our +sorrows, all our doubts, all our sins, and pour them out to him, +because he is condescending; and we know what THAT means, if there +be any condescension and real high-mindedness in ourselves. We can +be certain too that he will hear us, just because he is so great, so +majestic, so glorious; because his greatness, and majesty, and glory +is a moral and spiritual greatness, which shows itself by stooping +to the meanest, by listening to the most foolish, helping the +weakest, pitying the worst, even while it is bound to punish. Him +we can trust, I say, because him we can know, and can say of him, +Let the Infinite and the Absolute mean what they may, I know in whom +I have believed--God the Good. Whatever else I cannot understand, I +can at least 'understand the lovingkindness of the Lord;' however +high his dwelling may be, I know that he humbleth himself to behold +the things in heaven and earth, to take the simple out of the dust, +and the poor out of the mire. Whatever else God may or may not be, +I know that gracious is the Lord, and righteous, yea, our God is +merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple, for _I_ was in misery, +and he helped ME. Whatsoever fine theories or new discoveries I +cannot trust, I can trust him, for with him is mercy, and with the +Lord is plenteous redemption; and he shall redeem his people from +all their sins. However dark and ignorant I may be, I can go to him +for teaching, and say, Teach me to do the thing that pleaseth thee, +for thou art my God; let thy loving Spirit lead me forth into the +land of righteousness. + +The land of righteousness. The one true heavenly land, wherein God +the righteous dwelleth from eternity to eternity, righteous in all +his ways, and holy in all his works, and therefore adorable in all +his ways, and glorious in all his works, with a glory even greater +than the glory of his Almighty power. On that glory of his goodness +we can gaze, though afar off in degree, yet near in kind, while the +glory of his wisdom and power is far, far beyond my understanding. +Of the intellect of God we can know nothing; but we can know what is +better, the heart of God. For THAT glory of goodness we can +understand, and KNOW, and sympathize with in our heart of hearts, +and say, If THIS be the likeness of God, he is indeed worthy to be +worshipped, and had in honour. Praise the Lord, O my soul, for the +Lord is GOOD. Kings and all people, princes and all judges of the +world, young men and maidens, old men and children, praise the name +of the Lord, for his name only is excellent, because his name is +GOOD. Lift up your eyes, and look upon the face of Christ the God- +man, crucified for you; and behold therein the truth of all truths, +the doctrine of all doctrines, the gospel of all gospels, that the +'Unknown,' and 'Infinite,' and 'Absolute' God, who made the +universe, bids you know him, and know this of him, that he is GOOD, +and that his express image and likeness is--Jesus Christ, his Son, +our Lord. + + + +SERMON III. THE VOICE OF THE LORD GOD + + + +(Preached also at the Chapel Royal, St. James, Sexagesima Sunday.) + +GENESIS iii. 8. And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in +the garden in the cool of the day. + +These words would startle us, if we heard them for the first time. +I do not know but that they may startle us now, often as we have +heard them, if we think seriously over them. That God should appear +to mortal man, and speak with mortal man. It is most wonderful. It +is utterly unlike anything that we have ever seen, or that any +person on earth has seen, for many hundred years. It is a miracle, +in every sense of the word. + +When one compares man as he was then, weak and ignorant, and yet +seemingly so favoured by God, so near to God, with man as he is now, +strong and cunning, spreading over the earth and replenishing it; +subduing it with railroads and steamships, with agriculture and +science, and all strange and crafty inventions, and all the while +never visited by any Divine or heavenly appearance, but seemingly +left utterly to himself by God, to go his own way and do his own +will upon the earth, one asks with wonder, Can we be Adam's +children? Can the God who appeared to Adam, be our God likewise, or +has God's plan and rule for teaching man changed utterly? + +No. He is one God; the same God yesterday, to-day, and for ever. +His will and purpose, his care and rule over man, have not changed. + +That is a matter of faith. Of the faith which the holy Church +commands us to have. But it need not be a blind or unreasonable +faith. That our God is the God of Adam; that the same Lord God who +taught him teaches us likewise, need not be a mere matter of faith: +it may be a matter of reason likewise; a thing which seems +reasonable to us, and recommends itself to our mind and conscience +as true. + +Consider, my friends, a babe when it comes into the world. The +first thing of which it is aware is its mother's bosom. The first +thing which it does, as its eyes and ears are gradually opened to +this world, is to cling to its parents. It holds fast by their +hand, it will not leave their side. It is afraid to sleep alone, to +go alone. To them it looks up for food and help. Of them it asks +questions, and tries to learn from them, to copy them, to do what it +sees them doing, even in play; and the parents in return lavish care +and tenderness on it, and will not let it out of their sight. But +after a while, as the child grows, the parents will not let it be so +perpetually with them. It must go to school. It must see its +parents only very seldom, perhaps it must be away from them weeks or +months. And why? Not that the parents love it less: but that it +must learn to take care of itself, to act for itself, to think for +itself, or it will never grow up to be a rational human being. + +And the parting of the child from the parents does not break the +bond of love between them. It learns to love them even better. +Neither does it break the bond of obedience. The child is away from +its parents' eye. But it learns to obey them behind their back; to +do their will of its own will; to ask itself, What would my parents +wish me to do, were they here? and so learns, if it will think of +it, a more true, deep, honourable and spiritual obedience, than it +ever would if its parents were perpetually standing over it, saying, +Do this, and do that. + +In after life, that child may settle far away from his father's +home. He may go up into the temptations and bustle of some great +city. He may cross to far lands beyond the sea. But need he love +his parents less? need the bond between them be broken, though he +may never set eyes on them again? God forbid. He may be settled +far away, with children, business, interests of his own; and yet he +may be doing all the while his father's will. The lessons of God +which he learnt at his mother's knee may be still a lamp to his feet +and a light to his path. Amid all the bustle and labour of +business, his father's face may still be before his eyes, his +father's voice still sound in his ears, bidding him be a worthy son +to him still; bidding him not to leave that way wherein he should +go, in which his parents trained him long, long since. He may feel +that his parents are near him in the spirit, though absent in the +flesh. Yes, though they may have passed altogether out of this +world, they may be to him present and near at hand; and he may be +kept from doing many a wrong thing and encouraged to do many a right +one, by the ennobling thought, My father would have had it so, my +mother would have had it so, had they been here on earth. And +though in this world he may never see them again, he may look +forward steadily and longingly to the day when, this life's battle +over, he shall meet again in heaven those who gave him life on +earth. + +My friends, if this be the education which is natural and necessary +from our earthly parents, made in God's image, appointed by God's +eternal laws for each of us, why should it not be the education +which God himself has appointed for mankind? All which is truly +human (not sinful or fallen) is an image and pattern of something +Divine. May not therefore the training which we find, by the very +facts of nature, fit and necessary for our children, be the same as +God's training, by which he fashioneth the hearts of the children of +men? Therefore we can believe the Bible when it tells us that so it +is. That God began the education of man by appearing to him +directly, keeping him, as it were, close to his hand, and teaching +him by direct and open revelation. That as time went on, God left +men more and more to themselves outwardly: but only that he might +raise their minds to higher notions of religion--that he might make +them live by faith, and not merely by sight; and obey him of their +own hearty free will, and not merely from fear or wonder. And +therefore, in these days, when miraculous appearances have, as far +as we know, entirely ceased, yet God is not changed. He is still as +near as ever to men; still caring for them, still teaching them; and +his very stopping of all miracles, so far from being a sign of God's +anger or neglect, is a part of his gracious plan for the training of +his Church. + +For consider--Man was first put upon this earth, with all things +round him new and strange to him; seeing himself weak and unarmed +before the wild beasts of the forest, not even sheltered from the +cold, as they are; and yet feeling in himself a power of mind, a +cunning, a courage, which made him the lord of all the beasts by +virtue of his MIND, though they were stronger than he in body. All +that we read of Adam and Eve in the Bible is, as we should expect, +the history of CHILDREN--children in mind, even when they were full- +grown in stature. Innocent as children, but, like children, greedy, +fanciful, ready to disobey at the first temptation, for the very +silliest of reasons; and disobeying accordingly. Such creatures-- +with such wonderful powers lying hid in them, such a glorious future +before them; and yet so weak, so wilful, so ignorant, so unable to +take care of themselves, liable to be destroyed off the face of the +earth by their own folly, or even by the wild beasts around--surely +they needed some special and tender care from God to keep them from +perishing at the very outset, till they had learned somewhat how to +take care of themselves, what their business and duty were upon this +earth. They needed it before they fell; they needed it still more, +and their children likewise, after they fell: and if they needed +it, we may trust God that he afforded it to them. + +But again. Whence came this strange notion, which man alone has of +all the living things which we see, of RELIGION? What put into the +mind of man that strange imagination of beings greater than himself, +whom he could not always see, but who might appear to him? What put +into his mind the strange imagination that these unseen beings were +more or less his masters? That they had made laws for him which he +must obey? That he must honour and worship them, and do them +service, in order that they might be favourable to him, and help, +and bless, and teach him? All nations except a very few savages +(and we do not know but that their forefathers had it like the rest +of mankind) have had some such notion as this; some idea of +religion, and of a moral law of right and wrong. + +Where did they get it? + +Where, I ask again, did they get it? + +My friends, after much thought I answer, there is no explanation of +that question so simple, so rational, so probable, as the one which +the text gives. + +"And they heard the voice of the Lord God." + +Some, I know, say that man thought out for himself, in his own +reason, the notion of God; that he by searching found out God. But +surely that is contrary to all experience. Our experience is, that +men left to themselves forget God; lose more and more all thought of +God, and the unseen world; believe more and more in nothing but what +they can see and taste and handle, and become as the beasts that +perish. How then did man, who now is continually forgetting God, +contrive to remember God for himself at first? How, unless God +himself showed himself to man? I know some will say, that mankind +invented for themselves false gods at first, and afterwards cleared +and purified their own notions, till they discovered the true God. +My friends, there is a homely old proverb which will well apply +here. If there had been no gold guineas, there would be no brass +ones. If men had not first had a notion of a true God, and then +gradually lost it, they would not have invented false gods to supply +his place. And whence did they get, I ask again, the notion of gods +at all? The simplest answer is in the Bible: God taught them. I +can find no better. I do not believe a better will ever be found. + +And why not? + +Why not? I ask. To say that God cannot appear to men is simply +silly; for it is limiting God's Almighty power. He that made man +and all heaven and earth, cannot he show himself to man, if he shall +so please? To say that God will not appear to man because man is so +insignificant, and this earth such a paltry little speck in the +heavens, is to limit God's goodness; nay, it is to show that a man +knows not what goodness means. What grace, what virtue is there +higher than condescension? Then if God be, as he is, perfectly +good, must he not be perfectly condescending--ready and willing to +stoop to man, and all the more ready and the more willing, the more +weak, ignorant, and sinful this man is? In fact, the greater need +man has of God, the more certain is it that God will help him in +that need. + +Yes, my friends, the Bible is the revelation of a God who +condescends to men, and therefore descends to men. And the more a +man's reason is spiritually enlightened to know the meaning of +goodness and holiness and justice and love, the more simple, +reasonable, and credible will it seem to him that God at first +taught men in the days of their early ignorance, by the only method +by which (as far as we can conceive) he could have taught them about +himself; namely, by appearing in visible shape, or speaking with +audible voice; and just as reasonable and credible, awful and +unfathomable mystery though it is, will be the greater news, that +that same Lord at last so condescended to man that he was conceived +by the Holy Ghost; born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius +Pilate; was crucified, dead, and buried; and rose the third day, and +ascended into heaven. Credible and reasonable, not indeed to the +natural man who looks only at nature, which he can see and hear and +handle; but credible and reasonable enough to the spiritual man, +whose mind has been enlightened by the Spirit of God, to see that +the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not +seen are eternal; even justice and love, mercy and condescension, +the divine order, and the kingdom of the Living God. + +And now one word on a matter which is tormenting the minds of many +just now. It is often said that all that I have been saying is +contrary to science. That this science and understanding of the +world around us, which has improved so marvellously in our days, +proves that the apparitions and miracles spoken of in the Bible +cannot be true; that God, or the angels of God, can never have +walked with man in visible shape. + +Now, my friends, I do not believe this. I believe the very +contrary. I entreat you to set your minds at rest on this point; +and to believe (what is certainly true) there is nothing in this new +science to contradict the good old creed, that the Lord God of old +appeared to his human children. It would take too much time, of +course, to give you my reasons for saying this: and I must +therefore ask you to take on trust from me when I tell you solemnly +and earnestly that there is nothing in modern science which can, if +rightly understood, contradict the glorious words of St. Paul, that +God at sundry times and in divers manners spake to the fathers by +the prophets, and hath at last spoken unto us by a Son, whom he hath +appointed heir of all things: by whom also he made the worlds, who +is the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, +and upholdeth all things by the word of his power: even Jesus +Christ, God blessed for ever. Amen. + +What then shall we think of these things? Shall we say, 'How much +better off were our forefathers than we! Ah, that we were not left +to ourselves! Ah, that we lived in the good old times when God and +his angels walked with men!' + +My friends, what says Solomon the Wise?--'Inquire not why the former +times were better than these, for thou dost not inquire wisely +concerning this.' + +It is very natural for us to think that we could become more easily +good men, more certain of going to heaven, if we saw divine +apparitions and heard divine voices. A very natural thought. But +natural things are not always the best or wisest things. Spiritual +things are surely higher and deeper than natural things. It is +natural to wish to see Christ, or some heavenly being, with our +natural eyes and senses. But it is spiritual and therefore better +for our souls, to be content to see him by faith, with the spiritual +eyes of our heart and mind, to love him with all our heart and mind +and soul, to worship him, to put our whole trust in him, to call +upon him, to honour his holy name and his word, and to serve him +truly all the days of our life. + +Natural, indeed, to wish that we were back again in the old times. +But we must recollect that these old times were not good times, but +bad times, and for that very reason the Lord took pity on them. +That they were times of darkness, and therefore it was that the +people who sat in great darkness, and in the valley of the shadow of +death, were allowed to see a great light. And that after that, the +fulness of time, the very time which the Lord chose that he might be +incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and came down upon this earth in human +form, was not a good time. On the contrary, the fulness of time, +1863 years ago, was the very wickedest, most faithless, most unjust +time that the world had ever seen--a time of which St. Paul said +that there were none who did good, no, not one; that adders' poison +was under all lips, and all feet swift to shed blood, and that the +way of peace none had known. + +Better, far better, to live in times like these, in which there is +(among Christian nations at least) no great darkness, even though +there be no great light; times in which the knowledge of the true +God and his Son Jesus Christ is spreading, slowly but surely, over +all the earth; and with it, the fruit of the knowledge of the Lord, +justice, mercy, charity, fellow-feeling, and a desire to teach and +improve all mankind, such as the world never saw before. These are +the fruits of the Scriptures of the Lord, and the Sacraments of the +Lord, and of the Holy Spirit of the Lord; and if that Holy Spirit be +in our hearts, and we yield our hearts to his gracious motions and +obey them, then we are really nearer to the Lord Jesus Christ than +if we saw him, as Adam did, with our bodily eyes, and yet rebelled +against him, as Adam did, in our hearts, and disobeyed him in our +actions. Of old the Lord treated men as babes, and showed himself +to their bodily eyes, that so they might learn that he was, and that +he was near them. But us he treats as grown men, who know that he +is, and that he is with us to the end of the world. And if he +treats us as men, my friends, let us behave ourselves like men, and +not like silly children, who cannot be trusted by themselves for a +moment lest they do wrong or come to harm. Let us obey God, not +with eye-service, just as long as we fancy that his eye is on us, +but with the deeper, more spiritual, more honourable obedience of +faith. Let us obey him for obedience' sake, and honour him for very +honour's sake, as the young emigrant in foreign lands obeys and +honours the parents whom he will never see again on earth; and let +us look forward, like him, to the day when him whom we cannot see on +earth we may, perhaps, be permitted to see in heaven, as the reward- +-and for what higher reward can man wish?--of faith and obedience. + + + +SERMON IV. NOAH'S FLOOD + + + +(Quinquagesima Sunday.) + +GENESIS ix. 13. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a +token of a covenant between me and the earth. + +We all know the history of Noah's flood. What have we learnt from +that history? What were we intended to learn from it? What +thoughts should we have about it? + +There are many thoughts which we may have. We may think how the +flood came to pass; what means God used to make it rain forty days; +what is meant by breaking up the fountains of the great deep. We +may calculate how large the ark was; and whether the Bible really +means that it held all kinds of living things in the world, or only +those of Noah's own country, or the animals which had been tamed and +made useful to man. We may read long arguments as to whether the +flood spread over the whole world, or only over the country where +Noah and the rest of the sons of Adam then lived. We may puzzle +ourselves concerning the rainbow of which the text speaks. How it +was to be a sign of a covenant from God. Whether man had ever seen +a rainbow before. Whether there had ever been rain before in Noah's +country; or whether he did not live in that land of which the second +chapter of Genesis says that the Lord had not caused it to rain upon +the earth, but there went up a mist from the earth and watered the +face of the ground, as it does still in that high land in the centre +of Asia, in which old traditions put the garden of Eden, and from +which, as far as we yet know, mankind came at the beginning. + +We may puzzle our minds with these and a hundred more curious +questions, as learned men have done in all ages. But--shall we +become really the wiser by so doing? More learned we may become. +But being learned and being wise are two different things. True +wisdom is that which makes a man a better man. And will such +puzzling questions and calculations as these, settle them how we +may, make us BETTER men? Will they make us more honest and just, +more generous and loving, more able to keep our tempers and control +our appetites? I cannot see that. Will it make us better men +merely to know that there was once a flood of waters on the earth? +I cannot see that. If we look at the hills of sand and gravel round +us, a little common sense will show us that there have been many +floods of waters on the earth, long, long before the one of which +the Bible speaks: but shall we be better men for knowing that +either? I cannot see why we should. Now the Bible was sent to make +us better men. How then will the history of the flood do that? + +Easily enough, my friends, if we will listen to the Bible, and +thinking less about the flood itself, think more about him who, so +the Bible tells us, sent the flood. + +The Bible, I have told you, is the revelation of the living Lord +God, even Jesus Christ; who, in his turn, reveals to us the Father. +And what we have to think of is, how does this story of the flood +reveal, unveil to us the living Lord of the world, and his living +government thereof? Let us look at the matter in that way, instead +of puzzling ourselves with questions of words and endless +genealogies which minister strife. Let us look at the matter in +that way, instead of (like too many men now, and too many men in all +ages) being so busy in picking to pieces the shell of the Bible, +that we forget that the Bible has any kernel, and so let it slip +through our hands. Let us look at the matter in that way, as a +revelation of the living God, and then we shall find the history of +the flood full of godly doctrine, and profitable for these times, +and for all times whatsoever. + +God sent a flood on the earth. + +True; but the important matter is that GOD sent it. + +God set the rainbow in the cloud, for a token. + +True; but the important matter is that GOD set it there. + +Important? Yes. What more important than to know that the flood +did not come of itself, that the rainbow did not come of itself, and +therefore that no flood comes of itself, no rainbow comes of itself; +nothing comes of itself, but all comes straight and immediately from +the one Living Lord God? + +A man may say, But the flood must have been caused by clouds and +rain; and there must have been some special natural cause for their +falling at that place and that time? + +What of that? + +Or that the fountains of the great deep must have been broken up by +natural earthquakes, such as break up the crust of the earth now. +What of that? + +Or that the rainbow must have been caused by the sun's rays shining +through rain-drops at a certain angle, as all rainbows are now. +What of that? Very probably it was: but if not, What of that? +What we ought to know, and what we ought to care for is, what the +Bible tells us without a doubt, that however they came, God sent +them. However they were made, God made them. Their manner, their +place, their time was appointed exactly by God for a MORAL purpose. +To do something for the immortal souls of men; to punish sinners; to +preserve the righteous; to teach Noah and his children after him a +moral lesson, concerning righteousness and sin; concerning the wrath +of God against sin; concerning God, that he governs the world and +all in it, and does not leave the world, or mankind, to go on of +themselves and by themselves. + +You see, I trust, what a message this was, and is, and ever will be +for men; what a message and good news it must have been especially +for the heathen of old time. + +For what would the heathen, what actually did the heathen think +about such sights as a flood, or a rainbow? + +They thought of course that some one sent the flood. Common sense +taught them that. + +But what kind of person must he be, thought they, who sent the +flood? Surely a very dark, terrible, angry God, who was easily and +suddenly provoked to drown their cattle and flood their lands. + +But the rainbow, so bright and gay, the sign of coming fine weather, +could not belong to the same God who made the flood. What the +fancies of the heathen about the rainbow were matters little to us: +but they fancied, at least, that it belonged to some cheerful, +bright and kind God. And so with other things. Whatever was +bright, and beautiful, and wholesome in the world, like the rainbow, +belonged to kind gods; whatever was dark, ugly, and destroying, like +the flood, belonged to angry gods. + +Therefore those of the heathen who were religious never felt +themselves safe. They were always afraid of having offended some +god, they knew not how; always afraid of some god turning against +them, and bringing diseases against their bodies; floods, drought, +blight against their crops; storms against their ships, in revenge +for some slight or neglect of theirs. + +And all the while they had no clear notion that these gods made the +world; they thought that the gods were parts of the world, just as +men are, and that beyond the gods there was the some sort of Fate, +or necessity, which even gods must obey. + +Do you not see now what a comfort--what a spring of hope, and +courage, and peace of mind, and patient industry--it must have been +to the men of old time to be told, by this story of the flood, that +the God who sends the flood sends the rainbow also? There are not +two gods, nor many gods, but one God, of whom are all things. Light +and darkness, storm or sunshine, barrenness or wealth, come alike +from him. Diseases, storm, flood, blight, all these show that there +is in God an awfulness, a sternness, an anger if need be--a power of +destroying his own work, of altering his own order; but sunshine, +fruitfulness, peace, and comfort, all show that love and mercy, +beauty and order, are just as much attributes of his essence as +awfulness and anger. + +They tell us he is a God whose will is to love, to bless, to make +his creatures happy, if they will allow him. They tell us that his +anger is not a capricious, revengeful, proud, selfish anger, such as +that of the heathen gods: but that it is an orderly anger, a just +anger, a loving anger, and therefore an anger which in its wrath can +remember mercy. Out of God's wrath shineth love, as the rainbow out +of the storm; if it repenteth him that he hath made man, it is only +because man is spoiling and ruining himself, and wasting the gifts +of the good world by his wickedness. If he see fit to destroy man +out of the earth, he will destroy none but those who deserve and +need destroying. He will save those whom, like Noah, he can trust +to begin afresh, and raise up a better race of men to do his work in +the world. If God send a flood to destroy all living things, any +when or anywhere, he will show, by putting the rainbow in the cloud, +that floods and destruction and anger are not his rule; that his +rule is sunshine, and peace, and order; that though he found it +necessary once to curse the ground, once to sweep away a wicked race +of men, yet that even that was, if one dare use the words of God, +against his gracious will; that his will was from the beginning, +peace on earth, and not floods, and good will to men, and not +destruction; and that in his HEART, in the abyss of his essence, and +of which it is written, that God is Love--in his heart I say, he +said, 'I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake, +even though the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth. +Neither will I again smite everything living, as I have done. While +the earth remaineth, seed-time and harvest, summer and winter, and +day and night, shall not cease.' + +This is the God which the book of Genesis goes on revealing and +unveiling to us more and more--a God in whom men may TRUST. + +The heathen could not trust their gods. The Bible tells men of a +God whom they can trust. That is just the difference between the +Bible and all other books in the world. But what a difference! +Difference enough to make us say, Sooner that every other book in +the world were lost, and the Bible preserved, than that we should +lose the Bible, and with the Bible lose faith in God. + +And now, my friends, what shall we learn from this? + +What shall we learn? Have we not learnt enough already? If we have +learnt something more of who God is; if we have learnt that he is a +God in whom we can trust through joy and sorrow, through light and +darkness, through life and death, have we not learnt enough for +ourselves? Yes, if even those poor and weak words about God which I +have just spoken, could go home into all your hearts, and take root, +and bear fruit there, they would give you a peace of mind, a +comfort, a courage among all the chances and changes of this mortal +life, and a hope for the life to come, such as no other news which +man can tell you will ever give. But there is one special lesson +which we may learn from the history of the flood, of which I may as +well tell you at once. The Bible account of the flood will teach us +how to look at the many terrible accidents, as we foolishly call +them, which happen still upon this earth. There are floods still, +here and there, earthquakes, fires, fearful disasters, like that +great colliery disaster of last year, which bring death, misery and +ruin to thousands. The Bible tells us what to think of them, when +it tells us of the flood. + +Do I mean that these disasters come as punishments to the people who +are killed by them? That is exactly what I do not mean. It was +true of the flood. It is true, no doubt, in many other cases. But +our blessed Lord has specially forbidden us to settle when it is +true to say that any particular set of people are destroyed for +their sins: forbidden us to say that the poor creatures who perish +in this way are worse than their neighbours. + +'Thinkest thou,' he says, 'that those Galilaeans whose blood Pilate +mingled with their sacrifices, were sinners above all the +Galilaeans? Or those eighteen, on whom the tower in Siloam fell, +and killed them; think you that they were sinners above all who +dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you nay.' + +'Judge not,' he says, 'and ye shall not be judged,' and therefore we +must not judge. We have no right to say, for instance, that the +terrible earthquake in Italy, two years ago, came as a punishment +for the sins of the people. We have no right to say that the twenty +or thirty thousand human beings, with innocent children among them +by hundreds, who were crushed or swallowed up by that earthquake in +a few hours, were sinners above all that dwelt in Italy. We must +not say that, for the Lord God himself has forbidden it. + +But this we may say (for God himself has said it in the Bible), that +these earthquakes, and all other disasters, great or small, do not +come of themselves--do not come by accident, or chance, or blind +necessity; but that he sends them, and that they fulfil his will and +word. He sends them, and therefore they do not come in vain. They +fulfil his will, and his will is a good will. They carry out his +purpose, but his purpose is a gracious purpose. God may send them +in anger; but in his anger he remembers mercy, and his very wrath to +some is part and parcel of his love to the rest. Therefore these +disasters must be meant to do good, and will do good to mankind. +They may be meant to teach men, to warn them, to make them more wise +and prudent for the future, more humble and aware of their own +ignorance and weakness, more mindful of the frailty of human life, +that remembering that in the midst of life we are in death, they may +seek the Lord while he may be found, and call upon him while he is +near. They may be meant to do that, and to do a thousand things +more. For God's ways are not as our ways, or his thoughts as our +thoughts. His ways are unsearchable, and his paths past finding +out. Who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him, +or even settle what the Lord means by doing this or that? + +All we can say is--and that is a truly blessed thing to be able to +say--that floods and earthquakes, fire and storms, come from the +Lord whose name is Love; the same Lord who walked with Adam in the +garden, who brought the children of Israel out of Egypt, who was +born on earth of the Virgin Mary, who shed his life-blood for sinful +man, who wept over Jerusalem even when he was about to destroy it so +that not one stone was left on another, and who, when he looked on +the poor little children of Judaea, untaught or mistaught, enslaved +by the Romans, and but too likely to perish or be carried away +captive in the fearful war which was coming on their land, said of +them, 'It is not the will of your Father in heaven, that one of +these little ones shall perish.' Him at least we can trust, in the +dark and dreadful things of this world, as well as in the bright and +cheerful ones; and say with Job, 'Though he slay me, yet will I +trust in him. I have received good from the hands of the Lord, and +shall I not receive evil?' + + + +SERMON V. ABRAHAM + + + +(First Sunday in Lent) + +GENESIS xvii. 1, 2. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, +the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty +God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. + +I have told you that the Bible reveals, that is, unveils the Lord +God, Jesus Christ our Lord, and through him God the Father Almighty. +I have tried to show you how the Bible does so, step by step. I go +on to show you another step which the Bible takes, and which +explains much that has gone before. + +From whom did Moses and the holy men of old whom Moses taught get +their knowledge of God, the true God? + +The answer seems to be--from Abraham. + +God taught Moses more, much more than he taught Abraham. It was +Moses who bade men call God Jehovah, the I AM; but who, hundreds of +years before, taught them to call him the Almighty God? + +The answer seems to be, Abraham. God, we read, appeared to Abraham, +and said to him, 'Get thee out of thy country, and from thy father's +house, unto a land that I shall show thee, and I will make of thee a +great nation.' And again the Lord said to him, 'I am the Almighty +God, walk before me and be thou perfect, and thou shalt be a father +of many nations.' + +'And Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for +righteousness. And he was called the friend of God.' + +But from what did Abraham turn to worship the living God? From +idols? We are not certain. There is little or no mention of idols +in Abraham's time. He worshipped, more probably, the host of +heaven, the sun and moon and stars. So say the old traditions of +the Arabs, who are descended from Abraham through Ishmael, and so it +is most likely to have been. That was the temptation in the East. +You read again and again how his children, the Jews, turned back +from God to worship the host of heaven; and that false worship seems +to have crept in at some very early time. The sun, you must +remember, and the moon are far more brilliant and powerful in the +East than here; their power of doing harm or good to human beings +and to the crops of the land is far greater; while the stars shine +in the East with a brightness of which we here have no notion. We +do not know, in this cloudy climate, what St. Paul calls the glory +of the stars; nor see how much one star differs from another star in +glory; and therefore here in the North we have never been tempted to +worship them as the Easterns were. The sun, the moon, the stars, +were the old gods of the East, the Elohim, the high and mighty ones, +who ruled over men, over their good and bad fortunes, over the +weather, the cattle, the crops, sending burning drought, pestilence, +sun-strokes, and those moon-strokes which we never have here; but of +which the Psalmist speaks when he says, 'The sun shall not smite +thee by day, neither the moon by night.' And them the old Easterns +worshipped in some wild confused way. + +But to Abraham it was revealed that the sun, the moon, and the stars +were not Elohim--the high and mighty Ones. That there was but one +Elohim, one high and mighty One, the Almighty maker of them all. He +did not learn that, perhaps, at once. Indeed the Bible tells us how +God taught him step by step, as he teaches all men, and revealed +himself to him again and again, till he had taught Abraham all that +he was to know. But he did teach him this; as a beautiful old story +of the Arabs sets forth. They say how (whether before or after God +called him, we cannot tell) Abraham at night saw a star: and he +said, 'This is my Lord.' But when the star set, he said, 'I like +not those who vanish away.' And when he saw the moon rising, he +said, 'This is my Lord.' But when the moon too set, he said, +'Verily, if my Lord direct me not in the right way, I shall be as +one who goeth astray.' But when he saw the sun rising, he said, +'This is my Lord: this is greater than star or moon.' But the sun +went down likewise. Then said Abraham, 'O my people, I am clear of +these things. I turn my face to him who hath made the heaven and +the earth.' + +And was this all that Abraham believed--that the sun and moon and +stars were not gods, but that there was a God besides, who had made +them all? My friends, there have been thousands and tens of +thousands since, I fear, who have believed as much as that, and yet +who cannot call Abraham their spiritual father, who are not +justified by faith with faithful Abraham. + +For merely to believe that, is a dead faith, which will never be +counted for righteousness, because it will never make man a +righteous man doing righteous and good deeds as Abraham did. + +Of Abraham it is written, that what he knew, he did. That his faith +wrought with his works. And by his works his faith was made +perfect. That when he gained faith in God, he went and acted on his +faith. When God called him he went out, not knowing whither he +went. + +His faith is only shown by his works. Because he believed in God he +went and did things which he would not have done if he had not +believed in God. Of him it is written, that he obeyed the voice of +the Lord, and kept his charge, his commandments, his statutes, and +his laws. + +In a word, he had not merely found out that there was one God, but +that that one God was a good God, a God whom he must obey, and obey +by being a good man. Therefore his faith was counted to him for +righteousness, because it was righteousness, and made him do +righteous deeds. + +He believed that God was helping him; therefore he had no need to +oppress or overreach any man. He believed that God's eye was on +him; therefore he dared not oppress or overreach any man. + +His faith in God made him brave. He went forth he knew not whither; +but he had put his trust in God, and he did not fear. He and his +three hundred slaves, born in his house, were not afraid to set out +against the four Arab kings who had just conquered the five kings of +the vale of Jordan, and plundered the whole land. Abraham and his +little party of faithful slaves follow them for miles, and fall on +them and defeat them utterly, setting the captives free, and +bringing back all the plunder; and then, in return for all that he +has done, Abraham will take nothing--not even, he says, 'a thread or +a shoe-latchet--lest men should say, We have made Abraham rich.' +And why? + +Because his faith in God made him high-minded, generous, and +courteous; as when he bids Lot go whither he will with his flocks +and herds. 'Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between thee and +me. If thou wilt take the left hand, I will go to the right.' He +is then, as again with the king of Sodom, and with the three +strangers at the tent door, and with the children of Heth, when he +is buying the cave of Machpelah for a burying-place for Sarah-- +always and everywhere the same courteous, self-restrained, high- +bred, high-minded man. + +It has been said that true religion will make a man a more thorough +gentleman than all the courts in Europe. And it is true: you may +see simple labouring men as thorough gentlemen as any duke, simply +because they have learned to fear God; and fearing him, to restrain +themselves, and to think of other people more than of themselves, +which is the very root and essence of all good breeding. And such a +man was Abraham of old--a plain man, dwelling in tents, helping to +tend his own cattle, fetching in the calf from the field himself, +and dressing it for his guests with his own hand; but still, as the +children of Heth said of him, a mighty prince--not merely in wealth +of flocks and herds, but a prince in manners and a prince in heart. + +But faith in God did more for Abraham than this: it made him a +truly pious man--it made him the friend of God. + +There were others in Abraham's days who had some knowledge of the +one true God. Lot his nephew, Abimelech, Aner, Eshcol, Mamre, and +others, seem to have known whom Abraham meant when he spoke of the +Almighty God. But of Abraham alone it is said that he believed God; +that he trusted in God, and rested on him; was built up on God; +rested on God as a child in the mother's arms--for this we are told, +is the full meaning of the word in the Bible--and looked to God as +his shield and his exceeding great reward. He trusted in God +utterly, and it was counted to him for righteousness. + +And of Abraham alone it is said that he was the friend of God; that +God spoke with him, and he with God. He first of all men of whom we +read, at least since the time of Adam, knew what communion with God +meant; knew that God spoke to him as a friend, a benefactor, a +preserver, who was teaching and training him with a father's love +and care; and felt that he in return could answer God, could open +his heart to him, tell him not only of his wants, but of his doubts +and fears. + +Yes, we may almost say, on the strength of the Bible, that Abraham +was the first human being, as far as we know, who prayed with his +heart and soul; who knew what true prayer means--the prayer of the +heart, by which man draws near to God, and finds that God is near to +him. This--this communion with God, is the especial glory of +Abraham's character. This it is which has given him his name +through all generations, The friend of God. Or, as his descendants +the Arabs call him to this day, simply, 'The Friend.' + +This it is which gained him the name of the Father of the Faithful; +the father of all who believe, whether they be descended from him, +or whether they be, like us, of a different nation. This it is +which has made a wise man say of Abraham, that if we will consider +what he knew and did, and in what a dark age he lived, we shall see +that Abraham may be (unless we except Moses) the greatest of mere +human beings--that the human race may owe more to him than to any +mortal man. + +But why need we learn from Abraham? we who, being Christians, know +and believe the true faith so much more clearly than Abraham could +do. + +Ah, my friends, it is easier to know than to believe, and easier to +know than to do. Easier to talk of Abraham's faith than to have +Abraham's faith. Easier to preach learned and orthodox sermons +about how Abraham was justified by his faith, than to be justified +ourselves by our own faith. + +And say not in your hearts, 'It was easy for Abraham to believe God. +I should have believed of course in his place. If God spoke to me, +of course I should obey him.' My friends, there is no greater and +no easier mistake. God has spoken to many a man who has not +believed him, neither obeyed him, and so he may to you. God spoke +to Abraham, and he believed him and obeyed him. And why? Because +there was in Abraham's heart something which there is not in all +men's hearts--something which ANSWERED to God's call, and made him +certain that the call was from God--even the Holy Spirit of God. + +So God may call you, and you may obey him, if only the Spirit of God +be in you; but not else. MAY call you, did I say? God DOES call +you and me, does speak to us, does command us, far more clearly than +he did Abraham. We know the mystery of Christ, which in other ages +was NOT made known to the sons of men as it is now revealed to his +holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit. God, who at sundry times +and in divers manners spoke to the fathers by the prophets, hath in +these last days spoken to us by his SON, Jesus Christ our Lord, and +told us our duty, and the reward which doing our duty will surely +bring, far more clearly than ever he did to Abraham. + +But do we listen to him? Do we say with Abraham, 'O my people, I am +clear of all these things which rise and set, which are born and +die, which begin and end in time, and turn my face to him that made +heaven and earth!' If so, how is it that we see people everywhere +worshipping not idols of wood and stone, but other things, all +manner of things beside God, and saying, 'These are my Elohim. +These are the high and mighty ones whom I must obey. These are the +strong things on which depend my fortune and my happiness. I must +obey THEM first, and let plain doing right and avoiding wrong come +after as it can.' + +One worships the laws of trade, and says, 'I know this and that is +hardly right; but it is in the way of business, and therefore I must +do it.' + +One worships public opinion, and follows after the multitude to do +evil, doing what he knows is wrong, simply because others do it, and +it is the way of the world. + +One worships the interest of his party, whether in religion or in +politics; and does for their sake mean and false, cruel and unjust +things, which he would not do for his own private interest. + +Too many, even in a free country, worship great people, and put +their trust in princes, saying, 'I am sorry to have to do this. I +know it is rather mean; but I must, or I shall lose such and such a +great man's interest and favour.' Or, 'I know I cannot afford this +expense; but if I do not I shall not get into good society, and this +person and that will not ask me to his house.' + +All, meanwhile, except a few, rich or poor, worship money; and +believe more or less, in spite of the Lord's solemn warning to the +contrary, that a man's life does consist in the abundance of the +things which he possesses. + +These are the Elohim of this world, the high and mighty things to +which men turn for help instead of to the living God, who was before +all things, and will be after them; and behold they vanish away, and +where then are those that have put their trust in them? + +But blessed is he whose trust is in God the Almighty, and whose hope +is in the Lord Jehovah, the eternal I Am. Blessed is he who, like +faithful Abraham, says to his family, 'My people, I am clear of all +these things. I turn my face from them to him who hath made earth +and heaven. I go through this world like Abraham, not knowing +whither I go; but like Abraham, I fear not, for I go whither God +sends me. I rest on God; he is my defence, and my exceeding great +reward. To have known him, loved him, obeyed him, is reward enough, +even if I do not, as the world would say, succeed in life. +Therefore I long not for power and honour, riches and pleasure. I +am content to do my duty faithfully in that station of life to which +God has called me, and to be forgiven for all my failings and +shortcomings for the sake of Jesus Christ our Lord, and that is +enough for me; for I believe in my Father in heaven, and believe +that he knows best for me and for my children. He has not promised +me, as he promised Abraham, to make of me a great nation; but he has +promised that the righteous man shall never be deserted, or his +children beg their bread. He has promised to keep his covenant and +mercy to a thousand generations with those who keep his commandments +and do them; and that is enough for me. In God have I put my trust, +and I will not fear what man, or earth, or heaven, or any created +thing can do unto me.' + +Blessed is that man, whether he inherit honourably great estates +from his ancestors, or whether he make honourably great wealth and +station for himself; whether he spend his life quietly and honestly +in the country farm or in the village shop, or whether he simply +earn his bread from week to week by plough and spade. Blessed is +he, and blessed are his children after him. For he is a son of +Abraham; and of him God hath said, as of Abraham, 'I know him that +he will command his children and household after him, and they shall +keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord +may bring on him the blessing which he has spoken.' + +Yes; blessed is that man. He has chosen his share of Abraham's +faith; and he and his children after him shall have their share of +Abraham's blessing. + + + +SERMON VI. JACOB AND ESAU + + + +(Second Sunday in Lent.) + +GENESIS xxv. 29-34. And Jacob sod pottage: and Esau came from the +field, and he was faint: And Esau said to Jacob, Feed me, I pray +thee, with that same red pottage; for I am faint: therefore was his +name called Edom. And Jacob said, Sell me this day thy birthright. +And Esau said, Behold, I am at the point to die: and what profit +shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear to me this +day; and he sware unto him: and he sold his birthright unto Jacob. +Then Jacob gave Esau bread and pottage of lentiles; and he did eat +and drink, and rose up, and went his way: thus Esau despised his +birthright. + +I have been telling you of late that the Bible is the revelation of +God. But how does the story of Jacob and Esau reveal God to us? +What further lesson concerning God do we learn therefrom? + +I think that if we will take the story simply as it stands we shall +see easily enough. For it is all simple and natural enough. Jacob +and Esau, we shall see, were men of like passions with ourselves; +men as we are, mixed up of good and evil, sometimes right and +sometimes wrong: and God rewarded them when they did right, and +punished them when they did wrong, just as he does with us now. + +They were men, though, of very different characters: we may see men +like them now every day round us. Esau, we read, was a hunter--a +man of the field; a bold, fierce, active man; generous, brave, and +kind-hearted, as the end of his story shows: but with just the +faults which such a man would have. He was hasty, reckless, and +fond of pleasure; passionate too, and violent. Have we not seen +just such men again and again, and liked them for what was good in +them, and been sorry too that they were not more sober and +reasonable, and true to themselves? + +Jacob was the very opposite kind of man. He was a plain man--what +we call a still, solid, prudent, quiet man--and a dweller in tents: +he lived peaceably, looking after his father's flocks and herds; +while Esau liked better the sport and danger of hunting wild beasts, +and bringing home venison to his father. + +Now Jacob, we see, was of course a more thoughtful man than Esau. +He kept more quiet, and so had more time to think: and he had +plainly thought a great deal over God's promise to his grandfather +Abraham. He believed that God had promised Abraham that he would +make his seed as the sand of the sea for multitude, and give them +that fair land of Canaan, and that in his seed all the families of +the earth should be blessed; and that seemed to him, and rightly, a +very grand and noble thing. And he set his heart on getting that +blessing for himself, and supplanting his elder brother Esau, and +being the heir of the promises in his stead. Well--that was mean +and base and selfish perhaps: but there is somewhat of an excuse +for Jacob's conduct, in the fact that he and Esau were twins; that +in one sense neither of them was older than the other. And you must +recollect, that it was not at all a regular custom in the East for +the eldest son to be his father's heir, as it is in England. You +find that few or none of the great kings of the Jews were eldest +sons. The custom was not kept up as it is here. So Jacob may have +said to himself, and not have been very wrong in saying it: + +'I have as good a right to the birthright as Esau. My father loves +him best because he brings him in venison; but I know the value of +the honour which is before my family. Surely the one of us who +cares most about the birthright will be most fit to have it, and +ought to have it; and Esau cares nothing for it, while I do.' + +So Jacob, in his cunning, bargaining way, took advantage of his +brother's weak, hasty temper, and bought his birthright of him, as +the text tells. + +That story shows us what sort of a man Esau was: hasty, careless, +fond of the good things of this life. He had no reason to complain +if he lost his birthright. He did not care for it, and so he had +thrown it away. Perhaps he forgot what he had done; but his sin +found him out, as our sins are sure to find each of us out. The day +came when he wanted his birthright and could not have it, and found +no place for repentance--that is, no chance of undoing what he had +done--though he sought it carefully with tears. He had sown, and he +must reap; he had made his bed, and he must lie on it. And so must +Jacob in his turn. + +Now this, I think, is just what the story teaches us concerning God. +God chooses Abraham's family to grow into a great nation, and to be +a peculiar people. The next question will be: If God favours that +family, will he do unjust things to help them?--will he let them do +unjust things to help themselves? The Bible answers positively, No. +God will not be unjust or arbitrary in choosing one man and +rejecting another. If he chooses Jacob, it is because Jacob is fit +for the work which God wants done. If he rejects Esau, it is +because Esau is not fit. + +It is natural, I know, to pity poor Esau; but one has no right to do +more. One has no right to fancy for a moment that God was arbitrary +or hard upon him. Esau is not the sort of man to be the father of a +great nation, or of anything else great. Greedy, passionate, +reckless people like him, without due feeling of religion or of the +unseen world, are not the men to govern the world, or help it +forward, or be of use to mankind, or train up their families in +justice and wisdom and piety. If there had been no people in the +world but people like Esau, we should be savages at this day, +without religion or civilization of any kind. They are of the +earth, earthy; dust they are, and unto dust they will return. It is +men like Jacob whom God chooses--men who have a feeling of religion +and the unseen world; men who can look forward, and live by faith, +and form plans for the future--and carry them out too, against +disappointment and difficulty, till they succeed. + +Look at one side of Jacob's character--his perseverance. He serves +seven years for Rachel, because he loves her. Then when he is +cheated, and Leah given him instead, he serves seven years more for +Rachel--'and they seemed to him a short time, for the love he bore +to her;' and then he serves seven years more for the flocks and +herds. A slave, or little better than a slave, of his own free +will, for one-and-twenty years, to get what he wanted. Those are +the men whom God uses, and whom God prospers. Men with deep hearts +and strong wills, who set their minds on something which they cannot +see, and work steadfastly for it, till they get it; for God gives it +to them in good time--when patience has had her perfect work upon +their characters, and made them fit for success. + +Esau, we find, got some blessing--the sort of blessing he was fit +for. He loved his father, and he was rewarded. 'And Isaac his +father answered and said unto him, Behold, thy dwelling shall be the +fatness of the earth, and of the dew of heaven from above; and by +thy sword shalt thou live, and shalt serve thy brother; and it shall +come to pass when thou shalt have the dominion, that thou shalt +break his yoke from off thy neck.' + +He was a brave, generous-hearted man, in spite of his faults. He +was to live the free hunter's life which he loved; and we find that +he soon became the head of a wild powerful tribe, and his sons after +him. Dukes of Edom they were called for several generations; but +they never rose to any solid and lasting power; they never became a +great nation, as Jacob's children did. They were just what one +would expect--wild, unruly, violent people. They have long since +perished utterly off the face of the earth. + +And what did Jacob get, who so meanly bought the birthright, and +cheated his father out of the blessing? Trouble in the flesh; +vanity and vexation of spirit. He had to flee from his father's +house; never to see his mother again; to wander over the deserts to +kinsmen who cheated him as he had cheated others; to serve Laban for +twenty-one years; to crouch miserably in fear and trembling, as a +petitioner for his life before Esau whom he had wronged, and to be +made more ashamed than ever, by finding that generous Esau had +forgiven and forgotten all. Then to see his daughter brought to +shame, his sons murderers, plotting against their own brother, his +favourite son; to see his grey hairs going down with sorrow to the +grave; to confess to Pharaoh, after one hundred and twenty years of +life, that few and evil had been the days of his pilgrimage. + +Then did his faith in God win no reward? Not so. That was his +reward, to be chastened and punished, till his meanness was purged +out of him. He had taken God for his guide; and God did guide him +accordingly; though along a very different path from what he +expected. God accepted his faith, delivered his soul, gave him rest +and peace at last in his old age in Egypt, let him find his son +Joseph again in power and honour: but all along God punished his +own inventions--as he will punish yours and mine, my friends, all +the while that he may be accepting our faith and delivering our +souls, because we trust in him. So God rewarded Jacob by giving him +more light: by not leaving him to himself, and his own darkness and +meanness, but opening his eyes to understand the wondrous things of +God's law, and showing him how God's law is everlasting, righteous, +not to be escaped by any man; how every action brings forth its +appointed fruit; how those who sow the wind will reap the whirlwind. +Jacob's first notion was like the notion of the heathen in all +times, 'My God has a special favour for me, therefore I may do what +I like. He will prosper me in doing wrong; he will help me to cheat +my father.' But God showed him that that was just not what he would +do for him. He would help and protect him; but only while he was +doing RIGHT. God would not alter his moral laws for him or any man. +God would be just and righteous; and Jacob must be so likewise, till +he learnt to trust not merely in a God who happened to have a +special favour to him, but in the righteous God who loves justice, +and wishes to make men righteous even as he is righteous, and will +make them righteous, if they trust in him. + +That was the reward of Jacob's faith--the best reward which any man +can have. He was taught to know God, whom truly to know is +everlasting life. And this, it seems to me, is the great revelation +concerning God which we learn from the history of Jacob and Esau. +That God, how much soever favour he may show to certain persons, is +still, essentially and always, a just God. + +And now, my friends, if any of you are tempted to follow Jacob's +example, take warning betimes. You will be tempted. There are men +among you--there are in every congregation--who are, like Jacob, +sober, industrious, careful, prudent men, and fairly religious too; +men who have the good sense to see that Solomon's proverbs are true, +and that the way to wealth and prosperity is to fear God, and keep +his commandments. + +May you prosper; may God's blessing be upon your labour; may you +succeed in life, and see your children well settled and thriving +round you, and go down to the grave in peace. + +But never forget, my good friends, that you will be tempted as Jacob +was--to be dishonest. I cannot tell why; but professedly religious +men, in all countries, in all religions, are, and always have been, +tempted in that way--to be mean and cunning and false at times. It +is so, and there is no denying it: when all other sins are shut out +from them by their religious profession, and their care for their +own character, and their fear of hell, the sin of lying, for some +strange reason, is left open to them; and to it they are tempted to +give way. For God's sake--for the sake of Christ, who was full of +grace and truth--for your own sakes--struggle against that. Unless +you wish to say at last with poor old Jacob, 'Few and evil have been +the days of my pilgrimage;' struggle against that. If you fear God +and believe that he is with you, God will prosper your plans and +labour; but never make that an excuse for saying in your hearts, +like Jacob, 'God intends that I should have these good things; +therefore I may take them for myself by unfair means.' The +birthright is yours. It is you, the steady, prudent, God-fearing +ones, who will prosper on the earth, and not poor wild, hot-headed +Esau. But do not make that an excuse for robbing and cheating Esau, +because he is not as thoughtful as you are. The Lord made him as +well as you; and died for him as well as for you; and wills his +salvation as well as yours; and if you cheat him the Lord will +avenge him speedily. If you give way to meanness, covetousness, +falsehood, as Jacob did, you will rue it; the Lord will enter into +judgment with you quickly, and all the more quickly because he loves +you. Because there is some right in you--because you are on the +whole on the right road--the Lord will visit you with disappointment +and affliction, and make your own sins your punishment. + +If you deceive other people, other people shall deceive you, as they +did Jacob. If you lay traps, you shall fall into them yourselves, +as Jacob did. If you fancy that because you trust in God, God will +overlook any sin in you, as Jacob did, you shall see, as Jacob did, +that your sin shall surely find you out. The Lord will be more +sharp and severe with you than with Esau. And why? Because he has +given you more, and requires more of you; and therefore he will +chastise you, and sift you like wheat, till he has parted the wheat +from the tares. The wheat is your faith, your belief that if you +trust in God he will prosper you, body and soul. That is God's good +seed, which he has sown in you. The tares are your fancies that you +may do wrong and mean things to help yourselves, because God has an +especial favour for you. That is the devil's sowing, which God will +burn out of you by the fire of affliction, as he did out of Jacob, +and keep your faith safe, as good seed in his garner, for the use of +your children after you, that you may teach them to walk in God's +commandments and serve him in spirit and in truth. For God is a God +of truth, and no liar shall stand in his sight, let him be never so +religious; he requires truth in the inward parts, and truth he will +have; and whom he loves he will chasten, as he chastened Jacob of +old, till he has made him understand that honesty is the best +policy; and that whatever false prophets may tell you, there is not +one law for the believer and another for the unbeliever; but +whatsoever a man sows, that shall he reap, and receive the due +reward of the deeds done in the body, whether they be good or evil. + + + +SERMON VII. JOSEPH + + + +(Preached on the Sunday before the Wedding of the Prince of Wales. +March 8th, third Sunday in Lent.) + +GENESIS xxxix. 