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diff --git a/10326.txt b/10326.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4040c53 --- /dev/null +++ b/10326.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1933 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, David, 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: David + +Author: Charles Kingsley + +Release Date: November 27, 2003 [eBook #10326] + +Language: English + +Chatacter set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAVID*** + + +Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + +DAVID: FIVE SERMONS + + + + +NOTE:--The first four of these Sermons were preached before the +University of Cambridge. + + + +SERMON I. DAVID'S WEAKNESS + + + +Psalm lxxviii. 71, 72, 73. He chose David his servant, and took him +away from the sheep-folds. As he was following the ewes great with +young ones, he took him; that he might feed Jacob his people, and +Israel his inheritance. So he fed them with a faithful and true +heart, and ruled them prudently with all his power. + +I am about to preach to you four sermons on the character of David. +His history, I take for granted, you all know. + +I look on David as an all but ideal king, educated for his office by +an all but ideal training. A shepherd first; a life--be it +remembered--full of danger in those times and lands; then captain of +a band of outlaws; and lastly a king, gradually and with difficulty +fighting his way to a secure throne. + +This was his course. But the most important stage of it was +probably the first. Among the dumb animals he learnt experience +which he afterwards put into practice among human beings. The +shepherd of the sheep became the shepherd of men. He who had slain +the lion and the bear became the champion of his native land. He +who followed the ewes great with young, fed God's oppressed and +weary people with a faithful and true heart, till he raised them +into a great and strong nation. So both sides of the true kingly +character, the masculine and the feminine, are brought out in David. +For the greedy and tyrannous, he has indignant defiance: for the +weak and helpless, patient tenderness. + +My motives for choosing this subject I will explain in a very few +words. + +We have heard much of late about 'Muscular Christianity.' A clever +expression, spoken in jest by I know not whom, has been bandied +about the world, and supposed by many to represent some new ideal of +the Christian character. + +For myself, I do not understand what it means. It may mean one of +two things. If it mean the first, it is a term somewhat +unnecessary, if not somewhat irreverent. If it mean the second, it +means something untrue and immoral. + +Its first and better meaning may be simply a healthy and manful +Christianity, one which does not exalt the feminine virtues to the +exclusion of the masculine. + +That certain forms of Christianity have committed this last fault +cannot be doubted. The tendency of Christianity, during the +patristic and the Middle Ages, was certainly in that direction. +Christians were persecuted and defenceless, and they betook +themselves to the only virtues which they had the opportunity of +practising--gentleness, patience, resignation, self-sacrifice, and +self-devotion--all that is loveliest in the ideal female character. +And God forbid that that side of the Christian life should ever be +undervalued. It has its own beauty, its own strength too made +perfect in weakness; in prison, in torture, at the fiery stake, on +the lonely sick-bed, in long years of self-devotion and resignation, +and in a thousand womanly sacrifices unknown to man, but written for +ever in God's book of life. + +But as time went on, and the monastic life, which, whether practised +by man or by woman, is essentially a feminine life, became more and +more exclusively the religious ideal, grave defects began to appear +in what was really too narrow a conception of the human character. + +The monks of the Middle Ages, in aiming exclusively at the virtues +of women, generally copied little but their vices. Their unnatural +attempt to be wiser than God, and to unsex themselves, had done +little but disease their mind and heart. They resorted more and +more to those arts which are the weapons of crafty, ambitious, and +unprincipled women. They were too apt to be cunning, false, +intriguing. They were personally cowardly, as their own chronicles +declare; querulous, passionate, prone to unmanly tears; prone, as +their writings abundantly testify, to scold, to use the most +virulent language against all who differed from them; they were, at +times, fearfully cruel, as evil women will be; cruel with that worst +cruelty which springs from cowardice. If I seem to have drawn a +harsh picture of them, I can only answer that their own documents +justify abundantly all that I have said. + +Gradually, to supply their defects, another ideal arose. The +warriors of the Middle Ages hoped that they might be able to serve +God in the world, even in the battle-field. At least, the world and +the battle-field they would not relinquish, but make the best of +them. And among them arose a new and a very fair ideal of manhood: +that of the 'gentle, very perfect knight,' loyal to his king and to +his God, bound to defend the weak, succour the oppressed, and put +down the wrong-doer; with his lady, or bread-giver, dealing forth +bounteously the goods of this life to all who needed; occupied in +the seven works of mercy, yet living in the world, and in the +perfect enjoyment of wedded and family life. This was the ideal. +Of course sinful human nature fell short of it, and defaced it by +absurdities; but I do not hesitate to say that it was a higher ideal +of Christian excellence than had appeared since the time of the +Apostles, putting aside the quite exceptional ideal of the blessed +martyrs. + +A higher ideal, I say, was chivalry, with all its shortcomings. And +for this reason: that it asserted the possibility of consecrating +the whole manhood, and not merely a few faculties thereof, to God; +and it thus contained the first germ of that Protestantism which +conquered at the Reformation. + +Then was asserted, once for all, on the grounds of nature and +reason, as well as of Holy Scripture, the absolute sanctity of +family and national life, and the correlative idea, namely, the +consecration of the whole of human nature to the service of God, in +that station to which God had called each man. Then the Old +Testament, with the honour which it puts upon family and national +life, became precious to man, as it had never been before; and such +a history as David's became, not as it was with the mediaeval monks, +a mere repertory of fanciful metaphors and allegories, but the +solemn example, for good and for evil, of a man of like passions and +like duties with the men of the modern world. + +These great truths, once asserted, could not but conquer; and they +will conquer to the end. All attempts to restore the monastic and +feminine ideal, like that of good Nicholas Ferrar at Little Gidding, +failed. They withered like hot-house exotics in the free, keen, +bracing English air; and in our civil wars, Cavalier and Puritan, in +whatever they differed, never differed in their sound and healthy +conviction that true religion did not crush, but strengthened and +consecrated a valiant and noble manhood. + +Now if all that 'Muscular Christianity' means is that, then the +expression is altogether unnecessary; for we have had the thing for +three centuries--and defective likewise, for it is not a merely +muscular, but a human Christianity which the Bible taught our +forefathers, and which our forefathers have handed down to us. + +But there is another meaning sometimes attached to this flippant +expression, 'Muscular Christianity,' which is utterly immoral and +intolerable. There are those who say, and there have been of late +those who have written books to shew, that provided a young man is +sufficiently brave, frank, and gallant, he is more or less absolved +from the common duties of morality and self-restraint. + +That physical prowess is a substitute for virtue is certainly no new +doctrine. It is the doctrine of every red man on the American +prairies, of every African chief who ornaments his hut with human +skulls. It was the doctrine of our heathen forefathers, when they +came hither slaying, plundering, burning, tossing babes on their +spear-points. But I am sorry that it should be the doctrine of any +one calling himself a gentleman, much more a Christian. + +It is certainly not the doctrine of the Catechism, which bids us +renounce the flesh, and live by the help of God's Spirit a new life +of duty to God and to our neighbour. + +It is certainly not the doctrine of the New Testament. Whatsoever +St. Paul meant by bidding his disciples crucify the flesh, with its +affections and lusts, he did not mean thereby that they were to +deify the flesh, as the heathen round them did in their profligate +mysteries and in their gladiatorial exhibitions. + +Neither, though the Old Testament may seem to put more value on +physical prowess than does the New Testament, is it the doctrine of +the Old Testament, as I purpose to show you from the life and +history of David. + +Nothing, nothing, can be a substitute for purity and virtue. Man +will always try to find substitutes for it. He will try to find a +substitute in superstition, in forms and ceremonies, in voluntary +humility and worship of angels, in using vain repetitions, and +fancying that he will be heard for his much speaking; he will try to +find a substitute in intellect, and the worship of intellect, and +art, and poetry; or he will try to find it, as in the present case, +in the worship of his own animal powers, which God meant to be his +servants and not his masters. But let no man lay that flattering +unction to his soul. The first and the last business of every human +being, whatever his station, party, creed, capacities, tastes, +duties, is morality: Virtue, Virtue, always Virtue. Nothing that +man will ever invent will absolve him from the universal necessity +of being good as God is good, righteous as God is righteous, and +holy as God is holy. + +Believe it, young men, believe it. Better would it be for any one +of you to be the stupidest and the ugliest of mortals, to be the +most diseased and abject of cripples, the most silly, nervous +incapable personage who ever was a laughingstock for the boys upon +the streets, if only you