9. How can I do this great wickedness, and sin +against God? + +The story of Joseph is one which will go home to all healthy hearts. +Every child can understand, every child can feel with it. It is a +story for all men and all times. Even if it had not been true, and +not real fact, but a romance of man's invention, it would have been +loved and admired by men; far more then, when we know that it is +true, that it actually did so happen; that is part and parcel of the +Holy Scriptures. + +We all, surely, know the story--How Joseph's brethren envy him and +sell him for a slave into Egypt--how there for a while he prospers-- +how his master's wife tempts him--how he is thrown into prison on +her slander--how there again he prospers--how he explains the dreams +of Pharaoh's servants--how he lies long forgotten in the prison--how +at last Pharaoh sends for him to interpret a dream for him, and how +he rises to power and great glory--how his brothers come down to +Egypt to buy corn, and how they find him lord of all the land--how +subtilly he tries them to see if they have repented of their old +sin--how his heart yearns over them in spite of all their wickedness +to him--how at last he reveals himself, and forgives them utterly, +and sends for his poor old father Jacob down into Egypt. Whosoever +does not delight in that story, simply as a story, whenever he hears +it read, cannot have a wholesome human heart in him. + +But why was this story of Joseph put into Holy Scripture, and at +such length, too? It seems, at first sight, to be simply a family +history--the story of brothers and their father; it seems, at first +sight, to teach us nothing concerning our redemption and salvation; +it seems, at first sight, not to reveal anything fresh to us +concerning God; it seems, at first sight, not to be needed for the +general plan of the Bible history. It tells us, of course, how the +Israelites first came into Egypt; and that was necessary for us to +know. But the Bible might have told us that in ten verses. Why has +it spent upon the story of Joseph and his brethren, not ten verses, +but ten chapters? + +Now we have a right to ask such questions as these, if we do not ask +them out of any carping, fault-finding spirit, trying to pick holes +in the Bible, from which God defend us and all Christian men. If we +ask such questions in faith and reverence--that is, believing and +taking for granted that the Bible is right, and respecting it, as +the Book of books, in which our own forefathers and all Christian +nations upon earth for many ages have found all things necessary for +their salvation--if, I say, we question over the Bible in that +child-like, simple, respectful spirit, which is the true spirit of +wisdom and understanding, by which our eyes will be truly opened to +see the wondrous things of God's law: then we may not only seek as +our Lord bade us, but we shall find, as our Lord prophesied that we +should. We shall find some good reason for this story of Joseph +being so long, and find that the story of Joseph, like all the rest +of the Bible, reveals a new lesson to us concerning God and the +character of God. + +I said that the story of Joseph looks, at first sight, to be merely +a family history. But suppose that that were the very reason why it +is in the Bible, because it is a family history. Suppose that +families were very sacred things in the eyes of God. That the ties +of husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister, were +appointed, not by man, but by God. Then would not Joseph's story be +worthy of being in the Bible? Would it not, as I said it would, +reveal something fresh to us concerning God and the character of +God? + +Consider now, my friends: Is it not one great difference--one of +the very greatest--between men and beasts, that men live in +families, and beasts do not? That men have the sacred family +feeling, and beasts have not? They have the beginnings of it, no +doubt. The mother, among beasts, feels love to her children, but +only for a while. God has implanted in her something of that +deepest, holiest, purest of all feelings--a mother's love. But as +soon as her young ones are able to take care of themselves, they are +nothing to her--among the lower animals, less than nothing. The +fish or the crocodile will take care of her eggs jealously, and as +soon as they are hatched, turn round and devour her own young. + +The feeling of a FATHER to his child, again, you find is fainter +still among beasts. The father, as you all know, not only cares +little for his offspring, even if he sometimes helps to feed them at +first, but is often jealous of them, hates them, will try to kill +them when they grow up. + +Husband and wife, again: there is no sacredness between them among +dumb animals. A lasting and an unselfish attachment, not merely in +youth, but through old age and beyond the grave--what is there like +this among the animals, except in the case of certain birds, like +the dove and the eagle, who keep the same mate year after year, and +have been always looked on with a sort of affection and respect by +men for that very reason? + +But where, among beasts, do you ever find any trace of those two +sacred human feelings--the love of brother to brother, or of child +to father? Where do you find the notion that the tie between +husband and wife is a sacred thing, to be broken at no temptation, +but in man? + +These are THE feelings which man has alone of all living animals. + +These then, remember, are the very family feelings which come out in +the story of Joseph. He honours holy wedlock when he tells his +master's wife, 'How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against +God?' He honours his father, when he is not ashamed of him, wild +shepherd out of the desert though he might be, and an abomination to +the Egyptians, while he himself is now in power and wealth and +glory, as a prince in a civilized country. He honours the tie of +brother to brother, by forgiving and weeping over the very brothers +who have sold him into slavery. + +But what has all this to do with God? + +Now man, as we know, is an animal with an immortal spirit in him. +He has, as St. Paul so carefully explains to us, a flesh and a +spirit--a flesh like the beasts which perish; a spirit which comes +from God. + +Now the Bible teaches us that man did not get these family feelings +from his flesh, from the animal, brute part of him. They are not +carnal, but spiritual. He gets them from his spirit, and they are +inspired into him by the Spirit of God. They come not from the +earth below, but from the heaven above; from the image of God, in +which man alone of all living things was made. + +For if it were not so, we should surely see some family feeling in +the beasts which are most like men. But we do not. In the apes, +which are, in their shape and fleshly nature, so strangely and +shockingly like human beings, there is not as much family feeling as +there is in many birds, or even insects. Nay, the wild negroes, +among whom they live, hold them in abhorrence, and believe that they +were once men like themselves, who were gradually changed into brute +beasts, by giving way to detestable sins; while these very negroes +themselves, heathens and savages as they are, HAVE the family +feeling--the feeling of husband for wife, father for child, brother +for brother; not, indeed, as strongly and purely as we, or at least +those of us who are really Christian and civilized, but still they +have it; and that makes between the lowest man and the highest brute +a difference which I hold is as wide as the space between heaven and +earth. + +It is man alone, I say, who has the idea of family; and who has, +too, the strange, but most true belief that these family ties are +appointed by God--that they are a part of his religion--that in +breaking them, by being an unfaithful husband, a dishonest servant, +an unnatural son, a selfish brother, he sins, not only against man, +and man's order and laws, but against God. + +Parent and child, brother and sister--those ties are not of the +earth earthy, but of the heaven of God, eternal. They may begin in +time; of what happened before we came into this world we know +nought. But having begun, they cannot end. Of what will happen +after we leave this world, that at least we know in part. + +Parent and child; brother and sister; husband and wife likewise; +these are no ties of man's invention. They are ties of God's +binding; they are patterns and likenesses of his substance, and of +his being. Of the eternal Father, who says for ever to the eternal +Son, 'This day have I begotten THEE.' Of the Son who says for ever +to the Father, 'I come to do thy will, O God.' Of the Son of God, +Jesus Christ, who is not ashamed to call us his brethren; but like a +greater Joseph, was sent before by God to save our lives with a +great deliverance when our forefathers were but savages and +heathens. Husband and wife likewise--are not they two divine words- +-not human words at all? Has not God consecrated the state of +matrimony to such an excellent mystery, that in it is signified and +represented the mystical union between Christ and his Church? Are +not husbands to love their wives, and give themselves for them as +Christ loved the Church and gave himself for it? That, indeed, was +not revealed in the Old Testament, but it is revealed in the New; +and marriage, like all other human ties, is holy and divine, and +comes from God down to men. + +Yes. These family ties are of God. It was to show us how sacred, +how Godlike they are--how eternal and necessary for all mankind-- +that Joseph's story was written in Holy Scripture. + +They are of God, I say. And he who despises them, despises not man +but God; who hath also given us his Holy Spirit to make us know how +sacred these bonds are. + +He who looks lightly on the love of child to parent, or brother to +brother, or husband to wife, and bids each man please himself, each +man help himself, and shift for himself, would take away from men +the very thing which raises them above the beasts which perish, and +lower them again to the likeness of the flesh, that they may of the +flesh reap corruption. + +They who, under whatever pretence of religion part asunder families; +or tell children, like the wicked Pharisees of old, that they may +say to their parents, Corban--'I have given to God the service and +help which, as your child, I should have given to you'--shall be +called, if not by men, at least by God himself, hypocrites, who draw +near to God with their mouths, and honour him with their lips, while +their heart is far from him. + +I think now we may see that I was right when I said--Perhaps the +history of Joseph is in the Bible because it IS a family history. +For see, it is the history of a man who loved his family, who felt +that family life was holy and God-appointed; whom God rewarded with +honour and wealth, because he honoured family ties; because he +refused his master's wife; because he rewarded his brothers good for +evil; because he was not ashamed of his father, but succoured him in +his old age. + +It is the history of a man who--more than four hundred years before +God gave the ten commandments on Sinai, saying, + +Honour thy father and mother, + +Thou shalt not commit adultery, + +Thou shalt not kill in revenge, + +Thou shalt not covet aught of thy neighbours--It is the history, I +say, of a man who had those laws of God written in his heart by the +Holy Spirit of God; and felt that to break them was to sin against +God. It is the history of a man who, sorely tempted and unjustly +persecuted, kept himself pure and true; who, while all around him, +beginning with his own brothers, were trampling under foot the laws +of family, felt that the laws were still there round him, girding +him in with everlasting bands, and saying to him, Thou shalt and +Thou shalt not; that he was not sent into the world to do just what +was pleasant for the moment, to indulge his own passions or his own +revenge; but that if he was indeed a man, he must prove himself a +man, by obeying Almighty God. It is the history of a man who kept +his heart pure and tender, and who thereby gained strange and deep +wisdom; that wisdom which comes only to the pure in heart; that +wisdom by which truly good men are enabled to see farther, and to be +of more use to their fellow-creatures than many a cunning and +crooked politician, whose eyes are blinded, because his heart is +defiled with sin. + +And now, my friends, if we pray--as we are bound to pray--for that +great Prince who is just entering on the cares and the duties, as +well as the joys and blessings of family life--what better prayer +can we offer up for him, than that God would put into his heart that +spirit which he put into the heart of Joseph of old--the spirit to +see how divine and God-appointed is family life? God grant that +that spirit may dwell in him, and possess him more and more day by +day. That it may keep him true to his wife, true to his mother, +true to his family, true, like Joseph, to all with whom he has to +deal. That it may deliver him, as it delivered Joseph, from the +snares of wicked women, from selfish politicians, if they ever try +to sow distrust and opposition between him and his kindred, and from +all those temptations which can only be kept down by the Spirit of +God working in men's hearts, as he worked in the heart of Joseph. + +For if that spirit be in the Prince--and I doubt not that that +spirit is in him already--then will his fate be that of Joseph; then +will he indeed be a blessing to us, and to our children after us; +then will he have riches more real, and power more vast, than any +which our English laws can give; then will he gain, like Joseph, +that moral wisdom, better than all worldly craft, which cometh from +above--first pure, then gentle, easy to be entreated, without +partiality, and without hypocrisy; then will he be able, like +Joseph, to deliver his people in times of perplexity and distress; +then will he by his example, as his noble mother has done before +him, keep healthy, pure, and strong, our English family life--and as +long as THAT endures, Old England will endure likewise. + + + +SERMON VIII. THE BIBLE THE GREAT CIVILIZER + + + +(Fourth Sunday in Lent.) + +PHILIPPIANS iv. 8. Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, +whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever +things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are +of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, +think on these things. + +It may not be easy to see what this text has to do with the story of +Joseph, which we have just been reading, or with the meaning of the +Bible of which I have been speaking to you of late. + +Nevertheless, I think it has to do with them; as you will see if you +will look at the text with me. + +Now the text does not say 'Do these things.' It only says 'THINK of +these things.' + +Of course St. Paul wished us to do them also; but he says first +THINK of them; not once in a way, but often and continually. Fill +your mind with good and pure and noble thoughts; and then you will +do good and pure and noble things. + +For out of the abundance of a man's heart, not only does his mouth +speak, but his whole body and soul behave. The man whose mind is +filled with low and bad thoughts will be sure, when he is tempted, +to do low and bad things. The man whose mind is filled with lofty +and good thoughts will do lofty and good things. + +For thoughts are the food of a man's mind; and as the mind feeds, so +will it grow. If it feeds on coarse and foul food, coarse and foul +it will grow. If it feeds on pure and refined food, pure and +refined it will grow. + +There are those who do not believe this. Provided they are +tolerably attentive to the duties of religion, it does not matter +much, they fancy, what they think of out of church. Their souls +will be saved at last, they suppose, and that is all that they need +care for. Saved? They do not see that by giving way to foul, mean, +foolish thoughts all the week they are losing their souls, +destroying their souls, defiling their souls, lowering their souls, +and making them so coarse and mean and poor that they are not worth +saving, and are no loss to heaven or earth, whatever loss they may +be to the man himself. One man thinks of nothing but money--how he +shall save a penny here and a penny there. I do not mean men of +business; for them there are great excuses; for it is by continual +saving here and there that their profits are made. I speak rather +of people who have no excuse, people of fixed incomes--people often +wealthy and comfortable, who yet will lower their minds by +continually thinking over their money. But this I say, and this I +am sure that you will find, that when a man in business or out of +business accustoms himself, as very many do, to think of nothing but +money, money, money from Monday morning to Saturday night, he thinks +of money a great part of Sunday likewise. And so, after a while, +the man lowers his soul, and makes it mean and covetous. He forgets +all that is lovely and of good report. He forgets virtue--that is +manliness; and praise--that is the just respect and admiration of +his fellow-men; and so he forgets at last things true, honest, and +just likewise. He lowers his soul; and therefore when he is +tempted, he does things mean and false and unjust, for the sake of +money, which he has made his idol. + +Take another case, too common among men and women of all ranks, high +and low. + +How many there are who love gossip and scandal; who always talk +about people, and never about things--certainly not about things +pure and lovely and of good report, but rather about things foul and +ugly and of bad report; who do not talk, because they do not think +of virtue, but of vice; or of praise either, because they are always +finding fault with their neighbours. The man who loves a foul +story, or a coarse jest--the woman who gossips over every tittle +tattle of scandal which she can pick up against her neighbour--what +do these people do but defile their own souls afresh, after they +have been washed clean in the blood of Christ? Foul their souls +are, and therefore their thoughts are foul likewise, and the +foulness of them is evident to all men by their tongues. Out of +their hearts proceed evil thoughts about their neighbours, out of +the abundance of their hearts their mouths speak them. Now let such +people, if there be any such here, seriously consider the harm which +they are doing to their own characters. They may give way to the +habits of scandal, or of coarse talk, without any serious bad +intention; but they will surely lower their own souls thereby. They +will grow to the colour of what they feed on and become foul and +cruel, from talking cruelly and foully, till they lose all purity +and all charity, all faith and trust in their fellow-men, all power +of seeing good in any one, or doing anything but think evil; and so +lose the likeness of God and of Christ, for the likeness of some +foul carrion bird, which cares nothing for the perfume of all the +roses in the world, but if there be a carcase within miles of it, +will scent it out eagerly and fly to it ravenously. + +The truth is, my friends, that these souls of ours instead of being +pure and strong, are the very opposite; and the article speaks plain +truth when it says, that we are every one of us of our own nature +inclined to evil. That may seem a hard saying; but if we look at +our own thoughts we shall find it true. Are we NOT inclined to +take, at first, the worst view of everybody and of everything? Are +we NOT inclined to suspect harm of this person and of that? Are we +NOT inclined too often to be mean and cowardly? to be hard and +covetous? to be coarse and vulgar? to be silly and frivolous? Do we +not need to cool down, to think a second time, and a third time +likewise; to remember our duty, to remember Christ's example, before +we can take a just and kind and charitable view? Do we not want all +the help which we can get from every quarter, to keep ourselves +high-minded and refined; to keep ourselves from bad thoughts, mean +thoughts, silly thoughts, violent thoughts, cruel and hard thoughts? +If we have not found out that, we must have looked a very little way +into ourselves, and know little more about ourselves than a dumb +animal does of itself. + +How then shall we keep off coarseness of soul? How shall we keep +our souls REFINED? that is, true and honest, pure, amiable, full of +virtue, that is, true manliness; and deserve praise, that is, the +respect and admiration of our fellow-men? By thinking of those very +things, says St. Paul. And in order to be able to think of them, by +reading of them. + +There are very few who can easily think of these things of +themselves. Their daily business, the words and notions of the +people with whom they have to do, will run in their minds, and draw +them off from higher and better thoughts; that cannot be helped. +The only thing that most men can do, is to take care that they are +not drawn off entirely from high and good thoughts, by reading, were +it but for five minutes every day, something really worth thinking +of, something which will lift them above themselves. + +Above all, it is wise, at night, after the care and bustle of the +day is over, to read, but for a few minutes, some book which will +compose and soothe the mind; which will bring us face to face with +the true facts of life, death, and eternity; which will make us +remember that man doth not live by bread alone; which will give us, +before we sleep, a few thoughts worthy of a Christian man, with an +immortal soul in him. + +And, thank God, no one need go far to look for such books. I do not +mean merely religious books, excellent as they are in these days: I +mean any books which help to make us better and wiser and soberer, +and more charitable persons; any books which will teach us to +despise what is vulgar and mean, foul and cruel, and to love what is +noble and high-minded, pure and just. We need not go far for them. +In our own noble English language we may read by hundreds, books +which will tell us of all virtue and of all praise. The stories of +good and brave men and women; of gallant and heroic actions; of +deeds which we ourselves should be proud of doing; of persons whom +we feel, to be better, wiser, nobler than we are ourselves. + +In our own language we may read the history of our own nation, and +whatsoever is just, honest and true. We may read of God's gracious +providences toward this land. How he has punished our sins and +rewarded our right and brave endeavours. How he put into our +forefathers the spirit of courage and freedom, the spirit of truth +and justice, the spirit of loyalty and order; and how, following the +leading of that spirit, in spite of many mistakes and failings, we +have risen to be the freest, the happiest, the most powerful people +on earth, a blessing and not a curse to the nations around. + +In our own English tongue, too, we may read such poetry as there is +in no other language in the world; poetry which will make us indeed +see the beauty of whatsoever things are lovely and of good report. +Some people have still a dislike of what they call foolish poetry +books. If books are foolish, let us have nothing to do with them. +But poetry ought not to be foolish; for God sent it into the world +to teach men not foolishness, but the highest wisdom. He gave man +alone, of all living creatures, the power of writing poetry, that by +poetry he might understand, not only how necessary it was to do +right, but how beautiful and noble it was to do right. He sent it +into the world to soften men's rough hearts, and quiet their angry +passions, and make them love all which is tender and gentle, loving +and merciful, and yet to rouse them up to love all which is gallant +and honourable, loyal and patriotic, devout and heavenly. Therefore +whole books of the Bible--Job, for example, Isaiah, and the Psalms-- +are neither more nor less than actual poetry, written in actual +verse, that their words might the better sink down into the ears and +hearts of the old Jews, and of us Christians after them. And +therefore also, we keep up still the good old custom of teaching +children in school as much as possible by poetry, that they may +learn not only to know, but to love and remember whatsoever things +are lovely and of good report. + +Lastly, for those who cannot read, or have really no time to read, +there is one means left of putting themselves in mind of what every +one must remember, lest he sink back into an animal and a savage. I +mean by pictures; which, as St. Augustine said 1400 years ago, are +the books of the unlearned. I do not mean grand and expensive +pictures; I mean the very simplest prints, provided they represent +something holy, or noble, or tender, or lovely. A few such prints +upon a cottage-wall may teach the people who live therein much, +without their being aware of it. They see the prints, even when +they are not thinking of them; and so they have before their eyes a +continual remembrancer of something better and more beautiful than +what they are apt to find in their own daily life and thoughts. + +True, to whom little is given, of them is little required. But it +must be said, that more--far more--is given to labouring men and +women now than was given to their forefathers. A hundred, or even +fifty years ago, when there was very little schooling; when the +books which were put even into the hands of noblemen's children were +far below what you will find now in any village school; when the +only pictures which a poor woman could buy to lay on her cottage- +wall were equally silly and ugly: then there were great excuses for +the poor, if they forgot whatsoever things were lovely and of good +report; if they were often coarse and brutal in their manners, and +cruel and profligate in their amusements. + +But even in the rough old times there always were a few at least, +men and women, who were above the rest; who, though poor people like +the rest, were still true gentlemen and ladies of God's making. +People who kept themselves more or less unspotted from the world; +who thought of what was honest and pure and lovely and of good +report; and who lived a life of simple, manful, Christian virtue, +and received the praise and respect of their neighbours, even +although their neighbours did not copy them. There were always such +people, and there always will be--thank God for it, for they are the +salt of the earth. + +But why have there always been such people? and why do I say +confidently, that there always will be? + +Because they have had the Bible; and because, once having got the +Bible in a free country, no man can take it from them. + +The Bible it is which has made gentlemen and ladies of many a poor +man and woman. + +The Bible it is which has filled their minds with pure and noble, +ay, with heavenly and divine thoughts. + +The Bible has been their whole library. The Bible has been their +only counsellor. The Bible has taught them all they know. But it +has taught them enough. + +It has taught them what God is, and what Christ is. It has taught +them what man is, and what a Christian man should be. It has taught +them what a family means, and what a nation means. It has taught +them the meaning of law and duty, of loyalty and patriotism. It has +filled their minds with things honest and just and lovely and of +good report; with the histories of men and women like themselves, +who sinned and sorrowed and struggled like them in this hard battle +of life, but who conquered at last, by trusting and obeying God. + +This one story of Joseph, which we have been reading again this +Sunday, I do not doubt that it has taught thousands who had no other +story-book to read--who could not even read themselves, but had to +listen to others' reading; that it has taught them to be good sons, +to be good brothers; that it has taught them to keep pure in +temptation, and patient and honest under oppression and wrong; that +it has stirred in them a noble ambition to raise themselves in life; +and taught them, at the same time, that the only safe and sure way +of rising is to fear God and keep his commandments; and so has +really done more to civilize and refine them--to make them truly +civilized men and gentlemen, and not vulgar savages--than if they +had known a smattering of a dozen sciences. I say that the Bible is +the book which civilizes and refines, and ennobles rich and poor, +high and low, and has been doing so for fifteen hundred years; and +that any man who tries to shake our faith in the Bible, is doing +what he can--though, thank God, he will not succeed--to make such +rough and coarse heathens of us again as our forefathers were five +hundred years ago. + +And I tell you, labouring people, that if you want something which +will make up to you for the want of all the advantages which the +rich have--go to your Bibles and you will find it there. + +There you will find, in the history of men like ourselves--and, +above all, in the history of a man unlike ourselves, the perfect +Man--perfect Man and perfect God together--whatsoever is true, +whatsoever is honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report; every +virtue, and every just cause of praise which mortal man can desire. +Read of them in your Bible, think of them in your hearts, feed on +them with your souls, that your souls may grow like what they feed +on; and above all, read and study the story and character of Jesus +Christ himself, our Lord, that beholding, as in a glass, the glory +of the Lord, you may be changed into his likeness, from grace to +grace, and virtue to virtue, and glory to glory. + +And that change and that growth are as easy for the poor as for the +rich, and as necessary for the rich as for the poor. + + + +SERMON IX. MOSES + + + +(Fifth Sunday in Lent.) + +EXODUS iii. 14. And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM. + +And now, my friends, we are come, on this Sunday, to the most +beautiful, and the most important story of the whole Bible-- +excepting of course, the story of our Lord Jesus Christ--the story +of how a family grew to be a great nation. You remember that I told +you that the history of the Jews, had been only, as yet, the history +of a family. + +Now that family is grown to be a great tribe, a great herd of +people, but not yet a nation; one people, with its own God, its own +worship, its own laws; but such a mere tribe, or band of tribes as +the gipsies are among us now; a herd, but not a nation. + +Then the Bible tells us how these tribes, being weak I suppose +because they had no laws, nor patriotism, nor fellow-feeling of +their own, became slaves, and suffered for hundreds of years under +crafty kings and cruel taskmasters. + +Then it tells us how God delivered them out of their slavery, and +made them free men. And how God did that (for God in general works +by means), by the means of a man, a prophet and a hero, one great, +wise, and good man of their race--Moses. + +It tells us, too, how God trained Moses, by a very strange +education, to be the fit man to deliver his people. + +Let us go through the history of Moses; and we shall see how God +trained him to do the work for which God wanted him. + +Let us read from the account of the Bible itself. I should be sorry +to spoil its noble simplicity by any words of my own: 'And the +children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and +multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with +them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not +Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the +children of Israel are more and mightier than we: Come on, let us +deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, +that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our +enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. +Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with +their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithon +and Raamses. . . . And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, +Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every +daughter ye shall save alive. And there went a man of the house of +Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi. And the woman conceived +and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, +she hid him three months. And when she could no longer hide him, +she took for him an ark of bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and +with pitch, and put the child therein: and she laid it in the flags +by the river's brink. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what +would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash +herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river's +side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to +fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child; and behold +the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one +of the Hebrews' children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh's +daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, +that she may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said +to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And +Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it +for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the +child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto +Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name +Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.' + +Moses, the child of the water. St. Paul in the Epistle to the +Hebrews says that Moses was called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; +that is, adopted by her. We read elsewhere that he was learned in +all the wisdom of the Egyptians, of which there can be no doubt from +his own writings, especially that part called Moses' law. + +So that Moses had from his youth vast advantages. Brought up in the +court of the greatest king of the world, in one of the greatest +cities of the world, among the most learned priesthood in the world, +he had learned, probably, all statesmanship, all religion, which man +could teach him in those old times. + +But that would have been little for him. He might have become +merely an officer in Pharaoh's household, and we might never have +heard his name, and he might never have done any good to his own +people and to all mankind after them, as he has done, if there had +not been something better and nobler in him than all the learning +and statesmanship of the Egyptians. + +For there was in Moses the spirit of God; the spirit which makes a +man believe in God, and trust God. 'And therefore,' says St. Paul, +'he refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter; esteeming +the reproach of CHRIST better than all the treasures in Egypt.' + +And how did he do that? In this wise. + +The spirit of God and of Christ is also the spirit of justice, the +spirit of freedom; the spirit which hates oppression and wrong; +which is moved with a noble and Divine indignation at seeing any +human being abused and trampled on. + +And that spirit broke forth in Moses. 'And it came to pass in those +days, when Moses was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and +looked on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an +Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he looked this way and that way, +and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid +him in the sand.' + +If he cannot get justice for his people, he will do some sort of +rough justice for them himself, when he has an opportunity. + +But he will see fair play among his people themselves. They are, as +slaves are likely to be, fallen and base; unjust and quarrelsome +among themselves. + +'And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews +strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore +smitest thou thy fellow? And he said, Who made thee a prince and a +judge over us? intendest thou to kill me as thou killedst the +Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing is known. +Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But +Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of +Midian'--the wild desert between Egypt and the Holy Land. + +So he bore the reproach of Christ; the reproach which is apt to fall +on men in bad times, when they try, like our Lord Jesus Christ, to +deliver the captive, and let the oppressed go free, and execute +righteous judgment in the earth. He had lost all, by trying to do +right. He had been powerful and honoured in Pharaoh's court. Now +he was an outcast and wanderer in the desert. He had made his first +trial, and failed. As St. Stephen said of him after, he supposed +that his brethren would have understood how God would deliver them +by his hand; but they understood not. Slavish, base, and stupid, +they were not fit yet for Moses and his deliverance. + +And so forty years went on, and Moses was an old man of eighty years +of age. Yet God had not had mercy on his poor countrymen in Egypt. + +It must have been a strange life for him, the adopted son of +Pharaoh's daughter; brought up in the court of the most powerful and +highly civilized country of the old world; learned in all the +learning of the Egyptians; and now married into a tribe of wild +Arabs, keeping flocks in the lonely desert, year after year: but, +no doubt, thinking, thinking, year after year, as he fed his flocks +alone. Thinking over all the learning which he had gained in Egypt, +and wondering whether it would ever be of any use to him. Thinking +over the misery of his people in Egypt, and wondering whether he +should ever be able to help them. Thinking, too, and more than all, +of God--of God's promise to Abraham and his children. Would that +ever come true? Would GOD help these wretched Jews, even if HE +could not? Was God faithful and true, just and merciful? + +That Moses thought of God, that he never lost faith in God for that +forty years, there can be no doubt. + +If he had not thought of God, God would not have revealed himself to +him. If he had lost faith in God, he would not have known that it +was God who spoke to him. If he had lost faith in God, he would not +have obeyed God at the risk of his life, and have gone on an errand +as desperate, dangerous, hopeless--and, humanly speaking, as wild as +ever man went upon. + +But Moses never lost faith or patience. He believed, and he did not +make haste. He waited for God; and he did not wait in vain. No man +will wait in vain. When the time was ready; when the Jews were +ready; when Pharaoh was ready; when Moses himself, trained by forty +years' patient thought, was ready; then God came in his own good +time. + +And Moses led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to the +mountain of God, even to Horeb. And there he saw a bush--probably +one of the low copses of acacia--burning with fire; and behold the +bush was not consumed. Then out of the bush God spoke to Moses with +an audible voice as of a man; so the Bible says plainly, and I see +no reason to doubt that it is literally true. + +'Moreover he said, I am the God of thy father, the God of Abraham, +the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for +he was afraid to look upon God. And the Lord said, I have surely +seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard +their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows; +and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, +and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, +unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the +Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, +and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.' + +Then followed a strange conversation. Moses was terrified at the +thought of what he had to do, and reasonably: moreover, the +Israelites in Egypt had forgotten God. 'And Moses said unto God, +Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto +them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall +say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God +said unto Moses, I Am that I Am: and he said, Thus shalt thou say +unto the children of Israel, I Am hath sent me unto you.' + +I Am; that was the new name by which God revealed himself to Moses. +That message of God to Moses was the greatest Gospel, and good news +which was spoken to men, before the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. +Ay, we are feeling now, in our daily life, in our laws and our +liberty, our religion and our morals, our peace and prosperity, in +the happiness of our homes, and I trust that of our consciences, the +blessed effects of that message, which God revealed to Moses in the +wilderness thousands of years ago. + +And Moses took his wife, and his sons, and set them upon an ass, and +returned into the land of Egypt, to say to Pharaoh, 'Thus saith the +Lord, Israel is my son, even my firstborn, Let my son go that he may +serve me, and if thou let not my firstborn go, then I will slay thy +firstborn.' + +A strange man, on a strange errand. A poor man, eighty years old, +carrying all that he had in the world upon an ass's back, going down +to the great Pharaoh, the greatest king of the old world, the great +conqueror, the Child of the Sun (as his name means), one of the +greatest Pharaohs who ever sat on the throne of Egypt; in the midst +of all his princes and priests, and armies with which he had +conquered the nations far and wide; and his great cities, temples, +and palaces, on which men may see at this day (so we are told) the +face of that very Pharaoh painted again and again, as fresh, in that +rainless air, as on the day when the paint was laid on; with the +features of a man terrible, proud, and cruel, puffed up by power +till he thought himself, and till his people thought him a god on +earth. + +And to that man was Moses going, to bid him set the children of +Israel free; while he himself was one of that very slave-race of the +Israelites, which was an abomination to the Egyptians, who held them +all as lepers and unclean, and would not eat with them; and an +outcast too, who had fled out of Egypt for his life, and who might +be killed on the spot, as Pharaoh's only answer to his bold request. +Certainly, if Moses had not had faith in God, his errand would have +seemed that of a madman. But Moses HAD faith in God; and of faith +it is said, that it can remove mountains, for all things are +possible to them who believe. + +So by faith Moses went back into Egypt; how he fared there we shall +hear next Sunday. + +And what sort of man was this great and wonderful Moses, whose name +will last as long as man is man? We know very little. We know from +the Bible and from the old traditions of the Jews that he was a very +handsome man; a man of a noble presence, as one can well believe; a +man of great bodily vigour; so that when he died at the age of one +hundred and twenty, his eye was not dim, nor his natural force +abated. We know, from his own words, that he was slow of speech; +that he had more thought in him than he could find words for--very +different from a good many loud talkers, who have more words than +thoughts, and who get a great character as politicians and +demagogues, simply because they have the art of stringing fine words +together, which Moses, the true demagogue, the leader of the people, +who led them indeed out of Egypt, had not. Beyond that we know +little. Of his character one thing only is said: but that is most +important. 'Now the man Moses was very meek.' + +Meek: we know that that cannot mean that he was meek in the sense +that he was a poor, cowardly, abject sort of man, who dared not +speak his mind, dared not face the truth, and say the truth. We +have seen that that was just what he was not; brave, determined, +out-spoken, he seems to have been from his youth. Indeed, if his +had been that base sort of meekness, he never would have dared to +come before the great king Pharaoh. If he had been that sort of man +he never would have dared to lead the Jews through the Red Sea by +night, or out of Egypt at all. If he had been that sort of man, +indeed, the Jews would never have listened to him. No; he had--the +Bible tells us that he had--to say and do stern things again and +again; to act like the general of an army, or the commander of a +ship of war, who must be obeyed, even though men's lives be the +forfeit of disobedience. + +But the man Moses was very meek. He had learned to keep his temper. +Indeed, the story seems to say that he never lost his temper really +but once; and for that God punished him. Never man was so tried, +save One, even our Lord Jesus Christ, as was Moses. And yet by +patience he conquered. Eighty years had he spent in learning to +keep his temper; and when he had learned to keep his temper, then, +and not till then, was he worthy to bring his people out of Egypt. +That was a long schooling, but it was a schooling worth having. + +And if we, my friends, spend our whole lives, be they eighty years +long, in learning to keep our tempers, then will our lives have been +well spent. For meekness and calmness of temper need not interfere +with a man's courage or justice, or honest indignation against +wrong, or power of helping his fellow-men. Moses' meekness did not +make him a coward or a sluggard. It helped him to do his work +rightly instead of wrongly; it helped him to conquer the pride of +Pharaoh, and the faithlessness, cowardice, and rebellion of his +brethren, those miserable slavish Jews. And so meekness, an even +temper, and a gracious tongue, will help us to keep our place among +our fellow-men with true dignity and independence, and to govern our +households, and train our children in such a way that while they +obey us they will love and respect us at the same time. + + + +SERMON X. THE PLAGUES OF EGYPT + + + +(Palm Sunday.) + +EXODUS ix. 13, 14. Thus saith the Lord God of the Hebrews, Let my +people go, that they may serve me. For I will at this time send all +my plagues upon thine heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy +people; that thou mayest know that there is none like me in all the +earth. + +You will understand, I think, the meaning of the ten plagues of +Egypt better, if I explain to you in a few words what kind of a +country Egypt is, what kind of people the Egyptians were. Some of +you, doubtless, know as well as I, but some here may not: it is for +them I speak. + +Egypt is one of the strangest countries in the world; and yet one +which can be most simply described. One long straight strip of rich +flat land, many hundred miles long, but only a very few miles broad. +On either side of it, barren rocks and deserts of sand, and running +through it from end to end, the great river Nile--'The River' of +which the Bible speaks. This river the Egyptians looked on as +divine: they worshipped it as a god; for on it depended the whole +wealth of Egypt. Every year it overflows the whole country, leaving +behind it a rich coat of mud, which makes Egypt the most +inexhaustibly fertile land in the world; and made the Egyptians, +from very ancient times, the best farmers of the world, the fathers +of agriculture. Meanwhile, when not in flood, the river water is of +the purest in the world; the most delightful to drink; and was +supposed in old times to be a cure for all manner of diseases. + +To worship this sacred river, the pride of their land, to drink it, +to bathe in it, to catch the fish which abound in it, and which +formed then, and forms still, the staple food of the Egyptians, was +their delight. And now I have told you enough to show you why the +plagues which God sent on Egypt began first by striking the river. + +The river, we read, was turned into blood. What that means--whether +it was actual animal blood--what means God employed to work the +miracle--are just the questions about which we need not trouble our +minds. We never shall know: and we need not know. The plain fact +is, that the sacred river, pure and life-giving, became a detestable +mass of rottenness--and with it all their streams and pools, and +drinking water in vessels of wood and stone--for all, remember, came +from the Nile, carried by canals and dykes over the whole land. +'And the fish that were in the river died, and the river stunk, and +there was blood through all the land of Egypt.' + +The slightest thought will show us what horror, confusion, and +actual want and misery, the loss of the river water, even for a few +days or even hours, would cause. + +But there is more still in this miracle. These plagues are a battle +between Jehovah, the one true and only God Almighty, and the false +gods of Egypt, to prove which of them is master. + +Pharaoh answers: 'Who is Jehovah (the Lord) that I should let +Israel go?' I know not the Jehovah. I have my own god, whom I +worship. He is my father, and I his child, and he will protect me. +If I obey any one it will be him. + +Be it so, says Moses in the name of God. Thou shalt know that the +idols of Egypt are nothing, that they cannot deliver thee nor thy +people. + +Thus saith Jehovah, Thou shalt know which is master, I or they. +'Thou shalt know that I am the Lord.' + +So the river was turned into blood. The sacred river was no god, as +they thought. Jehovah was the Lord and Master of the river on which +the very life of Egypt depended. He could turn it into blood. All +Egypt was at his mercy. + +But Pharaoh would not believe that. 'The magicians did likewise +with their enchantments'--made, we may suppose, water seem to turn +to blood by some juggling trick at which the priests in Egypt were +but too well practised; and Pharaoh seemed to have made up his mind +that Moses' miracle was only a juggling trick too. For men will +make up their minds to anything, however absurd, when they choose to +do so: when their pride, and rage, and obstinacy, and covetousness, +draw them one way, no reason will draw them the other way. They +will find reasons, and make reasons to prove, if need be, that there +is no sun in the sky. + +Then followed a series of plagues, of which we have all often heard. + +Learned men have disputed how far these plagues were miracles. Some +of them are said not to be uncommon in Egypt, others to be almost +unknown. But whether they--whether the frogs, for instance, were +not produced by natural causes, just as other frogs are; and the +lice and the flies likewise; that I know not, my friends, neither +need I know. If they were not, they were miraculous; and if they +were, they were miraculous still. If they came as other vermin +come, they would have still been miraculous: God would still have +sent them; and it would be a miracle that God should make them come +at that particular time in that particular country, to work a truly +miraculous effect upon the souls of Pharaoh and the Egyptians on the +one hand, and of Moses and the Israelites on the other. But if they +came by some strange means as no vermin ever came before or since, +all I can say is--Why not? + +And the Lord said unto Moses, 'Say unto Aaron, Stretch out thy rod +and smite the dust of the land, that it may become lice throughout +all the land of Egypt.' + +Whether that was meant only as a sign to the Egyptians, or whether +the dust did literally turn into lice, we do not know, and what is +more, we need not know; if God chose that it should be so, so it +would be. If you believe at all that God made the world, it is +folly to pretend to set any bounds to his power. As a wise man has +said, 'If you believe in any real God at all, you must believe that +miracles can happen.' He makes you and me and millions of living +things out of the dust of the ground continually by certain means. +Why can he not make lice, or anything else out of the dust of the +ground, without those means? I can give no reason, nor any one else +either. + +We know that God has given all things a law which they cannot break. +We know, too, that God will never break his own laws. But what are +God's laws by which he makes things? We do not know. + +Miracles may be--indeed must be--only the effect of some higher and +deeper laws of God. We cannot prove that he breaks his law, or +disturbs his order by them. They may seem contrary to some of the +very very few laws of God's earth which we do know. But they need +not be contrary to the very many laws which we do not know. In +fact, we know nothing about the matter, and had best not talk of +things that we do not understand. As for these things being too +wonderful to be true--that is an argument which only deserves a +smile. There are so many wonders in the world round us already, all +day long, that the man of sense will feel that nothing is too +wonderful to be true. + +The truth is, that, as a wise man says, CUSTOM is the great enemy of +Faith, and of Reason likewise; and one of the worst tricks which +custom plays us is, making us fancy that miraculous things cease to +be miraculous by becoming common. + +What do I mean? + +This: which every child in this church can understand. + +You think it very wonderful that God should cause frogs to come upon +the whole land of Egypt in one day. But that God should cause frogs +to come up every spring in the ditches does not seem wonderful to +you at all. It happens every year; therefore, forsooth, there is +nothing wonderful in it. + +Ah, my dear friends, it is custom which blinds our eyes to the +wisdom of God, and the wonders of God, and the power of God, and the +glory of God, and hinders us from believing the message with which +he speaks to us from every sunbeam and every shower, every blade of +grass and every standing pool. 'Is anything too hard for the Lord?' + +If any man here says that anything is too hard for the Lord, let him +go this day to the nearest standing pool, and look at the frog-spawn +therein, and consider it till he confesses his blindness and +foolishness. That spawn seems to you a foul thing, the produce of +mean, ugly, contemptible creatures. Be it so. Yet it is to the +eyes of the wise man a yearly MIRACLE; a thing past understanding, +past explaining; one which will make him feel the truth of that +great 139th Psalm: 'Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid +thine hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is +high, I cannot attain unto it. Whither shall I go from thy spirit? +or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into +heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art +there also.' + +That every one of those little black spots should have in it LIFE-- +What is life? How did it get into that black spot? or, to speak +more carefully, is the life IN the black spot at all? Is not the +life in the Spirit of God, who is working on that spot, as I +believe? How has that black spot the power of GROWING, and of +growing on a certain and fixed plan, merely by the quickening power +of the sun's heat, and then of feeding itself, and of changing its +shape, as you all know, again and again, till--and if that is not +wonderful, what is?--it turns into a frog, exactly like its parent, +utterly unlike the black dot at which it began? Is that no miracle? +Is it no miracle that not one of those black spots ever turns into +anything save a frog? Why should not some of them turn into toads +or efts? Why not even into fishes or serpents? Why not? The eggs +of all those animals, in their first and earliest stages are exactly +alike; the microscope shows no difference. Ay, even the mere animal +and the human being, strange and awful as it may be, SEEM, under the +microscope, to have the same beginning. And yet one becomes a mere +animal, and the other a member of Christ, a child of God, and an +inheritor of the kingdom of heaven. What causes this but the power +of God, making of the same clay one vessel to honour and another to +dishonour? And yet people will not believe in miracles! Why does +each kind turn into its kind? Answer that. Because it is a law of +nature? Not so! There are no laws OF nature. God is a law TO +nature. It is his WILL that things so should be; and when it is his +will they will not be so, but otherwise. + +Not LAWS of nature, but the SPIRIT of God, as the Psalms truly say, +gives life and breath to all things. Of him and by him is all. As +the greatest chemist of our time says, 'Causes are the acts of God-- +creation is the will of God.' + +And he that is wise and strong enough to create frogs in one way in +every ditch at this moment, is he not wise and strong enough to +create frogs by some other way, if he should choose, whether in +Egypt of old, or now, here, this very day? + +Whatsoever means, or no means at all, God used to produce those +vermin, the miracle remains the same. He sent them to do a work, +and they did it. He sent them to teach Egyptian and Israelite alike +that he was the Maker, and Lord, and Ruler of the world, and all +that therein is; that he would have his way, and that he COULD have +his way. + +Intensely painful and disgusting these plagues must have been to the +Egyptians, for this reason, that they were the most cleanly of all +people. They had a dislike of dirt, which had become quite a +superstition to them. Their priests (magicians as the Bible calls +them) never wore any garments but linen, for fear of their +harbouring vermin of any kind. And this extreme cleanliness of +theirs the next plague struck at; they were covered with boils and +diseases of skin, and the magicians could not stand before Pharaoh +by reason of the boils. They became unclean and unfit for their +office; they could perform no religious ceremonies, and had to flee +away in disgrace. + +After plagues of thunder, hail, and rain, which seldom or never +happen in that rainless land of Egypt; after a plague of locusts, +which are very rare there, and have to come many hundred miles if +they come at all; of darkness, seemingly impossible in a land where +the sun always shines: then came the last and most terrible plague +of all. After solemn warnings of what was coming, the angel of the +Lord passed through the land of Egypt, and smote all the first-born +in Egypt, from the first-born of Pharaoh upon his throne to the +first-born of the captive in the dungeon; and there arose a great +cry in Egypt, for there was not a house in which there was not one +dead. A terrible and heart-rending calamity in any case, enough to +break the heart of all Egypt; and it did break the heart of Egypt, +and the proud heart of Pharaoh himself, and they let the people go. + +But this was a RELIGIOUS affliction too. Most of these first-born +children--probably all the first-born of the priests and nobles, and +of Pharaoh himself--were consecrated to some god. They bore the +name of the god to whom they belonged; that god was to prosper and +protect them, and behold, he could not. The Lord Jehovah, the God +of the Hebrews, was stronger than all the gods of Egypt; none of +them could deliver their servants out of his hand. He was the only +Lord of life and death; he had given them life, and he could take it +away, in spite of all and every one of the gods of the Egyptians. + +So the Lord God showed himself to be the Master and Lord of all +things. The Lord of the sacred river Nile; the Lord of the meanest +vermin which crept on the earth; the Lord of the weather--able to +bring thunder and hail into a land where thunder and hail was never +seen before; the Lord of the locust swarms--able to bring them over +the desert and over the sea to devour up every green thing in the +land, and then to send a wind off the Mediterranean Sea, and drive +the locusts away to the eastward; the Lord of light--who could +darken, even in that cloudless land, the very sun, whom Pharaoh +worshipped as his god and his ancestor; and lastly, the Lord of +human life and death--able to kill whom he chose, when he chose, and +as he chose. The Lord of the earth and all that therein is; before +whom all men, even proud Pharaoh, must bow and confess, 'Is anything +too hard for the Lord?' + +And now, I