lived, according to your powers, the life +of the Spirit of God; than to be as perfectly gifted, as exquisitely +organised in body and mind as David himself, and not to live the +life of the Spirit of God, the life of goodness, which is the only +life fit for a human being wearing the human flesh and soul which +Christ took upon him on earth, and wears for ever in heaven, a Man +indeed in the midst of the throne of God. + +And therefore it is, as you will yourselves have perceived already, +that I have chosen to speak to you of David, his character, his +history. + +It is the character of a man perfectly gifted, exquisitely +organised. He has personal beauty, daring, prowess, and skill in +war; he has generosity, nobleness, faithfulness, chivalry as of a +mediaeval and Christian knight; he is a musician, poet, seemingly an +architect likewise; he is, moreover, a born king; he has a +marvellous and most successful power of attracting, disciplining, +ruling his fellow-men. So thoroughly human a personage is he, that +God speaks of him as the man after his own heart; that our blessed +Lord condescends to call himself especially the Son of David. + +For there is in this man (as there is said to be in all great +geniuses) a feminine, as well as a masculine vein; a passionate +tenderness; a keen sensibility; a vast capacity of sympathy, +sadness, and suffering, which makes him truly the type of Christ, +the Man of sorrows; which makes his Psalms to this day the text-book +of the afflicted, of tens of thousands who have not a particle of +his beauty, courage, genius; but yet can feel, in mean hovels and +workhouse sick-beds, that the warrior-poet speaks to their human +hearts, and for their human hearts, as none other can speak, save +Christ himself, the Son of David and the Son of man. + +A man, I say, of intense sensibilities; and therefore capable, as is +but too notorious, of great crimes, as well as of great virtues. + +And when I mention this last fact, I must ask you to pause, and +consider with me very solemnly what it means. + +We may pervert, or rather misstate the fact in more than one way, to +our own hurt. We may say cynically, David had his good points and +his bad ones, as all your great saints have. Look at them closely, +and in spite of all their pretensions you will find them no better +than their neighbours. And so we may comfort ourselves, in our own +mediocrity and laziness, by denying the existence of all greatness +and goodness. + +Nathan the prophet said that David's conduct would be open to this +very interpretation, and would give great occasion to the enemies of +the Lord to blaspheme. But I trust that none of you wish to be +numbered among the enemies of the Lord. + +Again, we may say, sentimentally, that these great weaknesses are on +the whole the necessary concomitants of great strength; that such +highly organised and complex characters must not be judged by the +rule of common respectability; and that it is a more or less fine +thing to be capable at once of great virtues and great vices. + +Books which hint, and more than hint this, will suggest themselves +to you at once. I only advise you not to listen to their teaching, +as you will find it lead to very serious consequences, both in this +life and in the life to come. + +But if we do say this, or anything like this, we say it on our own +responsibility. David's biographers say nothing of the kind. David +himself says nothing of the kind. He never represents himself as a +compound of strength and weakness. He represents himself as +weakness itself--as incapacity utter and complete. To overlook that +startling fact is to overlook the very element which has made +David's Psalms the text-book for all human weaknesses, penitences, +sorrows, struggles, aspirations, for nigh three thousand years. + +But this subject is too large for me to speak of to-day; and too +deep for me to attempt an explanation till I have turned your +thoughts toward another object, which will explain to you David, and +yourselves, and, it seems to me at times, every problem of humanity. +Look not at David, but at David's greater Son; and consider Christ +upon his Cross. Consider him of whom it is written, 'Thou art +fairer than the children of men: full of grace are thy lips, +because God hath blessed thee for ever. Gird thee with thy sword +upon thy thigh, O thou most Mighty, according to thy worship and +renown. Good luck have thou with thine honour; ride on, because of +the word of truth, of meekness, and righteousness; and thy right +hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thy arrows are very sharp, +and the people shall be subdued unto thee, even in the midst among +the King's enemies.' Consider him who alone fulfilled these words, +who fulfils them even now eternally in heaven, King over all, God +blessed for ever. And then sit down at the foot of his Cross: +however young, strong, proud, gallant, gifted, ambitious you may be- +-sit down at the foot of Christ's Cross, and look thereon, till you +see what it means, and must mean for ever. See how he nailed to +that Cross, not in empty metaphor but in literal fact, in agonising +soul and body, all of human nature which the world admires--youth, +grace, valour, power, eloquence, intellect: not because they were +evil, for he possessed them doubtless himself as did none other of +the sons of men--not, I say, because they were evil, but because +they were worthless and as nothing beside that divine charity which +would endure and conquer for ever, when all the noblest accidents of +the body and the mind had perished, or seemed to perish. In the +utmost weakness and shame of human flesh he would shew forth the +strength and glory of the Divine Spirit; the strength and the glory +of duty and obedience; of patience and forgiveness; of benevolence +and self-sacrifice; the strength and glory of that burning love for +human beings which could stoop from heaven to earth that it might +seek and save that which was lost. + +Yes. Look at Christ upon his Cross; the sight which melted the +hearts of our fierce forefathers, and turned them from the worship +of Thor and Odin to the worship of 'The white Christ;' and from the +hope of a Valhalla of brute prowess, to the hope of a heaven of +righteousness and love. Look at Christ upon his Cross, and see +there, as they saw, the true prowess, the true valour, the true +chivalry, the true glory, the true manhood, most human when most +divine, which is self-sacrifice and love--as possible to the +weakest, meanest, simplest, as to the strongest, most gallant, and +most wise. + +Look upon him, and learn from him, and take his yoke upon you, for +he is meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest unto your +souls; and in you shall be fulfilled the prophecy of Jeremiah, which +he spake, saying, 'Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither +the mighty man glory in his might, neither let the rich man glory in +his wealth: but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he +understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord, who exercises +loving-kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth: for in +these things I delight, saith the Lord.' + + + +SERMON II. DAVID'S STRENGTH + + + +Psalm xxvii. 1. The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom then +shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom then +shall I be afraid? + +I said, last Sunday, that the key-note of David's character was not +the assertion of his own strength, but the confession of his own +weakness. And I say it again. + +But it is plain that David had strength, and of no common order; +that he was an eminently powerful, able, and successful man. From +whence then came that strength? He says, from God. He says, +throughout his life, as emphatically as did St. Paul after him, that +God's strength was made perfect in his weakness. + +God is his deliverer, his guide, his teacher, his inspirer. The +Lord is his strength, who teaches his hands to war, and his fingers +to fight; his hope and his fortress, his castle and deliverer, his +defence, in whom he trusts; who subdueth the people that is under +him. + +To God he ascribes, not only his success in life, but his physical +prowess. By God's help he slays the lion and the bear. By God's +help he has nerve to kill the Philistine giant. By God's help he is +so strong that his arms can break even a bow of steel. It is God +who makes his feet like hart's feet, and enables him to leap over +the walls of the mountain fortresses. + +And we must pause ere we call such utterances mere Eastern metaphor. +It is far more probable that they were meant as and were literal +truths. David was not likely to have been a man of brute gigantic +strength. So delicate a brain was probably coupled to a delicate +body. Such a nature, at the same time, would be the very one most +capable, under the influence--call it boldly, inspiration--of a +great and patriotic cause, of great dangers and great purposes; +capable, I say, at moments, of accesses of almost superhuman energy, +which he ascribed, and most rightly, to the inspiration of God. + +But it is not merely as his physical inspirer or protector that he +has faith in God. He has a deeper, a far deeper instinct than even +that; the instinct of a communion, personal, practical, living, +between God, the fount of light and goodness, and his own soul, with +its capacity of darkness as well as light, of evil as well as good. + +In one word, David is a man of faith and a man of prayer--as God +grant all you may be. It is this one fixed idea, that God could +hear him, and that God would help him, which gives unity and +coherence to the wonderful variety of David's Psalms. It is this +faith which gives calm confidence to his views of nature and of man; +and enables him to say, as he looks upon his sheep feeding round +him, 'The Lord is my Shepherd, therefore I shall not want.' Faith +it is which enables him to foresee that though the heathen rage, and +the kings of the earth stand up, and the rulers take counsel +together against the Lord and his Anointed, yet the righteous cause +will surely prevail, for God is king himself. Faith it is which +enables him to bear up against the general immorality, and while he +cries, 'Help me, Lord, for there is not one godly man left, for the +faithful fail from among the children of men'--to make answer to +himself in words of noble hope and consolation, 'Now for the +comfortless troubles' sake of the needy, and because of the deep +sighing of the poor, I will up, saith the Lord, and will help every +one from him that swelleth against him, and will set him at rest.' + +Faith it is which gives a character, which no other like utterances +have, to those cries of agony--cries as of a lost child--which he +utters at times with such noble and truthful simplicity. They +issue, almost every one of them, in a sudden counter-cry of joy as +pathetic as the sorrow which has gone before. 'O Lord, rebuke me +not in thine indignation: neither chasten me in thy displeasure. +Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am weak: O Lord, heal me, for my +bones are vexed. My soul also is sore troubled: but, Lord, how +long wilt thou punish me? Turn thee, O Lord, and deliver my soul: +O save me for thy mercy's sake. For in death no man remembereth +thee: and who will give thee thanks in the pit? I am weary of my +groaning; every night wash I my bed: and water my couch with my +tears. My beauty is gone for very trouble: and worn away because +of all mine enemies. Away from me, all ye that work vanity, for the +Lord hath heard the voice of my weeping. The Lord hath heard my +petition: the Lord will receive my prayer.' + +Faith it is, in like wise, which gives its peculiar grandeur to that +wonderful 18th Psalm, David's song of triumph; his masterpiece, and +it may be the masterpiece of human poetry, inspired or uninspired, +only approached by the companion-Psalm, the 144th. From whence +comes that cumulative energy, by which it rushes on, even in our +translation, with a force and swiftness which are indeed divine; +thought following thought, image image, verse verse, before the +breath of the Spirit of God, as wave leaps after wave before the +gale? What is the element in that ode, which even now makes it stir +the heart like a trumpet? Surely that which it itself declares in +the very first verse: + +'I will love thee, O Lord, my strength; the Lord is my stony rock, +and my defence: my Saviour, my God, and my might, in whom I will +trust, my buckler, the horn also of my salvation, and my refuge.' + +What is it which gives life and reality to the magnificent imagery +of the seventh and following verses? 'The earth trembled and +quaked: the very foundations also of the hills shook, and were +removed, because he was wroth. There went a smoke out in his +presence: and a consuming fire out of his mouth, so that coals were +kindled at it. He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and it +was dark under his feet. He rode upon the cherubims, and did fly: +he came flying upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness his +secret place: his pavilion round about him with dark water, and +thick clouds to cover him. At the brightness of his presence his +clouds removed: hailstones, and coals of fire. The Lord also +thundered out of heaven, and the Highest gave his thunder: +hailstones, and coals of fire. He sent out his arrows, and +scattered them: he cast forth lightnings, and destroyed them. The +springs of waters were seen, and the foundations of the round world +were discovered, at thy chiding, O Lord: at the blasting of the +breath of thy displeasure. He shall send down from on high to fetch +me: and shall take me out of many waters.' What protects such +words from the imputation of mere Eastern exaggeration? The firm +conviction that God is the deliverer, not only of David, but of all +who trust in God; that the whole majesty of God, and all the powers +of nature, are arrayed on the side of the good and of the oppressed. +'The Lord shall reward me after my righteous dealing: according to +the cleanness of my hands shall he recompense me. Because I have +kept the ways of the Lord: and have not forsaken my God, as the +wicked doth. For I have an eye unto all his laws: and will not +cast out his commandments from me. I was also uncorrupt before him: +and eschewed mine own wickedness. Therefore shall the Lord reward +me after my righteous dealing: and according unto the cleanness of +my hands in his eyesight. With the holy thou shalt be holy: and +with a perfect man thou shalt be perfect.' + +Faith, again, it is, to turn from David's highest to his lowest +phase--faith in God it is which has made that 51st Psalm the model +of all true penitence for evermore. Faith in God, in the spite of +his full consciousness that God is about to punish him bitterly for +the rest of his life. Faith it is which gives to that Psalm its +peculiarly simple, deliberate, manly tone; free from all exaggerated +self-accusations, all cowardly cries of terror. He is crushed down, +it is true. The tone of his words shews us that throughout. But +crushed by what? By the discovery that he has offended God? Not in +the least. For the sake of your own souls, as well as for that of +honest critical understanding of the Scriptures, do not foist that +meaning into David's words. He never says that he had offended God. +Had he been a mediaeval monk, had he been an average superstitious +man of any creed or time, he would have said so, and cried, I have +offended God; he is offended and angry with me, how shall I avert +his wrath? + +Not so. David has discovered not an angry, but a forgiving God; a +God of love and goodness, who desires to make his creatures good. +Penitential prayers in all ages have too often wanted faith in God, +and therefore have been too often prayers to avert punishment. +This, this--the model of all truly penitent prayers--is that of a +man who is to be punished, and is content to take his punishment, +knowing that he deserves it, and far more beside. And why? +Because, as always, David has faith in God. God is a good and just +being, and he trusts him accordingly; and that very discovery of the +goodness, not the sternness of God, is the bitterest pang, the +deepest shame to David's spirit. Therefore he can face without +despair the discovery of a more deep, radical inbred evil in himself +than he ever expected before. 'Behold, I was shapen in wickedness: +and in sin hath my mother conceived me;' because he could say also, +'Thou requirest truth in the inward parts; and shalt make me to +understand wisdom secretly.' He can cry to God, out of the depths +of his foulness, 'Make me a clean heart, O God: and renew a right +spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence: and take not +thy holy Spirit from me. O give me the comfort of thy help again: +and stablish me with thy free Spirit. Then shall I teach thy ways +unto the wicked: and sinners shall be converted unto thee.' He can +cry thus, because he has discovered that the will of God is not to +hate, not to torture, not to cast away from his presence, but to +restore his creatures to goodness, that he may thereby restore them +to usefulness. David has discovered that God demands no sacrifice, +much less self-torturing penance. What he demands is the heart. +The sacrifice of God is a troubled spirit. A broken and a contrite +heart he will not despise. It is such utterances as these which +have given, for now many hundred years, their priceless value to the +little book of Psalms ascribed to the shepherd outlaw of the Judaean +hills. It is such utterances as these which have sent the sound of +his name into all lands, and his words throughout all the world. +Every form of human sorrow, doubt, struggle, error, sin; the nun +agonising in the cloister; the settler struggling for his life in +Transatlantic forests; the pauper shivering over the embers in his +hovel, and waiting for kind death; the man of business striving to +keep his honour pure amid the temptations of commerce; the prodigal +son starving in the far country, and recollecting the words which he +learnt long ago at his mother's knee; the peasant boy trudging a- +field in the chill dawn, and remembering that the Lord is his +shepherd, therefore he will not want--all shapes of humanity have +found, and will find to the end of time, a word said to their inmost +hearts, and more, a word said for those hearts to the living God of +heaven, by the vast humanity of David, the man after God's own +heart; the most thoroughly human figure, as it seems to me, which +had appeared upon the earth before the coming of that perfect Son of +man, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. + +It may be said, David's belief is no more than the common belief of +fanatics. They have in all ages fancied themselves under the +special protection of Deity, the object of special communications +from above. + +Doubtless they have; and evil conclusions have they drawn therefrom, +in every age. But the existence of a counterfeit is no argument +against the existence of the reality; rather it is an argument for +the existence of the reality. In this case it is impossible to +conceive how the idea of communion with an unseen being ever entered +the human mind at all, unless it had been put there originally by +fact and experience. Man would never have even dreamed of a living +God, had not that living God been a reality, who did not leave the +creature to find his Creator, but stooped from heaven, at the very +beginning of our race, to find his creature. + +And a reality you will surely find it--that living and practical +communication between your souls, and that Father in heaven who +created them. It will not be real, but morbid, even imaginary, just +in proportion as your souls are tainted with self-conceit, ambition, +self-will, malice, passion, or any wilful vice; especially with the +vice of bigotry, which settles beforehand for God what he shall +teach the soul, and in what manner he shall teach it, and turns a +deaf ear to his plainest lessons if they cannot be made to fit into +some favourite formula or theory. But it will be real, practical, +healthy, soul-saving, in the very deepest sense of that word, just +in proportion as your eye is single and your heart pure; just in +proportion as you hunger and thirst after righteousness, and wish +and try simply and humbly to do your duty in that station to which +God has called you, and to learn joyfully and trustingly anything +and everything which God may see fit to teach you. Then as your day +your strength shall be. Then will the Lord teach you, and inform +you with his eye, and guide you in the way wherein you should go. +Then will you obey that appeal of the Psalmist, 'Be ye not like to +horse and mule, which have no understanding, whose mouths must be +held in with bit and bridle, lest they fall upon thee. Great +plagues remain for the ungodly. But whoso putteth his trust in