always tell you that each fresh portion of the Old +Testament reveals to men something fresh concerning the character of +God. You may say, These plagues of Egypt reveal God's mighty power, +but what do they reveal of his character? They reveal this: that +there is in God that which, for want of a better word, we must call +anger; a quite awful sternness and severity; not only a power to +punish, but a determination to punish, if men will not take his +warnings--if men will not obey his will. + +There is no use trying to hide from ourselves that awful truth--God +is not weakly indulgent. Our God can be, if he will, a consuming +fire. Upon the sinner he will surely rain fire and brimstone, storm +and tempest of some kind or other. This shall be their portion too +surely. Vengeance is his, and vengeance he will take. But upon +whom? On the proud and the tyrannical, on the cruel, the false, the +unjust. So say the Psalms again and again, and so says the history +of these plagues of Egypt. Therefore his anger is a loving anger, a +just auger, a merciful anger, a useful anger, an anger exercised for +the good of mankind. See in this case why did God destroy the crops +of Egypt--even the first-born of Egypt? Merely for the pleasure of +destroying? God forbid. It was to deliver the poor Israelites from +their cruel taskmasters; to force these Egyptians by terrible +lessons, since they were deaf to the voice of justice and humanity-- +to force them, I say--to have mercy on their fellow-creatures, and +let the oppressed go free. Therefore God was, even in Egypt, a God +of love, who desired the good of man, who would do justice for those +who were unjustly treated, even though it cost his love a pang; for +none can believe that God is pleased at having to punish, pleased at +having to destroy the works of his own hands, or the creatures which +he has made. No; the Lord was a God of love even when he sent his +sore plagues on Egypt, and therefore we may believe what the Bible +tells us, that that same Lord showed, as on this day, a still +greater proof of his love, when, as on this day, he entered into +Jerusalem, meek and lowly, sitting on an ass, and going, as he well +knew, to certain death. Before the week was over he would be +betrayed, mocked, scourged, crucified by the very people whom he +came to save; and yet he did it, he endured it. Instead of pouring +out on them, as on the Egyptians of old, the cup of wrath and +misery, he put out his hand, took the cup of wrath and misery to +himself, and drank it to its very dregs. Was not that, too, a +miracle? Ay, a greater miracle than all the plagues of Egypt. They +were physical miracles; this a moral miracle. They were miracles of +nature; this of grace. They were miracles of the Lord's power; +these of the Lord's love. Think of that miracle of miracles which +was worked in this Passion Week--the miracle of the Lord Jehovah +stooping to die for sinful man, and say after that there is anything +too hard for the Lord. + + + +SERMON XI. THE GOD OF THE OLD TESTAMENT IS THE GOD OF THE NEW + + + +(Palm Sunday.) + +Exodus ix. 14. I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine +heart, and upon thy servants, and upon thy people, that thou mayest +know that there is none like me in all the earth. + +We are now beginning Passion Week, the week of the whole year which +ought to teach us most theology; that is, most concerning God, his +character and his spirit. + +For in this Passion Week God did that which utterly and perfectly +showed forth his glory, as it never has been shown forth before or +since. In this week Jesus Christ, the incarnate God, died on the +cross for man, and showed that his name, his character, his glory +was love--love without bound or end. + +It was to teach us this that the special services, lessons, +collects, epistles, and gospels of this week were chosen. + +The second lesson, the collects, the epistles, the gospel for to- +day, all set before us the patience of Christ, the humility of +Christ, the love of Christ, the self-sacrifice of Christ, the Lamb +without spot, enduring all things that he might save sinful man. + +But if so, what does this first lesson--the chapter of Exodus from +which my text is taken--what does it teach us concerning God? Does +it teach us that his name is love? + +At first sight you would think that it did not. At first sight you +would fancy that it spoke of God in quite a different tone from the +second lesson. + +In the second lesson, the words of Jesus the Son of God are all +gentleness, patience, tenderness. A quiet sadness hangs over them +all. They are the words of one who is come (as he said himself), +not to destroy men's lives, but to save them; not to punish sins, +but to wash them away by his own most precious blood. + +But in the first lesson how differently he seems to speak. His +words there are the words of a stern and awful judge, who can, and +who will destroy whatsoever interferes with his will and his +purpose. + +'I will at this time send all my plagues upon thine heart, and on +thy servants, and all thy people, that thou mayest know that there +is none like me in all the earth.' The cattle and sheep shall be +destroyed with murrain; man and beast shall be tormented with boils +and blains; the crops shall be smitten with hail; the locusts shall +eat up every green thing in the land; and at last all the first-born +of Egypt shall die in one night, and the land be filled with +mourning, horror, and desolation, before the anger of this terrible +God, who will destroy and destroy till he makes himself obeyed. + +Can this be he who rode into Jerusalem, as on this day, meek and +lowly, upon an ass's colt; who on the night that he was betrayed +washed his disciples' feet, even the feet of Judas who betrayed him? +Who prayed for his murderers as he hung upon the cross, 'Father, +forgive them, for they know not what they do?' + +Can these two be the same? + +Is the Lord Jehovah of the Old Testament the Lord Jesus of the New? + +They are the same, my friends. He who laid waste the land of Egypt +is he who came to seek and to save that which was lost. + +He who slew the children in Egypt is he who took little children up +in his arms and blessed them. + +He who spoke the awful words of the text is he who was brought as a +lamb to the slaughter; and as a sheep before the shearers is dumb, +so he opened not his mouth. + +This is very wonderful. But why should it NOT be wonderful? What +can God be but wonderful? His character, just because it is +perfect, must contain in itself all other characters, all forms of +spiritual life which are without sin. And yet again it is not so +very wonderful. Have we not seen--I have often--in the same mortal +man these two different characters at once? Have we not seen +soldiers and sailors, brave men, stern men, men who have fought in +many a bloody battle, to whom it is a light thing to kill their +fellow-men, or to be killed themselves in the cause of duty; and yet +most full of tenderness, as gentle as lambs to little children and +to weak women; nursing the sick lovingly and carefully with the same +hand which would not shrink from firing the fatal cannon to blast a +whole company into eternity, or sink a ship with all its crew? I +have seen such men, brave as the lion and gentle as the lamb, and I +saw in them the likeness of Christ--the Lion of Judah; and yet the +Lamb of God. + +Christ is the Lamb of God; and in him there are the innocence of the +lamb, the gentleness of the lamb, the patience of the lamb: but +there is more. What words are these which St. John speaks in the +spirit?-- + +'And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together, and +every mountain and island were moved out of their places; and the +kings of the earth, and the great, and the rich, and the chief +captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman and every freeman +hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and +said to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from +the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of +the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be +able to stand?' + +Yes, look at that awful book of Revelation with which the Bible +ends, and see if the Bible does not end as it began, by revealing a +God who, however loving and merciful, long-suffering, and of great +goodness, still wages war eternally against all sin and +unrighteousness of man, and who will by no means clear the guilty; a +God of whom the apostle St. Paul, who knew most of his mercy and +forgiveness to sinners, could nevertheless say, just as Moses had +said ages before him, 'Our God is a consuming fire.' + +Now I think it most necessary to recollect this in Passion Week; ay, +and to do more--to remember it all our lives long. + +For it is too much the fashion now, and has often been so before, to +think only of one side of our Lord's character, of the side which +seems more pleasant and less awful. People please themselves in +hymns which talk of the meek and lowly Jesus, and in pictures which +represent him with a sad, weary, delicate, almost feminine face. +Now I do not say that this is wrong. He is the same yesterday, to- +day, and for ever; as tender, as compassionate now as when he was on +earth; and it is good that little children and innocent young people +should think of him as an altogether gentle, gracious, loveable +being; for with the meek he will be meek; but again, with the +froward, the violent, and self-willed, he will be froward. He will +show the violent that he is the stronger of the two, and the self- +willed that he will have his will and not theirs done. + +So it is good that the widow and the orphan, the weary and the +distressed, should think of Jesus as utterly tender and true, +compassionate and merciful, and rest their broken hearts upon him, +the everlasting rock. But while it is written, that whosoever shall +fall on that rock he shall be broken, it is written too, that on +whomsoever that rock shall fall, it will grind him to powder. + +It is good that those who wish to be gracious themselves, loving +themselves, should remember that Christ is gracious, Christ is +loving. But it is good also, that those who do NOT wish to be +gracious and loving themselves, but to be proud and self-willed, +unjust and cruel, should remember that the gracious and loving +Christ is also the most terrible and awful of all beings; sharper +than a two-edged sword, piercing asunder the very joints and marrow, +discerning the most secret thoughts and intents of the heart; a +righteous judge, strong and patient, who is provoked every day: but +if a man WILL not turn he will whet his sword. He hath bent his bow +and made it ready, and laid his arrows in order against the +persecutors. What Christ's countenance, my friends, was like when +on earth, we do NOT know; but what his countenance is like now, we +all may know; for what says St. John, and how did Christ appear to +him, who had been on earth his private and beloved friend? + +'His head and his hair were white as snow, and his eyes were like a +flame of fire, and his voice like the sound of many waters; and out +of his mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and his countenance was +as the sun when he shineth in his strength. And when I saw him, I +fell at his feet as dead.' + +That is the likeness of Christ, my friends; and we must remember +that it is his likeness, and fall at his feet, and humble ourselves +before his unspeakable majesty, if we wish that he should do to us +at the last day as he did to St. John--lay his hand upon us, saying, +'Fear not, I am the first and the last, and behold, I am alive for +evermore, Amen. I have the keys of death and hell.' + +Yes, it is good that we should all remember this. For if we do not, +we may fall, as thousands fall, into a very unwholesome and immoral +notion about religion. We may get to fancy, as thousands do, rich +and poor, that because Christ the Lord is meek and gentle, patient +and long-suffering, that he is therefore easy, indulgent, careless +about our doing wrong; and that we can, in plain English, trifle +with Christ, and take liberties with his everlasting laws of right +and wrong; and so fancy, that provided we talk of the meek and lowly +Jesus, and of his blood washing away all our sins, that we are free +to behave very much as if Jesus had never come into the world to +teach men their duty, and free to commit almost any sin which does +not disgrace us among our neighbours, or render us punishable by the +law. + +My friends, it is NOT SO. And those who fancy that it is so, will +find out their mistake bitterly enough. Infinite love and +forgiveness to those who repent and amend and do right; but infinite +rigour and punishment to those who will not amend and do right. +This is the everlasting law of God's universe; and every soul of man +will find it out at last, and find that the Lord Jesus Christ is not +a Being to be trifled with, and that the precious blood which he +shed on the cross is of no avail to those who are not minded to be +righteous even as he is righteous. + +'But Christ is so loving, so tender-hearted that he surely will not +punish us for our sins.' This is the confused notion that too many +people have about him. And the answer to it is, that just BECAUSE +Christ is so loving, so tender-hearted, therefore he MUST punish us +for our sins, unless we utterly give up our sins, and do right +instead of wrong. + +That false notion springs out of men's selfishness. They think of +sin as something which only hurts themselves; when they do wrong +they think merely, 'What punishment will God inflict on ME for doing +wrong?' They are wrapt up in themselves. They forget that their +sins are not merely a matter between them and Christ, but between +them and their neighbours; that every wrong action they commit, +every wrong word they speak, every wrong habit in which they indulge +themselves, sooner or later, more or less hurts their neighbours-- +ay, hurts all mankind. + +And does Christ care only for THEM? Does he not care for their +neighbours? Has he not all mankind to provide for, and govern and +guide? And can he allow bad men to go on making this world worse, +without punishing them, any more than a gardener can allow weeds to +hurt his flowers, and not root them up? What would you say of a man +who was so merciful to the weeds that he let them choke the flowers? +What would you say of a shepherd who was so merciful to the wolves +that he let them eat his sheep? What would you say of a magistrate +who was so merciful to thieves that he let them rob the honest men? +And do you fancy that Christ is a less careful and just governor of +the world than the magistrate who punishes the thief that honest men +may live in safety? + +Not so. Not only will Christ punish the wolves who devour his +sheep, but he will punish his sheep themselves if they hurt each +other, torment each other, lead each other astray, or in any way +interfere with the just and equal rule of his kingdom; and this, not +out of spite or cruelty, but simply because he is perfect love. + +Go, therefore, and think of Christ this Passion Week as he was, and +is, and ever will be. Think of the whole Christ, and not of some +part of his character which may specially please your fancy. Think +of him as the patient and forgiving Christ, who prayed for his +murderers, 'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' +But remember that, in this very Passion Week, there came out of +those most gentle lips--the lips which blessed little children, and +cried to all who were weary and heavy laden, to come to him and he +would give them rest--that out of those most gentle lips, I say, in +this very Passion Week, there went forth the most awful threats +which ever were uttered, 'Woe unto you, Scribes and Pharisees, +hypocrites. Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape +the damnation of hell?' Think of him as the Lamb who offered +himself freely on the cross for sinners. But think of him, too, as +the Lamb who shall one day come in glory to judge all men according +to their works. Think of him as full of boundless tenderness and +humanity, boundless long-suffering and mercy. But remember that +beneath that boundless sweetness and tenderness there burns a +consuming fire; a fire of divine scorn and indignation against all +who sin, like Pharaoh, out of cruelty and pride; against all which +is foul and brutal, mean and base, false and hypocritical, cruel and +unjust; a fire which burns, and will burn against all the wickedness +which is done on earth, and all the misery and sorrow which is +suffered on earth, till the Lord has burned it up for ever, and +there is nothing but love and justice, order and usefulness, peace +and happiness, left in the universe of God. + +Oh, think of these things, and cast away your sins betimes, at the +foot of his everlasting cross, lest you be consumed with your sins +in his everlasting fire! + + + +SERMON XII. THE BIRTHNIGHT OF FREEDOM + + + +(Easter Day.) + +Exodus xii. 42. This is a night to be much observed unto the Lord, +for bringing the children of Israel out of Egypt. + +To be much observed unto the Lord by the children of Israel. And by +us, too, my friends; and by all nations who call themselves FREE. + +There are many and good ways of looking at Easter Day. Let us look +at it in this way for once. + +It is the day on which God himself set men FREE. + +Consider the story. These Israelites, the children of Abraham, the +brave, wild patriarch of the desert, have been settled for hundreds +of years in the rich lowlands of Egypt. There they have been eating +and drinking their fill, and growing more weak, slavish, luxurious, +fonder and fonder of the flesh-pots of Egypt; fattening literally +for the slaughter, like beasts in a stall. They are spiritually +dead--dead in trespasses and sins. They do not want to be free, to +be a nation. They are content to be slaves and idolaters, if they +can only fill their stomachs. This is the spiritual death of a +nation. + +I say, they do not want to be free. When they are oppressed, they +cry out--as an animal cries when you beat him. But after they are +free, when they get into danger, or miss their meat, they cry out +too, and are willing enough to return to slavery; as the dog which +has run away for fear of the whip, will go back to his kennel for +the sake of his food. 'Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast +thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? Wherefore hast thou +dealt thus with us to carry us out of Egypt?' And again, 'Would God +we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, where we +did sit by the flesh-pots, and eat meat to the full!' BRUTALIZED, +in one word, were these poor children of Israel. + +Then God took their cause into his own hand; I say emphatically into +his own hand. If that part of the story be not true, I care nothing +for the rest. If God did not personally and actually interfere on +behalf of those poor slaves; if the plagues of Egypt are not TRUE-- +the passage of the Red Sea be not TRUE--the story tells me and you +nothing; gives us no hope for ourselves, no hope for mankind. + +For see. One says, and truly, God is good; God is love; God is +just; God hates oppression and wrong. + +BUT if God be love, he must surely show his love by doing loving +things. + +If God be just, he must show his justice by doing just things. + +If God hates oppression, then he must free the oppressed. + +If God hates wrong, then he must set the wrong right. + +For what would you think of a man who professed to be loving and +just, and to hate oppression and wrong, and yet never took the +trouble to do a good action, or to put down wrong, when he had the +power? You would call him a hypocrite; you would think his love and +justice very much on his tongue, and not in his heart. + +And will you believe that God is like that man? God forbid! + +Comfortable scholars and luxurious ladies may content themselves +with a DEAD God, who does not interfere to help the oppressed, to +right the wrong, to bind up the broken-hearted; but men and women +who work, who sorrow, who suffer, who partake of all the ills which +flesh is heir to--they want a LIVING God, an acting God, a God who +WILL interfere to right the wrong. Yes--they want a living God. +And they have a living God--even the God who interfered to bring the +Israelites out of Egypt with signs and wonders, and a mighty hand +and an outstretched arm, and executed judgment upon Pharaoh and his +proud and cruel hosts. And when they read in the Bible of that God, +when they read in their Bibles the story of the Exodus, their hearts +answer, THIS is right. This is the God whom we need. This is what +ought to have happened. This is true: for it must be true. Let +comfortable folks who know no sorrow trouble their brains as to +whether sixty or six hundred thousand fighting men came out of Egypt +with Moses. We care not for numbers. What we care for is, not how +many came out, but who brought them out, and that he who brought +them out was GOD. And the book which tells us that, we will cling +to, will love, will reverence above all the books on earth, because +it tells of a living God, who works and acts and interferes for men; +who not only hates wrong, but rights wrong; not only hates +oppression, but puts oppressors down; not only pities the oppressed, +but sets the oppressed free; a God who not only wills that man +should have freedom, but sent freedom down to him from heaven. + +Scholars have said that the old Greeks were the fathers of freedom; +and there have been other peoples in the world's history who have +made glorious and successful struggles to throw off their tyrants +and be free. And they have said, We are the fathers of freedom; +liberty was born with us. Not so, my friends! Liberty is of a far +older and far nobler house; Liberty was born, if you will receive +it, on the first Easter night, on the night to be much remembered +among the children of Israel--ay, among all mankind--when God +himself stooped from heaven to set the oppressed free. Then was +freedom born. Not in the counsels of men, however wise; or in the +battles of men, however brave: but in the counsels of God, and the +battle of God--amid human agony and terror, and the shaking of the +heaven and the earth; amid the great cry throughout Egypt when a +first-born son lay dead in every house; and the tempest which swept +aside the Red Sea waves; and the pillar of cloud by day, and the +pillar of fire by night; and the Red Sea shore covered with the +corpses of the Egyptians; and the thunderings and lightnings and +earthquakes of Sinai; and the sound as of a trumpet waxing loud and +long; and the voice, most human and most divine, which spake from +off the lonely mountain peak to that vast horde of coward and +degenerate slaves, and said, 'I am the Lord thy God who brought thee +out of the land of Egypt. Thou shalt obey my laws, and keep my +commandments to do them.' Oh! the man who would rob his suffering +fellow-creatures of that story--he knows not how deep and bitter are +the needs of man. + +Then was freedom born: but not of man; not of the will of the +flesh, nor of the will of man, but of the will of God, from whom all +good things come; and of Christ, who is the life and the light of +men and of nations, and of the whole world, and of all worlds, past, +present, and to come. + +From God came freedom. To be used as his gift, according to his +laws; for he gave, and he can take away; as it is written, 'He shall +take the kingdom of God from you, and give it to a people bringing +forth the fruits thereof.' 'For there be many first that shall be +last; and last that shall be first.' It is this which makes the +Jews indeed a peculiar people: the thought that the living God had +actually and really done for them what they could not do for +themselves; that he had made them a nation, and not they themselves. +It is this which makes the Old Testament an utterly different book, +with an utterly different lesson, to the written history of any +other nation in the world. + +And yet it is this which makes the history of the Jews the key to +every other history in the world. For in it Jesus Christ our Lord, +the living God who makes history, who governs all nations, reveals +and unveils himself, and teaches not the Jews only, but us and all +nations, that it is he who hath made us, and not we ourselves; that +we got not the land in possession by our own sword, nor was it our +own strength that helped us, but thou, O Lord, because thou hadst a +favour unto us; that not to us, not to us is the praise of any +national greatness or glory, but to God, from whom it comes as +surely a free gift as the gift of liberty to the Jews of old. + +I say, the history of the Jews is the history of the whole Church, +and of every nation in Christendom. + +As with the Jews, so with the nations of Europe; whenever they have +trusted in themselves, their own power and wisdom, they have ended +in weakness and folly. Whenever they have trusted in Christ the +living God, and said, 'It is he that hath made us, and not we +ourselves,' they have risen to strength and wisdom. When they have +forgotten the living God, national life and patriotism have died in +them, as they died in the Jews. When they have remembered that the +most high God was their Redeemer, then in them, as in the Jews, have +national life and patriotism revived. + +And as it was with the Jews in the wilderness, so it has been with +them since Christ's resurrection. They fancied that they were going +at once into the promised land. So did the first Christians. But +the Jews had to wander forty years in the wilderness; and +Christendom has had to wander too, in strange and bloodstained +paths, for one thousand eight hundred years and more. For why? The +Israelites were not worthy to enter at once into rest; no more have +the nation of Christ's Church been worthy. The Israelites brought +out of Egypt base and slavish passions, which had to be purged out +of them; so have we out of heathendom. They brought out, too, +heathen superstitions, and mixed them up with the worship of God, +bearing about in the wilderness the tabernacle of Moloch and the +image of their god Remphan, and making the calf in Horeb; and so, +alas! again and again, has the Church of Christ. + +Nay, the whole generation, save two, who came out of Egypt, had to +die in the wilderness, and leave their bones scattered far and wide. +And so has mankind been dying, by war and by disease, and by many +fearful scourges besides what is called now-a-days, natural decay. + +But all the while a new generation was springing up, trained in the +wilderness to be bold and hardy; trained, too, under Moses' stern +law, to the fear of God; to reverence, and discipline, and +obedience, without which freedom is merely brutal license, and a +nation is no nation, but a mere flock of sheep or a herd of wolves. + +And so, for these one thousand eight hundred years have the +generations of Christendom, by the training of the Church and the +light of the Gospel, been growing in wisdom and knowledge; growing +in morality and humanity, in that true discipline and loyalty which +are the yoke-fellows of freedom and independence, to make them fit +for that higher state, that heavenly Canaan, of which we know not +WHEN it will come, nor whether its place will be on this earth or +elsewhere; but of which it is written, 'And I John saw the holy +city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as +a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of +heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he +will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself +shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all +tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither +sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the +former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne +said, Behold, I make all things new. + +'And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the +Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, +neither of the moon to shine in it: for the glory of God did +lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of +them which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of +the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of +it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night +there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations +into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that +defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie: +but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.' + +That, the perfect Easter Day, seems far enough off as yet; but it +will come. As the Lord liveth, it will come; and to it may Christ +in his mercy bring us all, and our children's children after us. +Amen. + + + +SERMON XIII. KORAH, DATHAN, AND ABIRAM + + + +(First Sunday after Easter, 1863.) + +Numbers xvi. 32-35. And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed +them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto +Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, +went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and +they perished from among the congregation. And all Israel that were +round about them fled at the cry of them: for they said, Lest the +earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the Lord, +and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense. + +I will begin by saying that there are several things in this chapter +which I do not understand, and cannot explain to you. Be it so. +That is no reason why we should not look at the parts of the chapter +which we can understand and can explain. + +There are matters without end in the world round us, and in our own +hearts, and in the life of every one, which we cannot explain; and +therefore we need not be surprised to find things which we cannot +explain in the life and history of the most remarkable nation upon +earth--the nation whose business it has been to teach all other +nations the knowledge of the true God, and who was specially and +curiously trained for that work. + +But the one broad common-sense lesson of this chapter, it seems to +me, is one which is on the very surface of it; one which every true +Englishman at least will see, and see to be true, when he hears the +chapter read; and that is, the necessity of DISCIPLINE. + +God has brought the Israelites out of Egypt, and set them free. One +of the first lessons which they have to learn is, that freedom does +not mean license and discord--does not mean every one doing that +which is right in the sight of his own eyes. From that springs +self-will, division, quarrels, revolt, civil war, weakness, +profligacy, and ruin to the whole people. Without order, +discipline, obedience to law, there can be no true and lasting +freedom; and, therefore, order must be kept at all risks, the law +obeyed, and rebellion punished. + +Now rebellion may be and ought to be punished far more severely in +some cases than in others. If men rebel here, in Great Britain or +Ireland, we smile at them, and let them off with a slight +imprisonment, because we are not afraid of them. They can do no +harm. + +But there are cases in which rebellion must be punished with a swift +and sharp hand. On board a ship at sea, for instance, where the +safety of the whole ship, the lives of the whole crew, depend on +instant obedience, mutiny may be punished