the +Lord, mercy embraceth him on every side.' + +For understand this well, young men, and settle it in your hearts as +the first condition of human life, yea, of the life of every +rational created being, that a man is justified only by faith; and +not only a man, but angels, archangels, and all possible created +spirits, past, present, and to come. All stand, all are in their +right state, only as long as they are consciously dependent on God +the Father of spirits and his Son Jesus Christ the Lord, in whom +they live and move and have their being. The moment they attempt to +assert themselves, whether their own power, their own genius, their +own wisdom, or even their own virtue, they ipso facto sin, and are +justified and just no longer; because they are trying to take +themselves out of their just and right state of dependence, and to +put themselves into an unjust and wrong state of independence. To +assert that anything is their own, to assert that their virtue is +their own, just as much as to assert that their wisdom, or any other +part of their being, is their own, is to deny the primary fact of +their existence--that in God they live and move and have that being. +And therefore Milton's Satan, though, over and above all his other +grandeurs, he had been adorned with every virtue, would have been +Satan still by the one sin of ingratitude, just because and just as +long as he set up himself, apart from that God from whom alone comes +every good and perfect gift. + +Settle it in your hearts, young men, settle it in your hearts--or +rather pray to God to settle it therein; and if you would love life +and see good days, recollect daily and hourly that the only sane and +safe human life is dependence on God himself, and that-- + + + Unless above himself he can +Exalt himself, how poor a thing is man. + + + +SERMON III. DAVID'S ANGER + + + +Psalm cxliii. 11, 12. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's sake: for +thy righteousness' sake bring my soul out of trouble. And of thy +mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my +soul: for I am thy servant. + +There are those who would say that I dealt unfairly last Sunday by +the Psalms of David; that in order to prove them inspired, I ignored +an element in them which is plainly uninspired, wrong, and +offensive; namely, the curses which he invokes upon his enemies. I +ignored it, they would say, because it was fatal to my theory! +because it proved David to have the vindictive passions of other +Easterns; to be speaking, not by the inspiration of God, but of his +own private likes and dislikes; to be at least a fanatic who thinks +that his cause must needs be God's cause, and who invokes the +lightnings of heaven on all who dare to differ from him. Others +would say that such words were excusable in David, living under the +Old Law; for it was said by them of old time, 'Thou shalt love thy +neighbour and hate thine enemy:' but that our Lord has formally +abrogated that permission; 'But I say unto you, Love your enemies, +bless them that curse you, and do good to those who despitefully use +you and persecute you.' How unnecessary, and how wrong then, they +would say, it is of the Church of England to retain these cursing +Psalms in her public worship, and put them into the mouths of her +congregations. Either they are merely painful, as well as +unnecessary to Christians; or if they mean anything, they excuse and +foster the habit too common among religious controversialists of +invoking the wrath of heaven on their opponents. + +I argue with neither of the objectors. But the question is a +curious and an important one; and I am bound, I think, to examine it +in a sermon which, like the present, treats of David's chivalry. + +What David meant by these curses can be best known from his own +actions. What certain persons have meant by them since is patent +enough from their actions. Mediaeval monks considered but too often +the enemies of their creed, of their ecclesiastical organisation, +even of their particular monastery, to be ipso facto enemies of God; +and applied to them the seeming curses of David's Psalms, with +fearful additions, of which David, to his honour, never dreamed. +'May they feel with Dathan and Abiram the damnation of Gehenna,' +{285} is a fair sample of the formulae which are found in the +writings of men who, while they called themselves the servants of +Jesus Christ our Lord, derived their notions of the next world +principally from the sixth book of Virgil's AEneid. And what they +meant by their words their acts shewed. Whenever they had the +power, they were but too apt to treat their supposed enemies in this +life, as they expected God to treat them in the next. The history +of the Inquisition on the continent, in America, and in the +Portuguese Indies--of the Marian persecutions in England--of the +Piedmontese massacres in the 17th century--are facts never to be +forgotten. Their horrors have been described in too authentic +documents; they remain for ever the most hideous pages in the +history of sinful human nature. Do we find a hint of any similar +conduct on the part of David? If not, it is surely probable that he +did not mean by his imprecations what the mediaeval clergy meant. + +Certainly, whatsoever likeness there may have been in language, the +contrast in conduct is most striking. It is a special mark of +David's character, as special as his faith in God, that he never +avenges himself with his own hand. Twice he has Saul in his power: +once in the cave at Engedi, once at the camp at Hachilah, and both +times he refuses nobly to use his opportunity. He is his master, +the Lord's Anointed; and his person is sacred in the eyes of David +his servant--his knight, as he would have been called in the Middle +Age. The second time David's temptation is a terrible one. He has +softened Saul's wild heart by his courtesy and pathos when he +pleaded with him, after letting him escape from the cave; and he has +sworn to Saul that when he becomes king he will never cut off his +children, or destroy his name out of his father's home. Yet we find +Saul, immediately after, attacking him again out of mere caprice; +and once more falling into his hands. Abishai says--and who can +wonder?--'Let me smite him with the spear to the earth this once, +and I will not smite a second time.' What wonder? The man is not +to be trusted--truce with him is impossible; but David still keeps +his chivalry, in the true meaning of that word: 'Destroy him not, +for who can stretch forth his hand against the Lord's Anointed, and +be guiltless? As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him, or his +day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle, and perish. +But the Lord forbid that I should stretch forth my hand against the +Lord's Anointed.' + +And if it be argued, that David regarded the person of a king as +legally sacred, there is a case more clear still, in which he +abjures the right of revenge upon a private person. + +Nabal, in addition to his ingratitude, has insulted him with the +bitterest insult which could be offered to a free man in a slave- +holding country. He has hinted that David is neither more nor less +than a runaway slave. And David's heart is stirred by a terrible +and evil spirit. He dare not trust his men, even himself, with his +black thoughts. 'Gird on your swords,' is all that he can say +aloud. But he had said in his heart, 'God do so and more to the +enemies of David, if I leave a man alive by the morning light of all +that pertain to him.' + +And yet at the first words of reason and of wisdom, urged doubtless +by the eloquence of a beautiful and noble woman, but no less by the +Spirit of God speaking through her, as all who call themselves +gentlemen should know already, his right spirit returns to him. The +chivalrous instinct of forgiveness and duty is roused once more; and +he cries, 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, which sent thee this +day to meet me; and blessed be thou, which hast kept me this day +from shedding blood, and from avenging myself with mine own hand.' + +It is plain then, that David's notion of his duty to his enemies was +very different from that of the monks. But still they are +undeniably imprecations, the imprecations of a man smarting under +cruel injustice; who cannot, and in some cases must not avenge +himself, and who therefore calls on the just God to avenge him. Are +we therefore to say that these utterances of David are uninspired? +Not in the least: we are boldly to say that they are inspired, and +by the very Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of justice and of +judgment. + +Doubtless there were, in after ages, far higher inspirations. The +Spirit of God was, and is gradually educating mankind, and +individuals among mankind, like David, upward from lower truths to +higher ones. That is the express assertion of our Lord and of his +Apostles. But the higher and later inspiration does not make the +lower and earlier false. It does not even always supersede it +altogether. Each is true; and, for the most part, each must remain, +and be respected, that they may complement each other. + +Let us look at this question rationally and reverently, free from +all sentimental and immoral indulgence for sin and wrong. + +The first instinct of man is the Lex Talionis. As you do to me-- +says the savage--so I have a right to do to you. If you try to kill +me or mine, I have a right to kill you in return. Is this notion +uninspired? I should be sorry to say so. It is surely the first +form and the only possible first form of the sense of justice and +retribution. As a man sows so shall he reap. If a man does wrong +he deserves to be punished. No arguments will drive that great +divine law out of the human mind; for God has put it there. + +After that inspiration comes a higher one. The man is taught to +say, I must not punish my enemy if I can avoid it. God must punish +him, either by the law of the land or by his providential judgments. +To this height David rises. In a seemingly lawless age and country, +under the most extreme temptation, he learns to say, 'Blessed be God +who hath kept me from avenging myself with my own hand.' + +But still, it may be said, David calls down God's vengeance on his +enemies. He has not learnt to hate the sin and yet love the sinner. +Doubtless he has not: and it may have been right for his education, +and for the education of the human race through him, that he did +not. It may have been a