by death on the spot. +Many a commander has ere now, and rightly too, struck down the rebel +without trial or argument, and ended him and his mutiny on the spot; +by the sound rule that it is expedient that one man die for the +people, and that the whole nation perish not. + +And so it was with the Israelites in the desert. All depended on +their obedience. God had given them a law--a constitution, as we +should say now--perfectly fitted, no doubt, for them. If they once +began to rebel and mutiny against that law, all was over with them. +That great, foolish, ignorant multitude would have broken up, +probably fought among themselves--certainly parted company, and +either starved in the desert, or have been destroyed piecemeal by +the wild warlike tribes, Midianites, Moabites, Amalekites--who were +ready enough for slaughter and plunder. They would never have +reached Canaan. They would never have become a great nation. So +they had to be, by necessity, under martial law. The word must be, +Obey or die. As for any cruelty in putting Korah, Dathan, and +Abiram to death, it was worth the death of a hundred such--or a +thousand--to preserve the great and glorious nation of the Jews to +be the teachers of the world. + +Now this Korah, Dathan, and Abiram rebel. They rebel against Moses +about a question of the priesthood. It really matters little to us +what that question was--it was a question of Moses' law, which, of +course, is now done away. Only remember this, that these men were +princes--great feudal noblemen, as we should say; and that they +rebelled on the strength of their rank and their rights as noblemen +to make laws for themselves and for the people; and that the mob of +their dependents seem to have been inclined to support them. + +Surely if Moses had executed martial law on them with his own hand, +he would have been as perfectly justified as a captain of a ship of +war or a general of an army would be now. + +But he did not do so. And why? Because MOSES did not bring the +people out of Egypt. Moses was not their king. GOD brought them +out of Egypt. God was their king. That was the lesson which they +had to learn, and to teach other nations also. They have rebelled, +not against Moses, but against God; and not Moses, but God must +punish, and show that he is not a dead God, but a living God, one +who can defend himself, and enforce his own laws, and execute +judgment--and, if need be, vengeance--without needing any man to +fight his battles for him. + +And God does so. The powers of Nature--the earthquake and the +nether fire--shall punish these rebels; and so they do. + +'And Moses said, Hereby ye shall know that the Lord hath sent me to +do all these works; for I have not done them of mine own mind. If +these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited +after the visitation of all men; then the Lord hath not sent me. +But if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth and +swallow them up, with all that appertain to them and they go down +quick into the pit; then ye shall understand that these men have +provoked the Lord.' + +Men have thought differently of the story; but I call it a righteous +story, and a noble story, and one which agrees with my conscience, +and my reason, and my notion of what ought to be, and my experience +also of what is--of the way in which God's world is governed unto +this day. + +What then are we to think of the earth opening and swallowing them +up? What are we to think of a fire coming out from the Lord, and +consuming two hundred and fifty men that offered incense? + +This first. That discipline and order are so absolutely necessary +for the well-being of a nation that they must be kept at all risks, +and enforced by the most terrible punishments. + +It seems to me (to speak with all reverence) as if God had said to +the Jews, 'I have set you free. I will make of you a great nation; +I will lead you into a good land and large. But if you are to be a +great nation, if you are to conquer that good land and large, you +must obey: and you shall obey. The earthquake and the fire shall +teach you to obey, and make you an example to the rest of the +Israelites, and to all nations after you.' But how hard, some may +think, that the wives and the children should suffer for their +parents' sins. + +My friends, we do not know that a single woman or child died then +for whom it was not better that he or she should die. That is one +of the deep things which we must leave to the perfect justice and +mercy of God. + +And next--what is it after all, but what we see going on round us +all the day long? God does visit the sins of the fathers on the +children. There is no denying it. Wives do suffer for their +husbands' sins; children and children's children for whole +generations after generations suffer for their parents' sins, and +become unhealthy, or superstitious, or profligate, or poor, or +slavish, because their parents sinned, and dragged down their +children with them in their fall. It is a law of the world; and +therefore it is a law of God. And it is reasonable to be believed +that God might choose to teach the Israelites, once and for all, +that it WAS a law of his world. For by swallowing up those women +and children with the men, God said to the Israelites, it seems to +me in a way which could not be mistaken, 'This is the consequence of +lawlessness and disorder--that you not only injure yourselves, but +your children after you, and involve your families in the same ruin +as yourselves.' + +But there was another lesson, and a deep lesson, in the earthquake +and in the fire. And what was this? that the earthquake and the +fire came out from the Lord. + +Earthquakes have swallowed up not hundreds merely, but many +thousands, in many countries, and at many times. + +Fire has come forth, and still comes forth from the ground, from the +clouds, from the consequences of man's own carelessness, and +destroys beast and man, and the works of man's hands. Then men ask +in terror and doubt, 'Who sends the earthquake and the fire? Do +they come from the devil--the destroyer? Do they come by chance, +from some brute and blind powers of nature?' + +This chapter answers, 'No. They come from the Lord, from whom all +good things do come; from the Lord who delivered the Israelites out +of Egypt; who so loved the world that he spared not his only +begotten Son, but freely gave him for us.' + +Now I say that is a gospel, and good news, which we want now as much +as ever men did; which the children of Israel wanted then, though +not one whit more than we. + +Many hundreds of years had these Israelites been in Egypt. Storm, +lightning, earthquake, the fires of the burning mountains, were +things unknown to them. They were going into Canaan--a good land +and fruitful, but a land of storms and thunders; a land, too, of +earthquakes and subterranean fires. The deepest earthquake-crack in +the world is the valley of the Jordan, ending in the Dead Sea--a +long valley, through which at different points the nether fires of +the earth even now burst up at times. In Abraham's time they had +destroyed the five cities of the plain. The prophets mention them, +especially Isaiah and Micah, as breaking out again in their own +times; and in our own lifetime earthquake and fire have done fearful +destruction in the north part of the Holy Land. + +Now what was to prevent the Israelites worshipping the earthquake +and the fire as gods? + +Nothing. Conceive the terror and horror of the Jews coming out of +that quiet land of Egypt, the first time they felt the ground +rocking and rolling; the first time they heard the roar of the +earthquake beneath their feet; the first time they saw, in the +magnificent words of Micah, the mountains molten and the valleys +cleft as wax before the fire, like water poured down a steep place; +and discovered that beneath their very feet was Tophet, the pit of +fire and brimstone, ready to burst up and overwhelm them they knew +not when. + +What could they do, but what the Canaanites did who dwelt already in +that land? What but to say, 'The fire is king. The fire is the +great and dreadful God, and to him we must pray, lest he devour us +up.' For so did the Canaanites. They called the fire Moloch, which +means simply the king; and they worshipped this fire-king, and made +idols of him, and offered human sacrifices to him. They had idols +of metal, before which an everlasting fire burned; and on the arms +of the idol the priests laid the children who were to be sacrificed, +that they might roll down into the fire and be burnt alive. That is +actual fact. In one case, which we know of well, hundreds of years +after Moses' time, the Carthaginians offered two hundred boys of +their best families to Moloch in one day. This is that making the +children pass through the fire to Moloch--burning them in the fire +to Moloch--of which we read several times in the Old Testament; as +ugly and accursed a superstition as men ever invented. + +What deliverance was there for them from these abominable +superstitions, except to know that the fire-kingdom was God's +kingdom, and not Moloch's at all; to know with Micah and with David +that the hills were molten like wax BEFORE THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD; +that it was the blast of his breath which discovered the foundations +of the world; that it was HE who made the sea flee and drove back +the Jordan stream; that it was before HIM that the mountains skipped +like rams and the little hills like young sheep; that the battles of +shaking were God's battles, with which he could fight for his +people; that it was he who ordained Tophet, and whose spirit kindled +it. That it was he--and that too in mercy as well as anger--who +visited the land in Isaiah's time with thunder and earthquake, and +great noise, and storm and tempest, and the flame of devouring fire. +That the earth opened and swallowed up those whom God chose, and no +others. That if fire came forth, it came forth from the Lord, and +burned where and what God chose, and nothing else. Yes. If you +will only understand, once and for all, that the history of the Jews +is the history of the Lord's turning a people from the cowardly, +slavish worship of sun and stars, of earthquakes and burning +mountains, and all the brute powers of nature which the heathen +worshipped, and teaching them to trust and obey him, the living God, +the Lord and Master of all, then the Old Testament will be clear to +you throughout; but if not, then not. + +You cannot read your Bibles without seeing how that great lesson was +stamped into the very hearts of the Hebrew prophets; how they are +continually speaking of the fire and the earthquake, and yet +continually declaring that they too obey God and do God's will, and +that the man who fears God need not fear them--that God was their +hope and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore would +they not fear, though the earth was moved, and though the mountains +be carried into the midst of the sea. + +And we, too, need the same lesson in these scientific days. We too +need to fix it in our hearts, that the powers of nature are the +powers of God; that he orders them by his providence to do what he +will, and when and where he will; that, as the Psalmist says, the +winds are his messengers and the flames of fire his ministers. And +this we shall learn from the Bible, and from no other book +whatsoever. + +God taught the Jews this, by a strange and miraculous education, +that they might teach it in their turn to all mankind. And they +have taught it. For the Bible bids us--as no other book does--not +to be afraid of the world on which we live; not to be afraid of +earthquake or tempest, or any of the powers of nature which seem to +us terrible and cruel, and destroying; for they are the powers of +the good and just and loving God. They obey our Father in heaven, +without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground, and our Lord Jesus +Christ, who came not to destroy men's lives, but to save them. And +therefore we need not fear them, or look on them with any blind +superstition, as things too awful for us to search into. We may +search into their causes; find out, if we can, the laws which they +obey, because those laws are given them by God our Father; try, by +using those laws, to escape them, as we are learning now to escape +tempests; or to prevent them, as we are learning now to prevent +pestilences: and where we cannot do that, face them manfully, +saying, 'It is my Father's will. These terrible events must be +doing God's work. They may be punishing the guilty; they may be +taking the righteous away from the evil to come; they may be +teaching wise men lessons which will enable them years hence to save +lives without number; they may be preparing the face of the earth +for the use of generations yet unborn. Whatever they are doing they +are and must be doing good; for they are doing the will of the +living Father, who willeth that none should perish, and hateth +nothing that he hath made.' + +This, my friends, is the lesson which the Bible teaches; and because +it teaches that lesson it is the Book of books, and the inspired +word or message, not of men concerning God, but of God himself, +concerning himself, his kingdom over this world and over all worlds, +and his good will to men. + + + +SERMON XIV. BALAAM + + + +NUMBERS xxiii. 19. God is not a man, that he should lie; neither +the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he +not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? + +If I was asked for any proof that the story of Balaam, as I find it +in the Bible, is a true story, I should lay my hand on this one +only--and that is, the deep knowledge of human nature which is shown +in it. + +The character of Balaam is so perfectly natural, and yet of a kind +so very difficult to unravel and explain, that if the story was +invented by man, as poems or novels are, it must have been invented +very late indeed in the history of the Jews; at a time when they had +grown to be a far more civilised people, far more experienced in the +cunning tricks of the human heart than they were, as far as we can +see from the Bible, before the Babylonish captivity. But it was NOT +invented late; for no Jew in these later times would have thought of +making Balaam a heathen, to be a prophet of God, or a believer in +the true God at all. The later Jews took up the notion that God +spoke to and cared for the Jews only, and that all other nations +were accursed. + +There is no reason, therefore, against simply believing the story as +it stands. It seems a very ancient story indeed, suiting exactly in +its smallest details the place where Moses, or whoever wrote the +Book of Numbers, has put it. + +We, in these days, are accustomed to draw a sharp line between the +good and the bad, the converted and the unconverted, the children of +God and the children of this world, those who have God's Spirit and +those who have not, which we find nowhere in Scripture; and +therefore when we read of such a man as Balaam we cannot understand +him. He is a bad man, but yet he is a prophet. How can that be? +He knows the true God. More, he has the Spirit of God in him, and +thereby utters deep and wonderful prophecies; and yet he is a bad +man and a rogue. How can that be? + +The puzzle, my friends, is one of our own making. If, instead of +taking up doctrines out of books, we will use our own eyes and ears +and common sense, and look honestly at this world as it is, and men +and women as they are, we shall find nothing unnatural or strange in +Balaam; we shall find him very like a good many people whom we know; +very like--nay, probably, too like--ourselves in some particulars. + +Now bear in mind, first, that Balaam is no impostor or magician. He +is a wise man, and a prophet of God. God really speaks to him, and +really inspires him. + +And bear in mind, too, that Balaam's inspiration did not merely open +his mouth to say wonderful words which he did not understand, but +opened his heart to say righteous and wise things which he did +understand. + +'Remember,' says the prophet Micah, 'O my people, what Balak, king +of Moab, consulted, and what Balaam, the son of Beor, answered him +from Shittim unto Gilgal, that ye may know the righteousness of the +Lord. Wherewith shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before +the high God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with +calves of a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of +rams, or with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my +firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of +my soul? He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good, and what doth +the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and +to walk humbly with thy God.' Why, what deeper or wiser words are +there in the whole Old Testament? This man Balaam had seen down +into the deepest depths of all morality, unto the deepest depths of +all religion. The man who knew that, knew more than ninety-nine in +a hundred do even in a Christian country now, and more than nine +hundred and ninety-nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine in a +million knew in those days. Let no one, after that speech, doubt +that Balaam was indeed a prophet of the Lord; and yet he was a bad +man, and came deservedly to a bad end. + +So much easier, my friends, is it to know what is right than to do +what is right. + +What then was wrong in Balaam? + +This, that he was double-minded. He wished to serve God. True. +But he wished to serve himself by serving God, as too many do in all +times. + +That was what was wrong with him--self-seeking; and the Bible story +brings out that self-seeking with a delicacy, a keenness, and a +perfect knowledge of human nature, which ought to teach us some of +the secrets of our own hearts. Watch how Balaam, as a matter of +course, inquires of the Lord whether he may go, and refuses, +seemingly at first honestly. + +Then how the temptation grows on him; how, when he feels tempted, he +fights against it in fine-sounding professions, just because he +feels that he is going to yield to it. Then how he begins to tempt +God, by asking him again, in hopes that God may have changed his +mind. Then when he has his foolish wish granted he goes. Then when +the terrible warning comes to him that he is on the wrong road, that +God's wrath is gone out against him, and his angel ready to destroy +him, he is full still of hollow professions of obedience, instead of +casting himself utterly upon God's mercy, and confessing his sin, +and entreating pardon. + +Then how, instead of being frightened at God's letting him have his +way, he is emboldened by it to tempt God more and more, and begins +offering bullocks and rams on altars, first in this place and then +in that, in hopes still that GOD may change his mind, and let him +curse Israel; in hopes that God may be like one of the idols of the +heathen, who could (so the heathen thought) be coaxed and flattered +round by sacrifices to do whatever their worshippers wished. + +Then, when he finds that all is of no use; that he must not curse +Israel, and must not earn Balak's silver and gold, he is forced to +be an honest man in spite of himself; and therefore he makes the +best of his disappointment by taking mighty credit to himself for +being honest, while he wishes all the while he might have been +allowed to have been dishonest. Oh, if all this is not poor human +nature, drawn by the pen of a truly inspired writer, what is it? + +Moreover, it is curious to watch how as Balaam is forced step by +step to be an honest man, so step by step he rises. A weight falls +off his mind and heart, and the Spirit of God comes upon him. + +He feels for once that he must speak his mind, that he must obey +God. As he looks down from off the mountain top, and sees the vast +encampment of the Israelites spread over the vale below, for miles +and miles, as far as the eye can see, all ordered, disciplined, +arranged according to their tribes, the Spirit of God comes upon +him, and he gives way to it and speaks. + +The sight of that magnificent array wakens up in him the thought of +how divine is older, how strong is order, how order is the life and +root of a nation, and how much more, when that order is the order of +God. + +'How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! +As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river's +side, as the trees of lign aloes which the Lord hath planted, and as +cedar trees beside the waters. His king shall be higher than Agag,' +and all his wild Amalekite hordes. He will be a true nation, +civilized, ordered, loyal and united, for God is teaching him. + +Who can resist such a nation as that? 'God has brought him out of +Egypt. He has the strength of an unicorn.' 'I shall see him,' he +says, 'but not now; I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall +come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel, +and shall smite the corners of Moab, and destroy all the children of +Sheth.' And when he looked on Amalek, he took up his parable, and +said, 'Amalek was the first of the nation; but his latter end shall +be that he perish for ever.' And he looked on the Kenites, and took +up his parable, and said, 'Strong is thy dwelling-place, and thou +puttest thy nest in a rock. Nevertheless, the Kenite shall be +wasted, till Asshur shall carry thee away captive.' 'Alas, who +shall live when God doeth this!' + +And then, beyond all, after all the Canaanites and other Syrian +races have been destroyed, he sees, dimly and afar off, another +destruction still. + +In his home in the far east the fame of the ships of Chittim has +reached him; the fame of the new people, the sea-roving heroes of +the Greeks, of whom old Homer sang; the handsomest, cunningest, most +daring of mankind, who are spreading their little trading colonies +along all the isles and shores, as we now are spreading ours over +the world. Those ships of Chittim, too, have a great and glorious +future before them. Some day or other they will come and afflict +Asshur, the great empire of the East, out of which Balaam probably +came; and afflict Eber too, the kingdom of the Jews, and they too +shall perish for ever. + +Dimly he sees it, for it is very far away. But that it will come he +sees; and beyond that all is dark. He has said his say; he has +spoken the whole truth for once. Balak's house full of silver and +gold would not have bought him off and stopped his mouth when such +awful thoughts crowded on his mind. So he returns to his place--to +do what? + +If he cannot earn Balak's gold by cursing Israel, he can do it by +giving him cunning and politic advice. He advises Balak to make +friends with the Israelites and mix them up with his people by +enticing them to the feasts of his idols, at which the women threw +themselves away in shameful profligacy, after the custom of the +heathens of these parts. + +In the next chapter we read how Moses, and Phinehas, Aaron's +grandson, put down those filthy abominations with a high hand; and +how Balaam's detestable plot, instead of making peace, makes war; +and in chapter xxxi. you read the terrible destruction of the whole +nation of the Midianites, and among it this one short and terrible +hint: 'Balaam also, the son of Beor, they slew with the sword.' + +But what may we learn from this ugly story? + +Recollect what I said at first, that we should find Balaam too like +many people now-a-days; perhaps too like ourselves. + +Too like indeed. For never were men more tempted to sin as Balaam +did than in these days, when religion is all the fashion, and pays a +man, and helps him on in life; when, indeed, a man cannot expect to +succeed without professing some sort of religion or other. + +Thereby comes a terrible temptation to many men. I do not mean to +hypocrites, but to really well-meaning men. They like religion. +They wish to be good; they have the feeling of devotion. They pray, +they read their Bibles, they are attentive to services and to +sermons, and are more or less pious people. But soon--too soon-- +they find that their piety is profitable. Their business increases. +Their credit increases. They are trusted and respected; their +advice is asked and taken. They gain power over their fellow-men. +What a fine thing it is, they think, to be pious! + +Then creeps in the love of the world; the love of money, or power, +or admiration; and they begin to value religion because it helps +them to get on in the world. They begin more and more to love Piety +not for its own sake, but for the sake of what it brings; not +because it pleases God, but because it pleases the world; not +because it enables them to help their fellow-men, but because it +enables them to help themselves. + +So they get double-minded, unstable, inconsistent, as St. James +says, in all their ways; trying to serve God and Mammon at once. +Trying to do good--as long as doing good does not hurt them in the +world's eyes; but longing oftener and oftener to do wrong, if only +God would not be angry. Then comes on Balaam's frame of mind, 'If +Balak would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go +beyond the commandment of the Lord.' + +Oh no. They would not do a wrong thing for the world--only they +must be quite sure first that it is wrong. Has God really forbidden +it? Why should they not take care of their interest? Why should +they not get on in the world? So they begin, like Balaam, to tempt +God, to see how far they can go; to see if God has forbidden this +and that mean, or cowardly, or covetous, or ambitious deed. So they +soon settle for themselves what God has forbidden and what he has +not; and their rule of life becomes this--that whatsoever is safe +and whatsoever is profitable is pretty sure to be right; and after +that no wonder if, like Balaam, they indulge themselves in every +sort of sin, provided only it is respectable, and does not hurt them +in the world's eyes. + +And all the while they keep up their religion. Ay, they are often +more attentive than ever to religion, because their consciences +pinch them at times, and have to be silenced and drugged by +continual church-goings and chapel-goings, and readings and +prayings, in order that they may be able to say to themselves with +Balaam, 'Thus saith Balaam, he who heard the word of God, and had +the knowledge of the Most High.' + +So they say to themselves, 'I must be right. How religious I am; +how fond of sermons, and of church services, and church +restorations, and missionary meetings, and charitable institutions, +and everything that is good and pious. I MUST be right with God.' +Deceiving their ownselves, and saying to themselves, 'I am rich and +increased with goods, I have need of nothing,' and not knowing that +they are wretched, and miserable, and blind, and naked. + +Would God that such people, of whom there are too many, would take +St. John's warning and buy of the Lord gold tried in the fire--the +true gold of honesty--that they may be truly rich, and anoint their +eyes with eye-salve that they may see themselves for once as they +are. + +But what does this story teach us concerning God? For remember, as +I tell you every Sunday, that each fresh story in the Pentateuch +reveals to us something fresh about the character of God. What does +Balaam's story reveal? Balaam himself tells us in the text, 'God is +not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should +repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it?' + +Yes. Fancy not that any wishes or prayers of yours can persuade God +to alter his everlasting laws of right and wrong. If he has +commanded a thing, he has commanded it because it is according to +his everlasting laws, which cannot change, because they are made in +his eternal image and likeness. Therefore if God has commanded you +a thing, DO IT heartily, fully, without arguing or complaining. If +you begin arguing with God's law, excusing yourself from it, +inventing reasons why YOU need not obey it in this particular +instance, though every one else ought, then you will end, like +Balaam, in disobeying the law, and it will grind you to powder. + +But if you obey God's law honestly, with a single eye and a whole +heart, you will find in it a blessing, and peace, and strength, and +everlasting life. + + + +SERMON XV. DEUTERONOMY + + + +(Third Sunday after Easter.) + +Deut. iv. 39, 40. Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine +heart, that the Lord he is God in heaven above, and upon the earth +beneath: there is none else. Thou shall keep therefore his +statutes and his commandments, which I command thee this day, that +it may go well with thee, and with thy children after thee, and that +thou mayest prolong thy days upon the earth, which the Lord thy God +giveth thee, for ever. + +Learned men have argued much of late as to who wrote the book of +Deuteronomy. After having read a good deal on the subject, I can +only say that I see no reason why we should not believe the ancient +account which the Jews give, that it was written, or at least spoken +by Moses. + +No doubt there are difficulties in the book. If there had not been, +there would never have been any dispute about the matter; but the +plain, broad, common-sense case is this: + +The book of Deuteronomy is made up of several great orations or +sermons, delivered, says the work itself, by Moses, to the whole +people of the Jews, before they left the wilderness and entered into +the land of Canaan; wherefore it is called Deuteronomy, or the +second law. In it some small matters of the law are altered, as was +to be expected, when the Jews were going to change their place and +their whole way of life. But the whole teaching and meaning of the +book is exactly that of Exodus and Leviticus. Moreover, it is, if +possible, the grandest and deepest book of the Old Testament. Its +depth and wisdom are unequalled. I hold it to be the sum and +substance of all political philosophy and morality of the true life +of a nation. The books of Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, grand as +they are, are, as it were, its children; growths out of the root +which Deuteronomy reveals. + +Now if Moses did not write it, who did? + +As for the style of it being different from that of Exodus and +Leviticus, the simple answer is, Why not? They are books of history +and of laws. This is a book of sermons or orations, spoken first, +and not written, which, of course, would be in a different style. +Besides, why should not Moses have spoken differently at the end of +forty years' such experience as never man had before or since? +Every one who thinks, writes, or speaks in public, knows how his +style alters, as fresh knowledge and experience come to him. Are +you to suppose that Moses gained nothing by HIS experience? + +As for a few texts in it being like Isaiah or Jeremiah, they are +likely enough to be so; for if (as I believe) Deuteronomy was +written long before those books, what more likely than that Isaiah +and Jeremiah should have studied it, and taken some of its words to +themselves when they were preaching to the Jews just what +Deuteronomy preaches? + +As for any one else having written it in Moses' name, hundreds of +years after his death, I cannot believe it. If there had been in +Israel a prophet great and wise enough to write Deuteronomy, we must +have heard more about him, for he must have been famous at the time +when he did live; while, if he were great enough to write +Deuteronomy, he would have surely written in his own name, as Isaiah +and all the other prophets wrote, instead of writing under a feigned +name, and putting words into Moses' mouth which he did not speak, +and laws he did not give. Good men are not in the habit of telling +lies: much less prophets of God. Men do not begin to play cowardly +tricks of that kind till after they have lost faith in the LIVING +God, and got to believe that God was with their forefathers, but is +not with them. A Jew of the time of the Apocrypha, or of the time +of our Lord, might have done such a thing, because he had lost faith +in the living God; but then his work would have been of a very +different kind from this noble and heart-stirring book. For the +pith and marrow, the essence and life of Deuteronomy is, that it is +full of faith in the living God; and for that very reason I am going +to speak to you to-day. + +For the rest, whether Moses wrote the book down, and put it together +in the shape in which we now have it, we shall never be able to +tell. The several orations may have been put together into one +book. Alterations may have crept in by the carelessness of copiers; +sentences may have been added to it by later prophets--as, of +course, the grand account of Moses' death, which probably was at +first the beginning of the book of Joshua. And beyond that we need +know nothing--even if we need know that. + +There the book is; and people, if they be wise, will, instead of +trying to pick it to pieces, read and study it in fear and +trembling, that the curses pronounced in it may NOT come, and the +blessings pronounced in it may come upon this English land. + +Now these Jews were to worship and obey Jehovah, the one true God, +and him only. And why? + +Why, indeed? You MUST understand why, or you will never understand +this book of Deuteronomy or any part of the Old Testament, and if +you do not, then you will understand very little, if anything, of +the New. + +You must understand that this was not to be a mere matter of +RELIGION with the old Jews, this trusting and obeying the true God. +Indeed, the word religion, so far as I know, is never mentioned once +in the Old Testament at all. By religion we now mean some plan of +believing and obeying God, which will save our souls after we die. +But Moses said nothing to the Jews about that. He never even +anywhere told them that they would live again after this life. We +do not know the reason of that. But we may suppose that he knew +best. And as we believe that God sent him, we must believe that God +knew best also; and that he thought it good for these Jews not to be +told too much about the next life; perhaps for fear that they should +forget that God was the living God; the God of now, as well as of +hereafter; the God of this life, as well as of the life to come. My +friends, I sometimes think we need putting in mind of that in these +days as much as those old Jews did. + +However that may be, what Moses promised these Jews, if they trusted +in the living God, was that they should be a great nation, they and +their children after them; that they should drive out the Canaanites +before them; that they should conquer their enemies, and that a +thousand should flee before one of them; that they should be blessed +in their crops, their orchards, their gardens; that they should have +none of the evil diseases of Egypt; that there should be none barren +among them, or among their cattle. In a word, that they should be +thoroughly and always a strong, happy, prosperous people. + +This is what God promised them by Moses, and nothing else; and +therefore this is what we must think about, and see whether it has +anything to do with us, when we read the book of Deuteronomy, and +nothing else. + +On the other hand, God warned them by the mouth of Moses that if +they forgot the Lord God, and went and worshipped the things round +them, men or beasts, or sun and moon and stars, then poverty, +misery, and ruin of every kind would surely fall upon them. + +And that this last was no empty threat is proved by the plain facts +of their sacred history. For they DID forget God, and worshipped +Baalim, the sun, moon, and stars; and ruin of every kind DID come +upon them, till they were carried away captive to Babylon. And this +we must think of when we read the book of Deuteronomy, and nothing +else. If they wished to prosper, they were to know and consider in +their hearts that Jehovah was God, and there was none else. Yes-- +this was the continual thought which a true Jew was to have. The +thought of a God who was HIS God; the God of his fathers before him, +and the God of his children after him; the God of the whole nation +of the Jews, throughout all their generations. + +But not their God only. No. The God of the Gentiles also, of all +the nations upon the earth. He was to believe that his God alone, +of all the gods of the nations, was the true and only God, who had +made all nations, and appointed them their times and the bounds of +their habitations. + +We cannot understand now, in these happier days, all that that +meant; all the strength and comfort, all the godly fear, the feeling +of solemn responsibility which that thought ought to have given, and +did give to the Jews--that they were the people of Jehovah, the one +true God. + +For you must remember that all the nations round them then, and all +the great heathen nations afterwards, were, as far as we know, the +people of some god or other. Religion and politics were with them +one and the same thing. They had some god, or gods, whom they +looked to as the head or king of their nation, who had a special +favour to them, and would bless and prosper them according as they +showed him special reverence, and after that god the whole nation +was often named. + +The Ammonites' god was Ammon, the hidden god, the lord of their +sheep and cattle. The Zidonians had Ashtoreth, the moon. The +Phoenicians worshipped Moloch, the fire. Many of the Canaanites +worshipped Baal, the lord, or Baalim, the lords--the sun, moon, and +stars. The Philistines afterwards (for we read nothing of +Philistines in Moses' time) worshipped Dagon, the fish-god, and so +forth. The Egyptians had gods without number--gods invented out of +beasts, and birds, and the fruits of the earth, and the season, and +the weather, and the sun and moon and stars. Each class and trade, +from the highest to the lowest, and each city and town throughout +the land seems to have had its special god, who was worshipped +there, and expected to take care of that particular class of men or +that particular place. + +What a thought it must have been for the Jews--all these people have +their gods, but they are all wrong. We have the RIGHT God; the only +true God. They are the people of this god, or of that; we are the +people of the one true God. They look to many gods; we look to the +one God, who made all things, and beside whom there is none else. +They look to one god to bless them in one thing, and another in +another; one to send them sunshine, one to send them fruitful +seasons, one to prosper their crops, another their flocks and herds, +and so forth. We look to one God to do all these things for us, +because he is Lord of all at once, and has made all. + +Therefore we need not fear the gods of the heathen, or cry to any of +them, even in our utmost distress; for we belong to him who is +before all gods, the God of gods, of whom it is written, 'Worship +him, all ye gods;' and 'It is the Lord who made the heaven and the +earth, the sea and all that therein is. Him only shalt thou +worship, and him only shalt thou serve.' If we obey him, and keep +his commandments; if we trust in him, utterly, through good fortune +and through bad--then we must prosper in peace and war, we and our +children after us; because our prosperity is grounded on the real +truth, and that of the heathen on a lie; and all that the heathen +expect their false gods to do for them, one here and another there, +all that, the one real God will do for us, himself alone. + +Do you not see what a power and courage that thought must have given +to the Jews? Do you not see how worshipping God, and loving God, +and serving God, must have been a very different, a much deeper, and +a truly holier matter to them than the miserable selfish thing which +is miscalled religion by too many people now-a-days, by which a man +hopes to creep out of this world into heaven all by himself, without +any real care or love for his fellow-creatures, or those he leaves +behind him? + +No. An old Jew's faith in God, and obedience to God, was part of +his family life, part of his politics, part of his patriotism. If +he obeyed God, and clave earnestly to God, then a blessing would +come on him in the field and in the house, on his crops and on his +cattle, going out and coming in; and on his children and his +children's children to a thousand generations. He would be helping, +if he obeyed and trusted God, to advance his country's prosperity; +to insure her success in war and peace, to raise the name and fame +of the Jewish people among all the nations round, that all might +say, 'Surely this great nation is a wise and an understanding +people.' + +Thus the duty he owed to God was not merely a duty which he owed his +own conscience or his own soul; it was a duty which he owed to his +family, to his kindred, to his country. It was not merely an +opinion that there was one God and not two; it was a belief that the +one and only true God was protecting him, teaching him, inspiring +him and all his nation. That the true God would teach their hands +to war and their fingers to fight. That the true God would cause +their folds to be full of sheep. That their valleys should stand +rich with corn, that they should laugh and sing. That the true God +would enable them to sit every man under his own vine and his own +fig-tree, and eat the labour of his hands, he and his children after +him to perpetual generations. + +This was the message and teaching which God gave these Jews. It is +very different from what many people now-a-days would have given +them, if they had had the ordering of the matter, and the making of +those slaves into a free nation. But perhaps there is one proof +that God DID give it them, and that the Bible speaks truth, when it +says that not man, but God gave them their law. + +No doubt man would have done it differently. But God's ways are not +as man's ways, nor God's thoughts as man's thoughts. + +And God's ways have proved themselves to be the right ways. His +purpose has come to pass. This little nation of the Jews, +inhabiting a country not as large as Wales, without sea-port towns +and commerce, without colonies or conquests--and at last, for its +own sins, conquered itself, and scattered abroad over the whole +civilized world--has taught the whole civilized world, has converted +the whole civilized world, has influenced all the good and all the +wise unto this day so enormously, that the world has actually gone +beyond them, and become Christian by fully understanding their +teaching and their Bible, while they have remained mere Jews by not +fully understanding it. Truly, if that is not a proof that God +revealed something to the Jews which they never found out for +themselves, which was too great for them to understand, which was +God's boundless message and not any narrow message of man's +invention--if that does not prove it, I say--I know not what proof +men would have. + +But now I have told you that God bade these Jews to look for +blessings in THIS life, and blessings on their whole nation, and on +their children after them, if they obeyed and served him. Does God +NOT bid us to look for any such blessings? The Jews were to be +blessed in THIS world. Are we only to be blessed in the next? + +To that the Seventh Article of our Church gives a plain and positive +answer. For it says that those are not to be heard who pretend that +the old Fathers, i.e. Moses and the Prophets, looked only for +transitory promises--i.e. for promises which would pass away. No. +They looked for eternal promises which could not pass away, because +they were according to the eternal laws of God, which stand good +both for this world and for all worlds for this life and for the +life everlasting. + +Yes, my friends, settle in your hearts that the book of Deuteronomy +is meant for you, and for all the nations upon earth, as much as for +the old Jews. That its promises and warnings are to you and to your +children as surely as they were to the old Jews. Ay, that they are +meant for every nation that is, or ever was, or ever will be upon +earth. If you would prosper on the earth, fear God and keep his +commandments; and know and consider it in your heart that the Lord +Jesus Christ he is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath: +there is none else. He it is who gives grace and honour. He it is +who delivers us out of the hands of our enemies. He it is who +blesses the fruit of the womb, and the fruit of the flock, and the +fruit of the garden and the field. He is the living God, in whom +this world, as well as the world to come, lives and moves and has +its being; and only by obeying his laws can man prosper, he and his +children after him, upon this earth of God. + + + +SERMON XVI. NATIONAL WEALTH + + + +(Fifth Sunday after Easter.) + +Deut. viii. 11-18. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in +not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, +which I command thee this day: lest when thou hast eaten and art +full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; and when thy +herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is +multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; then thine heart +be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee +forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; who led +thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery +serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who +brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint; who fed thee in +the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might +humble thee and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy +latter end: and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of +mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shall remember the +Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, +that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, +as it is this day. + +I told you before that the book of Deuteronomy was the foundation of +all sound politics--as one would expect it to be, if its author were +Moses, the greatest lawgiver whom the world ever saw. But here, in +this lesson, is a proof of the truth of what I said. For here, in +the text, is Moses' answer to the first great question in politics, +What makes a nation prosperous? + +To that wise men have always answered, as Moses answered, 'Good +government; government according to the laws of God.' That alone +makes a nation prosperous. + +But the multitude--who are not wise men, nor likely to be for some +time to come--give a different answer. They say, 'What makes a +nation prosperous is its wealth. If Britain be only RICH, then she +must be safe and right.' + +To which Moses, being a wise lawgiver, and having, moreover, in him +the Spirit of the Lord who knoweth what is in man, makes a +reasonable, liberal, humane answer. + +Moses does not deny that wealth is a good thing. He does not bid +them not try to be rich. He takes for granted that they will grow +rich; that the national fruit of their good government will be that +they will increase in cattle and in crops and in money, and in all +which makes an agricultural people rich. + +He takes for granted, I say, that these Jews will grow very rich; +but he warns them that their riches, like all other earthly things, +may be a curse or a blessing to them. Nay, that they are not good +in themselves, but mere tools which may be used for good or for +evil. He warns them of a very great danger that riches will bring +on them. And herein he shows his knowledge of the human heart; for +it is a certain fact that whenever any nation has prospered, and +their flocks and herds, and silver and gold, all that they had, have +multiplied, then they have, as Moses warned the Jews, forgotten the +Lord their God, and said, 'My power and the might of my hand hath +gotten me this wealth.' + +And it is true, also, that whenever any nation has begun to say +that, they have fallen into confusion and misery, and sometimes into +utter ruin, till they repented, and turned and remembered the Lord +their God, and found out that the strength of a nation did not +consist in riches, but in VIRTUE. For it is he that giveth the +power to get wealth. He gives it in two ways: First, God gives the +raw material; secondly, he gives the wit to use it. + +You will all agree that God gives the first; that he gives the soil, +the timber, the fisheries, the coal, the iron. + +Do you believe it? I hope and trust that you do. But I fear that +now-a-days many do not; for they boast of the resources of Britain +as if we ourselves had made Britain, and not Almighty God; as if we +had put the coal and the iron into the rocks, and not Almighty God +ages before we were born. + +And if they will not say that openly, at least they will say, 'But +the coal, and iron, and all other raw material would have been +useless, if it had not been for the genius and energy of the British +race.' + +Of course not. But who gave them that genius and energy? Who gave +them the wit to find the coal and iron? + +God; and God gave it to us when we needed it, and not before. + +Think of this, I beseech you; for it is true, and wonderful, and a +thing of which I may say, 'Come, and I will reason with you of the +righteous acts of the Lord.' + +Men say, 'As long as England is ahead of the world in coal and iron +she may defy the world.' I do not believe it; for if she became a +wicked nation all the coal and iron in the universe would not keep +her from being ruined. + +But even if it were true, which it is not, that the strength of +Britain lies in coal and iron, and not in British hearts, what right +have we to boast of coal and iron? + +Did our forefathers know of them when they came into this land? Did +they come after coal and iron? + +Not they. They came here to settle as small yeomen; to till +miserable little patches of corn, of which we should be now ashamed, +and to feed cattle on the moors, and swine in the forests--and that +was all they looked to. Then they found that there was iron, +principally down south, in Sussex and Surrey; and they worked it, +clumsily enough, with charcoal; and for more than twelve hundred +years they were here in England, with no notion of the boundless +wealth in iron and coal lying together in the same rocks which God +had provided for them; or if they did guess at it, they could not +use it, because they could not work deep mines, being unable to pump +out the water; for God had not opened their eyes and shown them how +to do it. + +But just when it was wanted, God did show them. About the middle of +the last century the iron in the Weald was all but worked out; the +charcoal wood was getting scarcer and scarcer, and there was every +chance that England, instead of being ahead of all nations in iron, +would have fallen behind other nations; and then where should we +have been now? + +But, just about one hundred years ago, it pleased God to open the +eyes of certain men, and they invented steam-engines. Then they +could pump the mines, then they could discover and use the vast +riches of our coal-mines. Then, too, sprung up a thousand useful +arts and manufactures; while the land, not being wanted for charcoal +and firewood, as of old, could be cleared of wood, and thousands of +acres set free to grow corn. Population, which had been all but +standing still, without increasing, has now more than doubled, and +wealth inestimable has come to this generation, of which our +forefathers never dreamed. + +Now what have we to boast of in that? What, save to confess +ourselves a very stupid race, who for twelve hundred years could not +discover, or at least use the boundless wealth which God had given +us, because we had not wit enough to invent so simple a thing as a +steam-engine. + +All we should do, instead of boasting, is to bless God that he +revealed to us just what we needed, and at the very time at which we +needed it, and confess that it is HE that giveth us power to get +wealth. It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves. + +Look again at another case, even more extraordinary, which has +happened during our own times--indeed within the last ten years--the +discovery of gold in Australia. + +There had been rumours and whispers of gold for years before; and +yet no one looked for gold, cared for it, hardly believed in it. +God had dulled their understanding and blinded their eyes for some +good purpose of his own. That is what the Bible would have said of +such a matter, and that is what we should say. + +And at last some man finds lying out upon the downs a huge lump of +gold--by accident (as men call it; by the special providence of God, +as they ought to call it); and at that every one starts up and +awakes, and begins looking for gold. And now that their eyes are +opened, behold! the gold is everywhere. Not merely in lonely +forests and unexplored mountains, but on farms where the sheep have +been pastured for years past; ay, even Melbourne streets were full +of gold, under the feet of the passengers and the wheels of the +carriages; there had the gold been all along, but men could not see +it till God opened their eyes. Verily, verily, God is great, and +man is small. I do not say that this was a miracle in the common +meaning of the word; but I do say that this was a striking instance +of that everlasting and special providence of the living God, who +ordereth all things in heaven and earth, from the rise of a nation +to the fall of a sparrow; and does so, not by breaking his own laws, +but by making his laws work exactly as he will, when he will, and +where he will; and I say that it is a fresh proof of the great +saying, that no man can see a thing unless God shows it to him. For +it is the Lord who gives us power to get wealth. It is he that hath +made us, and not we ourselves; and in him we live and move, and have +our being. + +This, then, was what Moses commanded--to remember that they owed all +to God. What they had, they had of God's free gift. What they +were, they were by God's free grace. Therefore they were not to +boast of themselves, their numbers, their wealth, their armies, +their fair and fertile land. They were to make their boast of God, +and of God's goodness. + +He that gloried was to glory in the Lord, and confess that a Syrian +ready to perish was their father Jacob, when the Lord had mercy on +him, and made him the head of a great tribe, and the father of a +great nation; that not themselves, but God had brought them out of +Egypt with signs and wonders; that they got not the land in +possession by their own bow, neither was it their own sword that +helped them, but that God had driven out before them nations greater +and mightier than they. + +This they were to remember, because it was true. And this we are to +remember, because it is more or less true of us. God has put us +where we are. God has made of us a great nation; God has discovered +to us the immense riches of this land. It is he that hath made us, +and not we ourselves. + +But more. You will see that Moses warns them that if they forget +God, the Lord who brought them out of the land of Egypt, they would +go after other gods. + +He cannot part the two things. If they forget that God brought them +out of Egypt, they will turn to idolatry, and so end in ruin. + +Now why was this? + +Why should not the Jews have gone on worshipping one God, even if +they had forgotten that he brought them out of the land of Egypt? + +Some people now-a-days think that they would, and that they might +have very well been what is called Monotheists, without believing +all the story of the signs and wonders in Egypt, and the passage of +the Red Sea, and the giving of the law to Moses. + +Such men may be very learned; but there is one thing of which they +know very little, and that is, human nature. Moses knew human +nature; and he knew that if men forgot that God was the living God, +the acting God, who had helped them once, and was helping them +always, and only believed about there being one God far away in +heaven, and not two, that THAT sort of dead faith in a dead God +would never keep them from idols. They would want gods who WOULD +help them, who WOULD hear their prayers, to whom they could feel +gratitude and trust; and they would invent them for themselves, and +begin to worship things in the heavens above, and the earth beneath, +because they had forgotten their true friend and helper, the living +God. + +And so shall we. If we forget that God is the living God, who +brought our forefathers into this land; who has revealed to us the +wealth of it step by step, as we needed it; who is helping and +blessing us now, every day and all the year round--then we shall +begin worshipping other gods. + +I do not mean that we shall worship idols, though I do not see why +our children's children should not do so a few hundred years hence +if we teach them to forget the living God. There are too many +Christians at this day who worship saints, and idols of wood and +stone; and so may our descendants do--or do even worse. + +But we ourselves shall begin--indeed we are doing it too much +already--worshipping the so-called laws of nature, instead of God +who made the laws, and so honouring the creature above the creator; +or else we shall worship the pomps and vanities of this world, pride +and power, money and pleasure, and say in our hearts, 'These are our +only gods which can help us--these must we obey.' Which if we do, +this land of England will come to ruin and shame, as surely as did +the land of Israel in old time. + +If we do not believe in the living God, we shall believe in +something worse than even a dead god. + +For in a dead god--a god who does nothing, but lets mankind and the +world go their own way--no man nor nation ever will care to believe. + +And now, nay dear friends, remember that a nation is, after all, +only the people in that nation: you, and I, and our neighbours, and +our neighbours' neighbours, and so forth; and that therefore, in as +far as we are wrong, we do our worst to make the British nation +wrong. If we give way to ungodly pride and self-sufficiency, then +we are injuring ourselves; and not only that, but injuring our +neighbours and our children after us, as far as we can. And +therefore our duty is, if we wish well to our nation, not to judge +our neighbour, nor our neighbour's neighbour, but to judge +ourselves. + +If we go on trusting in ourselves rather than God; if we keep within +us the hard self-sufficient spirit, and boast to ourselves (though +we may be ashamed to boast to our neighbours), 'My power and the +strength of my hands have got me this and that;' and in fact live +under the notion, which too many have, that we could do very well +without God's help if God would let us alone--then we are heaping up +ruin and shame for ourselves and for our children after us. Ruin +and shame, I say. We are apt to forget how easy and common it is +for God to turn the wisdom of men into folly; to frustrate the +tokens of the liars, and make the prophets mad. How men blow great +bubbles, and God bursts them with the slightest touch. How, when +all seems well, and men cry peace and safety, sudden destruction +comes upon them unawares. How, when men say, 'Soul, take thine +ease, eat, drink, and be merry; thou hast much goods laid up for +many years,' God answers, 'Thou fool, this night shall thy soul be +required of thee.' + +My friends, we see God doing thus in these very days by great +nations, by great branches of industry. Look at the American war, +look at the Manchester cotton famine, and see how God can confound +the strong and cunning, and blind their eyes to the ruin which is +coming till it is come in all its might. And then think, If it be +so easy for him to confound such as them, is it less easy for him to +confound you and me, if we begin to fancy that we can do without +him, and ask, 'Doth God perceive it? Or is there knowledge in the +Most High? We are they that ought to speak. Who is Lord over us?' + +Yes, in this sense God is indeed a jealous God, who will not give +his honour to another. And a blessed thing for men it is that God +IS a jealous God, that he WILL punish us for trusting in anything +but him--will punish us for trusting in ourselves, or in our wisdom, +or in wealth, or in science, or in armies and navies, or in +constitutions and laws; in anything, in short, save the living God. + +For if he left us alone to go our own way without trusting or +fearing him, we should surely go down and down (as the Chinese seem +to have gone down), generation after generation, till we became only +a mere cunning and spiteful sort of animals, hateful and hating one +another. But when we are chastened for our folly, we are chastened +by him that we may be partakers of his holiness; that we may be his +children, looking up to him as our father, from whom comes every +good and perfect gift; the Father of Lights, with whom is no +variableness or shadow of turning; and who therefore will and can +give us, his children, light, more and more to understand those his +invariable and eternal laws, by which he has made earth and heaven; +who has given us his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, and will with him +likewise freely give us all things. + + + +SERMON XVII. THE GOD OF THE RAIN + + + +(Fifth Sunday after Easter.) + +DEUT. xi. 11, 12. The land, whither ye go to possess it, is a land +of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain of heaven. A +land which the Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord thy +God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year, even unto +the end of the year. + +I told you, when I spoke of the earthquakes of the Holy Land, that +it seems as if God had meant specially to train that strange people +the Jews, by putting them into a country where they MUST trust him, +or become cowards and helpless; that so they might learn not to fear +the powers of Nature which the heathen worshipped, but to fear him +the living God. + +In this chapter is another instance of the same. They were to be an +agricultural people. Their very worship was (if you can understand +such a thing now-a-days) to be agricultural. Pentecost was a feast +of the first-fruits of the harvest. The Feast of Tabernacles was a +great national harvest home. The Passover itself, though not at +first an agricultural festival, became one by the waving of the +Paschal sheaf, which gave permission to the people to begin their +spring-harvest--so thoroughly were they to be an agricultural and +cattle-feeding people. They were going into a good land, a land of +milk and honey and oil olive; a land of vines and figs and +pomegranates; a rich land; but a most uncertain land--a land which +might yield a splendid crop one year, and be almost barren the next. + +It was not as the land of Egypt--a land which was, humanly speaking, +sure to be fertile, because always supplied with water, brought out +of the Nile by dykes and channels which spread in a network over +every field, and where--as I believe is done now--the labourer +turned the water from one land to the other simply by moving the +earth with his foot. + +It was a mountain land, a land of hills and valleys, and drank water +of the rain of heaven; a land of fountains of water, which required +to be fed continually by the rain. In that hot climate it depended +entirely on God's providence from week to week whether a crop could +grow. + +Therefore it was a land which the Lord cared for--a land which +needed his special help, and it had it. 'The eyes of the Lord God +were always upon it, from the beginning of the year unto the end of +the year.' + +Beautiful, simple, noble, true words--deeper than all the learned +words, however true they may be (and true they are, and to be +listened to with respect), which men talk about the laws of Nature +and of weather. Who would change them for all the scientific +phrases in the world? The eyes of the Lord were upon the land. It +needed his care; and therefore his care it had. + +Therefore the Jew was to understand from his first entry into the +land, that his prosperity depended utterly on God. The laws of +weather, by which the rain comes up off the sea, were unknown to +him. They are all but unknown to us now. But they were known to +God. Not a drop could fall without his providence and will; and +therefore they were utterly in his power. + +'And it shall come to pass, if ye shall hearken diligently unto my +commandments which I command you this day, to love the Lord your +God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, +that I will give you the rain of your land in his due season, the +first rain and the latter rain, that thou mayest gather in thy corn, +and thy wine, and thine oil. And I will send grass in thy fields +for thy cattle, that thou mayest eat and be full. Take heed to +yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside and +serve other gods, and worship them; and then the Lord's wrath be +kindled against you, and he shut up the heaven, that there be no +rain, and that the land yield not her fruit; and lest ye perish +quickly from off the good land which the Lord giveth you.' + +Now the Bible story is, that this warning came true. More than once +we read of drought--long, and severe, and ruinous. In one famous +case, there was no rain for three years; and Ahab has to go out to +search through the land for a scrap of pasture. 'Peradventure we +shall find grass enough to save the horses and mules alive.' + +And most distinctly does the Bible say that these droughts came at +times when the Jews had fallen into idolatry, and profligacy +therewith. That is the Scripture account. And if you believe in +the living God, whose providence ordereth all things in heaven and +earth, that account will seem reasonable and credible to you. + +What special means God used to bring about these great droughts we +cannot know, any more than we can know why a storm or a shower +should come one week and not another. And we need not know. God +made the world, and God governs the world, and that is enough for +us. + +Be that as it may, Moses goes down to the very root and ground and +true cause of the riches of the land, and of the rainfall, and of +the prosperity of the Jews, and of the prosperity of any living +nation on earth, when he says, 'Therefore shall ye lay up these my +words in your heart and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon +your hand, that they may be as frontlets between your eyes.' + +'Ye shall lay up these my words in your heart and your soul, and +teach them your children when thou sittest in thine house and when +thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down and when thou risest +up.' That is, thou shalt believe continually in a living God--a God +who is working everywhere at every moment, about thy path and about +thy bed, and spying out all thy ways; and not only about thee, but +about all that thou seest. From him comes alike rain and sunshine; +from him comes the life of man; from him comes all which makes it +possible for man to live upon the earth. + +And it is a plain fact that the Jews for a long time did believe +this--at least the prophets, psalmists and good men among them--to +the most intense degree; to a degree in which perhaps no nation has +believed it since. With them God is everything, and man nothing. +Man finds out nothing: God reveals it to him. Man's intellect does +nothing: the Spirit of God gives him understanding to do it--even, +says Isaiah, understanding to plough, and to sow, and to reap his +crops in due season. It is the Spirit of God, according to the +prophets and psalmists, which makes the difference between a man and +a beast. But upon the beasts too, and the green things of the +earth, and on all nature, the Spirit of God works. He is the Lord +and giver of life. Take only those four Psalms, the 8th, 18th, +29th, 104th, and learn from them what the old Jews thought of this +wonderful world in which we live. + +'These all wait upon thee'--all living things by land and sea--'that +thou mayest give them meat in due season. When thou givest it them +they gather it. When thou openest thy hand they are filled with +good. When thou hidest thy face they are troubled. When thou +takest away their breath they die, and are turned again to their +dust. When thou lettest thy breath go forth they shall be made, and +thou shalt renew the face of the earth.' + +So again, in the world of man, God is the living Judge, the living +overlooker, rewarder, punisher of every man, not only in the life to +come, but in this life. His providence is a special providence. +But not such a poor special providence as men are too apt to dream +of now-a-days, which interferes only now and then on some great +occasion, or on behalf of some very favoured persons, but a special +providence looking after every special act of man, and of the whole +universe, from the fall of a sparrow to the fall of an empire. + +And it is this intense faith in the living God, which can only come +by the inspiration of the Spirit of God, which proves the old +Testament to be truly inspired. This it is which makes it different +from all books in the world. This it is, I hold, which marks the +canon of Scripture. For in the Apocrypha--true, noble, and good as +most of it is--you do not find the same intense faith in the living +God, or anything to be compared therewith; and that for the simple +reason that the Jews, at the time the Apocrypha was written, were +losing that faith very fast. They felt themselves that there was an +immense difference between anything that they could write and what +the old psalmists and prophets had written. They felt that they +could not write Scripture. All they could do was to write +commentaries about it, and to carry out in their own fashion Moses' +command, 'Thou shalt bind my words for a sign upon your hands, and +they shall be as frontlets between your eyes, and thou shalt write +them upon the doorposts of thine house.' They were right in that; +but as they lost faith in the living God, they began to observe the +command in the letter, and neglect it in the spirit. + +You know--some of you, at least--how these words were misused +afterwards; how the scribes and the Pharisees, in their zeal to +carry out the letter of the law, went about with texts of Scripture +on their foreheads, and wrists, and the hems of their robes, +enlarging their phylacteries, as our Lord said of them. But all the +time they did not understand the texts, or love them, or get any +good from them; but only made them excuses for hating and scoffing +at the rest of the world. They had them written only on their +foreheads, not on their hearts--an outside and not an inside +religion. They had lost all faith in the living God. God had +spoken, of course, to their forefathers; but they could not believe +that he was speaking to them--not even when he spoke by his only +begotten Son, the brightness of his glory, and the express image of +his person. God, so they held, had finished his teaching when +Malachi uttered his last prophecy. And now it was for them to +teach, and expound the law at secondhand. There could be no more +prophets, no more revelation; and when one came and spoke with +authority, at first hand, out of the depth of his own heart, he was +to be persecuted, stoned, crucified. No. They had the key of +knowledge; and no man could enter in, unless they chose to open the +door. Nothing new could be true. John the Baptist came neither +eating nor drinking, and they said, 'He hath a devil.' The Son of +Man came eating and drinking, and they said, 'Behold a gluttonous +man and a wine-bibber, a friend of publicans and sinners.' And +meanwhile the poor, the ignorant, those whose hearts were really in +earnest, were looking out for a prophet and a deliverer--often going +after false prophets, with Theudas and Barcochab, into the +wilderness; but going, too, to be baptized with the baptism of John, +and crowding in thousands to hear our Lord preach to them of the +living God of whom Moses had preached of old; while the scribes and +Pharisees sat at home, wrapped up in their narrow, shallow book- +divinity, and said, 'This people, who knoweth not the law, is +accursed.' Nothing new could be true. It must be put down, +persecuted down, lest the Romans should come and take away their +place and nation. + +But they did not succeed. Our Lord and his truth, whom they +crucified and buried, rose again the third day and conquered; and +the Romans came after all, and took away their place and nation. +And so they failed, as all will fail, who will not believe in the +living God. + +My friends, all these things were written for our example. As it +was then, so may it be again. + +There may come a time in this land when people shall profess to +worship the word of God; and yet, like those old scribes, make it of +none effect by their own commandments and traditions. When they +shall command men, like the scribes, to honour every word and letter +of the Bible, and yet forbid them to take the Bible simply and +literally as it stands, but only their interpretation of the Bible; +when they shall say, with the scribes, 'Nothing new can be true. +God taught the Apostles, and therefore he is not teaching us. God +worked miracles of old; but whosoever thinks that God is working +miracles now is a Pantheist and a blasphemer. God taught men of old +the thing which they knew not; but whosoever dares to say that he +does so now is bringing heresy and false doctrine, and undermining +the Christian faith by science falsely so called.' + +And all because they have lost all faith in the living God--the +ever-working, ever-teaching, ever-inspiring, ever-governing God whom +our Lord Jesus Christ revealed to men; in whom the Apostles, and the +Fathers, and the great middle-age Schoolmen, and the Reformers +believed, and therefore learned more and more, and taught men more +and more concerning God and the dealings of God, as time went on. + +And then, when they see ignorant people running after quacks and +impostors, spirit-rappers and table-turners, St. Simonians and +Mormons, and false prophets of every kind, they will have nothing to +say but 'This people which knoweth not the law is accursed.' While +when they see anything like new truth, or new teaching from God +appear, instead of welcoming the light, and going to meet the light, +and accepting the light, they will say, 'What shall we do? For all +men will believe on him, and then the powers of this world will come +and take away our station and our order?' As if Christ could not +take better care of his Church for which he died than they can in +his stead! And so they will persecute God's servants, in the name +of God, and call upon the law to put down by force the men whom they +cannot put down by reason. + +From ever falling into that state of stupid lip-belief, and outward +religion, and loss of faith in the living God: Good Lord, deliver +us. + +From all blindness of heart; from pride, vainglory, and hypocrisy; +from envy, hatred, and malice, and all uncharitableness: Good Lord, +deliver us. + +From all false doctrine, heresy, and schism; from hardness of heart +and contempt of thy word and commandment: Good Lord, deliver us. + +For if people ever fall into that frame of mind (as did the scribes +and Pharisees), and the good Lord do not deliver them from it, it +will surely happen to them as it is written in the Bible. + +The powers of this world will come and take away their place, and +their power, and their station: but meanwhile the truth which they +think that they have stifled will rise again, for Christ, who is the +truth, will raise it again; and it shall conquer and leaven the +hearts of men till all be leavened; and while the scribes and +Pharisees shall be cast into the outer darkness of discontented and +hopeless bigotry, the kingdoms of the world, which they fancied were +the devil's dominion, shall become the kingdoms of God and of his +Christ, and be adopted into that holy and ever-growing Church, of +which it is written, that the gates of hell shall not prevail +against it, for in it is the Spirit of God to lead it into all +truth. + +To which blessed end may God bring us, and our children after us. +Amen. + + + +SERMON XVIII. THE DEATH OF MOSES + + + +(First Sunday after Trinity.) + +DEUT. xxxiv. 5, 6. So Moses the servant of the Lord died there in +the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried +him in a valley in the land of Moab, over against Beth-peor; but no +man knoweth of his sepulchre unto this day. + +Some might regret that the last three chapters of Deuteronomy are +not read among our Sunday lessons. There was not, however, room for +them; and I do not doubt that those who chose our lessons knew +better than I what chapters they ought to choose. We may, however, +read them for ourselves, not only in the daily lessons, but as often +as we choose. And well worth reading they are. + +For I know of no stronger proof of the truth of the book of +Deuteronomy, and of the whole Pentateuch, than its ending so +differently from what we should have expected, or indeed wished. If +things went in this world, as they do in novels and fables, +according to man's notion of what is right and good, then Moses and +his history would have had a very different ending. + +And if the story of Moses had been of man's invention, we should +have heard--I think, from what we know of the fables, 'myths' as +they call them now, which nations have invented about themselves, +and their own early history, we may guess fairly what we should have +heard--how Moses brought the Jews into the land of Canaan, and +established his laws, and reigned over them, and died in honour and +great glory--if he died at all, and was not taken up into the skies, +and changed into a star, or into a god; and how he was buried with +great pomp; and how his sepulchre did remain among the Jews until +that day; and probably how men worshipped at it, and miracles were +worked at it, and so forth. + +Also, we should have heard how, as soon as the Israelites came into +the land of Canaan, they began forthwith to serve the Lord with all +their heart and soul, as they never did afterwards, and to keep +Moses' law, while it was yet fresh in their minds, more exactly than +ever they did afterwards; and in short, we should have had one of +those stories of a 'golden age,' a 'good old time,' a pattern-time +of early purity and devotion, of which nations and Churches, of all +tongues and all creeds, have been so ready to dream in their own +case; and which they have used, not altogether ill, to rebuke vice +in their own day, by saying, 'Look how perfect your forefathers +were. Look how you, their unworthy children, have fallen from their +faith and their virtue.' + +This, I think, is what we should have been told if the Pentateuch +had been the invention of man. This is exactly what we are NOT +told; but, on the contrary, the very opposite. + +What we are told is disappointing, sad, gloomy, full of dark fears +and warnings about what the Jews will be and what they will have to +endure. But it is far more true to human nature, and to the facts +which we see in the world about us, than any story of a good old +time would have been. + +They are still wandering in the land of Moab, when the time draws +near when Moses must die. He is a hundred and twenty years old, but +hale and vigorous still. His eye is not dim, nor his natural force +abated. But the Lord has told him that his death is near. He gives +the command of the army of Israel to Joshua the son of Nun, and then +he speaks his last words. + +Songs they are, dark and rugged, like all the higher Hebrew poetry; +but, like it, full of the very Spirit of God--the Spirit of wisdom +and understanding, the Spirit of faith and of the fear of the Lord. + +There are three of these songs which seem to belong to those last +days of his. + +The Prayer of Moses the man of God--which is our 90th Psalm, our +burial Psalm. We all know the sadness of that Psalm; its weariness, +as of one who had laboured long, and would fain be at rest; its +confession of man's frailty--fading away suddenly like the grass; +its confession of God's strength, God from everlasting, before the +mountains were brought forth; its eternal gospel of hope and +comfort, that the strength of God takes pity on the weakness of man, +'Lord, thou hast been our refuge, from one generation to another.' + +Then comes the Song of the Rock--the song of which (it seems) the +Lord said to him, 'Write this song, and teach it the children of +Israel, that it may be a witness for me against them.' + +And so Moses writes; and seemingly before all the congregation of +Israel, according to the custom of those times, he chants his death- +song, the Song of the Rock. It is such a song as we should expect +from him. God is the Rock. He was thinking, it may be, of the +everlasting rocks of Sinai, where God had appeared to him of old. +But God is the true, everlasting Rock, on which all things rest; the +Eternal, the Self-existent, the I Am, whom he was sent to preach to +men. But he is a good and righteous God likewise. His work is +perfect. 'A God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is +he.' + +In him Moses can trust, but not in the children of Israel; they are +a perverse and crooked generation, who have waxen fat and kicked. +God has done all for them, but they will not obey him. Even in the +wilderness they have worshipped strange gods, and sacrificed to +devils, not to God; and so they will do after Moses is gone; and +then on them will come all the curses of which he has so often +warned them. 'The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy +both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of +gray hairs. O that they were wise, that they understood this, that +they would consider their latter end! How should one chase a +thousand; and two put ten thousand to flight?' What a people they +might be, and what a future there is before them, if they would but +be true to God! But they will not. And so Moses' death-song, like +his life's wish, ends in disappointment and sadness, and dread of +the evils which are coming upon his beloved countrymen. + +Lastly, he blesses them, tribe by tribe, in strange and grand words, +such as dying men utter, who, looking earnestly across the dark +river of death, see further than they ever saw amid the cares and +temptations of life. And he blesses them. He will say nothing of +them but good. He will speak not of what they will be, but of what +they ought to be and can be. But not in their own strength--only in +the strength of God. Man is to be nothing to the last; and God is +all in all. + +'There is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the +heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. The eternal +God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms. + +'Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by +the Lord, the shield of thy help and who is the sword of thy +excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and +thou shalt tread upon their high places.' + +Those are the last words of Moses. Then he goes up into the +mountain top, never to return; and the children of Israel are left +alone with God and their own souls, to obey and prosper, or disobey +and die. + +The time of their schooling is past, and their schoolmaster is gone +for ever. They are no more to be under a human tutor. They are +come to man's estate and man's responsibility, and they are to work +out their own fortunes by their own deeds, like every other soul of +man. + +For Moses himself must not enter into the promised land. In spite +of all his faith, his courage, his endurance, his patriotism, he has +sinned against God, and he must be punished; and punished, too, in +kind--in the very thing which he will feel most deeply, in being +shut out from the very happiness on which he has set his heart all +along. + +He who has brought the Jews to the edge of the promised land must +not have the honour and glory of taking them into it. He must have +no honour and glory. That must be God's alone. Man must be +nothing, and God all in all. Moses must die in faith, not having +received the promises, as many another saint of God has died. + +And why? To teach him and the Jews and us that man IS nothing, and +God is all in all. + +Moses had given way to the very temptation which would beset such a +man. He had spoken unadvisedly with his lips, and said, 'Hear now, +ye rebels, or ye fools, must WE bring you water out of this rock?' +WE, and not God. He had claimed for himself the power and glory of +working miracles. The miracles, he thought for a moment, were his, +and not God's. And it may be that this was not the only time that +he had so sinned. He may naturally have thought that he had some +special power and influence with God. But be that as it may, the +Jews were trained to believe that the miracles were God's, God's +immediate work, and not performed by the wisdom or sanctity or +supernatural power of any saint or prophet whatsoever. Let the Jews +once learn to give the honour and glory to Moses, and not to God, +and the whole of their strange education went for nothing. Instead +of worshipping God they would begin to worship saints. Instead of +trusting in God, they would begin to trust in men; whether on earth +or in heaven matters not. If Moses was to have the honour and +glory, the Jews would surely grow into a superstitious, saint- +worshipping, miracle-mongering people, and come to ruin and slavery +thereby. They were to fear God and nought else. To trust in God +and nought else. + +So Moses must vanish out of their sight, sadly and mysteriously. +All they know of him is, that he is punished for a sin which he +committed long ago, as you and I may be. All they know of his death +and burial is, that his body was not left foully to the birds of the +air and the beasts of the field; for the Lord buried him. They know +not how, and did not need to know. And we need not know. Enough +for them and for us to know that no dishonour was done to the grand +old man; that as he died far away on the lonely mountain top without +a child to close his eyes, his last look fixed upon the good land +and large which lay spread out below, of entering which he had been +dreaming for forty--it may be for more than forty--years. Enough +for us to know that the kindly earth received his body again into +her bosom, and that the true Moses--the immortal spirit of the man-- +returned to God who created him, and inspired him, and sustained him +to be perhaps the greatest man--save One who was more than man--who +ever trod this earth. + +So our human feelings, like those of the Jews, are satisfied. But +Moses is not to be worshipped by them or by us; no splendid temple +is to rise over his bones; no lamps are to burn, or priest to chant +round his shrine; no miracles are to be worked by his relics; no man +is to invoke his patronage and intercession in their prayers. The +people whom he has brought out of Egypt are to be free--free from +the slavery of the body, free from the more degrading slavery of the +soul. + +And so they go on over Jordan to fulfil their strange destiny, to +fight their way into the promised land, to root out the Canaanite +tribes, whose iniquity was full, whose sins had made them a nuisance +not to be suffered on the earth of God. But do they go to establish +a golden age; to become a perfect people? + +Nothing less. To become, according to the book of Judges, just what +Moses foretold--an ignorant, selfish, often profligate and +disorderly people, doing each what is right in his own eyes, falling +continually into idolatry, civil war, and slavery to the heathens +round about. Nothing more shows the truth of this history than its +humility, its continual confession of sin, its readiness to confess +the ugly truth that the Jews are a foolish, ignorant, unmanageable, +lawless, sensual race, stiffnecked and rebellious, always resisting +the Holy Spirit. The immense difference between the Old Testament +history and that of all other nations is, that it is a history not +of their virtues, but of their sins; and a history, on the other +hand, of God's punishments and mercies. God in the Old Testament is +all, and the Jews are nothing; and one may say that it differs from +all other histories in this, that it is not a history of the Jews +themselves at all, but a history of God's dealings with them. + +If any man chooses to explain that, by saying that the story was all +invented by priests and prophets afterwards, to rebuke the people +for falling into idolatry, he must have his fancy. Thought is free- +-for the present, at least--though it is written that for every idle +word that men speak, they shall give account at the day of judgment. +But one question I must ask, and I am sure that British common sense +and British honesty will ask it too: If these prophets were really +good men, fearing God, and wishing to make their countrymen fear him +likewise, would it not have been a rather strange way of showing +that they feared God to tell their countrymen a set of fables and +lies? Good men are not in the habit of telling lies now, and never +have been; for no lie is of the truth, or can possibly help the +truth in any way; and all liars have their portion in the lake which +burneth with fire and brimstone. And that such men as the prophets +of whom we read in the Old Testament did not know that, and +therefore invented this history, or invented anything else, is a +thing incredible and absurd. + +Here we have the Old Testament, an infinitely good book, giving us +infinitely good advice and good news, and news too concerning God-- +God's laws, God's providence, God's dealings, such as we get nowhere +else. And shall we believe that this infinitely good book is +founded upon falsehood? or that the good men who wrote it could +fancy it necessary to stoop to falsehood, and take the devil's tools +wherewith to do God's work? That they may have been imperfectly +informed on some points there is no doubt; for the Bible tells us +that they were men of like passions with ourselves, and they may not +always have been true to the Spirit of God who was teaching them, +even as we are not, though he teaches us. They only knew in part +and prophesied in part; and now that which is perfect is come, that +which is in part is done away; the mystery of Christ was not +revealed to them as it has been to us by the holy apostles and +prophets of the new dispensation, of which St. Paul says, comparing +it with the knowledge which the old Jews had when the gospel came, +That the glory of the law had no glory, by reason of the more +excellent glory of the gospel. They may, I say, have made slight +errors in unimportant matters, though it is far more probable that +those errors have crept into the text, as the Scriptures were copied +again and again through many centuries by different scribes, of +whose perfect good sense and honesty we cannot be certain. But who +that really values his Bible cares for them any more than he cares +for the spots on the sun which he can find through a telescope? The +sun still shines, and gives light to the whole earth, and the Bible +still shines, and gives light to every soul of man who will read it +in reverence and faith. But that the prophets ever invented, or +ever dared to tamper with truth, is a thing not to be believed of +men whose writings are plainly, by their own meaning and end, +inspired by the Holy Spirit of God. + +One more reason--and a reason which to me is unanswerable--for +believing, like our forefathers, that the Old Testament is true. +The Old Testament, as well as the New, tells us of the 'noble acts' +of the Lord--of certain gracious and merciful and just things which +the Lord did to the children of Israel. But if that be not true, +what follows? That God has not done the noble acts which men +thought he had, and therefore that God is not as noble as men +thought he was; that men have actually fancied for themselves a +better God than the God who exists already. + +Absurd. + +Absurd, truly; and if you choose to call it by a harder name still, +you have a right to do so. + +Do not you think that God must be better, not worse; more generous, +not less; more condescending, not less; more just, not less; more +helpful, not less, than man can fancy or describe? Are not the +riches of Christ unsearchable, and the mercies of the Lord +boundless? Is he not able and willing to do exceeding abundantly +beyond all that we can ask or think? Did not even St. Paul say that +he only knew in part and prophesied in part? And must it not be +true of the whole Bible what the beloved apostle St. John says of +his own Gospel, 'And there are many other things which Jesus did, +the which if they should be written every one, I suppose that even +the world itself could not contain the books that should be +written?' + +Bear that in mind, remembering always that the God of the Old +Testament is the God of the New likewise; and whenever you read, +either in the Old or New Testament, of the noble acts of the Lord, +say boldly, as millions of hearts have said already, when the good +news of the Bible came to them, 'This is so beautiful that it must +be true. The Spirit of God in the Bible, and the judgment of the +Church in all ages, bears witness with my spirit that this is true. +So ought God to have done, and therefore surely so hath God done. +Shall not the Judge of all the earth do RIGHT?' + + + +Footnotes: + +{0a} Evidences, Part III. Cap. iii. + +{0b} Lectures on the Jewish Church, Lect. xviii. p. 401. + +{7} I must say that all attempts to put a later date on these books +seems to me to fail simply from want of evidence. I must say, also, +that all attempts to distinguish between 'Jehovistic' and +'Elohistic' documents (with the exception, perhaps, of the first +chapter of Genesis) seem to me to fail likewise; and that the theory +of an Elohistic and a Jehovistic sect has received its reductionem +ad absurdum in a certain recent criticism of the Psalms. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GOSPEL OF THE PENTATEUCH*** + + +******* This file should be named 10325.txt or 10325.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/2/10325 + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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