good thing for him, as a future king; it +may be a good thing for many a man now, to learn the sinfulness of +sin, by feeling its effects in his own person; by writhing under +those miseries of body and soul, which wicked men can, and do +inflict on their fellow-creatures. + +There are sins which a good man will not pity, but wage internecine +war against them; sins for which he is justified, if God have called +him thereto, to destroy the sinner in his sins. The traitor, the +tyrant, the ravisher, the robber, the extortioner, are not objects +of pity, but of punishment; and it may have been very good for David +to be taught by sharp personal experience, that those who robbed the +widow and put the fatherless to death, like the lawless lords of his +time; those like Saul, who smote the city of the priests for having +given David food--men and women, children and sucklings, oxen and +asses and sheep, with the edge of the sword; those who, like the +nameless traitor who so often rouses his indignation--his own +familiar friend who lifted up his heel against him--sought men's +lives under the guise of friendship: that such, I say, were persons +not to be tolerated upon the face of God's earth. We do not +tolerate them now. We punish them by law. We even destroy them +wholesale in war, without inquiring into their individual guilt or +innocence. David was taught, not by abstract meditation in his +study, but by bitter need and agony, not to tolerate them then. If +he could have destroyed them as we do now, it is not for us to say +that he would have been wrong. And what if he were indignant, and +what if he expressed that indignation? I have yet to discover that +indignation against wrong is aught but righteous, noble, and divine. +The flush of rage and scorn which rises, and ought to rise in every +honest heart, when we see a woman or a child ill-used, a poor man +wronged or crushed--What is that, but the inspiration of Almighty +God? What is that but the likeness of Christ? Woe to the man who +has lost that feeling! Woe to the man who can stand coolly by, and +see wrong done without a shock or a murmur, or even more, to the +very limits of the just laws of this land. He may think it a fine +thing so to do; a proof that he is an easy, prudent man of the +world, and not a meddlesome enthusiast. But all that it does prove +is: That the Spirit of God, who is the Spirit of justice and +judgment, has departed from him. + +I say the Spirit of God and the likeness of Christ. Instead of +believing David's own statement of the wrong doings of these men +about him, we may say cynically, and as it seems to me most +unfairly, 'Of course there were two sides to David's quarrels, as +there are to all such; and of course he took his own side; and +considered himself always in the right, and every one who differed +from him in the wrong;' and such a speech will sound sufficiently +worldly-wise to pass for philosophy with some critics; but, +unfortunately, he who says that of David, will be bound in all +fairness to say it of our Lord Jesus Christ. + +For you must remember that there was a class of sinners in Judaea, +to whom our Lord speaks no word of pity or forgiveness: namely, the +very men who were his own personal enemies, who were persecuting +him, and going about to kill him; and that therefore, by any hard +words toward them, he must have laid himself open, just as much as +David laid himself open, to the imputation of personal spite. And +yet, what did he say to the scribes and Pharisees: 'Ye go about to +kill me, and therefore I am bound to say nothing harsh concerning +you'? What he did say was this: 'Ye serpents, ye generation of +vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?' + +Yes; in the Son of David, as in David's self, there was, and is, and +will be for ever and ever, no weak, and really cruel indulgence; but +a burning fire of indignation against all hypocrisy, tyranny, lust, +cruelty, and every other sin by which men oppress, torment, deceive, +degrade their fellow-men; and still more, still more, remember that, +all young men, their fellow-women. That fire burns for ever--the +Divine fire of God; the fire not of hatred, but of love to mankind, +which will therefore punish, and if need be, exterminate all who +shall dare to make mankind the worse, whether in body or soul or +mind. + +But David prays God to kill his enemies. No doubt he does. +Probably they deserved to be killed. He does not ask, you will +always remember, if you be worthy of the name of critical students +of the Bible--he does not ask, as did the mediaeval monks, that his +enemies should go to endless torments after they died. True or +false, that is a more modern notion--and if it be applied to the +Psalms, an interpolation--of which David knew nothing. He asks +simply that the men may die. Probably he knew his own business +best, and the men deserved to die; to be killed either by God or by +man, as do too many in all ages. + +If we take the Bible as it stands (and we have no right to do +otherwise), these men were trying to kill David. He could not, and +upon a point of honour, would not kill them himself. But he +believed, and rightly, that God can punish the offender whom man +cannot touch, and that He will, and does punish them. And if he +calls on God to execute justice and judgment upon these men, he only +calls on God to do what God is doing continually on the face of the +whole earth. In fact, God does punish here, in this life. He does +not, as false preachers say, give over this life to impunity, and +this world to the devil, and only resume the reins of moral +government and the right of retribution when men die and go into the +next world. Here, in this life, he punishes sin; slowly, but +surely, God punishes. And if any of you doubt my words, you have +only to commit sin, and then see whether your sin will find you out. + +The whole question turns on this, Are we to believe in a living God, +or are we not? If we are not, then David's words are of course +worse than nothing. If we are, I do not see why David was wrong in +calling on God to exercise that moral and providential government of +the world, which is the very note and definition of a living God. + +But what right have we to use these words? My friends, if the +Church bids us use these words, she certainly does not bid us act +upon them. She keeps them, I believe most rightly, as a record of a +human experience, which happily seems to us special and extreme, of +which we, in a well-governed Christian land, know nothing, and shall +never know. + +Special and extreme? Alas, alas! In too many countries, in too +many ages, it has been the common, the almost universal experience +of the many weak, enslaved, tortured, butchered at the wicked will +of the few strong. + +There have been those in tens of thousands, there may be those again +who will have a right to cry to God, 'Of thy goodness slay mine +enemies, lest they slay, or worse than slay, both me and mine.' +There were thousands of English after the Norman Conquest; there +were thousands of Hindoos in Oude before its annexation; there are +thousands of negroes at this moment in their native land of Africa, +crushed and outraged by hereditary tyrants, who had and have a right +to appeal to God, as David appealed to him against the robber lords +of Palestine; a right to cry, 'Rid us, O God; if thou be a living +God, a God of justice and mercy, rid us not only of these men, but +of their children after them. This tyrant, stained with lust and +wine and blood; this robber chieftain who privily in his lurking +dens murders the innocent, and ravishes the poor when he getteth him +into his net; this slave-hunting king who kills the captives whom he +cannot sell; and whose children after him will inevitably imitate +his cruelties and his rapine and treacheries--deal with him and his +as they deserve. Set an ungodly man to be ruler over him; that he +may find out what we have been enduring from his ungodly rule. Let +his days be few, and another take his office. Let his children be +fatherless, and his wife a widow. Let his children beg their bread +out of desolate places. Let there be no man to pity him or take +compassion on his fatherless children--to take his part, and breed +up a fresh race of tyrants to our misery. Let the extortioner +consume all he hath, and the stranger spoil his labour--for what he +has is itself taken by extortion, and he has spoiled the labour of +thousands. Let his posterity be destroyed, and in the next +generation his name be clean put out. Let the wickedness of his +father and the sin of his mother be had in remembrance in the sight +of the Lord; that he may root out the memorial of them from the +earth, and enable law and justice, peace and freedom to take the +place of anarchy and tyranny and blood.' + +That prayer was answered--if we are to believe the records of +Norman, not English, monks in England after the Conquest, by the +speedy extinction of the most guilty families among the Norman +conquerors. It is being answered, thank God, in Hindostan at this +moment. It will surely be answered in Africa in God's good time; +for the Lord reigneth, be the nations never so unquiet. And we, if +we will read such words rationally and humanly, remembering the +state of society in which they were written--a state of society, +alas! which has endured, and still endures over a vast portion of +the habitable globe; where might is right, and there is little or no +principle, save those of lust and greed and revenge--then instead of +wishing such words out of the Bible, we shall be glad to keep them +there, as testimonies to the moral government of the world by a God +and a Christ who will surely avenge the innocent blood; and as a +Gospel of comfort to suffering millions, when the news reaches them +at last, that they may call on God to deliver them from their +tormentors, and that he will hear their cry, and will help them. + + + +SERMON IV. DAVID'S DESERTS + + + +2 Samuel i. 26. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: +very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, +passing the love of women. + +Passing the love of woman? How can that be, we of these days shall +say. What love can pass that, saving the boundless love of him who +stooped from heaven to earth, that he might die on the Cross for us? +No. David, when he sang those words, knew not the depth of woman's +love. And we shall have a right so to speak. The indefeasible and +Divine right which is bestowed by fact. + +As a fact, we do not find among the ancient Jews that exalting and +purifying ideal of the relations between man and woman, which is to +be found, thank God, in these days, in almost every British work of +fiction or fancy. + +It is enunciated, remember always, in the oldest Hebrew document. +On the very threshold of the Bible, in the very first chapters of +Genesis, it is enunciated in its most ideal purity and perfection. +But in practice it was never fulfilled. No man seems to have +attempted to fulfil it. Man becomes a polygamist, lower than the +very birds of the air. Abraham, the father of the faithful, has his +Sarah, his princess-wife: but he has others beside, as many as he +will. And so has David in like wise, to the grief and harm of both +him and Abraham. + +So, it would seem, had the majority of the Jews till after the +Captivity; and even then the law of divorce seems to have been as +indulgent toward the man as it was unjust and cruel toward the +woman. Then our blessed Lord reasserted the ideal and primaeval +law. He testified in behalf of woman, the puppet of a tyrant who +repudiated her upon the most frivolous pretext, and declared that in +the beginning God made them male and female; the one husband for the +one wife. But his words fell on unwilling ears. His disciples +answered, that if the case of a man with his wife be such, it is not +good for a man to marry. And such, as a fact, was the general +opinion of Christendom for many centuries. + +But of that, as of other sayings of our Lord's, were his own words +fulfilled, that the kingdom of God is as if a man should put seed +into the ground, and sleep and wake, and the seed should spring up, +and bear fruit, he knew not how. + +In due course of time, when the Teutonic nations were Christianised, +there sprang up among them an idea of married love, which showed +that our Lord's words had at last fallen on good ground, and were +destined to bear fruit an hundredfold. + +Gradually, with many confusions, and sometimes sinful mistakes, +there arose, not in the cloister, not in the study--not even, alas! +in the churches of God, as they were then; but in the flowery meads +of May; under the forest boughs, where birds sang to their mates; by +the side of the winter hearth; from the lips of wandering minstrels; +in the hearts of young creatures, whom neither the profligacy of +worldlings, nor the prudery of monks, had yet defiled: from them +arose a voice, most human and yet most divine, reasserting once more +the lost law of Eden, and finding in its fulfilment, strength and +purity, self-sacrifice and self-restraint. + +That voice grew clearer and more strong as time went on. It was +purged from youthful mistakes and youthful grossnesses; till, at the +Reformation, it could speak clearly, fully, once and for all--no +longer on the ground of mere nature and private fancy, but on the +ground of Scripture, and reason, and the eternal laws of God; and +the highest ideal of family life became possible to the family and +to the nation, in proportion as they accepted the teaching of the +Reformation: and impossible, alas! in proportion as they still +allowed themselves to be ruled by a priesthood who asserted the +truly monstrous dogma, that the sexes reach each their highest +excellence only when parted from each other. + +But these things were hidden from David. One can well conceive that +he, so gifted outwardly and inwardly, must have experienced all that +was then possible of woman's love. In one case, indeed, he was +notably brought under that moral influence of woman, which we now +regard, and rightly, as one of the holiest influences of this life. +The scene is unique in Scripture. It reads like a scene out of the +Middle Age. + +Abigail's meeting with David under the covert of the hill; her +turning him from his purpose of wild revenge by graceful +compliments, by the frank, and yet most modest expression of her +sympathy and admiration; and David's chivalrous answer to her +chivalrous appeal--all that scene, which painters have so often +delighted to draw, is a fore-feeling, a prophecy, as it were, of the +Christian chivalry of after ages. The scene is most human and most +divine: and we are not shocked to hear that after Nabal's death the +fair and rich lady joins her fortune to that of the wild outlaw, and +becomes his wife to wander by wood and wold. + +But amid all the simple and sacred beauty of that scene, we cannot +forget, we must not forget that Abigail is but one wife of many; +that there is an element of pure, single, all-absorbing love absent +at least in David's heart, which was present in the hearts of our +forefathers in many a like case, and which they have handed down to +us as an heirloom, as precious as that of our laws and liberties. + +And all this was sin unto David; and like all sin, brought with it +its own punishment. I do not mean to judge him: to assign his +exact amount of moral responsibility. Our Lord forbids us +positively to do that to any man; and least of all, to a man who +only acted according to his right, and the fashion of his race and +his age. But we must fix it very clearly in our minds, that sins +may be punished in this life, even though he who commits them is not +aware that they are sins. If you are ignorant that fire burns, your +ignorance will not prevent your hand from suffering if you put it +into the fire. If you are of opinion that two and two make five, +and therefore spend five pounds while you only possess four, your +mistake will not prevent your being in debt. And so with all mortal +affairs. + +Sin, [Greek], means first, it seems to me, a missing the mark, end, +or aim of our existence; a falling short of the law, the ideal, the +good works which God has prepared beforehand for us to walk in; and +every such sin, conscious or unconscious, must avenge itself by the +Divine laws of the universe, whether physical or spiritual. No +miracle is needed; no intervention of God with his own laws. His +laws are far too well made for him to need to break them a second +time, because a sinner has broken them already. They avenge +themselves. And so does polygamy. So it did in the case of David. +It is a breach of the ideal law of human nature; and he who breaks +that law must suffer, as David suffered. + +Look at the latter history of David, and at what it might have been. +One can conceive so noble a personage under such woman's influence +as, thank God, is common now, going down into an honoured old age, +and living together with a helpmate worthy of him in godly love and +honesty to his life's end; seeing his children Christianly and +virtuously brought up, to the praise and honour of God. + +And what was the fact? + +The indulgence of his passions--seemingly harmless to him at first-- +becomes most harmful ere he dies. He commits a crime, or rather a +complication of crimes, which stains his name for ever among men. + +I do not think that we shall understand that great crime of David's, +if we suppose it, with some theologians, to have been merely a +sudden and solitary fall, from which he recovered by repentance, and +became for the time to come as good a man as he had ever been. Such +a theory, however well it may fit certain theological systems, does +not fit the facts of human life, or, as I hold, the teaching of +Scripture. + +Such terrible crimes are not committed by men in a right state of +mind. Nemo repente fuit turpissimus. He who commits adultery, +treachery, and murder, must have been long tampering, at least in +heart, with all these. Had not David been playing upon the edge of +sin, into sin he would not have fallen. + +He may have been quite unconscious of bad habits of mind; but they +must have been there, growing in secret. The tyrannous self-will, +which is too often developed by long success and command: the +unscrupulous craft, which is too often developed by long adversity, +and the necessity of sustaining oneself in a difficult position-- +these must have been there. But even they would not have led David +to do the deed which he did, had there not been in him likewise that +fearful moral weakness which comes from long indulgence of the +passions--a weakness which is reckless alike of conscience, of +public opinion, and of danger either to earthly welfare or +everlasting salvation. + +It has been said, 'But such a sin is so unlike David's character.' +Doubtless it was, on the theory that David was a character mingled +of good and evil. But on David's own theory, that he was an utterly +weak person without the help of God, the act is perfectly like +David. It is David's self. It is what David would naturally do +when he had left hold of God. Had he left hold of God in the +wilderness he would have become a mere robber-chieftain. He does +leave hold of God in his palace on Zion, and he becomes a mere +Eastern despot. + +And what of his sons? + +The fearful curse of Nathan, that the sword shall never depart from +his house, needs, as usual, no miracle to fulfil it. It fulfils +itself. The tragedies of his sons, of Amnon, of Absalom, are +altogether natural--to have been foreseen, but not to have been +avoided. + +The young men have seen their father put no restraint upon his +passions. Why should they put restraint on theirs? How can he +command them when he has not commanded himself? And yet self- +restraint is what they, above all men, need. Upstart princes--the +sons of a shepherd boy--intoxicated with honours to which they were +not born; they need the severest discipline; they break out into the +most frantic licence. What is there that they may not do, and dare +not do? Nothing is sacred in their eyes. Luxury, ambition, +revenge, vanity, recklessness of decency, open rebellion, disgrace +them in the sight of all men. And all these vices, remember, are +heightened by the fact that they are not brothers, but rivals; sons +of different mothers, hating each other, plotting against each +other; each, probably, urged on by his own mother, who wishes, poor +fool, to set up her son as a competitor for the throne against all +the rest. And so are enacted in David's house those tragedies which +have disgraced, in every age, the harems of Eastern despots. + +But most significant is the fact, that those tragedies complete +themselves by the sin and shame of David's one virtuous and famous +son. Significant truly, that in his old age Solomon the wise should +love strange women, and deserting for their sakes the God of his +fathers, end as an idolater and a dotard, worshipping the +abominations of the heathen, his once world-famous wisdom sunk into +utter folly. + +But, it may be said, the punishment of David's sin fell on his sons, +and not upon himself. + +How so? Can there be a more heavy punishment, a more bitter pain, +than to be punished in and by his children; to see his own evil +example working out their shame and ruin? But do not fancy that +David's own character did not suffer for his sin. The theory that +he became, instantly on his repentance, as good and great a man as +he was before his fall, was convenient enough to certain theologians +of past days; but it is neither warranted by the facts of Scripture, +nor by the noble agonies, however noble, of the 51st Psalm. + +It is a prayer for restoration, and that of the only right and true +kind: 'Take not thy Holy Spirit from me;' and, as such, it was +doubtless heard: but it need not have been fulfilled instantly and +at once. It need not have been fulfilled, it may be, till that life +to come, of which David knew so little. It is a fact, it was not +fulfilled in this life. We read henceforth of no noble and heroical +acts of David. From that time forth--I speak with all diffidence, +and merely as it seems to me--he is a broken man. His attitude in +Absalom's rebellion is all but imbecile. No act is recorded of him +to the day of his death but what is questionable, if not mean and +crafty. The one sudden flash of the old nobleness which he has +shewn in pardoning Shimei, he himself stultifies with his dying lips +by a mean command to Solomon to entrap and slay the man whom he has +too rashly forgiven. The whole matter of the sacrifice of Saul's +sons is so very strange, so puzzling, even shocking to our ideas of +right and wrong, that I cannot wonder at, though I dare not endorse, +Coleridge's bold assertion, that they were sacrificed to a plot of +State policy, and the suspicion of some critics, that the whole +scene was arranged between David and a too complaisant priesthood, +and God's name blasphemously taken in vain to find a pretext for a +political murder. And so David shivers pitiably to his grave, after +a fashion which has furnished a jest for cynics and infidels, but +which contains, to the eyes of a wise man, the elements of the +deepest tragedy; one more awful lesson that human beauty, valour, +wit, genius, success, glory, are vanity of vanities: that man is +nothing, and God is all in all. + +But some may ask, What has all this to do with us? To do with us? +Do you think that the Scripture says in vain, 'All these things are +written for our example'? As long as human nature is what it is +now, and was three thousand years ago, so long shall we be tempted +to commit the same sins as David: different in outward form, +according to the conditions of society; but the same in spirit, the +same in sinfulness, and the same in the sure punishment which they +bring. And above all, will men to the end be tempted to the sin of +self-indulgence, want of self-control. In many ways, but surely in +some way or other, will every man's temptation be, to lose self- +control. + +Therefore settle it in your minds, young men, that the first and the +last of all virtues and graces of which God can give is self- +control; as necessary for the saint and the sage, lest they become +fanatics or pedants, as for the young man in the hey-day of youth +and health; but as necessary for the young man as for the saint and +the sage, lest, while they become only fanatics and pedants, he +become a profligate, and a cumberer of the ground. + +Remember this--remember it now in the glorious days of youth which +never will return, but in which you are sowing seed of which you +will reap the fruit until your dying day. Know that as you sow, so +will you reap. If you sow to the flesh, you will of the flesh reap +corruption; corruption--deterioration, whether of health, of +intellect, of character in some shape or other. You know not, and +no man knows, what the curse will be like; but the curse will surely +come. The thing which is done cannot be undone; and you will find +that out before, and not merely after your dying day. Therefore +rejoice in your youth, for God has given it to you; but remember, +that for it, as for each and all of his gifts, God will bring you +into judgment. And when the hour of temptation comes, go back--go +back, if you would escape--to what you all were taught at your +mother's knee concerning the grace of God; for that alone will keep +you safe, or angel, or archangel, or any created being safe, in this +life and in all lives to come. + + + +SERMON V. FRIENDSHIP; OR, DAVID AND JONATHAN + + + +2 Samuel i. 26. I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan: +very pleasant hast thou been unto me: thy love to me was wonderful, +passing the love of women. + +Passing the love of woman! That is a hard saying. What love can +pass that? Yet David doubtless spoke truth. He was a man who must +have had reason enough to know what woman's love was like; and when +he said that the love of Jonathan for him passed even that, he +bestowed on his friend praise which will be immortal. + +The name of Jonathan will remain for ever as the perfect pattern of +friendship. + +Let us think a little to-day over his noble character and his +tragical history. It will surely do us good. If it does nothing +but make us somewhat ashamed of ourselves, that is almost the best +thing which can happen to us or to any man. + +We first hear of Jonathan as doing a very gallant deed. We might +expect as much. It is only great-hearted men who can be true +friends; mean and cowardly men can never know what friendship means. + +The Israelites were hidden in thickets, and caves, and pits, for +fear of the Philistines, when Jonathan was suddenly inspired to +attack a Philistine garrison, under circumstances seemingly +desperate. 'And that first slaughter, which Jonathan and his +armour-bearer made, was about twenty men, within, as it were, an +half-acre of land, which a yoke of oxen might plough.' + +That is one of those little hints which shews that the story is +true, written by a man who knew the place--who had probably been in +the great battle of Beth-aven, which followed, and had perhaps +ascended the rock where Jonathan had done his valiant deed, and had +seen the dead bodies lying as they had fallen before him and his +armour-bearer. + +Then follows the story of David's killing Goliath, and coming back +to Saul with the giant's head in his hand, and answering modestly to +him, 'I am the son of thy servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.' + +'And it came to pass, when he had made an end of speaking unto Saul, +that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and +Jonathan loved him as his own soul. + +'Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as +his own soul. + +'And Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was upon him, and +gave it to David, and his garments, even to his sword, and to his +bow, and to his girdle.' + +He loved him as his own soul. And why? Because his soul was like +the soul of David; because he was modest, he loved David's modesty; +because he was brave, he loved David's courage; because he was +virtuous, he loved David's virtue. He saw that David was all that +he was himself, and more; and therefore he loved him as his own +soul. And therefore I said, that it is only noble and great hearts +who can have great friendships; who admire and delight in other +men's goodness; who, when they see a great and godlike man, +conceive, like Jonathan, such an affection for him that they forget +themselves, and think only of him, till they will do anything for +him, sacrifice anything for him, as Jonathan did for David. + +For remember, that Jonathan had cause to hate and envy David rather +than love him; and that he would have hated him if there had been +any touch of meanness or selfishness in his heart. Gradually he +learnt, as all Israel learnt, that Samuel had anointed David to be +king, and that he, Jonathan, was in danger of not succeeding after +Saul's death. David stood between him and the kingdom. And yet he +did not envy David--did not join his father for a moment in plotting +his ruin. He would oppose his father, secretly indeed, and +respectfully; but still, he would be true to David, though he had to +bear insults and threats of death. + +And mark here one element in Jonathan's great friendship. Jonathan +is a pious man, as well as a righteous one. He believes the Lord's +messages that he has chosen David to be king, and he submits; seeing +that it is just and right, and that David is worthy of the honour, +though it be to the hurt of himself and of his children after him. +It is the Lord's will; and he, instead of repining against it, must +carry it out as far as he is concerned. Yes; those who are most +true to their fellow-men are always those who are true to God; for +the same spirit of God which makes them fear God makes them also +love their neighbour. + +When David escapes from Saul to Samuel, it is Jonathan who does all +he can to save him. The two friends meet secretly in the field. + +'And Jonathan said unto David, O Lord God of Israel, when I have +sounded my father about to-morrow any time, or the third day, and, +behold, if there be good toward David, and I then send not unto +thee, and shew it thee; the Lord do so and much more to Jonathan.' + +Then David and Jonathan agree upon a sign between them, by which +David may know Saul's humour without his bow-bearer finding out +David. He will shoot three arrows toward the place where David is +in hiding; and if he says to his bow-bearer, The arrows are on this +side of thee, David is to come; for he is safe. But if he says, The +arrows are beyond thee, David must flee for his life, for the Lord +has sent him away. + +Then Jonathan goes in to meat with his father Saul, and excuses +David for being absent. + +'Then Saul's anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said unto +him, Thou son of the perverse, rebellious woman, do not I know that +thou hast chosen the son of Jesse to thine own confusion, and unto +the confusion of thy mother? For as long as the son of Jesse liveth +upon the ground, thou shalt not be established, nor thy kingdom. +Wherefore now send and fetch him unto me, for he shall surely die. +And Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said unto him, Wherefore +shall he be slain? what hath he done? And Saul cast a javelin at +him to smite him; whereby Jonathan knew that it was determined of +his father to slay David.' + +He goes to the field and shoots the arrows, and gives the sign +agreed on. He sends his bow-bearer back to the city, and David +comes out of his hiding-place in the rock Ezel. + +'And as soon as the lad was gone, David arose out of a place toward +the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself +three times; and they kissed one another, and wept one with another, +until David exceeded. And Jonathan said to David, Go in peace, +forasmuch as we have sworn both of us in the name of the Lord, +saying, The Lord be between me and thee, and between my seed and thy +seed for ever. And he arose and departed: and Jonathan went into +the city.' + +And so the two friends parted, and saw one another, it seems, but +once again, when Jonathan went to David in the forest of Ziph, and +'strengthened his hand in God,' with noble words. + +After that, Jonathan vanishes from the story of David. We hear only +of him that he died fighting by his father's side, upon the downs of +Gilboa. The green plot at their top, where the Israelites' last +struggle was probably made, can be seen to this day; and there most +likely Jonathan fell, and over him David raised his famous +lamentation: + +'O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. I am distressed +for thee, my brother Jonathan: very pleasant hast thou been unto +me: thy love to me was wonderful, passing the love of women. How +are the mighty fallen, and the weapons of war perished!' + +So ends the beautiful and tragical story of a truly gallant man. +Seldom, indeed, will there be seen in the world such perfect +friendship between man and man, as that between Jonathan and David. +Seldom, indeed, shall we see anyone loving and adoring the very man +whom his selfish interest would teach him to hate and to supplant. +But still every man may have, and ought to have a friend. Wretched +indeed, and probably deservedly wretched, is the man who has none. +And every man may learn from this story of Jonathan how to choose +his friends. + +I say, to choose. No one is bound to be at the mercy of anybody and +everybody with whom he may come in contact. No one is bound to say, +That man lives next door to me, therefore he must be my friend. We +are bound not to avoid our neighbours. They are put near us by God +in his providence. God intends every one of them, good or bad, to +help in educating us, in giving us experience of life and manners. +We are to learn from them, live with them in peace and charity, and +only avoid them when we find that their company is really doing us +harm, and leading us into sin and folly. But a friend--which is a +much deeper and more sacred word than neighbour--a friend we have +the right and the power to choose; and our wisest plan will be to +copy Jonathan, and choose our friends, not for their usefulness, but +for their goodness; not for their worth to us, but for their worth +in themselves; and to choose, if possible, people superior to +ourselves. If we meet a man better than ourselves, more wise than +ourselves, more learned, more experienced, more delicate-minded, +more high-minded, let us take pains to win his esteem, to gain his +confidence, and to win him as a friend, for the sake of his worth. + +Then in our friendship, as in everything else in the world, we shall +find the great law come true, that he that loseth his life shall +save it. He who does not think of himself and his own interest will +be the very man who will really help himself, and further his own +interest the most. For the friend whom we have chosen for his own +worth, will be the one who will be worth most to us. The friend +whom we have loved and admired for his own sake, will be the one who +will do most to raise our character, to teach us, to refine us, to +help us in time of doubt and trouble. The higher-minded man our +friend is, the higher-minded will he make us. For it is written, +'As iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the face of his +friend.' + +Nothing can be more foolish, or more lowering to our own character, +than to choose our friends among those who can only flatter us, and +run after us, who look up to us as oracles, and fetch and carry at +our bidding, while they do our souls and characters no good, but +merely feed our self-conceit, and lower us down to their own level. +But it is wise, and ennobling to our own character, to choose our +friends among those who are nearer to God than we are, more +experienced in life, and more strong and settled in character. Wise +it is to have a friend of whom we are at first somewhat afraid; +before whom we dare not say or do a foolish thing, whose just anger +or contempt would be to us a thing terrible. Better it is that +friendship should begin with a little wholesome fear, till time and +mutual experience of each other's characters shall have brought +about the perfect love which casts out fear. Better to say with +David, 'He that telleth lies shall not stay in my sight; I will not +know a wicked person. Yea, let the righteous rather smite me +friendly and reprove me. All my delight is in the saints that are +in the earth, and in such as excel in virtue.' + +And let no man fancy that by so doing he lowers himself, and puts +himself in a mean place. There is no man so strong-minded but what +he may find a stronger-minded man than himself to give him counsel; +no man is so noble-hearted but what he may find a nobler-hearted man +than himself to keep him up to what is true and just and honourable, +when he is tempted to play the coward, and be false to God's Spirit +within him. No man is so pure-minded but what he may find a purer- +minded person than himself to help him in the battle against the +world, the flesh, and the devil. + +My friends, do not think it a mean thing to look up to those who are +superior to yourselves. On the contrary, you will find in practice +that it is only the meanest hearts, the shallowest and the basest, +who feel no admiration, but only envy for those who are better than +themselves; who delight in finding fault with them, and blackening +their character, and showing that they are not, after all, so much +superior to other people; while it is the noblest-hearted, the very +men who are most worthy to be admired themselves, who, like +Jonathan, feel most the pleasure, the joy, and the strength of +reverence; of having some one whom they can look up to and admire; +some one in whose company they can forget themselves, their own +interest, their own pleasure, their own honour and glory, and cry, +Him I must hear; him I must follow; to him I must cling, whatever +may betide. Blessed and ennobling is the feeling which gathers +round a wise teacher or a great statesman all the most earnest, +high-minded, and pious youths of his generation; the feeling which +makes soldiers follow the general whom they trust, they know not why +or whither, through danger, and hunger, and fatigue, and death +itself; the feeling which, in its highest perfection, made the +Apostles forsake all and follow Christ, saying, 'Lord, to whom shall +we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life'--which made them ready +to work and to die for him whom the world called the son of the +carpenter, but whom they, through the Spirit of God bearing witness +with their own pure and noble spirits, knew to be the Son of the +Living God. + +Ay, a blessed thing it is for any man or woman to have a friend; one +human soul whom we can trust utterly; who knows the best and the +worst of us, and who loves us, in spite of all our faults; who will +speak the honest truth to us, while the world flatters us to our +face, and laughs at us behind our back; who will give us counsel and +reproof in the day of prosperity and self-conceit; but who, again, +will comfort and encourage us in the day of difficulty and sorrow, +when the world leaves us alone to fight our own battle as we can. + +If we have had the good fortune to win such a friend, let us do +anything rather than lose him. We must give and forgive; live and +let live. If our friend have faults, we must bear with them. We +must hope all things, believe all things, endure all things, rather +than lose that most precious of all earthly possessions--a trusty +friend. + +And a friend, once won, need never be lost, if we will only be +trusty and true ourselves. Friends may part--not merely in body, +but in spirit, for a while. In the bustle of business and the +accidents of life they may lose sight of each other for years; and +more--they may begin to differ in their success in life, in their +opinions, in their habits, and there may be, for a time, coldness +and estrangement between them; but not for ever, if each will be but +trusty and true. + +For then, according to the beautiful figure of the poet, they will +be like two ships who set sail at morning from the same port, and +ere nightfall lose sight of each other, and go each on its own +course, and at its own pace, for many days, through many storms and +seas; and yet meet again, and find themselves lying side by side in +the same haven, when their long voyage is past. + +And if not, my friends; if they never meet; if one shall founder and +sink upon the seas, or even change his course, and fly shamefully +home again: still, is there not a Friend of friends who cannot +change, but is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever? + +What says the noble hymn:-- + + +'When gathering clouds around I view, +And days are dark and friends are few, +On him I lean, who, not in vain, +Experienced every human pain: +He sees my griefs, allays my fears, +And counts and treasures up my tears.' + + +Passing the love of woman was his love, indeed; and of him Jonathan +was but such a type, as the light in the dewdrop is the type of the +sun in heaven. + +He himself said--and what he said, that he fulfilled--'Greater love +hath no man than this--that a man lay down his life for his +friends.' + +In treachery and desertion; in widowhood and childlessness; in the +hour of death, and in the day of judgment, when each soul must stand +alone before its God, one Friend remains, and that the best of all. + +{285} From a charter quoted by Ingulf--and very probably a spurious +one. + + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DAVID*** + + +******* This file should be named 10326.txt or 10326.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/3/2/10326 + + +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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